First time ever creating a Terrain

Question

First night at taking a look at different ways to create Terrain.

I'm wanting to work on a racing project and was wondering if there was a way to create a 3D race track some how.

We plan on using C++, and are also using PhysX and openGL. Where should I be looking for creating Terrain? Also, does anyone know of some good Tutorials/Tips that can help me :)

Thanks

Answer 1

Gamedev.net has a whole section just for terrain and related topics.

Answer 2

The most basic way to make terrain is by using a height-map, and generating a mesh out of it. Google will have more information than I can give you.

By the way, avoid going to Lighthouse3D right now; it's been hacked and crashes your browser. Here's a cached version that may be helpful.

Answer 3

Great tutorial for creating tarrain here:

http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/terrain.html

It's DirectX specific but has enough general information to help you understand the theory.

The site also has other details on game making and is written by a British Games Programming lecturer - well worth checking out.

Answer 4

IMHO, you should create the appropriate meshes with blender (or another 3D modeling tool), which you will then import within your game. Using height maps is nice and all, but I think it's totally inappropriate for the kind of game you are interested in doing.

By using Blender/etc, you will also be able to add extra objects to your map like gates/checkpoints really easily and precisely.