Daylon Leveller
Encyclopedia
Daylon Leveller is a terrain
/heightfield modeling program made by Daylon Graphics Ltd. of British Columbia
, Canada. It was written by Ray Gardener in 1998 and is now at version 4.0. Leveller began as a fork of Gardener's earlier NavCam utility for the POV-Ray
raytracer. It uses several third-party libraries, notably GDAL
which provides georeferencing and additional file format support.
Leveller documents appear in a two-paned window showing a nadir (top-down) view of the heightfield and an OpenGL
-based view showing the heightfield (and related elements) in 3D. Sculpting and most of the other tools can be used on either pane. Edits are reflected immediately in both views, providing an interactive feel to the modeling process. Modeling is based on a paint-program metaphor similar to Adobe Photoshop
, with brushes, selection tools, etc. Textures and water level can be applied also. Heightfields can be planar (flat) or distorted using UV displacement mapping onto spheres, sphere sections, cones, cylinders, etc. Vector shapes are supported using a separate vector layer, and can be used to
situate edits and generate heightfield selection masks and formations.
Since version 3.0, Leveller includes vector shapes, which can be used for both modeling and coloration. With version 4.0, true 3D scene objects and shader-based ground textures can be placed.
Leveller can export scenes to POV-Ray
, Renderman, and VRML
. It uses plug-ins to handle other file formats and filter processes.
Leveller also supports raytracing, animation, and reference shape placement, although these features are secondary to its modeling abilities and were added mainly as prototyping conveniences.
(version 2.6+ include some minor compatibility fixes for Vista
and for Windows 7). Some related utilities are available for Mac OS X and Linux.
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
/heightfield modeling program made by Daylon Graphics Ltd. of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada. It was written by Ray Gardener in 1998 and is now at version 4.0. Leveller began as a fork of Gardener's earlier NavCam utility for the POV-Ray
POV-Ray
The Persistence of Vision Raytracer, or POV-Ray, is a ray tracing program available for a variety of computer platforms. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaron A. Collins. There are also influences from the earlier Polyray raytracer contributed by its author...
raytracer. It uses several third-party libraries, notably GDAL
GDAL
GDAL is a library for reading and writing raster geospatial data formats, and is released under the permissive X/MIT style free software license by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. As a library, it presents a single abstract data model to the calling application for all supported formats...
which provides georeferencing and additional file format support.
Leveller documents appear in a two-paned window showing a nadir (top-down) view of the heightfield and an OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
-based view showing the heightfield (and related elements) in 3D. Sculpting and most of the other tools can be used on either pane. Edits are reflected immediately in both views, providing an interactive feel to the modeling process. Modeling is based on a paint-program metaphor similar to Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
, with brushes, selection tools, etc. Textures and water level can be applied also. Heightfields can be planar (flat) or distorted using UV displacement mapping onto spheres, sphere sections, cones, cylinders, etc. Vector shapes are supported using a separate vector layer, and can be used to
situate edits and generate heightfield selection masks and formations.
Since version 3.0, Leveller includes vector shapes, which can be used for both modeling and coloration. With version 4.0, true 3D scene objects and shader-based ground textures can be placed.
Leveller can export scenes to POV-Ray
POV-Ray
The Persistence of Vision Raytracer, or POV-Ray, is a ray tracing program available for a variety of computer platforms. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaron A. Collins. There are also influences from the earlier Polyray raytracer contributed by its author...
, Renderman, and VRML
VRML
VRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...
. It uses plug-ins to handle other file formats and filter processes.
Leveller also supports raytracing, animation, and reference shape placement, although these features are secondary to its modeling abilities and were added mainly as prototyping conveniences.
Platforms
Leveller is available for 32-bit Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(version 2.6+ include some minor compatibility fixes for Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and for Windows 7). Some related utilities are available for Mac OS X and Linux.