How do you make height maps?

[Mr Badger]

So I'm making endeavours to create huge chunks of land - or at least largeish ones - but the editor process keeps making steep hillsides and getting me lost... I think I'll cry. So, What I really want to know is this: How can I create a map in photoshop (or another art program) and then export it in a format the editor will recognize?

 

Secondly, I would also like to know what Vertex Shading is. I'm sort of suspecting that it's something along the same lines but I'm a bit wary about trying it.

 

Lastly - for now - is there an easier way to color the ground? Man, the editor takes forever and keeping track of the different types of grass etc is a pain in the... grass :blush:

 

thanks for any help.

[k_fishburne]

I'm currently trying to create a program to do just that, although no one has been able to help me interpret the relevant sections of the ESM so I've been stuck for over 6 months. A limited program for height field generated landscapes is by gilles_k and is called Landscape Creator 1.1. There is a French and English version.

 

When you say vertex shading, you do mean vertex normals (surface normals)? If so, I believe they're a vector that represents a line perpendicular to a polygon and are used to calculate how a polygon should be shaded because of light source(s). They would also be used in determining whether adjacent polygons should be "smoothed". I could be wrong about that...