Personal development project · Procedural worlds
Universe Generator
Universe Generator is my personal project exploring procedural planets. I investigate how parameters can produce coherent landscapes and how to assess their shape and surface directly in an interactive 3D preview.
- My role
- Concept, development, and visual design
- Technical foundation
- Python · NumPy / Numba · ModernGL
- Status
- Personal research prototype
01 / Idea
Shape a world without building every surface by hand.
I am interested in the connection between procedural techniques and visual design: How can a few parameters change the character of an entire planet? How can terrain, colour, and lighting work together to create a coherent surface?
The project gives me room to explore these questions in practice. The focus is planetary terrain and its presentation, not the longest possible list of generators.
02 / Development
Shape, material, and preview belong together.
- 01
Shape the terrain
Procedural height fields provide the foundation for continents, mountains, and smaller structures. Parameters and erosion stages change their appearance.
- 02
Derive the surface
Colour and surface detail should fit the terrain. I explore how height information, material data, and shading can support each other.
- 03
Assess it in 3D
The interactive OpenGL preview brings shape, light, and atmosphere together. Changes can be assessed on the whole body rather than only on flat textures.
The header is a project illustration, not an application screenshot or evidence of generated terrain quality.
03 / Insights
What interests me about the engineering.
Connections, not isolated effects
An interesting height map alone does not make a convincing planet. Shape, material, and light need to work together. Moving between technical development and visual assessment is what makes this project interesting to me.
Open research questions
How can a landscape stay consistent from an orbital view down to small regions? How can levels of detail and terrain patches meet without visible transitions? These are possible directions for my personal exploration, not finished features.