Terrain¶

Inherits: Mesh
C++ type: Terrain

Description¶

Generates and renders a heightmap-based terrain mesh using a chunked LOD (Level of Detail) approach. The terrain is built from a greyscale heightmap texture where brighter pixels correspond to higher elevation. An optional blend map controls how up to four detail textures (base + red, green, blue channels) are layered across the surface.

The terrain geometry uses a clipmap style grid hierarchy (rootGridSize × rootGridSize quads per patch, levels LOD rings), which keeps the polycount constant regardless of terrain size.

Properties¶

Methods¶

Property details¶

size¶

• Setter: void setSize(float size)
• Getter: float getSize() const

World-space width and depth of the terrain in units. The terrain is always square.

maxHeight¶

• Setter: void setMaxHeight(float maxHeight)
• Getter: float getMaxHeight() const

The maximum elevation in world units corresponding to a fully white (255) heightmap pixel.

resolution¶

• Setter: void setResolution(int resolution)
• Getter: int getResolution() const

Number of heightmap samples read per axis. Higher values produce more detailed terrain but use more memory.

textureBaseTiles / textureDetailTiles¶

• Setter/Getter: setTextureBaseTiles / getTextureBaseTiles, setTextureDetailTiles / getTextureDetailTiles

How many times the base and detail textures tile across the full terrain. Higher values produce smaller, more repetitive texture patterns; lower values stretch the texture.

rootGridSize¶

• Setter: void setRootGridSize(int rootGridSize)
• Getter: int getRootGridSize() const

The number of quads per side of each LOD patch. Larger values produce coarser transitions between LOD levels.

levels¶

• Setter: void setLevels(int levels)
• Getter: int getLevels() const

Number of LOD rings around the viewer. More levels cover a larger distance with the same polycount.

Method details¶

createTerrain¶

• bool createTerrain()

Initialises the terrain geometry and GPU buffers. Must be called after setting the height map and before the terrain is rendered.

Terrain ground(&scene);
ground.setHeightMap("terrain/heightmap.png");
ground.setBlendMap("terrain/blendmap.png");
ground.setTexture("terrain/grass.png");
ground.setTextureDetailRed("terrain/rock.png");
ground.setTextureDetailGreen("terrain/sand.png");
ground.setTextureDetailBlue("terrain/snow.png");
ground.setSize(1000.0f);
ground.setMaxHeight(80.0f);
ground.createTerrain();

local ground = Terrain(scene)
ground:setHeightMap("terrain/heightmap.png")
ground:setBlendMap("terrain/blendmap.png")
ground:setTexture("terrain/grass.png")
ground:setTextureDetailRed("terrain/rock.png")
ground:setTextureDetailGreen("terrain/sand.png")
ground:setTextureDetailBlue("terrain/snow.png")
ground:setSize(1000)
ground:setMaxHeight(80)
ground:createTerrain()

setHeightMap¶

• void setHeightMap(const std::string& path)
• void setHeightMap(Framebuffer* framebuffer)

Sets the greyscale heightmap image. Each pixel's brightness maps linearly to height: black = 0, white = maxHeight. A framebuffer can be used for procedurally generated heightmaps.

setBlendMap¶

• void setBlendMap(const std::string& path)
• void setBlendMap(Framebuffer* framebuffer)

Sets the blend map that controls where detail textures appear. The RGB channels select textureDetailRed, textureDetailGreen, and textureDetailBlue respectively. Areas with no blend-map colour show the base texture.

setTextureDetailRed / setTextureDetailGreen / setTextureDetailBlue¶

• void setTextureDetailRed(const std::string& path)
• void setTextureDetailGreen(const std::string& path)
• void setTextureDetailBlue(const std::string& path)

Set the three detail layer textures. Each texture is used where the corresponding RGB channel of the blend map has a non-zero value.