Planetside Software Forums

General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: TheElectroKangaroo on August 04, 2012, 04:26:51 PM

Title: What actually happens if I resize a terrain?
Post by: TheElectroKangaroo on August 04, 2012, 04:26:51 PM
Like, if I get a large terrain from the internet, and resize it and have TG change the point spacing and whatnot, apart from a smaller terrain and faster 3d preview, is there anything else I lose from this process? If not, then I'll just resize all my big terrains to 513x513 and have done with it.
Title: Re: What actually happens if I resize a terrain?
Post by: Oshyan on August 04, 2012, 04:59:27 PM
Resizing will lose some of the detail of your terrain. The point spacing changes to maintain the same relative area representation of the terrain, but the actual number of points of detail is reduced. So essentially, lower resolution terrains will give you faster 3D preview and rendering, but at the cost of detail.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: What actually happens if I resize a terrain?
Post by: TheElectroKangaroo on August 05, 2012, 04:16:48 PM
Does the reverse happen if I up-size a terrain then? Do I get more detail?
Title: Re: What actually happens if I resize a terrain?
Post by: Oshyan on August 05, 2012, 04:26:55 PM
Not really, no. It's the same thing that happens when you resize a normal image in an image editor to a larger size - you get a "fuzzy" larger image. There's no way for an algorithm to create more "real" detail that isn't there in the original image or heightfield. Unless your intention is to add procedural detail on top of the enlarged terrain, and you fully understand the limitations of that approach, then it's not a good idea to resize a terrain to a higher resolution.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: What actually happens if I resize a terrain?
Post by: TheElectroKangaroo on August 08, 2012, 07:44:02 AM
Okay, thanks for your help *hug*.