Computer backdrops - 3
Terragen is to reverse-engineer examples provided by the user
community. A number of websites, including Planetside’s, pro-
vide examples you can download to help you learn the craft.
Despite the challenges, the quality of the simulations is quite
striking and well worth the effort.
All the world’s a... fractal
The core of all terrain generation software is a class of math-
ematical functions called fractals. In very loose terms, fractals
recursively generate data that is self-similar but at a different
scale. We see examples of self-similarity in nature. A hill is a
smaller version of a mountain, a rock has similarities to a hill, a
grain of sand has similar characteristics as a rock, and so on.
3. Image stitching software is used to combine
computer-simulated images to create the 17’- long
backdrops for my double-deck shelf layout. Images
were printed on special commercial wallpaper stock
that I hung as a single image with no seams, using
wallpaper paste.
MRH-Jul 2014
