{{Infobox software , name = Daylon Leveller , logo = , screenshot = , caption = , collapsible = , author = Ray Gardener , developer = Daylon Graphics Ltd. , released = , latest release version = 4.2 , latest release date = {{release_date, 2019, 10, 14 , latest preview version = , latest preview date = , programming language = C++ , operating system = Microsoft Windows , platform = , size = , language = , status = , genre =

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...

, license = Commercial per-seat , website

Daylon Leveller is a

terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin wo ...

heightfield In computer graphics, a heightmap or heightfield is a raster image used mainly as Discrete Global Grid in secondary elevation modeling. Each pixel stores values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics. A heightm ...

modeling program made by Daylon Graphics Ltd. of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. It was written by Ray Gardener in 1998 and is now at version 4.2. Leveller began as a fork of Gardener's earlier NavCam utility for the

POV-Ray The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, most commonly acronymed as POV-Ray, is a cross-platform ray-tracing program that generates images from a text-based scene description. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaro ...

raytracer. It uses several third-party libraries, notably

GDAL The Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a computer software library for reading and writing raster and vector geospatial data formats (e.g. shapefile), and is released under the permissive X/MIT style free software license by the Ope ...

which provides georeferencing and additional file format support, and

Lua Lua or LUA may refer to: Science and technology * Lua (programming language) * Latvia University of Agriculture * Last universal ancestor, in evolution Ethnicity and language * Lua people, of Laos * Lawa people, of Thailand sometimes referred t ...

which lets plug-ins and macros be easily scripted. Graphic tablets are supported including pressure sensitivity. Leveller documents appear in a two-paned window showing a nadir (top-down) view of the heightfield and an OpenGL-based view showing the heightfield (and related elements) in 3D.

Sculpting Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and most of the other tools can be used on either pane. Edits are reflected immediately in both views, providing an interactive feel to the modeling process. Modeling is based on a paint-program metaphor similar to Adobe Photoshop, with brushes, selection tools, etc. Textures and water level can be applied also. Heightfields can be planar (flat) or distorted using UV displacement mapping onto spheres, sphere sections, cones, cylinders, etc. Vector shapes are supported using a separate vector layer, and can be used to situate edits and generate heightfield selection masks and formations. For civil engineers, cut/fill and cross-section analysis is available too. Since version 3.0, Leveller includes vector shapes, which can be used for both modeling and coloration. With version 4.0, true 3D scene objects and shader-based ground textures can be placed. In version 4.1, Unicode is supported along with limited support for non-North American locales. Leveller can export scenes to

RenderMan The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by Pixar Animation Studios: * RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec), an open API (technical specification) developed by Pixar for a standar ...

, and

VRML VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...

. It uses plug-ins to handle other file formats and filter processes. Leveller also supports raytracing, animation, and reference shape placement, although these features are secondary to its modeling abilities and were added mainly as prototyping conveniences.

Platforms

Leveller is available for 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows (version 2.6+ include some minor compatibility fixes for

Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...

and for

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

Related applications

Leveller is the base technology for Daylon Landshaper Golf, a higher-end civil engineering application for the golf-course design industry.

References

Daylon Graphics

Platforms

Related applications

References

Further reading