[Fractal Terrains 3] How can I import and generate a planet from a preexisting map?
So I have put a ton of effort into this map here. I would love to use the features available in my purchased fractale terrains software to set climates, rivers and other miscellaneous (read tedious) features. However I have having a very hard time of it trying to import my map. It is an equilrectangular plates cairre projection already.
I think I need to somehow convert what I have to a .acf file so I can import it as a greyscale and apply it with the image overlay, but I cannot figure out a way how to do that, and even if I could I don't know if a general .acf could work. I would seriously love to get some help with this issue.
Here is a link to the equirectangular map I initially made http://i.imgur.com/PA4oF73.jpg
Here is a link to the equirectangular map that is a bit more seamless http://i.imgur.com/cpToCBM.jpg
Here is a link to the map in 2-tone http://i.imgur.com/i3MZLFm.png
Here is a link to the map in it's first initial form http://i.imgur.com/MnOONEI.png
And lastly here is a link to a web-app for looking at the map as a navigable globe https://www.maptoglobe.com/
I think I need to somehow convert what I have to a .acf file so I can import it as a greyscale and apply it with the image overlay, but I cannot figure out a way how to do that, and even if I could I don't know if a general .acf could work. I would seriously love to get some help with this issue.
Here is a link to the equirectangular map I initially made http://i.imgur.com/PA4oF73.jpg
Here is a link to the equirectangular map that is a bit more seamless http://i.imgur.com/cpToCBM.jpg
Here is a link to the map in 2-tone http://i.imgur.com/i3MZLFm.png
Here is a link to the map in it's first initial form http://i.imgur.com/MnOONEI.png
And lastly here is a link to a web-app for looking at the map as a navigable globe https://www.maptoglobe.com/
Comments
How did you generate the http://i.imgur.com/MnOONEI.png file? If you can modify the color ramp to grayscale rather than the green-to-orange ramp, then you can probably import that file directly into FT3 as a binary world file.
I generated the image you mention using about five or six maps generated on that map to globe site on the highest settings then patched them together manually.
I made this grey scale http://i.imgur.com/9MsViPT.png for importing, but I can't figure out how to make it a binary world file.
There are a number of ways to convert the grayscale image into a binary file that FT3 can use, but the simplest is probably via Wilbur ( http://www.fracterra.com/software.html ).
In Wilbur:
1) Use File>>Open to load your PNG file as a grayscale image file
2) Use Filter>>Mathematical>>Offset with a value of -128 to drop the oceans below sea level. Your terrain is now ranging from about -128 to about +127.
3) Use Filter>>Mathematical>>Scale with a value of 70 to scale your terrain from about -9000 to +9000 (assume meters for units in FT).
4) Use Surface>>Rotate>>Flip Vertically to account for a bug in the Wilbur to FT transfer process
5) Use File>>Save As with file type MDR Surface to save your file. Accept the default parameters.
In FT:
a) Use File>>New to bring up the new world wizard
b) Select Binary File and click Next to bring up the Binary Data page
c) Click Choose Elevation File to bring up the Binary Data dialog
d) Click the ... button to bring up a file picker
e) Select your MDR file saved in step 5 of the Wilbur process and click OK. You should see information about your world
f) Set the Map Edges to Top=90, Left=-180, Right=180, and Bottom=-90
g) Click OK to accept the data definition and dismiss the Binary Data dialog
h) Click Next to bring up the Summary page
i) Click Finish to finish the world operation
j) Enjoy your new world
If you would like to eliminate the external dependence on the binary file:
Use Map>>World Setting to bring up the World Settings property sheet.
Select the Editing page.
Select Custom and enter 6000 (your world's editing resolution) as the value.
Click Apply to accept the new editing value.
Use Tools>>Actions>>Burn Into Surface to convert the altitude into offset editing values.
You can now use normal FT editing operations.
If you're not strongly married to the way that the internal elements of the map are laid out (or even if you are), you might be able to get good results using Wilbur to rough in the terrain from your basic map outline and some information about mountains. The attached image shows what such a result might look like in FT after following the processes suggested at https://cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=29412 (the PDF almost at the bottom of the topic).
There are many tools that let you reproject images, including most GIS tools (QGIS being a popular one). I wrote ReprojectImage to be easy to use as a front end for reprojecting images for use with FT and with things like raytracing software. ReprojectImage suffers from some limitations and assumes that your input will be square to the image edges.
As a quick note, I just updated the ReprojectImage file to a build that includes aspect information. Due to an oversimplified UI in ReprojectImage (including the unpleasant feature that you must enter numbers for sizing), you'll need this operation to make things work correctly for the AE hemispheres kind of map. The example image shows a quick chop on the image of your Myirandos map. I was a little sloppy in placing the source grids and scaling, which makes the output look a little glitchy around the edges. The same technique will work for a grayscale height map, where it would be less likely to have issues with wobbly grid lines.
I am not the original poster, but I tried this several times and it did not work. it either outputted a file that is entirely underwater-at the lowest possible elevation-or one that was entirely ice-highest possible elevation. I tried again and got entirely water but with what appeared to be random noise at the top instead of water. Is there something I am doing wrong?
What image are you starting from? Is it posted somewhere that I could take a look at it to see the problem?
Does the image look correct after loading into Wilbur? If not, then this process won't work.
In Wilbur, if you use Window>>Histogram after step 1, what are the low and high values? What is the shape of the histogram? A histogram that has a very negative low value, a very large high value, and what looks like a spike in the middle indicates a file that has some corrupting noise in it. You can often correct this problem by using Filter>>Other>>Kill Outliers. Set a "Percent to Kill" value of about 2 to get rid of the highest and lowest few altitudes on the map, which are likely the cause of the problems. The important part of Kill Outliers is that it gets rid of NaN (not a number) corruption in the file. The percent to kill part is a convenience because corrupted data often has data that you're not interested in at the far ends of the histogram. If you get flat spots on the mountains or ocean basins, you can undo and try Kill Outliers again with a smaller Percent to Kill value (a value of 0 here doesn't kill any high or low values, just eliminates NaNs).
Ok, after a day, I figured out the problem:
when i exported with wilbur, i typed (filename).mdr, but didnt switch the wilbur export type below to say mdr. that meant it was exporting the mdr like a png, which caused loads of problems further down the lane.
Still, thank you for the advice! and sorry for the inconvenience!