Terrain Model Filetype

(Boktor) #1

I’m following some tutorials for making a terrain and megatexture: A Simple First Terrain, A Simple First Megatexture and Hozz’s Guide.

I have a terrain and a megatexture created, but I started out with a .obj terrain which seems to be okay according to the tutorials.

Then I found read that for terrain “the final product needs to be a triangulated LightWave object (.lwo) for use in the game.”

If I wanted to release this map would I have to convert my .obj to a .lwo somewhere down the line?

If it helps I am using Earthsculptor and Blender 2.44.

(Donnovan) #2

Your terrain mesh dont need to be released along with the map. When you compile the map, the terrain goes inside the files .procb and cmb, so for the release, you can remove it from the models folder.

(Boktor) #3

Ok so once I have a working terrain model and megatexture I’m done with that part, no file conversions needed?

Also, It takes me like 5 minutes to load up my map in editworld is that normal?

(king_troll) #4

convert your terrain to lwo, and the filesize will be 100kb and not a 12mb obj

(Scrupus) #5

[QUOTE=Boktor;383340]Ok so once I have a working terrain model and megatexture I’m done with that part, no file conversions needed?
[/QUOTE]

Yes, you can use several formats for the terrain model - .obj, .lwo and .ase.

I’m using.ase, as is seem to give better result for qw terrians than .obj (never tried lwo).You can find ASE exporter for Blender 2.44 here:’

http://www.katsbits.com/tools/#ase

5 minutes to load sounds a bit long - how many polygons does it have?

(Donnovan) #6

I used OBJ terrain with no problem. But with the mapping process going on, i needed to do some terrain edit that produced small triangles that OBJ UV cannot handle. The problem is showed on this image:

This only happens because the vertices of the triangles are too much near. ASE format dont have this problem.

(.Chris.) #7

Whatever format you use you need to have a triangulated mesh. Convert the mesh to triangulated through your modelling package. Exporting to .ase will triangulate the mesh for you anyway but you don’t control where the tris are made this way, better to do it before hand.

(Boktor) #8

Scrupus - I’m not really familiar with Blender, where can I see the polygon count? It has 222065 vertices and 442080 faces if that helps. It’s 16384x16384 and 60MB.

(Scrupus) #9

400k faces, thats a lot - you should reduce it by at least 10x, 40k faces or so. Look for the decimator tool in Blender, it’s described im Hozz’s guide I think. Or use Meshlab or something else to reduce it.

This is probably why it takes so long to load it. Such a big terrain will also increase compile time and be heaver for the engine to render.

(Boktor) #10

Ah that makes sense. I had a feeling 60MB was strangely large for a terrain mesh. I’ll post results when I get to it

(Scrupus) #11

Yeah 60MB is a bit much, it should be more like 2-10MB, depending on size and format :slight_smile:

Even if it’s probably easier to decimate directly in Blender, I’d like to link to this Meshlab tutorial as an example, so you see how it works:

http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php/20529-Meshlab-Decimation?highlight=meshlab

(Violator) #12

[QUOTE=Donnovan;383358]I used OBJ terrain with no problem. But with the mapping process going on, i needed to do some terrain edit that produced small triangles that OBJ UV cannot handle. The problem is showed on this image:

This only happens because the vertices of the triangles are too much near. ASE format dont have this problem.[/QUOTE]

Thats interesting, I use obj and get these artifacts with small triangles - will have to give ASE a go :slight_smile:

(Boktor) #13

UPDATE:

Here’s my basic process for creating terrains right now.

  1. Create a heightmap using some program. It doesn’t really matter. Worldmachine for example does the job nicely.
  2. Import the heightmap into Earthsculptor and export it as .obj (alternatively I could just create my terrain right in Earthsculptor)
  3. Since Earthsculptor gives me high-poly meshes I use meshlab for decimation
    Note: Scrupus’ link for Meshlab Decimation suggests doing Filters->Remeshing […]->Quadratic Edge Collapse Decimation, but that seems to wreak havoc on flat areas when I try it. Below is a pic showing what I mean. However, Filters->Remeshing […]->Cluster Decimation seems to work nicely, so I’m going with that for now.


I’ll keep you guys updated on any progress.

(Donnovan) #14

Can you choose a lower poly density when exportimg from earthsculptor?

(king_troll) #15

why would you want to spend £4000 on a few applications to make a terrain, use terragen 2 its free, and alot better then earthsculptor

if you make a basic terrain in blender or lighwave etc… you convert the terrain to a heightmap and import it into terragen, or with some messing around, you can just open the lwo… then add some erosion

using a generator to make a terrain, limits you to making maps that end up with nothing what you wanted

(Donnovan) #16

To my last map i did the terrain in Blender.

I have a small Earthsculptor experience, and Blender sculpt tools are mostly similar to Earthsculptor ones, i believe.

What i like in Blender is that you can choose the initial poly density of the flat terrain (a low poly density), and increase the poly density (subdivide) on areas you want to make details, mountains, etc.

You dont have to mind about tiny detail like erosion. You can apply your blend terrain to World Machine to generate erosion masks for the megatexture.

The only open arest is that erosion (that i do in World Machine) change the terrain layout, and at date i do not transport that change to my terrain, i just use the erosion masks for the megatexture. Would be nice to transport some of this change to the terrain, without hurting the nicely organized poly on the Blender terrain.

(king_troll) #17

if you make a basic flat hill terrain in blender and just select a few point and move them upwards, with absolute no detail, you can use erosion level in terragen to make the detail and make the model look like a terrain, while the actual terrain model is roughly the same as you made to make a map and enviroment on

(Donnovan) #18

This erosion, sadly, will not match the World Machine erosion. This last one simulate a real erosion process, that is different from EarthSculptor erosion tool.

(king_troll) #19

terragen 2 is a whole new ballgame and nothing like 0.8 or 0.9, which are just now used to render new textures


(king_troll) #20

terragen 2 is a whole new ballgame and nothing like 0.8 or 0.9, which are just now used to render new textures


you can use TG2 to make new skyboxes and domes

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