The other day I read an article about how to create fractals using the midpoint displacement algorithm. It's a simple recursive algorithm where you take a square, and split it into 4 smaller squares while displacing the height of the corner where the 4 squares join by a random amount. This process is repeated, creating smaller squares which gradually make a smoother terrain.

I spent an hour or two writing a PHP script to make a terrain image using this method. After I got some decent looking greyscale images, I added a color map so I could create colored oceans and mountains.

Today I modified my old 3D graph script to generate 3D terrains using a bitmap and elevation map from my new fractal


Here is what it looks like:



sproutworks.com/artgraph.php?bitmap=image_1296466523.jpg&elvmap=elevation_1296466523.jpg&height=200


I might work on getting a terrain generator running in the iPhone, and rendering it with OpenGL.