Karst

Karst, originally uploaded by _william.

I tried out a program called World Machine which uses mathematical processes to generate landscapes. The program has an interesting interface where the user can switch from viewing the process engines, which generate the 'world,' and dive right in to exploring the terrain. It does not have the sophistication in renering found in Terragen
, but the basic version is probably quite limited compared to the full package.

This is about the most detail that i could render in with this version the full version should offer all the detail one could ever need.
Its advantage over terragen is the ability to explore terrain and the ability to model the process that shapes a landscape.

Terragen and World Machine's proffessional package allow users to import georaphical data files for rendering models of reeal landscapes.
one feature of WM is it's abi;ity to import native terrain files from Terragens format.

I personally prefer programs like terragen which have broad capacities in the input/output department but less in the interface. This has mostly to do with the limitations of my machine. The rendering process of either of these Programs will tax system resources on any computer. Terragen allows users to render to the higest resolution that they can afford whereas WM provides immedeat gratification.

I have yet to try Terragen's new public release which promises to incorporate most of the plugin features and a friendly user environment... for me, the non commercial application is sufficient for rendering and creating synthetic landscapes.