Tutorial: Creating an Opensim Terrain using Bryce

Ok, so you’ve spun up a new Opensim and logged in a couple times.  You are the proud owner of a big mound of grass in the middle of an infinite ocean.  Is that all there is?  Of course not.  In this tutorial, we will explore how to create a custom terrain using Bryce. 

Jane on Default Opensim Terrain

You can of course create a terrain with MSPaint or other more sophisticated 3D landscape generating packages like L3DT, but I have always had a love for Bryce’s fantastic landscapes long before the availability of shared 3D spaces.  Embedded in it is a nice little Terrain editor and I was curious whether I could walk upon a Bryce terrain.

A couple things.  1) This is not a Bryce tutorial, although I’ll try to take you through the steps in case your Bryce usage is rusty.  If you don’t know anything about Bryce, just skip ahead and grab the texture image to use as your new terrain.  2) This tutorial was built/tested with Opensim 0.5.8.

Step 1 - Launch Bryce and Create a Terrain

Along the top, look for the mini-terrain icon and click it.

Creating a Terrain in Bryce

You should get something like the following.

Click on the “E” next to the terrain to enter the terrain editor.

Step 2 - Edit the Terrain

I won’t go into details here on the Bryce Terrain editor but it is basically a mash-up of painting tools and pattern/noise generators. In terms of using it for Opensim, I’ve found it is a bit challanging for fine grained controls.  The terrain editor looks something like this:

Bryce Terrain Editor

Step 3 - Avoid Gottchas

A couple lessons I learned.

• A dramatic landscape in Bryce becomes a REALLY dramatic landscape in Opensim.  Less is more, use Lower and Dampen.
• Avoid spikey, drastic changes in elevation, veritical cliffs don’t show all that well
• Experiment with New and the drop down under Fractal to get some unusual terrains
• Avoid a terrain that runs up to the edge

If you have a terrain that is not black at the edge, it will also not have zero elevation in Opensim.  This leads to some interesting visual artifacts.  Below is a terrain without black edges and one screen capture of how it looks in Opensim.

Bryce Terrain

The above terrain loaded into Opensim.  Notice the artifacts at the non-black edges.

Terrain Artifacts

To avoid this, use the Round Edges control.

Step 4 - Export Your Terrain

Once you get the terrain looking like you want, the next step is to export it to an image file.  At the top of the main editing window inside the terrain editor, there is a drop down.  Select Export Image.  You have the option of PNG and TIFF.  Choose PNG and save it either alongside your Opensim.exe file or in a path that is easy to type (e.g. c:\terrains)

Export Image from Bryce

Here is the terrain image I ended up with (click on this and download it to use if you like).  You’ll notice I tried to edit in an inlet for water, and a few flat spots to build on along with a “secret” narrow passage through the ridge line to another over look.  This was done using the Bryce drawing tools and where the whole Bryce terrain editor thing broke down for me.  It is likely the best workflow is to generate the basic terrain and do hand editing in the Opensim client.

Bryce Terrain Final

Step 5 - Load the Terrain in Opensim

The file you want to load needs to be .r32 (raw 32-bit), .png, or .bmp.  I did not have success with .jpg at least in the version of Opensim I was using.

Spin up Opensim (remember to run it as Administrator on Vista).  Once it spins up, issue the terrain load command.

terrain load <file path/filename>

Example:

terrain load c:\terrain\myterrain.png

Loading A Terrain Opensim CLI

You will see either a success message or some complaint.

Step 6 - Login to Opensim and see your results

Here I am flying around in the new terrain. 

Bryce Terrain Loaded in OpensimHere is the terrain from aerial view rendered in Bryce.Bryce Render - Aerial View

 And finally, an aerial view of the same terrain in Opensim.  Love the waves, love Windlight.

Aerial View in Opensim

Would you like a tutorial on how you tune the textures on your new terrain?  If you’re an estate owner in Second Life, this may not be required.