Manipulating Terrains
GeoControl offers a wide assortment of terrain editing tools. On the right side of the dialog are a series of tabs. The Terrain tab and the Terrain Shape tab (shown in Figure 5) provide almost infinite control over your terrain. I won't go into detail on all of the settings here as the documentation included with GeoControl is excellent. If you'd like full details, I encourage you to download the demo and give it a try.
Figure 5 - Granular control of terrains is possible.
GeoControl also provides a superior brush tool. The initial release of GeoControl had one of the best brush tools I've ever used, and it has been dramatically improved since then. What makes the brush in GeoControl unique is that it uses the same techniques used to create the initial terrain. It doesn't just apply a raising or lowering algorithm with a bit of gaussian blur to lessen the sharp edges. It generates terrain as you brush. The result is a much more tactile experience and you can easily accomplish just what you need.
Exporting GeoControl Terrains
Once your terrain is just as you want it, you can export it to many different formats. In addition to formats such as Wavefront and traditional image maps, GeoControl can also export into native formats for many applications. During my testing, I used GeoControl with Terragen, an excellent 3D landscape tool. GeoControl exports terrains in Terragen's native format that can then be opened directly in Terragen for easy editing.
In Figure 6, you can see a terrain created in GeoControl and rendered in Terragen. Notice that the terrain has very detailed surfaces and is extremely realistic.
Figure 6 - A GeoControl terrain rendered in Terragen.
I should also mention that you can use GeoControl terrains along side of native terrains in your 3D application. You can also create terrains in your 3D application, import them into GeoControl for editing and manipulation, and then export them back into your 3D application. The possibilities are almost endless.
Why GeoControl?
All 3D landscape tools include the ability to create and edit terrains, so why do you need GeoControl? Quite simply, none of the 3D landscape tools that I've used (and I've used almost all of them) can come close to the realism in GeoControl terrains. The reason for GeoControl's stunning realism is in the way it was designed.
Most 3D landscape controls create terrains by first creating a small (say 4x4) rendition of the terrain. They then extrapolate that terrain to a larger size repeatedly until they reach the final size. GeoControl uses this method as well, but unlike other terrain generators, GeoControl does a complete generation on the terrain at each rendition. It applies all filters, presets, etc., at each step. The result is incredible realism and a true sense of scale. If you'd like a clear example of just what I mean, check out GeoControl's gallery on the Web.
Conclusion
GeoControl is an incredibly powerful and flexible landscape creation tool. If you're one of the many 3D artists who have struggled over the years to create realistic terrains for your 3D landscape software, GeoControl is the answer. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in rendering natural 3D scenes. Not only is the software excellent, but support for it is excellent as well. The developer, Johannes Rosenberg (known in the 3D community as cajome), is incredibly helpful and responsive. He also releases frequent updates to GeoControl that make considerable improvements to an already great product. He's clearly passionate about this product, and all of us are beneficiaries of that passion.
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