Tools and resources for making elevation maps

[o0Clay|pigeoN0o offline]

G'day


Thought I'd share this little tip of how you could make it more easy on yourselft making interesting elevation maps and importing them into the editor as .png files.

The US Geological Survey elevation map format SDTS DEM might very well be the most accessible format available to the public and it's public domain, meaning that they can be downloaded for free from their site. They mostly provide elevation maps of the US but there are maps available for other regions of the planet as well.

To be able to read those maps you'd need a dedicated program such as MicroDEM. Once loaded into MD you can do pretty much what you want with the elevation data, but we'd be interested in exporting it as a grayscale elevation map, right. That's no big deal, just rightclick the image and choose "map colors" from the popup and then select "gray scale", click ok and then from the file menu you chose "save as" or "export" as a .bmp. Open the bmp image in your favourite image processor and and make any modifications to it, especially blurring it to avoid a to jagged terrain, scale or crop it to 256x256 and set it to use a 256 gray scale palett. Save it as .png.

Then it's just a matter of importing it from the T2 editor as bitmap.

Here's where you can get MicroDEM:


Login: thiscould
Pass: befun

Here you'll get those DEM files:

DEM Data:






European DEM Data Source:


Good link page:


Genral links page and ifo resources. Also has a link to a developer C++ kit for reading the SDTS format:


...now go make that true to life Grand Canyon map...

[Zear offline]

That is true. I've been slowing plugging along on a map based on the McKinley dem for some time now. And BTW - the resolution on the free dems is not good enough for a Grand Canyon map to have anything like the detail you want. I tried and it came out as a crappy ditch. But someone else may be able to better select a portion of the map...

In any case I do recommend that people try this idea out. Obviously there should be some cool terrains coming out of this - even if it is only used to get realistic terrain shape and not just to get a landmark into the game.

And if anybody uses McKinley before me I'll strangle 'em! ;]

[o0Clay|pigeoN0o offline]

G'day!

Sure, you ought to be selective in chosing your map resolution for the reasons stated above and see to that it fits your specific needs. The most accurate ones available in the public domain would be the 10 meter ones, although it's a limit number of areas available in this resolution.

More on the subject at USGS:


USGS DEM Download page:

[ToKrZ offline]

[o0Clay|pigeoN0o offline]

[ToKrZ offline]

yes Bryce supports dems and it will create a black and whit diposition hieth field map you can take a screen shot of or export as a dem

[powdahound offline]

i couldn't find free bryce
wtf
FREE BRYCE!

[Zear offline]

I just use microdem (no idea where - search the web). It allows you to import a dem (actually, you can stitch several together into one larger map) and then change the display to greyscale and do a screenshot...

But there are probably 15 other ways to do the same thing. I just do this cause it works, it's relatively simple, and I don't do it too often so it isn't worth it to me to get too 'set up' for it, if you know what I mean.

[StormShadow[AK] offline]

Zear,

Before you get to attached to the name "McKinley" you should consider THE mt's original name... "Denali" which, translated, means "The High One", or "The Great One". Here's a link with some more info and maybe some insperation for you to draw on.



Good Luck with the map! I'm anxous to see it!

[o0Clay|pigeoN0o offline]

G'day!


Zear, I'd be very interested in what other means there are to create heightfield maps.

Regarding MicroDEM, I provided a link to it in my initial post, but to be thorough about it I'll provide it once again:


Login: thiscould
Pass: befun

Seems that the original manufacturer of Bryce, Metacreations, has ceased with all graphics related products and sold them off to left and right and Bryce was sold to Corel!

For those interested in a TRIAL version of Bryce 5, heres the link to that:



To extend the TRIAL period of this program, have a look here: