How heightmaps for landscape are scaled?

Development World Creation
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1

I have created a very simple height of uint16 in 509x509 in python as follows:

  • create an empty 509x509 numpy uint16 array
  • fill some pixels in the middle with value of 10000
  • add 32768 to each pixel so its above z=0 plane in ue
  • import it into the scene with landscape tool, with xyz scales all set to 100

And then I get a terrain of around 78m tall. instead of 10000m.

Anyone knows how uint16 heightmaps are scaled?

2

Finally got this on my own with many tests. With default settings, xyz scales are all 100 and the engine takes UINT16 values between 0 to 65535 as -256m to 256m, so with my simple heightmap as described above, the height in ue will be:

10000 / 32768 * 256 = 78.12m

To make taller mountains, it is necessary to find a reasonable scale and try to use all 65536 valid height steps