Fractal Landscapes

Jim Mahoney, November 2004

Google on "Fractal landscape" or "Fractal terrain" to find references.
A few are
     www.gameprogrammer.com/fractal.hml
     www.midnightbeach.com/jon/pubs/Fractal_Landscapes.html
     www.fractal-landscapes.co.uk
The first two have local copies in cs/docs/fractal_terrain/

There are lots of variations and refinements on this scheme - including
different ways to add color and "render" the images.

The program below uses the "squares and diamonds" approach with linear interpolation.
My first attempt used recursion but failed

Code

Results

Worked

big, n=129

small, n=65

init[65] ; doLoops ; displayTerrain ;

[Graphics:HTMLFiles/index_5.gif]

[Graphics:HTMLFiles/index_6.gif]

Didn't work

Triangles

Created by Mathematica  (November 15, 2004)