Hey. I have just a simple question. What is the practical application of heightmaps? Surely there''s no performance issue; either way you have to render the model. And making a full 3D model of the level allows you to put in more details (and texturing information). What is the advantage of using a heightmap to define a level?

Well, in my opnion, it makes for an easy way to defie terrain characteristics without requiring level editing software to edit them.

simple to generate by hand. simple use of greyscale height map pic. but the issue is ram. load 32x32, just for example. load and unload depending on need.

Bobby

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Original post by BGCJR
to generate by hand

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Have you ever tryed to generate a heightmap by hand ? It''s really difficult !
Heightmaps, in my mind, are better for satelitte pics or so, they can also be a good and simple way to export data from an editor, for example 3ds Max contains functionnalties to transform "terrain objects" (or something like that) in heightmap

Have you ever tryed to make a level in a 3d editor like 3ds max?
I''d much rather use GIMP and make a heightmap..

You can create random terrain using a heightmap.

you can get proggies to generate cool heightmaps for you. The one I like, believe it or not, is a battlefield 1942 editor It seems to generate nice terrains!

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Have you ever tryed to make a level in a 3d editor like 3ds max?

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Yes, I already tried. I dont remember exactly how, i was reading a book, but I did edit some kind of height-curves (level lines), then 3ds generated the surface height-colored. The only thing to be done was to export a image from the top view and to convert colors to grayscale.

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I''d much rather use GIMP and make a heightmap..

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I''m curious to see this ! Try to draw hills, mountains, canions and so this way !

strider44: I''m sure the battlefield 1942 editor is very good, the only problem is that it needs battlefield 1942 , I downloaded it, but I dont have the game !

i make heightmaps by hand all the time. i just create a square grayscale pic in photoshop and paint away! black is ground zero and white is the top of the world. using gaussian blur helps make things nice and smooth! render->clouds also works well.

yep, render clouds does job nicely.