create a 3D image from a bitmap

How can I create a 3D image from a bitmap,
anyone can give me any link for a program that does so?

THNX

I’m guessing this question is about terrain rendering using bitmaps. What you basically do is create a black and white bitmap (the r g and b values are equal in a grayscale bitmap). Using the values (0 - 255) of each of the pixels, you can determine how high a point should be.

The reason you can’t use color bitmaps with all three channels (r, g, b) is because you can’t always tell one pixel apart from another in terms of color value. Say one pixel had a color value of r = 0, g = 255, b = 255 and another one had r = 255, g = 0 b = 255.If you are considering all three channels you would have to average the colors. As you can see the average for both of these are going to be the same. The problem is the colors are NOT the same!! If you just use one channel (lets assume you want to use the red channel), the blue and green channels can be whatever they want. Therefore, just becase the red channels of two colors are equal, tha doesn’t mean the color is the same.

Sorry if any of this was confusing. I’ve never actually created terrain using height maps, but i’ve read about it and i’m familiar with how it works in general. Hope I was of some help.

  • Halcyon