Fantasy Planet Painter · old-v1.0, public · first seen
The existing world map generation algorithm has some serious limitations, so the previous performance upgrade is the furthest we can go without major architecture changes - even so, it's very hard to extend its rendering capabilities.
The canvas-based painting method is also useful for non-spherical maps (aka. not world map) and a dedicated creation mode is needed to avoid artificial projection issues, e.g. for the case of World to Beyond DLC.
This update brings experimental 2D flat world authoring capability we've been developing, allowing creating 1:1 mapping from the canvas without additional projection.
“Flat Worlds” materially expands Fantasy Planet Painter beyond spherical planet generation into planar maps, which broadens the use cases: tabletop RPG maps, game-world terrain, regional maps, strategy-game maps, and users who simply do not need planetary projection.
Behind the scene, we are working on a complete rewrite of the old generation algorithms, and we hope to make it available once it's ready. As can be seen below, the rendering from the new algorithm is already very interesting!
This new world map generation algorithm is not shipped in the latest built - we expect to make the new improved world map generation algorithm available in a future update.
The 2D work mode is designed for localized regions, e.g. 8-64Km in size. The goal is to enable practical flat terrain authorization directly within FPP.
Preset color modes:
Altitude Based: Simple altitude based visualization - useful when combined with Relief Render visualization.
Wetness + Slope Based: A common way to add procedural details based on hydrology information.
Volcano + Lave: A neat theme from Divooka Heightmap Coloring update
Various other default color themes are provided: Savanna, Desert, etc.
View options:
Common options include: show heightmap, show water plane.
Enable hydrology: Creates inland lakes based on terrain topology.
Erosion: The 2D flat mode also supports a simulated natural erosion effect. Tip: Turns on Erosion and turn off water plane for some nice default look!
Visualization modes:
2D: Flat visualization with simple shading.
Relief Render: Best-effort 2D visualization with shadows.
Other notes:
Preview resolution: 512px (longest dimension).
Export resolutions: 1K, 2K, 4K.
Output and preview follows aspect ratio of canvas.
The output resolution specifies size of longest dimension.
There may still be rough edges while we gradually carve those out in future updates😆.
Here are some more images from the 2D mode, showcasing the erosion capability from Divooka's procedural terrain generation toolbox.
(Base Map)
(Water Plane Visualization)
(Wetness + Slope Based Color Theme)
(2D Relief Preview Render)
Below is the source canvas:
We've significantly changed main menu and viewport control to support both world map and 2D work spaces. The Options menu now changes dynamically, and viewport Zoom, Latitude and Longitude control also changes for 2D mode.
Menus:
Rename File to World
Rename Map to Options
Added Mode menu
The 2D flat mode is not deterministic and does not guarantee same result across zoom levels; The current implementation also do not guarantee same export result with a given seed. Due to effect of erosion simulation, export at various resolutions do not guarantee consistency - drastically different results may be observed especially between HD resolutions - we will expose simulation control in the future.
With the advent of 2D flat world creation, it becomes more apparent than ever that refined color control and fine detail editing (e.g. terrain flattening) is needed. We are aware of this limitation and will work on it as FPP improves.
This update is only available on Windows.
| Depot | New manifest | Previous manifest |
|---|---|---|
| 3336492 | 5149012480122843748 | — |
| 3336491 | 4239425187365732413 | — |
| 4444360 | 2648703030781609314 | — |