An Open-Source Planetary Terrain generation tool

[D1060]

Greetins to all.

I have been, for a time, working on a tool that generates procedural planetary textures out of noise function, and applies some basic erosion algorithms into it. I have come to the point where I think I could share what I have for now, in case anyone of you find it of value.

I called it "WorldMaker". It's part fractal terrains, part wilbur.

https://github.com/d1060/WorldMaker/

It's made on Unity and currently only supports Windows.

Some Screenshots:



If you like it, or if you find any issue with it (there's bound to be some), please let me know. Also, if anyone would like to contribute to the code, drop me a message either here or on GitHub. I still plan to add some features and do some maintenance, but I would welcome any other pair of arms to help it grow.

Best regards to all.

[johnvanvliet]

adding some noise functions to get the mountains a bit better might be nice
this is what i am getting using Blender nodes

[OldSkoolRPG]

I was just searching for something like this! Definitely going to give it a try.

[D1060]

I have just added a few features to improve the variability of generated textures. I included the ability of using two different "layers" of noise each with different configurations, and the option of using "Domain Warping" noise instead of the raw "Fractal Browninan Motion" of Simplex Noise.

Latest release is 1.0.6



I am still not satisfied with the erosion algorithm. I am looking for something that can come close to wilbur, but that's easier said than done. Anyway, the coding persists.

[waldronate]

Which Wilbur algorithm are you interested in ?

[D1060]

Well, what I'd really like is the "incise flow" algorith, with the "precipition-based" erosion coming a close second.

[waldronate]

Incise Flow computes the number of cells upstream flow at each point, then does a logarithm on that count and subtracts it from the height. The flow map is computed by moving from the current cell towards the highest cell in the 8-way neighborhood, adding to a count at each point. This means that there is an upstream flow journey from each point on the surface. The results aren't quite correct, but are generally good enough.
A search for the term "precipiton" (note spelling) will get you the idea, but it's pretty much pick a random spot on the surface, locate the lowest neighbor, and move some percent of the difference between the two to the lower cell. Then move to the lowest point and keep going until you hit a pit or go out of the area of interest. This model is a simple cellular automaton, unlike Incise Flow.

[D1060]

I will try that out. Thanks a lot.

[D1060]

Thanks to your reply, waldronate, I managed to implement an algorithm that pretty much resembles a Wilbur Incise Flow. Enough that I can start playing around with it on my own. Much obliged.

[selden]

What are the minimum system requirements for the program?
How much RAM, how much video memory, etc?

I suspect it's too much for my laptop to handle: it shows a Unity logo, then the screen goes black and my audio system pops, then I see a blank, full-screen window with borders. Clicking on the X (exit) window decoration causes Windows to generate a popup which says the program is not responding.