Alternative for Aerialod

Advantages Screenshot

First of all what is Aerialod and why do i need an alternative.

Aerialod is an tool to create fast 3D voxel images out of height maps.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Aerialod

Advantages:

  • User-Friendly: Aerialod is an easy-to-use tool for creating 3D terrain models. It caters to both beginners and experienced users who want to achieve results quickly.
  • Freeware but not Open Source: Aerialod is free to download but does not allows users to modify and extend the source code.
  • Variety of Features: Aerialod supports the generation of various terrains, the use of real satellite data, and the creation of synthetic heightmaps. This makes it a versatile tool for different applications in geodata visualization.

Disadvantages:

  • Lack of Advanced Features: While Aerialod offers many useful functions, it may lack some advanced features found in professional 3D rendering tools, making it less suitable for certain applications.
  • Not Open Source
  • No new version since 2023.

Overall, Aerialod presents an interesting option for 3D terrain generation, but it also has some limitations that potential users should consider. 

I prefer open source programmes to cloced source programmes because I think they are more future-proof. If the developer(s) are no longer interested in further development, a new developer can step in.


First try GIMP/G'MIC

The G'MIC plugin for GIMP has an imageblocks3d command. This looked very promising at first glance.

As testdata I used the Cheddar Gorge terrain from here automaticknowledge.org/aerialo. But unfortunately it is not possible to apply a texture. This was the end of the road without coding. 

But even with the texture I would miss the depth of focus and the possibility to light the scene with e.g. an HDRI. So I came to the conclusion that Blender might be the better tool. Like in this video.   

GIMP Screenshot

 Second try Blender/CubeSter

 I found this nice video on youtube:

 
 

In the video the CubeSter plugin is recomented to get a simmilar voxel like effect. 

Unfortunately, the CubeSter plugin has not been developed further for five years and caused an error in the 4.2 version of Blender. Fortunately the bug was relatively easy to fix. I then noticed that CubeSter used the same image for the texture and the height map. But again, it wasn't too difficult to extend the script.

So if you are interested you can download and use my fork here:

https://github.com/supertobi/CubeSter/tree/master


Blender Screenshot

Third try Blender/Geometry Nodes

During my experiments in Blender I came up with the idea of using the geometry nodes to get a solution without external scripting. However, I have not yet managed to get a decent result. Maybe this will be the topic for a new blog post... If you are a Blender/Geometry Nodes guru, feel free to give it a try and let me know your solution.



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