Terra Studios is a work in progress world builder. It allows the user to take heightmaps and convert them into .x meshes with ease. So far, the user can import 24-bit bitmaps as heightmaps and convert them into square meshes (1000x1000 at 10000 polys total). The meshes are then exported into .x form for future use.
A picture of the heightmap about to be converted...The heightmap is 200 by 200 pixels and stored as 24-bit.
The resulting four .x meshes loaded into Dark Basic Professional...
Each of the .x meshes as seen in the DirectX Mesh Viewer...
So far the largest heightmap I converted was 500x500 but I know that doesn't even began to strain the system's ram. The 500x500 produced 25 meshes and in the process of reading the bitmaps, exporting the meshes, and then loading the meshes into dbPro, the entire process took 86 seconds. Not too shabby for 250,000 polys huh? A pic of the 5x5 terrain in dbPro...
Now I working on a easier to use interface as well as realtime editing of the meshes. K, I'm out - Later -
Edit - Finally fixed image tags. Thanks Exeat, that worked
Formerly Konrad =) Gl and hf