Mapbox is an amazing plugin within Houdini. It allows you to download elevation data (heightfields) from anywhere in the world along with a color map.
You just zoom to whatever region of the world and click download.
See below for a little quick demo.
We’ve discussed Terrain.party before, but I wanted to show it here for scouting and then baking out the heighmap to create simple geometry to work with.
Did a little exploration. I was demoing World Machine to my class and thought why not do something with it again. I wanted to test using VDB volumes in Redshift so why not combine the two. I’ll do another post detailing using VDB volumes. This is by far not finished but a fun exploration.
Using World Creator with Height fields, specifically using terrain.party maps.
There are a bunch of cool software for terrain generation and they keep getting better. I’ll be focusing on software that is mostly using height maps and procedurals. Continue reading “Terrain Creation Software”
A quick way to pre-visualize terrains: terrain.party
It’s a great website that allows you to download height fields of anywhere in the world. I brought these into Maya on a simple plane and added a texture deformer to visualize the terrain. You can then manipulate these to make your own customizable worlds or download higher resolution DEM height maps.
DEM files are great for creating a basis in reality for environments. There is a little big of a work flow to use them but it is totally worth it. First, go to website to download the dem data. I use National Maps. They revamped the website so it took me a little bit to get used to the new gui. At first glance there is a ton of different ways to get data. Easiest way is click “Maps” in center image.
This takes you to the download area. You get a map for all of the US (National map is only USA, there are other sites to use for rest of the world). Pick an area you’d like to explore. I’ve used Google Earth to do my location scouting and then come to National Maps after. Continue reading “Satellite Imagery DEM Files”
Studio EB 