CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE
CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE
CREATING AN IMAGINARY FRACTAL LANDSCAPE
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Let's start by creating a completely new random landscape.
Click on the Frac button on the Middle Control Panel. You will
notice the Lower Control Panel change to become the Fractal Lower
Control Panel. Located on the Fractal Lower Control Panel are
several buttons and two numerical gadgets.
The Random button causes a random landscape to be generated.
Clicking on the Island button prior to clicking on the Random
button will cause the generated landscape to have peaks
surrounded by lower elevations. The peaks can be made into
islands by adjusting the sea level (see Chapter 4: Sea).
Landscapes that are generated without the Island button selected
look like they were cut from a piece of terrain.
Click on the Random button and notice the numerical gadget right
below.
You can regenerate this identical landscape at any time by
remembering the state of the Island button and the number located
in the numerical gadget right below the Random button. To
regenerate a landscape that was created earlier, just set the
Island button, click on the numerical gadget, enter the number
and press the ENTER key.
The FrDim numerical gadget is used to change the vertical scale
and roughness of the mountains and hills on the random landscape.
Larger values generate taller and rougher landscapes, while
smaller values generate flatter and smoother landscapes. Changing
FrDim value does not affect the current landscape, only
landscapes generated after the new value has been entered. This
value is also used by the Fractlz button when determining the
amount of fractalization to be performed on an existing
landscape.
FRACTALIZE YOUR LANDSCAPE
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The Frctlz button is used to change the roughness of the current
landscape. Clicking on it causes Vistapro to fractalize the
landscape (add detail). It uses the number in the FrDim numerical
gadget to determine the amount of fractalization to be done on
the landscape. Low values smooth the landscape, while higher
values cause the landscape to become rougher.
The buttons right below the Fractlz button are the fractal
divisor. These button determine the scale where fractalization
occurs. If the "1" button is selected, then the fractal detail
will be added at a very small scale, whereas if the "8" button is
selected the landscape will look much rougher and may not even
resemble the original landscape.
Fractalizing at fractal divisor "1" is useful for adding small
details after enlarging a landscape. Fractalizing is also good
for adding detail to landscapes that don't have much detail of
their own.
TO STRETCH A LANDSCAPE
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Use the Stretch button to vertically stretch an existing
landscape. This button causes peaks to grow taller and valleys to
grow deeper. The scale at which this happens is controlled by the
Fractal Divisor buttons immediately above the Stretch button.
Smaller values cause only the smallest features to be stretched,
whereas larger values cause the larger features to be stretched.
You will need to experiment a bit to find the settings that are
most to your liking. Take some time and generate some landscapes
using different settings.
TURNING YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN......
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and other not so drastic alterations.
By entering a number into the VScale numerical gadget (located on
the Middle Control Panel) the currently loaded landscape can be
re-scaled. So, for example, if you enter a value of 2.0 into the
VScale gadget, then the landscape will become twice as tall. A
value below 1.0 causes the landscape to become flattened.
Entering a -1.0 causes the landscape to flip over (become
inverted).
Try entering different VScale values. Try scaling up the
landscape so a mountain will exceed 32000 meters and then scaling
it back down again. This will resulting in a pit in the top of
the mountain. Add a lake in the pit at the top of the mountain.
Now enter a VScale value of -1.0. As you can see, some pretty
interesting things can be done with the VScale option.
Vertical scaling can be used to give relatively boring landscapes
dramatic features.
ENLARGING YOUR LANDSCAPE
------------------------
Vistapro has an option which allows you to enlarge a portion of
the landscape so it fills the entire topographic area.
Click on the Enlarge button located on the Middle Control Panel.
You will see a box that follows the mouse cursor around the
screen.
Pick a spot on the topographical map, and click the left mouse
button.At this point, a requestor will open asking you to select
either the Interpolate (average) or Duplicate mode. Choosing the
Interpolate mode will result in a smooth transition between
elevation points. The Duplicate mode will result in a coarse or
step effect.
After enlarging a portion of the landscape, it's a good idea to
fractilize it to regain that natural look. Try fractalizing at a
fractal dimension of 100 to 200 with the fractal divisor set to
"1" after each enlargement.
SMOOTH YOUR LANDSCAPE
---------------------
With the Smooth button, the power of erosion is at your finger
tips. Clicking on the Smooth button will remove the harsher, more
jagged edges of your landscape, often improving the landscapes
appearance. You can click on the Smooth button as many times as
you like, but remember, each time you use it your landscape is
eroded even more.
