To all Mapinfo-ML readers who have no interest pissing contests: Apologies
for the lengthy post, but I simply could not let this go by unremarked; move
along.
All others: grab a salt shaker and a measuring tape and dive in.
{{Kevin Woolley was pounding his keys (against his chest):}}
>Our 2.1 upgrade for GenesisII is now available from our site at
>http://www.geomantics.com <http://www.geomantics.com> . GenesisII is a
>comprehensive landscape visualization system aimed primarily at GIS and
>other scientific users who wish to model the real world.
>
>Version 2.1 implements a realistic atmosphere model that accurately
>replicates the behaviour of own atmosphere. We believe that G2 now
produces
>the most realistic images of any commercial system available - bar none!
{{to which Matt Wilkie typed madly:}}
Sorry Kevin, but after a claim like that, I have to jump on this one. :)
In short: Simply not true. World Construction Set is a mature product
offering a powerful and rich feature set with finely honed control. Genesis
II is still young and scrawny without much flesh on it's bones although it's
basic skeletal structure is similar to WCS. If WCS stopped development now,
G2 could concievably reach parity in 18-24 months.
In long, read on:
My NSHO is based on evaluations of:
- final image quality (is it like a photograph?)
- landscape feature control (tree lines, overstory/understory, ecosystems,
etc.)
- atmospherics (different cloud types, haze)
- 2D/3D vector models (buildings, bridges)
- GIS integration (absolute placement of features, database import/link)
I've deliberately ignored capabilities the programs do not have in common
(no animation support in G2, for instance).
The Players:
Genesis II, by Geomantics
World Construction Set, by Questar Productions
Extras:
Bryce, by MetaTools Creations.
Terragen, by Matt Fairclough
VistaPro, orginally by RomTech, then Virtual Reality Labs Inc., and now
eGames
Author's Disclosure:
I've used WCS for over 3 years, since v1.0 on the Amiga; VistaPro also since
v1, but not in the last year and a half; Terragen: 3-4 months; Genesis: a
month or two; Bryce: watched over a friends shoulder.
The Thesis:
World Construction Set beats Genesis II in all categories mostly because
WCS's implementation of the common feature sets is far richer and more
developed. All of which equals more power and control over the final
product. Read on for excruciating detail.
Vegetation / Ecosystems:
G2 has a total of 4 vegetation/ecosystem types (low altitude, flat; middle
altitudes, slopes x2; high altitudes, steep slopes) while WCS defaults to
16, with a theoretical maximum of 100 (I think, maybe higher), all of which
can be overstories or understories to other ecosystem types.
WCS allows fine tuned control over all vegetation types. For example, draw
vegetation type Tree1 on concave, south facing, slopes between 15-60%
grade, and between the elevations of 600m to 1200m, with an average density
of 30%, with heights between 3m & 10m. Oh yeah, fill the 70% unused space
with a mix of Brush2 and Grass5. Oh, one more thing, if the database says
Soil TypeAB, draw Grass3 & Flower2, with no overstory.
Ojn the other side of the pond, G2 allows you to specify height and density
for each vegetation. I cannot set a minimum or maximum elevation. Or slope.
Or aspect. Or... Now G2 the program uses max/min slopes/elevation etc., but
G2 the user has no control.
The same difference in scale (WCS vs G2) shows up in the other common
feature sets: atmospherics, waves, terrain editing, data import/export.
EcoVegRanking: WCS, G2/VP
Clouds:
G2 allows you to have multiple cloud layers (unknow max) which can be biased
towards either stratus or cumulus (flat or puffy). You can specify altitude,
sky coverage and cloud density independantly for each layer. Cloud
shape/pattern can be generated fractally or loaded from a bitmap.
WCS is the same with the additional capabilities of adding wave patterns to
the cloud cover, fractal roughening, cloud shadows, flat bottoms, and
independant top-bottom colour control.
PuffRank: WCS then G2, but narrowly.
Atmospherics:
I'll be frank, I'm running out of time so this one is sparse: WCS wins here
because it has fog as well as haze, with (as usual) more control over start
and stop points.
Image Quality:
So far I've neglected image quality. This can be really hard to judge
because so much depends on the person at the controls (not to mention the
eye of the beholder). Wizards can make near photo-quality images the
electronic equivalent of gum and baling wire. While Apprentices make muddy
finger paintings with the Kodak XL9000ABGGxr.
I also tend to gloss (heheh) over image quality because it's a a red
herring when it comes to scientific/gis modelling. Sure it's great to say
"it looks exactly like a photograph!", but the real questions are: how
accurately does it model the real world? How effectively does it communicate
the relationships between x,y,z? Does it help the viewer analyze and
understand the relationships?
Anyway, using the images on the Geomantics and Questar Productions web sites
for comparison, G2 & WCS are closer to a level playing field. Although
personally I think the G2 atmosphere is too thick and muddy looking, a case
could be made for near equivalency.
ImagoRanking: Terragen, WCS/G2, VP
GIS Integration:
This is the ability to place things like vegetation or ground types in
specific locations according to info in an external GIS program. This is
quite straight forward in G2, but restricted to MapInfo & ArcView. The road
is a little more windy for WCS, but results in many more supported file
types.
Something which both applications lack, is the ability to use an external
database to control their settings; meaning data must be entered twice. For
example, first PolygonA must be defined in GIS and it's attributes entered
(spruce/pine mix, 30% density, avg height 20m, etc.). The polygon boundaries
can be then read into the modeller (G2 or WCS) at which point all the data
has to entered again.
I suspect WCS will fix this situation first because they already have a
plugin architecture in place. Maybe not though.
3D Models:
This is placing things like buildings and bridges in your landscape and
making them look like they belong. I haven't had much interest in this up to
this point so haven't done much experimenting. The ranking is pretty much
solely based on images I've seen while surfing.
TreedeeRanking: WCS, VP, G2
Other Modelling Programs:
Both WCS & G2 are going to have to watch out for Terragen. At this point
Terragen is still free (beer, not liberty) and the final image quality far
surpasses anything else I've seen so far. Unlike WCS & G2, Terragen doesn't
support 2D/3D models, database links, or ecosystem control, but it hasn't
reached a full dot release yet either. Terragen seems to be pointed towards
the artistic side (a la Bryce), but it's still too early to tell. Watch this
one.
On VistaPro: VP's feature set is kind of between WCS & G2, but it's final
image quality is lower than both (near photo-quality speaking that is). VP
has been acquired by a games company (egames) so I have don't have great
hopes for further development; finding non-expired VP dedicated web pages
was very difficult. I haven't used VP for quite some time, so I'll refrain
from further comment lest I knock some teeth out in my hurry to stuff my
feet in. :)
On Bryce: Bryce is unabashedly a tool for the artist and and the
imagination, which it does extremely well. It's not really suited to
modelling the "real world". Final image quality is superb (in sci-fi kind of
way).
On Others: SGI has terrain modelling tools which should be mentioned in a
debate like this too, however I don't have one and don't know anything about
what programs are available and what they can do. There have got to be some
Mac stuff out there too. Somebody else?
So there you have it. The windbag has finished (almost).
-matt
Further Reading:
Bryce: http://www.metatools.com/products/
Genesis II: http://www.geomantics.com/
Terragen: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mpf103/terragen/
VistaPro: http://www.egames.com/egames/other_sites/vistapro/default.htm
WCS: http://www.questarproductions.com/
Modelling@Yahoo:
http://ca.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Computers/Software/Graphi
cs/Modeling__Simulation__and_Visualization/
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