   WoW : mountains
  Any ideas of how moutains in the backscene of the following screenshot have been generated ?http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ScreenShot.aspx?ImageIndex=135&Set=0Can this be done with a height map ? Or should this be a algorithm (which one) such as midpoint displacment ? 
  Can''t be done with a heightmap, the geometry is pretty specifically created, and theres definatly some small overhangs in there.I''d guess its actually modeled by an artist. ;  Modeled terrain, or heightmap + decolayer (the mountains) would be my guesses. -* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-;  Just plain objects.  Single tile texture.  They are set ontop of the landscape.  Could be proceduraly generated from base model.  They are not apart of the skybox if thats what your curious about. ;quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster  Just plain objects.  Single tile texture.  They are set ontop of the landscape.  Could be proceduraly generated from base model.  They are not apart of the skybox if thats what your curious about.   I''m curious on proceduraly generated objects, but is it really one ?Ingenu/OrangyTang : can artists model all the terrain in such a huge landscape game ? I assumed when posting this question that the answer was no, that such terrain can only be created with tools making automatic generation with procedural functions.;quote:Original post by MV  I''m curious on proceduraly generated objects, but is it really one ?Ingenu/OrangyTang : can artists model all the terrain in such a huge landscape game ? I assumed when posting this question that the answer was no, that such terrain can only be created with tools making automatic generation with procedural functions.It depends on the size of the landscape, for example "Elder Scrolls 3 : Morrowind" world has been modeled by artists entirely, so it is possible.Another technic is to use a tile based approach, like old 2D games, but applied in 3D. Use pregenerated ''decor'' (house, tree, boulders...) over an heightmap, or just the ''decors'' next to each other (exactly like a 2D game). -* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-;  Landsacpes can be created in 2-pass method. First artists create very loose verison of terrain. Just the main features like hills and rivers. Then computer creates detailed veron from this. It adds high details like bumps and rocks in the ground, simulates erosion and stuff like that. You could even add some fractal detail at runtime. This way you can have huge and detailed terrains that look like they were created by artist.   You should never let your fears become the boundaries of your dreams. 