Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Programs for Pixies 'Climates, applying Geoff's Cookbook at detail (some)'

  1. #1

    Tutorial Programs for Pixies 'Climates, applying Geoff's Cookbook at detail (some)'

    Greetings!

    Whenever I do world building I always end up blowing the project out of proportions and start playing around with tectonics, rain patterns and climates.
    My favourite tutorial to create ‘realistic’ climates is Pixies; Climates, applying Geoff's Cookbook at detail (some)

    A great step by step tutorial to go from an elevation map of a world to a complete climate map with ocean currents and weather patterns.
    Though, after having done the latter steps of the tutorial more than a handful of times they start being a tiny bit tedious.
    So, here’s two programs to help automate some of the steps. Specifically the heat map and climate map generation. Hopefully this can be of use for you out there who like playing around with climates for your worlds.

    Link to programs




    Start of tutorial:

    Alright, so, two specific things to keep in mind for these tools;

    • All images used need to be without an alpha channel. Meaning if you’re using photoshop you need to flatten the image before exporting it. A slight inconvenience that will probably be changed in the future but is much better than the alternative of manually doing the work.
    • Any projection can be used with this program if the area outside the map area is either completely black or completely white (A.i. 000000 or ffffff).


    Also, as I am used to photoshop that is what I will be using to create the files for the tool to use. Although any image editing program should be able to create the files required.

    This is the world I will be using the in the tutorial. It’s using a Hammer-Aitoff projection but as stated above it does not matter.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	1.png 
Views:	72 
Size:	248.1 KB 
ID:	121562

    Specifically, I will be using this area in the far east of the landmasses.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	2.png 
Views:	63 
Size:	66.2 KB 
ID:	121563

    Part 1.
    In order to start the tutorial, you should have followed Pixies tutorial all the way to step 5. The difference is that you need to add a black background so that it isn’t transparent. When you’re done you should have a rain layer looking something like this.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	3.png 
Views:	38 
Size:	28.8 KB 
ID:	121564 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	4.png 
Views:	51 
Size:	25.3 KB 
ID:	121565
    Rain file for January and Rain file for July


    For the program to properly function the specific values for the different rainfall should be:

    Name RGB #
    Dry (0, 0, 0) #000000
    Low (100, 100, 100) #646496
    Moderate (161, 161, 212) #a1a1d4
    Wet (198, 198, 237) #c6c6ed
    Very Wet 1 (220, 220, 248) #dcdcf8
    Very Wet 2 (234, 234, 252) #eaeafc
    Very Wet 3 (242, 242, 254) #f2f2fe


    But this should already be the case if you’ve followed Pixies tutorial. Once you have something like the rain map you should flatten and export it.




    Part 2.

    For part two you need to bring up Pixies step 6 part one. This part is basically identical except for a few things. For starters you need to create a base layer covering all the map and fill it with the colour #808080 (128, 128, 128).
    The layers you create for the different factors need to be filled with the colour #80808 (8, 8, 8) where you want the factor to have an effect. Otherwise it should be transparent as seen in the image below. A very important thing is to make so that all the factors that cools the area (continental influence for example) should be set to the blending mode “subtract”. Any layer that adds to the temperature should be set to “linear dodge (add)”.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	2,5.PNG 
Views:	46 
Size:	71.4 KB 
ID:	121566

    I organize these files in a set of folders. A main folder called “Temperature factors” containing 3 folders and the base layer. The three folders are divided into the January factors, the July factors and the both season factors. If you split the files up this way, then it is important that you set the blending mode of the folders to “Pass Through” or the add and subtract will not function.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	5.png 
Views:	41 
Size:	5.1 KB 
ID:	121567

    When the “both season” factors and one of the seasons factors are activated you should have something like this.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	6.png 
Views:	40 
Size:	63.4 KB 
ID:	121568

    You also need a base heat map for the generator to apply the factors upon. Again, follow Pixies tutorial. I made mine by taking a 1:2 image and create the 11 equally large horizonal stripes and filled them with the relevant temperature colours. Afterwards I transformed them to the used projection using a program such as G.Projector (free) or Global Mapper (Other mapping software’s are available). Just make sure that there are no gradient transition between the different temperature levels after transformation as the program is dependent on specific colour codes.

    The most important is that you use the following colours for the temperatures.

    Name (RGB) #
    Extremely Cold (208, 254, 255) #d0feff
    Very Cold (48, 104, 152) #306898
    Cold (48, 204, 152) #30cc98
    Mild (208, 255, 104) #d0ff68
    Warm (255, 204, 0) #ffcb00
    Hot (255, 52, 0) #ff3400
    Very Hot (208, 0, 0) #d00000


    For me the world baseline temperature map in January looks like this;

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	7.png 
Views:	59 
Size:	7.9 KB 
ID:	121569

    For July you can just flip it upside down. Zooming in on the area I’m using as an example I will have something like this;

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	8.png 
Views:	31 
Size:	13.8 KB 
ID:	121570 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	9.png 
Views:	34 
Size:	15.0 KB 
ID:	121571
    January baseline temperature and July baseline temperature


    I overlayer the landmass border for reference. Shouldn’t be there in your version. Again, flatten and export.

    Now it’s time to use the first generator. Wohoo!

    So, the program first asks for a baseline heat map, and will allow you to browse for it on your computer. Once selected, pick the factors file corresponded to the season.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	10.png 
Views:	42 
Size:	108.5 KB 
ID:	121572

    Once you’ve done this for both the seasons, this should be the result.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	11.png 
Views:	34 
Size:	21.1 KB 
ID:	121573 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	12.png 
Views:	39 
Size:	25.8 KB 
ID:	121574
    Heat map output January and Heat map output July


    Some lines and transitions may look sharp but as Pixie states, you can stop at any time and fix these to make the transition smoother before continuing. Will make the final product look fancier.




    Part 3.

    Now for the actual climate generation. This part is very straight forward. For this step you need all files we’ve created so far. The heat and rain maps for both seasons, as well as a map defining the land. This map is purely black and white, where solid black defines land and white defines water.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	13.png 
Views:	42 
Size:	51.1 KB 
ID:	121575

    This is simply a mask which is used to clip the climate map to only show climates where land is.
    When you launch the climate generator it will first ask for the black and white base land map, then the temperature map for January, July and then the rain map for January followed by July.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	14.png 
Views:	30 
Size:	102.5 KB 
ID:	121576

    When the images have been selected for the program a command prompt should open and display the progress of the generation.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	15.png 
Views:	49 
Size:	33.5 KB 
ID:	121577

    After this you should have a complete climate map. As you can see some areas are black, they are areas that don’t fulfill any of the climate classifications and have to be filled in by hand.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	16.png 
Views:	71 
Size:	121.4 KB 
ID:	121578

    That concludes the guide. Thanks for the read!
    There were enough conditional statements in the program make any man go mad. I think I got them all right in the end but if there is some weird climate in an area that should not be there, then let me know. Might have missed a parenthesis.
    Last edited by Repporio; 04-11-2020 at 03:24 PM.

  2. #2
    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Québec
    Posts
    3,363

    Default

    To me, the hardest part has always been the winds and precipitation. That's the part that needs clarifications/improvements.

  3. #3

    Question

    Hy, I am trying to use your programs and I have one question, in step 3, you need to indicate if a layer increases or decreases temperature, how do you do that with milding influences?

  4. #4

    Question

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot (217).png 
Views:	43 
Size:	23.7 KB 
ID:	128601
    Can you help me with what I am doing wrong? I have next to zero coding experience.

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Azélor View Post
    To me, the hardest part has always been the winds and precipitation. That's the part that needs clarifications/improvements.
    Sorry for the slowest reply in history

    Yeah, I agree. But I personally really enjoyed messing around with the winds, currents and precipitations so automating the temperature and climate classification felt the most natural. Would love to go back and automate the other parts too but I'm not a climatologist so wouldn't be able to make it justice. Besides, while working on this generator I discovered your version, so might play around with that at some point instead.



    Quote Originally Posted by magrihu View Post
    Hy, I am trying to use your programs and I have one question, in step 3, you need to indicate if a layer increases or decreases temperature, how do you do that with milding influences?
    You have to use the "subtract" blending mode on the layer you want to have the cooling effect. Probably should've included an image of the blending modes in the original post.

    Originally made a video for the tutorial but wasn't happy with it so never released it. Here you go. Hope I was of any helped.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Photoshop_uI1iCbYqKr.png 
Views:	27 
Size:	21.0 KB 
ID:	128607

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by magrihu View Post
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Screenshot (217).png 
Views:	43 
Size:	23.7 KB 
ID:	128601
    Can you help me with what I am doing wrong? I have next to zero coding experience.
    Oh sorry. Your second message didn't show for some reason.
    Hmm, seems like the colour format is different in the images. Are you certain you flattened the image before you exported it?
    The alpha channel messes with the generator otherwise
    Last edited by Repporio; 02-26-2021 at 04:24 PM.

  7. #7

    Praise

    There is a mistake in the description, the color for the Extremely Cold, (208, 254, 255) It should be (208,255,255), at least that is what my program responds to.
    Im still figuring a few thing out, but your programs are a very great help. thanks again

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •