This project provides a 3D visualuation of three types of terrain generation algorithms: Midpoint Displacement, Diamond Square, and Perlin Noise. These stochastic algorithms generate fractal landscapes and simulates Brownian motion (fractal Brownian motion in the case of Perlin Noise) in 3D. More information on these algorithms can be found in Algorithms.java.
The primary process in generating terrain lies in applying the terrain generation algorithms on a 2D array (matrix) containing elements of type Point, which represent a point in 3D space. The array is drawn to screen by projecting the points from 3D space to the XZ-plane. More information on effects and features implemented are below:
- One-point perspective is applied to the matrix to give the terrain an illusion of depth
- Luminance is achieved by setting a lower bound on rgb values of color to be set on terrain.
- Light direction and angle is implemented by calculating the surface normal to a triangle made by three adjacent Points in the main Point[][] matrix and calculating the dot product between this normal and the light vector represented as a Point.
- Rotation about the x and z axes is done by applying rotation matrices on the main Point[][] matrix (Note: although only the x and z coordinates are diplayed on the screen, the hidden y-value is used in creating the rotation effect)
Here are some examples runs for each algorithm:
Running a large-sized terrain map may cause some animation and drawing delay. Typically, a size of 7 or below (can be set in the GUI) is recommended. Additionally, to create contrast between the top and bottom surfaces of the map, set luminance to low and light angle to high in the GUI.
This project is intended to be run on MacOS: more work, including the possibly enabling an X11 server, will have to be done if running this application on Windows. This project implements the StdDraw library, a simple graphics library which uses built-in Java APIs like Java AWT and Swing. The StdDraw.java file has been included already, but please ensure the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is downloaded by installing the latest Java SE Development Kit (JDK). Additionally, ensure that Git has been installed.
NOTE: The StdDraw library has been slightly modified: StdDraw.init() was changed to add additional components other than the drawn terrain to main JFrame as well as change the frame title. Additionally, the static initializer has been removed to prevent multiple calls to init().
A makefile has been provided to simplify the compilation process. Simply copy and run the following commands into your terminal or command prompt one at a time:
git clone https://github.com/vjiang10/Terrain-Map.git <dir_name>cd <dir_name>makemake runorjava TerrainGUI(to generate GUI) OR- If you have values that you want to test out and would like the GUI to be set to these values, running
java TerrainMaporjava TerrainMap (algorithm) (size) (color) (map type) (deviation)can also be options. Runningjava TerrainMapwill ask for console inputs as arguments. Note: acceptable bounds will be set on inputs.