License Change
You may have noticed on the TerreSculptor download page that the pre-beta/beta license terms have been changed. This change allows for use of the pre-beta/beta software for both commercial and non-commercial use.
This change was made since the final release version is still at least another six to twelve months away, as we continue to complete the software and add additonal features for the first version release.
Please note that the pre-beta/beta license change does not affect the final release Editions license terms.
Updates
The next few updates will typically only include small bug fixes and a few minor features, as most of our time is currently being spent on completing two of the major features: the World Stack and Mask/Weightmap Editor.
1. World Stack
The world stack is similar to the Modifier Stack in 3DS Max or the object layer stack in PhotoShop, or in an abstract way similar to the device node and wiring system in other heightmap generator software.
The world stack contains a layered list of the objects used to build a complex terrain system, which includes blending multiple heightmaps; inserting Adjust/Modify/Transform functions with persistent property editing; using masks to confine modifications to localized areas of the terrain; and future features such as brushes and splines to create custom terrain layouts.
The file menu items for Open and Save are used to open/save the world stack and application state from/to files on disk.
2. Mask/Weightmap Editor
The mask and weightmap editor is a complete painting and editing editor for grayscale masks and weightmaps that has features similar to PhotoShop. The m/w editor is used to create the composite layer files for UDK, and to edit masks for use with the world stack, and weightmaps for use with game engine terrains.
Future Features
I have recently been looking at OpenCL to determine its viability for the simulation functions in TerreSculptor, such as the Erosions and some of the future planned features. OpenCL provides full multi-threading and can utilize the GPU CUDA/Stream processing power to achieve workstation performance with consumer hardware. Simulations that normally require minutes can instead run in milliseconds. Leveraging this technology in TerreSculptor may provide geomorphology simulations that execute in near-real-time.
-