Reverse Quantizing, AKA - how to get a heightfield from contour lines

[su_liam]

Funny coincidence. I've just been working on a similar problem. I was playing around with a heightfield I found on the net(I've been looking into the possibility of stitching together real-world heightmaps and subtly altering them to produce interesting and "realistic" extraterrestrial landscapes). The heightmap had serious stairsteps so, in Bryce, I used several iterations of the smoothing, noise, erode and eroded tools to obliterate the steps(mostly), and then applied a fractal at very low opacity on top of that. Thus far my methods aren't at all systematic(just to taste) and won't necessarily maintain the original landform with great fidelity.

Attached, I have an image generated from the original hf at upper left. From lower right clockwise: a heavily modified version(this was my second try, I lost the first one, which was my favorite ), a less modified version, and on the upper right a minimally modified version(this is about as much of the original structure as I could maintain without obvious stepping.

I'll try to add individual closeups and heightfields later. I'll also try to work out my methodology. This really isn't interpolation(since it doesn't maintain the existing contours), it's more like draping a canvas over a frame. Only the frame can get a little whacked out of shape.

[RobA]

su_liam-

Can you post that original heightfield (as b/w or contour lines)?

It would be nice to have a standard example to play at with different techniques and compare the result.

-Rob A>

[su_liam]

su_liam-

Can you post that original heightfield (as b/w or contour lines)?

It would be nice to have a standard example to play at with different techniques and compare the result.

-Rob A>

They're jpeg and not my original 16-bit tiffs, but here you go...

interpOrig.jpg is the original. Mmm, duh?
interpHeavy.jpg is the one at lower right.
interpModerate.jpg is the one at lower left.
interpLight.jpg is the one at upper right.

edit: just noticed how bryce pooped all over the original aspect ratio. Sorry 'bout that.