Paint Program
Paint Program
How do you get to the paint program and how do u use it (it is the program for heightmaps)?
you can use any drawing program to make heightmaps
a heightmap is just a 256x256 pixle greyscale bmp
different programs use different menus etc to make the pics greyscale and to set there size, so its hard to exactly say how to.
but, in paintbrush, just goto the attributes menu and type in 256 in both boxes.
it can't save to greyscale though, so you could manually change the colors to various greys and save it as a 256 color bitmap, or use a different program (like xnview) to change it to greyscale.
a heightmap is just a 256x256 pixle greyscale bmp
different programs use different menus etc to make the pics greyscale and to set there size, so its hard to exactly say how to.
but, in paintbrush, just goto the attributes menu and type in 256 in both boxes.
it can't save to greyscale though, so you could manually change the colors to various greys and save it as a 256 color bitmap, or use a different program (like xnview) to change it to greyscale.
Make a copy of any of the World maps from the Universal files:
Most likely located at this addy on your computer:
C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\Clients\maps
Anyworld that you go to will have a map in there specific to it.
Once you get one of those copied, if you are using windows, you should be able to use MSPAINT to paint your map.
Although it would appear you have colors available, they will be grey when you use them.
The way I do it is that I double click the color box, that opens an edit color menu. From there click on "define custom colors"
You will have a spectrum of colors next to that an arrow that defines the intensity or hue of that color. Beneath that there are boxes with numbers.
Hue: -------- Red:
Sat:--------- Green:
Lum:--------- Blue:
Using the numbers in Red, Green and Blue start off with say 40 as a number in each of those So it will look like this:
Red: 40
Green: 40
Blue: 40
What you should have is a very dark grey.
Your numbers will range from 0 (black) to 255 (white).
I have my water level set at 46 in my world client most often called "editor". It is the tool you need open to work on your world.
Since 46 is my sea level anything over 46 is land, anything below is under water.
You do not have to set every single shade of grade (40, 41, 42, 43...) you only need every 5 to 10 color settings (40, 45, 50, 55, 60... or 10, 20, 30, 40...) The five step makes for gradual slopes, the 10 step makes for steeper slopes.
Of course in your *Settings you can tweak the size and the height of your map. I do not recall from the top of my head exactly what those settings are named or where located.
Due to the ability of the world client tool to smooth and various altitudes, and due to the other settings (such as over all size of your world and the height) you can make a very blocky rought greyscale map and fine tune it with those settings. I think you can also fine tune the world through the world editor on your world.
My method was to make basic features - using as few of colors as possible. White for Peaks, say 80 or 100 for mountain ranges - 50 for shore lines 60 for plains. I drew out the main features. Saved the map as Oraen_Rough (use your world's name) then loaded it into the client and drove around in my world to see how the rough features worked out.
I made a copy of the rough map renaming it to Oraen_1.0 then I tinkered with the map, adding and removing land, raising land, lowering land as I desired.
To load a map you go through the client terrain editor (tools which opens up a bottom set of tools) Either type in the name of your map or you can click on the button with three dots and any maps that are in your C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\maps folder will be shown.
Taking Oraen_1.0 I made that the world map and would leave the MSPAINT picture open plus The universal game - I could then tweak the map, save it and hit 'Save Terrain Settings' in the world client - what happens is that your world will reload and the terrain will change. I do not know about the latest version of the clients - however in earlier versions AutoTerrain texturing would NOT change until the next time I entered the world.
If you want to smooth the whole map copy and past the greyscale image in another paint window save as WORLDSMOOTH as a Jpeg file. What will happen is that the switch from the bitmap to the jepg will lead to pixel smoothing. Then copy the image from WORLDSMOOTH to your map image. Save that in the format of the origonal map you borrowed from. (from the top of the page)
Always keep a map in your C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\maps that is the the unchanged version when it comes to the format.
When you get a map that you like save it under a name which everybody who visits your would will know when they open their C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\ files. In my case its Oraen_Alpha. You should use the name of your world on all files that you have modified -
For instance if you are using the Zion_Arch (I can't recall the name) as is with no changes to the model, then DO NOT change the name. If you change its size then change the name to 'yourworld'_arch.
Most likely located at this addy on your computer:
C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\Clients\maps
Anyworld that you go to will have a map in there specific to it.
Once you get one of those copied, if you are using windows, you should be able to use MSPAINT to paint your map.
Although it would appear you have colors available, they will be grey when you use them.
The way I do it is that I double click the color box, that opens an edit color menu. From there click on "define custom colors"
You will have a spectrum of colors next to that an arrow that defines the intensity or hue of that color. Beneath that there are boxes with numbers.
Hue: -------- Red:
Sat:--------- Green:
Lum:--------- Blue:
Using the numbers in Red, Green and Blue start off with say 40 as a number in each of those So it will look like this:
Red: 40
Green: 40
Blue: 40
What you should have is a very dark grey.
Your numbers will range from 0 (black) to 255 (white).
I have my water level set at 46 in my world client most often called "editor". It is the tool you need open to work on your world.
Since 46 is my sea level anything over 46 is land, anything below is under water.
You do not have to set every single shade of grade (40, 41, 42, 43...) you only need every 5 to 10 color settings (40, 45, 50, 55, 60... or 10, 20, 30, 40...) The five step makes for gradual slopes, the 10 step makes for steeper slopes.
Of course in your *Settings you can tweak the size and the height of your map. I do not recall from the top of my head exactly what those settings are named or where located.
Due to the ability of the world client tool to smooth and various altitudes, and due to the other settings (such as over all size of your world and the height) you can make a very blocky rought greyscale map and fine tune it with those settings. I think you can also fine tune the world through the world editor on your world.
My method was to make basic features - using as few of colors as possible. White for Peaks, say 80 or 100 for mountain ranges - 50 for shore lines 60 for plains. I drew out the main features. Saved the map as Oraen_Rough (use your world's name) then loaded it into the client and drove around in my world to see how the rough features worked out.
I made a copy of the rough map renaming it to Oraen_1.0 then I tinkered with the map, adding and removing land, raising land, lowering land as I desired.
To load a map you go through the client terrain editor (tools which opens up a bottom set of tools) Either type in the name of your map or you can click on the button with three dots and any maps that are in your C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\maps folder will be shown.
Taking Oraen_1.0 I made that the world map and would leave the MSPAINT picture open plus The universal game - I could then tweak the map, save it and hit 'Save Terrain Settings' in the world client - what happens is that your world will reload and the terrain will change. I do not know about the latest version of the clients - however in earlier versions AutoTerrain texturing would NOT change until the next time I entered the world.
If you want to smooth the whole map copy and past the greyscale image in another paint window save as WORLDSMOOTH as a Jpeg file. What will happen is that the switch from the bitmap to the jepg will lead to pixel smoothing. Then copy the image from WORLDSMOOTH to your map image. Save that in the format of the origonal map you borrowed from. (from the top of the page)
Always keep a map in your C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\maps that is the the unchanged version when it comes to the format.
When you get a map that you like save it under a name which everybody who visits your would will know when they open their C:\Program Files\TheUniversal\ files. In my case its Oraen_Alpha. You should use the name of your world on all files that you have modified -
For instance if you are using the Zion_Arch (I can't recall the name) as is with no changes to the model, then DO NOT change the name. If you change its size then change the name to 'yourworld'_arch.