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Issues with FT3 -> Wilbur -> Photoshop -> Wilbur -> FT3

TheGreyOwlTheGreyOwl
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
I'm trying to take a FT3 generated world and do some manual editing on it using Photoshop. What I've tried is as follows:

1. Export from FT3 as a .MDR file
2. Import the .MDR file into Wilbur
3. Save a .PNG file from Wilbur
4. Load the .PNG into Photoshop
5. Edit in Photoshop
6. Save the .PNG from Photoshop
7. Load the .PNG into Wilbur
8. Optionally, do some erosion/other editing in Wilbur
9. Save a .MDR from Wilbur
10. Load the .MDR into FT3 using "binary world"

The problem is that everything looks right all along until step 10. When it comes into FT3 at the end, it looks wrong. Usually all the land is white and distorted, but sometimes there are small patches of color, usually water. I don't think it's the binary world import settings that are causing the issue, because they work in other situations. I suspect the issue is somewhere in the Photoshop part of the process, either converting to or from Photoshop. Because if I leave the Photoshop steps out of the process and just go FT3 -> Wilbur -> FT3, everything works fine. But I need to make some edits that require Photoshop.

Is there something I'm missing, or is what I'm trying to do not possible for some reason?
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Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    I tried using Krita to make 16-bit height maps to import into Wilbur a long time ago, and had a similar problem. The scale seems to be wrong. I gave up in the end and only work in FT3 and Wilbur these days were world building is concerned.
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  • TheGreyOwlTheGreyOwl
    Do you know what the root cause was? Is it that Wilbur won't import 16-bit height maps? Or is Photoshop not saving the file in the proper format?
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  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    I really couldn't say. I don't know enough about Wilbur to analyse the problem for you.

    I found in the end, though, that it was a lot easier just to edit the FT3 world and cut out the bitmap editor altogether.
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  • TheGreyOwlTheGreyOwl
    I finally got this to work. The problem was with altitude scaling. Here's how to make it work:

    1. Export from FT3 as a .MDR file
    2. Import the .MDR file into Wilbur
    3. Write down the min and max altitude in the map (Surface -> Find Min/Max, write down "Highest" and "Lowest" values)
    4. Flip the map vertically (Surface -> Rotate -> Flip vertically) - there's a bug either in FT3 or Wilbur that causes the map to be flipped, so we need to undo that
    5. Save a .PNG file from Wilbur (make sure you use file type "PNG Surface", choose "Yes" for "Output as 16-bit values?")
    6. Load the .PNG into Photoshop (or any other paint program)
    7. Edit in Photoshop
    8. Save the .PNG from Photoshop
    9. Load the .PNG into Wilbur
    10. Optionally, do some erosion/other editing in Wilbur
    11. Flip the map vertically (Surface -> Rotate -> Flip vertically)
    12. Rescale the altitudes (Filter -> Mathematical -> Span, enter the "lowest" and "highest" values from before into "Low" and "High", respectively)
    13. Save a .MDR from Wilbur
    14. Load the .MDR into FT3 using "binary world" (uncheck "Signed", set Map Edges to Top = 90, Bottom = -90, Right = 180, Left = -180, leave everything else default)
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  • TheGreyOwlTheGreyOwl
    Oh, and if your editing in Photoshop changes the min or max altitude, then when you rescale it back in Wilbur, you'll have the adjust the high and low values you wrote down previously.
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  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Oh that's good news :)

    What sort of editing do you do in PS?

    I'm just curious to know, since I manage to do all that I need in FT3 before I export it.

    I'm thinking that maybe I'm just less particular about something that you like to have 'just so ;)
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  • TheGreyOwlTheGreyOwl
    I use it to add features that either FT3 can't do or, more likely, things I don't know how to make it do. For example, I wanted a canyon that had a fractalized, realistic look instead of looking like a round or rectangular trench. I did it by exporting a height map into Photoshop and adding a real-world height map layered on top of it from an actual canyon. Then I blended the edges of the layers, and then exported back to FT3. Attached is an example of this.
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  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 40 images Cartographer
    Ah. That's very good :)

    I think, then, that the reason I've managed to cut out the image editor bit of the process is because I don't do these kinds of details - being primarily interested in doing world maps that are more general in nature.
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