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Something I've Noticed About Surface Generation

AdamQuarkAAdamQuark
edited February 2010 in AstroSynthesis General
I've noticed that an awful lot of worlds have this gawd-awful huge circular formation when I tell Astro to create a surface map.

I figure it's supposed to be a crater, but it seems to appear on a lot of planets. I'm figuring that there is just a small dataset of surface maps that only vary by coloration.

Is there a way to use elevation maps from other packages? Specifically, Fractal Terrains? I know that I can replace the mapping function to call Fractal Terrains - and this can be handy - but, unfortunately, the Gaia map function of FT is always Terran in nature. In other words, if the planet is 90% ice-covered, FT still shows ice caps at the poles.

But, I figure, if I can import a planet elevation map from FT and then color it using Astro's routines, that will provide a quick fix.

And, I'd not have so many planets with the same meteoric scarring...

Comments

  • Ed_NBOSEd_NBOS
    FWE can import terrain data (see the help file for how). Or, you can assign any image you can find/create as the surface map.
  • AdamQuarkAAdamQuark
    Ed_NBOS wrote:
    FWE can import terrain data (see the help file for how). Or, you can assign any image you can find/create as the surface map.

    Danke!

    I knew about the image assignation ability, and I was using Fractal Terrains to build some maps, until I learned that the image FT makes - in Gaia mode - is not representative of actual climate conditions. It is simply Earth's climate applied to the new planet's topography.

    However, I was not aware that you could input terrain data - I'll have to look that up.
  • schutzesschutze
    >I've noticed that an awful lot of worlds have this gawd-awful huge circular formation when I tell Astro to create a surface map.

    is there a way to avoid this ?

    >I'm figuring that there is just a small dataset of surface maps that only vary by coloration.

    Is this correct ?
  • schutzesschutze
    I generated a surface map for a world then changed the temperature (from -24 to -6) and used the 'use existing data' option to regenerate the surface map

    the preview in astrosynthesis shows pretty much the same archipelago at the equator but with much less icecap (good)

    then I opened it in FWE and the icecaps are back to their original location (bad)

    How can I get around this ?

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