The Mask Generator, surprisingly, offers an easy way to generate masks that indicate the land and the water. The mask is written out as an 8 bit grayscale uncompressed BMP file, which most image editors should be able to open. The land is drawn in black, the water is white, and the optional depth contour is grey.

The Interface

Mac version	Windows version

The Mask Generator is easy to use. Here's a guide to it's settings :

• Terrain Size popup list
  Click on this popup list to select the appropriate terrain size. Unfortunately, it's not yet possible for the plugin to choose the correct size automatically. Nothing terrible will happen if you select the wrong size, but the mask may not come out as you expect.
  

• Pixels per TG Unit
  This setting controls the resolution of the mask. You shouldn't need to set this extraordinarily high, in my experience 10 pixels per TG unit is a good fine setting, and 5 gives acceptable results. Depending on the resolution, the mask files can be quite large. For example, a 257 x 257 mask at 5 pixels per TG unit will be about 1.5 MB.
  

• Water Level
  This setting allows you to set the water level to use when generating the mask. As with the terrain size, it's not yet possible for the plugin to automatically select the correct water level. In future versions, it is hoped that the plugin will able to use the current water level, as set in the water window.
  

• Depth Contour
  This setting allows you to optionally include an area on the mask which indicates where the water is shallower than the Depth Contour setting. This area is drawn in grey on the mask. This is useful when using the mask with effects like Sorta Surf and Ice Shelf, which use the water depth for deciding where to apply their respective effect. For example, say you're using Ice Shelf, and you want to use a mask to make the edge of the ice more ragged, or maybe add some cracks. If you're using a Shelf Depth Limit of 4.5 in Ice Shelf, then if you set the Depth Contour to 4.5 when the mask is generated a grey area will be drawn which indicates exactly the extents of the Ice Shelf effect.
  

  If you don't want any Depth Contour to be drawn, use a setting of 0.
  

• Informatory text area
  The text here displays the dimensions of the mask file which will be generated, and the format of the file. It's recommended that you take a note of the information presented here, particularly the image dimensions, as this will probably be very useful when you come to load the file into your image editing program.
  

• Cancel button
  This button closes the plugin window.
  

• OK button
  When you click this button, a Save dialog box will open where you can choose a name for the mask file, and where you want to save it. If you decide you don't want to generate a mask after all, just click the Cancel button in the Save dialog.
  

Tips for using the Mask Generator

Here are some hints and tips to help you get the most out of the Mask Generator :

• When the land is drawn in the mask, it isn't exactly black. Black would have a value in the mask of 0, but the land is drawn with a value of 1. It's very nearly black. The reason it isn't absolute black is that this can cause plugins some problems at the intersection between land and water, if the plugin is expecting to use absolute black for masking. So don't be lazy in your paint program and use the eye dropper to pick up the black value from the land to paint the areas you want masked, chances are the plugin using the mask will ignore them.
  

Requirements

WaterWorks needs the TGPGuiLib to run. This file provides cross platform interface functionality. To find out more about the TGPGuiLib and download the latest version, visit it's website.

© Jo Meder 2000, all rights reserved