Procedurally Generated Terrain In OpenSCAD

January 14, 2025 by Tom Nardi 21 Comments

We’re big fans of OpenSCAD here at Hackaday — it’s free and open source software, runs on pretty much anything, and the idea of describing objects via code seems like a natural fit for producing functional parts. Rather than clicking and dragging elements on the screen, you can knock out a quick bracket or other simple component with just a few lines of code. But one of the things we don’t often get a chance to showcase is the incredible potential of generating 2D and 3D objects algorithmically.

In a recent Reddit post, [ardvarkmadman] dropped an extremely impressive snippet of OpenSCAD code that he calls TerrainGen. In fewer than fifteen lines of code, it’s able to create randomized “islands” which range from simple plateaus to craggy mountain ranges. After dropping the code in the OpenSCAD editor, you can just keep hitting F5 until you get a result that catches your eye. This seems like an excellent way to generate printable terrain elements for gaming purposes, but that’s just one possibility.

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Retrotechtacular: The (Long, Arduous) Birth Of A Tank

November 18, 2014 by Kristina Panos 14 Comments

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, the United States Army provided regular status reports to both its interior members and the American public through a half-hour documentary television show called The Big Picture. Since the program was produced by the government, every episode immediately entered the public domain. This particular report tells the story of the T-48 project that culminated in the 90mm M48 Patton tank.

The film opens by providing a brief history of tanks and the lessons learned about them between WWI and the Korean War. The Army sought a more robust vehicle that could handle a wide variety of climates and terrain, and so the process of information gathering began. After a series of meetings at the Pentagon in which all parties involved explored every facet, the project was approved, and a manila folder was officially designated to the project and labeled accordingly.

We then tour the R&D facility where new tank materials and components are developed and tested. It is here that the drive gears are put through their paces on a torsion machine. Air cleaners are pitted against each other to decide which can filter out the finest dust and sand. After careful analysis, different tank shell materials are test welded together with various, well-documented electrodes, and these panels are taken outside so their welds can be directly fired upon.