FRACTAL TERRAINS urgent questions from beginner

mbaye

Hello everybody. It's my first message in your place and hope it's not the last. i advice i'm foreigner and i'm sorry for my english !! Long time i dont practice it .
So i've just install the DEMO version of Fractal terrains. I have 15 days (now 11) to decide if i buy it, and i need help
First i don't succeed in making a new virgin world where i could draw. Impossible to understand wich of the four options i must choose and what can i do to have this virgin and "waiting for painting" planet
Second (and most important for me), I need to know if FT can import drawings from external file... I explain :
i have already drawn my world with photoshop before i discover a publiciti of FT . It is a planet double of circunference of earth. quiet good resolution (about 40000 x 20000) but not enough for me. Each borders continents and each terrains (mountains plains forest desert ...) have his own layer.
So, is it possible to import each layer in FT in order than this drawing layer will define the new ... mountains if it is the layer of the mountains, borders of continent ... ans so on ....
I imagine that, if is possible, you will have to manually enter many parameters like altitudes of each mountain for example) ... but is my request possible to do ?
If it is, can someone here give me an idea of the way to do it ? ... in order i can estimate how long and difficult will be this work to remake my world on FT ?
Thank you for help

Mateus090985

I really cant help you BUT I can tell you that FT3 is best in creating random generated worlds (and you may have a LOT of control in the process). When I want a specific format world I normally random created worlds in FT3 and transfer the parts that I like to CC3 (I generate a lot of worlds searching for the right parts).

Maybe this link can help you: http://oldguygaming.com/recreating-an-existing-map

mbaye

Thank you for trying to help me. In fact, your link is interesting. I know CC (and FT and so on) is the best for what i want to do, but it's gonna be a lot of work... almost in english. Anyway, thank you again.

jslayton

http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/FunWithWilburVol4/index.html has some information which is broadly applicable to FT. http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/CGTutorial/index.html has some useful information in dealing with FT. One of these years I'll try to do a tutorial that shows the techniques in the first one directly in FT along with the things in the second one.

mbaye

A tutorial for beginners would be great. Thank you for links.

Ralf

Have you checked out Joe Sweeney's video tutorial on FT/CC?

mbaye

No I didn't. This Joe got a real accent !!

mbaye

Well, it is really interesting , even if it's true he speaks farst and with a so funny - and difficult to understand - american accent... but ... i suppose you're american as well and that you don't smile as i did when you hear him !!
Well, ... it seems (nearly) everybody use FT only for random world , and what i want to do is too much work.
Look what Mike Summers told me :
"However, if you want to use it to recreate an existing world, it will take a great deal of expertise to learn how to use the program well enough to do so. It can be done, but it would be difficult."

BUT ... perhaps this long work worth it...

In fact, I have still 8 days to study the software, and there is one thing i saw in the publicity of FT ... that i dont 'find in the programm...
When you look at the first image on top right of this page http://www.profantasy.com/products/ft_details.asp you can see ... exactly the thing that interest me in FT
As well, it is writen "Then export that world as an image, animation, icosahedral, to Google Earth or CC3."
I need precisions about this google earth possibility. So, is it possible to turn around and zoom +/- as i believe when i see this image ?? Is it really possible to go and zoom where you want ... make your world turn right or left, get nearer ou more far ... you see ?!!
... but HOW ?!! I'd really like to see it before the end of my demo version...


While i'm here, i have questions for CampaignCartographer:
Can I make a BIG flat map of a planet with CC and, most of all, is it possible - as i wanted to do with FT - to import layouts in order to defined the layouts of my continents and island (on one map) , and same thing to define the areas of mountains, forest and so on ? ... or it is as difficult as FT ?
In that case, as well, FT would not be able to take this work , but it interest me anyway to have informations as well about CC ..

PS commercials questions
If i buy FT and/or CC, are there others softs that can be considered as "nearly indispensable" ?
Is there a ... "bundle" with lower price if you buy FT and CC ... and perhaps other ... together ? ... like a kind of "CC suite" you know ?

Thanks for your help
I return on FT help topics

JimP

Ralf isn't American that I know of. Most of us are from all over.

You can export from FT3 as an icosahedral flat world.

Profantsy shop shows bundles.

I've made several large 25000 by 14000 mile flat planets with CC3.

JimP

Here is a link to the forum thread where I am working on a new continent.

posts

mbaye

"You can export from FT3 as an icosahedral flat world". OK, and after, what do i have to do to get this "google earth way" image ? I just open the exported icasahedral flat world in a ... " google earth software" (does it exist ?) ?

So, I know now that i can make a world large as mine, thank you. But do you know if I can import in CC layers from photoshop, one by one, in order to define areas and layouts of this card ? (instead of draw them one by one !!)

As well, could you confirm that i can't import the result on FT ? It seems strange to be possible to export from FT and not the opposite, don't you think ?

jslayton

The Google Earth support in FT3 is via KML file export (File>>Export World>>KML File). It's a fixed-resolution export that can be opened with Google Earth or other programs that deal with KML files.

FT is intended as a source of data for CC3. It cannot import CC3 files directly. There are some suggestions out there for getting CC3 data into FT3, but it's not a primary use of the program.

mbaye

Ok, now it's clear about the fonction of FT ! Thank you.
For the export in KML, I'm sorry but I can only see six options (icosahedral images, sphere map images, cosmographer templates, multiple files, spin view image sequences and VRML) but none of them seem to export something else than simple image (jpg or bmp).

Monsen

Do you have the newest version of the FT demo (FT3 as opposed to FT Pro). The FT3 demo was only released about 5 days ago, so judging from the timestamp in your original post, you may have the FT Pro demo instead of the FT3 demo, which did not include KMZ export.
Use Help --> About to check your version (or see the splash screen or title bar). if you have FT Pro, go download the new version of the demo.

mbaye

in fact, I had the pro version. So I installed FT3 ... good look ! Now i'm gonna really test the program.

Well, I now have a world on google map but I have two problems and one question :
- Very bad resolution (14 ko !!) . I tried to find where i could increase the resolution ... I thought i found ... but it didn't change nothing
- When i pass the mouse on the map, GE tells me properties (latitude longitude, but most of all altitude) of earth and not the world from FT
So is it possible to see climats, rain fall and so on, as well on Google earth ?

Monsen

The poor resolution is a limitation of the demo version. The full version allows for a much better resolutions.
As for the real altitude issue: Google Earth will treat this as an overlay on earth, it isn't equipped to handle different planets. So unfortunately, the information shown is really for the underlying earth, and not your world. Latitude and longitude will be correct, because this is how it is measured on all spheres, but everything else is from the Earth.
To show rainfall and so on, you need to do a separate export from FT. It exports the current view, so if you are currently viewing the rainfall in FT, that is will get exported.

mbaye

OK !!
Well , I've been looking a little bit better to the Mike Summers' tuto about export from cc to FT ... and I need at least Wilbur to try it . Is it possible to get it for demo ? And what about cc ?

Monsen

Wilbur is included along with the demo version. There is a Wilbur folder inside the FT3Demo installation folder.

There is no demo version of CC3, but ProFantasy have a 14-day satisfaction guarantee, so you can buy it, test it, and return it within 14 days if you didn't like i.

mbaye

got it.
I have a small problem with it. In the tuto, one step in wilbur is : "Texture | Grayscale Bump Shader" but i don't find this option. Is it because i have a demo version ?

jslayton

http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/software.html is the home for Wilbur. You can get the most current version there.

mbaye

Ok, now i succeeded in following mike summers tuto.
So, after trying FT and taking informations about it and CC, I can see that they are really as great as i heard about. Of course, i didn't used all fonctions and I almost browsed it with my specific wish of remake an already made world. Unfortunately, to do so, they (CC as well) have no import possibilities. I'm so sorry of this . i dream photoshop and FT (or/and CC) open together and just make copy/paste ... perhaps one day the team realise this dream or at least introduce some import fonctions ?
Anyway i'll surely get CC soon cause i need cities and areas. Even if i didn't try it, i know it's the best. That's what all role playing community say.

I thank all of you for your help. Congratulations to the team that really made fantastic job.

mbaye

jslayton said : "http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/FunWithWilburVol4/index.html has some information which is broadly applicable to FT. http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/CGTutorial/index.html has some useful information in dealing with FT."

it's three days i dont succeed in getting these two pages. It's a pity cause one of them was very useful. Do tou have the same problem ? If you don't know a nex adress of these, would you have the adress of an other page for tutorial of FT ?

Monsen

Server seems to be down.

jslayton is active in these forums though, so I am sure he will either fix it, or we will hear from him soon.

jslayton

It looks as though my local service provider doesn't have the technical ability to perform a system restore in less than a week. They have been assuring everyone that they will be back up by "this evening", but it's been quite a few evenings now.