Using Mosaic Creator Version 1.0
From Multiverse
| Multiverse Tools |
|
Overview • Installing |
| Tools UI References |
| Working with Terrain |
|
About Terrain • Using L3DT Pro • Using EarthSculptor • Using PnP TerrainCreator • Importing Heightmap Terrain • Using Mosaic Creator |
| Other Tools |
The Mosaic Creator is a tool that takes in a large image, typically a heightmap or alpha map, and breaks it into multiple fixed-sized square image files (typically 512x512 pixels), used by the terrain system. In addition to producing the image tiles, the tool also creates a mosaic description file with a .mmf extension.
An image mosaic is a collection of tile images. Each tile is square, and its size must be a power of two. For example, a 2048 x 1024 pixel heightmap converted to a mosaic with 512 x 512 pixel tiles results in eight tiles in a 4 x 2 grid.
The Multiverse terrain system uses image mosaics to generate terrain. Heightmaps and alpha maps must be image mosaics. Loading the full maps would take a large amount of memory. By splitting the maps into smaller tiles (typically 512x512 pixels), the terrain system reduces memory consumption because it only loads the tiles it needs to display terrain currently visible .
For more details on how the terrain system works, see About Terrain.
For example, the diagram below shows a single large image being split into four smaller tiles.
Creating a mosaic
To create a mosaic:
- Load the source image by pressing the Browse button and selecting a PNG file. Once your image is loaded, you will see some information about the image in the Source Image Info box.
- Select a Tile Size. The default value of 512 pixels is a reasonable selection for most projects.
- Select the Meters Per Pixel for your map. This value is the number of meters in the world between each height value. If you heightmap is 1024x2048 pixels and you select 4 Meters Per Pixel, then the world map will be 4096x8192 meters when loaded into the World Editor or the Multiverse Client.
- The Default Pixel Value is currently not used.
- If your image is a heightmap, then check the Height Map checkbox. This will enable you to enter values for Minimum Altitude and Maximum Altitude. These values represent the height in meters of your terrain at the points where the heightmap is black(for minimum) and white(for maximum).
- Finally click the Create Mosaic button to create the mosaic file and the tile images.
