How to select terrain editor?

Hi all,

At this moment, there are 5 main terrain editors for Blitz3D:
1.ALE
2.Panorama
3.TerrEd Pro
4.MapCrafter (no demo)
5.T.ED Advanced terrain editor

All seems to have similar functions.
Which one is recommended?

*lol* You really should make a list with all the tools you have dug out so far! This could be a funny little article. "Some of the worst tools for game development ever made..."

Some people still make fantastic heightmap based terrains just with photoshop...

Many people use editors like these and find them very useful, so go TROLL someplace else.

In answer to your question sammy, they all do far more than a simple heightmap allows, and those you have listed above provide a realtime platform to edit an outside world in wysiwyg. Some make it easy to place props like buildings and trees if thats what you want to do. They also allow you to correct errors very easily (eg, you get a gap under a house where the terrain isnt right). Some of them also provide ways of setting up properties for entities and world dynamics like weather and particles. I recommend trying the demos (and get some export samples) and see which is most suitable for what you want to do.

However, as Taumel stated with such un-deserved arrogance, a simple heightmap etc is sometimes sufficient and can produce perfectly good results if used correctly and is all thats needed. You do however get a lot more added control over your world with an editor (especially those that allow for world & prop elements like "properties" if needed). If you are interested in heightmap generators either to use as-is or in conjuction with an editor, take a look at "world machine", its v'good (tho a bit complicated at first :).

hey danman
I take it you need to use a B3d model and not a heightmap to use blended textures on a terrain.
Also can you create roads with Ted?
DOes it texture high parts of a terrain with a rocky texture?

If you mean vertex alpha blending then you need a mesh at some point. You can also use 'alphamaps' to generate the terrain in-game to save on filesize so you dont NEED to export a mesh if you dont want to.
Ted it can generate both height/color/alphamaps and models(X,b3d,dbo(v6beta)) either using vertex alpha or large textures. It can also import a variety of heightmaps including world machine raw. There are several ways to create roads etc. and there is an autotexture feature that allows you to texture on either height or slope conditions (or both) -or you can paint it on yourself.

Thank you for recommendation.

Np, although I recommend trying them all, as theyre all different in some way.

Hi D4NM4N,

Just noticed from your signature that you are using "T.ED Advanced terrain editor".
It has free upgrade. Is it easy and powerful?

:)

Yes it does have free upgrades.
I designed and co-wrote T.Ed so i wouldnt feel comfortable going on about it too much (i dont want to give you a big fat sales pitch :P ) Just try it and see if its what you want, but i do reccommend trying the others as they all have unique features, depending on what it is you want to do.

Just got Mapcrafter today. It's on sale for more than half off the suggested retail price, it takes a little getting used to how to get best results with(at least for me) but I like it. Recommended bangferbuck.

Sammy,

I think perhaps you could add 3D World Studio to your list as its very powerful in the terrain domain as well as the level construction domain. Just a thought.



IPete2.