Crazybump

[Thor_s_Hammer]

Hello (first post hehe) !

I don't know anything in island creation in ArmA, but I read every where that you need a Heightmap to create an island. So here a software in devellopement named CrazyBump : http://www.crazybump.com/

Rapid description : it's a software who create heightmap, normalmap, specularitymap and occlusionmap from a single photography.

So here is a screenshot of what can be seen with GE somewhere in the Nevada desert :
Base texture (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testheightmap2kz5.png)

Crazybump will compute the image, and will provide this kind of picture :
Heightmap (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testheightmap2dispjg5.jpg)

A 3D preview is also available :
3Dpreview (http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testheightmap2renduev2.jpg)

Of course there limitation with this kind of software, if there is darker zone due to the vegetation, the trick will work a little badly. But with mountain, dune or canyon, it will be outstanding, and will increase the detail of the elevation, because it's as precise as the base image. There is two modes, the base normalmap creator, and 3d shape analysis, so don't forget to compute the last mode after had opened the base image.

Bye, I hope it will help you all.

[hypno toad]

It generates bumpmaps, that will come in handy for textures artists I think.

I might start using it depending on how it works.


The heightmap must be a .PNG to work though, hopefully it does that.



EDIT:

Whoa, I just tried it, it should work well for visitor, if you resize the original picture well. This will make applying sat maps easy as hell. No resizing or anything, because you actually start with the sat map, and the heightmap is built off the pic.

[Thor_s_Hammer]

I 've just made a test with a 3d software, with the bumpmap provided by Crazy bump as a displacement map, here's the result :

render (http://www.megaupload.com/fr/?d=1IXKOYTS)