Searching for a piece of software...

[channie]

Hey there, 1st post here,

I don't know it it's the right subforum to ask, but anyhow, here it is :

I'm writing some kind of tutorial covering the entire process of creating levels for Quake Wars (french), and i'm searching for a software able to do the following things :

- Import a heightmap

- Generate the geometry from heightmap

- Modify the geometry (elevation, smoothing...)

- Export modified terrain into heightmap

- Good workflow doing these operations is a plus, but not required.

The reason i'm doing this is when you create your 2D layout, you need to view it in 3D to foresee any problems regarding the balance with the elevations. You can then fix those problems in 3D and get the 2D heightmap to finalize your layout.

I don't bother whether this software is free or not.

Thank you for your time !

[KoKo5oVaR]

Chandl3r, the guy from halflife design and hl-parpaing, i can't believe it

[Sa74n]

how come you know the entire process of making a level for quake wars?

[PhilipK]

how come you know the entire process of making a level for quake wars?

Also, to your question, you could do all that with a lot of progs. For instance 3DS Max.

[Tailgunner]

Freeworld3d.org

Sucks thou, but still maybe helps you

[Sindwiller]

I'd recommend T.ED. It has some nice terrain editing tools, you can import/export a heightmap, you can also create mega textures and lightmaps and the workflow isn't very bad at all. Well it's still kinda slow because of the crappy GUI implementation imho but it's worth for that price (29€).

Wfr, Sindwiller

PS. I'm not sure if you'll need something like that for Quake Wars. Maybe the guys will update the Q4Edit and add some terrain editing and texturing featueres. We'll see

[channie]

Thank you all for your inputs, very useful

Koko : nice to see you again dude

Satan : I don't know how works the internal process. However, by reading most of the articles and viewing the same amount of videos of Quake Wars, I've gathered enough info to start a level editing guide, that will be corrected once the game is out if I've ever written something wrong (and it'll probably happens...). The goal is to have some kind of tutorial explaining the level design rules, the balance basics, and the whole level building process,... that'll be useful for anyone planning to make a map for QW.

PhilipK : I've forgot to mention that the software I seek should be easy to learn & master. So far, any 3d modeling package does not fulfill the requirement since it requires a little bit of practicing before being ready to go. Also, 3DS or any modeling software is a bit slow to run since we speak about a map layout (so there's no need to support very big textures at this point) that needs to be quickly turned into 3D and converted back to 2D after editing.

Tailgunner : Freeworld3d seems to include all the features i wished. Will evaluate the product asap.

SindWiller : T.ED also seems to be the right kind of software i seek. Plus, it is lightweight, and not that expensive.

As far as I know, the terrain mesh is done with software like Lightwave, 3DS or Maya and then imported. I don't think it'll be editable within the QW's World Editor.

Some people pointed me Terragen, but its builtin tools are somewhat limited for terrain editing (i.e. no per-vertex manipulation).

[Squirrelly]

Terragen, L3DT, WorldMachine, GeoFrac

Of the four I listed, the most versatile is WorldMachine, but you can't compete with Terragen in terms of texturing. I've used all four when creating levels for Battlefield 1942 (which is similar as it uses a single texture map and height map for terrain), and I find those to be the best combination.

I would also highly recommend a tool called Editor42, which is specifically built for game terrain-making (Battlefield 1942) and utilizes per-vertex terrain manipulation. However, I am unable to find an appropriate download link as CoinCoin's (the creator) website is down, and it doesn't appear to be coming back up anytime soon. I'll ask around and see what I can dig up, though.

And just so you know, 99%, if not all, of terrain editors include a grayscale height map exporter (normally in a 16-bit .raw format), so importing in Quake Wars editor would be absolutely no trouble. You aren't going to be converting file formats, per-say, but just a 2D plane of various heights which will then generate a 3D world. A height map looks like the following if you do not already know:

Also, would you mind creating an English version of the tutorial? I for one would love to see an English version as I am pretty sure a lot of information will be useful. And if you need any further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me via MSN at sinistersquirrel@gmail.com and I'll be glad to help.

[Zacker]

When I am working with heigtmaps and terrains I usually do it this way.

1. Generate the terrain in Terragen, adjusting until I am satisfied. Be sure to use the 3d preview feature.

2. Export to PS and do a few adjustments here if needed, but adjustments can just as well be done in Terragen.

3. Important in Max and use your height map as displacement modifier.

4. Do the texturing via submaterials applied using your heightmap as mask. You may have to use an adjusted version of your heightmap for proper texturing.

[channie]

Terragen, L3DT, WorldMachine, GeoFrac

Of the four I listed, the most versatile is WorldMachine, but you can't compete with Terragen in terms of texturing. I've used all four when creating levels for Battlefield 1942 (which is similar as it uses a single texture map and height map for terrain), and I find those to be the best combination.

I've tried WorldMachine, but its internal soup (connecting entities ?) fears me :x

Will give the others a try, tho.

Also, would you mind creating an English version of the tutorial? I for one would love to see an English version as I am pretty sure a lot of information will be useful. And if you need any further assistance, don't hesitate to contact me via MSN at sinistersquirrel@gmail.com and I'll be glad to help.

Sure, thank you

I'll contact you in a few weeks once I'm done with the 1st part.

[Sindwiller]

I cant identify me with the workflow of WorldMachine. I generally dont like procedural techniques, especially geometry creation. Procedural techniques are very unhandy, primarily because you cannot know what product you'll become. 2D heightmap-editor's are also very unhandy due to the same reason i dislike procedural terrain-creators.

I gonna use T.ED for my purposes as a terrain editor to create heightmaps for the CA3DE engine. The most helpful feature for me will maybe be the megatexture.

Wfr, Sindwiller

[Sa74n]

cant tell a lot but it might be worth checking out world machine.

[Squirrelly]

Just FYI Sindwiller, it isn't a proper 'megatexture' as with Quake Wars. Megatexturing is a programming technique that addresses resource limitation and handles textures wonderfully. All it does is produce a color map, and an ugly one if I may so myself. You are a lot better off with self-texturing and using Terragen as a base as it's results are normally a lot higher of quality.