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Fractal Terrains - Editing Setup and File Size Question

rumakarumaka
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
In Advanced World Settings, under Editing Set-ups, there are the 4 selections that affect resolution and memory. I see that the larger the map is in memory, the smaller the resolution. If I make a custom size of 8192 (max) it gives me a memory size of 768 MB and a resolution of 4.9mi. The saved file size is huge.

I am not 100% sure what having a small resolution does for me. If I have a 4.9mi resolution, does that mean if I zoom in a lot, I can raise elevation, for example, on an area only 4.9mi, whereas an 80mi resolution means the raise elevation will affect an 80mi area?

When would someone typically need a map with a small resolution?

Thanks very much for your comments. I greatly appreciate it as I am trying to learn the 'fine points' of FT.
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Comments

  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    The editing resolution of the world does indeed determine the amount of a single editable area on the world. It is like a picture: a higher-resolution picture gives you more detail than a low-resolution picture. In the case of FT, the "picture" is the editing data with some higher-detail fractal detail overlaid on top to reduce the visible artifacts of the low-resolution editing data.

    For the purposes for which FT was intended (world and regional maps), relatively modest editing resolutions are acceptable. Some folks would like to be able to use FT to go from world-level to street level with editing at all scales. Sadly, FT cannot do this. The current implementation requires that you, the user, pick an intended resolution and work with that resolution over the world surface. It's always a tradeoff between how fine an area you wish to map vs. the amount of disk space and memory that you will be using.

    FT stores its files in an uncompressed format, meaning that the amount of editing data will seriously affect disk usage (and undo amount). On the bright side, compression programs such as WinZip will typically compress FT world files to a tiny fraction of their original size.
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