cajomi
13.February2007, 07:08
downloadlink:
www.cajomi.de/Up/GeoControlAlpha_Build8_Setup.exe (http://www.cajomi.de/Up/GeoControlAlpha_Build8_Setup.exe)
Changes:
The number of filters is unlimited
You can now zoom in and out by pressing the middle mouse button and dragging the mouse
The 2D view is centered and has a grey background (looks much better now!)
Added:
Selections
These are the most advanced selections you will find. All selections can be combined, with three methods and exported. Additional to the usual selections
height and slope, GeoControl offers a
Improved orientation selection: you will see, this really works!
Relative selection: The first software which offers this selection type. You can select points, according to there relative position to the surrounding points. This makes it possible to select ridges or hollows.
Selection by roughness: Yes this is realised, you can select rough or smooth parts. That does not mean, high or low slopes, but really rough
The filters can be restricted to a selection. This offers a new wide range of landscapes. This new feature is not comparable to combining terrains with masks. The selections are calculated dynamically. That means, if you use a selection twice for different filters, the selection is new caculated for the second run and take into account the changes, which were made to the terrain. Also, this selections are calculated at every level, the filter, which uses this selection, is activated.
And best of all, it is very easy to use. (I hope so :-))
Flowmap-selector: You only need one flowmap selector. The maps are always used dynamically. At time, when using more erosions which produce flowmaps, the flowmaps of the erosions are mixed. The selection flowmap is always the actual flowmap, which was produced with the last erosion. This replaced the old overall/in/out system.
Valley/Slope Smoothing was replaced by "Smoothing". This is a general smoothing filter. You need to set the level values to 300 and the general strength slider to 150 for maximum effect. Use the selections to produce a valley or slope smoothing. When opening a preset, which used valley or slope smoothing, the smoothing filter is added, but you have to set the selection by yourself.
Noise filters: "Basic noise" and "Selective noise" - the "noise control" filter was removed. In general, als long a no selection is used, the "Selective Filter" is used. If a level is set to zero or a selection is used, outside the selection and in the zero level, the basic noise is used. So this allows to control the generation algorithm by selections.
A new control for the level adjustment. You will recognize it at once. This now really makes it a fun!
When a shape filters has used the "noise reduction", the levels of the noise are set according to the noise reduction, the noise reduction sliders
Isolines
This now introduces the next generation of terrain creation, with "Iso" lines.
This are not really "isohyphen", that would make to many problems, for the developer as well as for the artist.
The isolines define a marked part of the terrain. In this build, you can only define the height, where every isoline is fixed in the height. In the next build there will come some more features, which make this more comfortable, and give the isolines more functions, than only defining the height.
The isolines are organized in layers. This is very important. While the height of a isoline is set for every single line, the power, start level, end level and sharpness can be set for every layer . You find the isolines in the "terrain" panel. (The brush is still no usable, and I am more and more sure, it will be removed with this build.) The sliders have no value fields, will follow next build.
So what do the sliders:
Iso power: Set the influence of the height setting. The higher the power, the more the height of the terrain is influenced by the isoline layer. The slider starts with the level 4.
Iso area low: This sets the first level, where the isolines are taken into the terrain generation. The lower the level, the wider the area of influence is. The slider starts with the level 4.
Iso area high: This sets the last level, where the iso lines are taken into the terrain generation. The lower this value, the more random is in the final line. The higher the value, the sharper the lines appear.
Iso sharpness: This controls, whether the power of the isolines decrease with higher levels. The highest value means, the power does not decrease.
Iso height: Set the height of the isolines, which is drawn after setting this height. You can pick the height out the 2D view, with pressing the alt key. You must not left click, just moving the mouse while holding the alt key changes the height. This only works, if the "Pen" is enabled. You can see this at the green square above the pen buttuon.
The pen is activated by pushing the "Pen" button and deactivated by pushing it again.
The rubber is to correct a isoline.
The isolines are worked through in the row of the order, so the most bottom layer is taken as last and is so the topmost layer. For clear sharp formes, like rivers or ridges, the layer should be at the down part of the isolayer list.
If you rename a layer, this only stays, if you afterwards generate the terrain. If there follows no generation and you switch to project and back, the old name is still shown, because the values are not stored. The same with drawn or removed isolines.
To display the isolines, click in the layer list. Only the isolines, which are in this layer, are shown.
If you use the rubber, you will see, that the deleted parts look a bit smeary. This is, because the underlying terrain is shown without relief.
Have fun
Johannes Rosenberg
www.cajomi.de/Up/GeoControlAlpha_Build8_Setup.exe (http://www.cajomi.de/Up/GeoControlAlpha_Build8_Setup.exe)
Changes:
The number of filters is unlimited
You can now zoom in and out by pressing the middle mouse button and dragging the mouse
The 2D view is centered and has a grey background (looks much better now!)
Added:
Selections
These are the most advanced selections you will find. All selections can be combined, with three methods and exported. Additional to the usual selections
height and slope, GeoControl offers a
Improved orientation selection: you will see, this really works!
Relative selection: The first software which offers this selection type. You can select points, according to there relative position to the surrounding points. This makes it possible to select ridges or hollows.
Selection by roughness: Yes this is realised, you can select rough or smooth parts. That does not mean, high or low slopes, but really rough
The filters can be restricted to a selection. This offers a new wide range of landscapes. This new feature is not comparable to combining terrains with masks. The selections are calculated dynamically. That means, if you use a selection twice for different filters, the selection is new caculated for the second run and take into account the changes, which were made to the terrain. Also, this selections are calculated at every level, the filter, which uses this selection, is activated.
And best of all, it is very easy to use. (I hope so :-))
Flowmap-selector: You only need one flowmap selector. The maps are always used dynamically. At time, when using more erosions which produce flowmaps, the flowmaps of the erosions are mixed. The selection flowmap is always the actual flowmap, which was produced with the last erosion. This replaced the old overall/in/out system.
Valley/Slope Smoothing was replaced by "Smoothing". This is a general smoothing filter. You need to set the level values to 300 and the general strength slider to 150 for maximum effect. Use the selections to produce a valley or slope smoothing. When opening a preset, which used valley or slope smoothing, the smoothing filter is added, but you have to set the selection by yourself.
Noise filters: "Basic noise" and "Selective noise" - the "noise control" filter was removed. In general, als long a no selection is used, the "Selective Filter" is used. If a level is set to zero or a selection is used, outside the selection and in the zero level, the basic noise is used. So this allows to control the generation algorithm by selections.
A new control for the level adjustment. You will recognize it at once. This now really makes it a fun!
When a shape filters has used the "noise reduction", the levels of the noise are set according to the noise reduction, the noise reduction sliders
Isolines
This now introduces the next generation of terrain creation, with "Iso" lines.
This are not really "isohyphen", that would make to many problems, for the developer as well as for the artist.
The isolines define a marked part of the terrain. In this build, you can only define the height, where every isoline is fixed in the height. In the next build there will come some more features, which make this more comfortable, and give the isolines more functions, than only defining the height.
The isolines are organized in layers. This is very important. While the height of a isoline is set for every single line, the power, start level, end level and sharpness can be set for every layer . You find the isolines in the "terrain" panel. (The brush is still no usable, and I am more and more sure, it will be removed with this build.) The sliders have no value fields, will follow next build.
So what do the sliders:
Iso power: Set the influence of the height setting. The higher the power, the more the height of the terrain is influenced by the isoline layer. The slider starts with the level 4.
Iso area low: This sets the first level, where the isolines are taken into the terrain generation. The lower the level, the wider the area of influence is. The slider starts with the level 4.
Iso area high: This sets the last level, where the iso lines are taken into the terrain generation. The lower this value, the more random is in the final line. The higher the value, the sharper the lines appear.
Iso sharpness: This controls, whether the power of the isolines decrease with higher levels. The highest value means, the power does not decrease.
Iso height: Set the height of the isolines, which is drawn after setting this height. You can pick the height out the 2D view, with pressing the alt key. You must not left click, just moving the mouse while holding the alt key changes the height. This only works, if the "Pen" is enabled. You can see this at the green square above the pen buttuon.
The pen is activated by pushing the "Pen" button and deactivated by pushing it again.
The rubber is to correct a isoline.
The isolines are worked through in the row of the order, so the most bottom layer is taken as last and is so the topmost layer. For clear sharp formes, like rivers or ridges, the layer should be at the down part of the isolayer list.
If you rename a layer, this only stays, if you afterwards generate the terrain. If there follows no generation and you switch to project and back, the old name is still shown, because the values are not stored. The same with drawn or removed isolines.
To display the isolines, click in the layer list. Only the isolines, which are in this layer, are shown.
If you use the rubber, you will see, that the deleted parts look a bit smeary. This is, because the underlying terrain is shown without relief.
Have fun
Johannes Rosenberg