Ah so you figured out the format, sorry I totally forgot to post the details!

Nice looking moon you've got there though 😉

Yes I think so..

for type 0  (terran like) write binary data like this :

uint16 width

uint16 height

sint16 heigtmapdata (from image)

for type 1 (moonlike) write binary data like this :

uint16 width

uint16 height

double scalemin

double scalemax

uint16 heigtmapdata (from image)

Hehehe... The signature of the Gods...

Did anyone ever read the book Contact, by Carl Sagan? In it...

(spoiler follows, if you're thinking about reading it)

'aliens' left a message deep in the digits of Pi, explaining that they'd created the universe we inhabited and how to build a machine to go and visit them. I always thought that was a brilliant idea...

Did anyone ever read the book Contact, by Carl Sagan? In it...

I think you need a refresher! (-:

The instructions were not in pi. The instructions were in the radio signal, and the aliens mentioned the anomaly in pi after the machine had been built. They didn't know what the anomaly (an encoded circle) meant, any more than we do.

Of course, since pi is a irrational number, the sequence of digits specified does appear in it somewhere. What scuppers the idea for me is that pi is half the circular constant (almost all maths is simplified by replacing pi with 2.pi), and I would be suspicious of messages from aliens suggesting that they'd made the same fundamental screw-up in basic maths that we did.

Of course, since pi is a irrational number, the sequence of digits specified does appear in it somewhere. What scuppers the idea for me is that pi is half the circular constant (almost all maths is simplified by replacing pi with 2.pi), and I would be suspicious of messages from aliens suggesting that they'd made the same fundamental screw-up in basic maths that we did.

Yep. We'd likely be much better off looking in tau.

So, OK... how exactly do I make a planet heightmap? I've been flying around Mars looking for something familiar for a few alphas now... forget Olympus Mons, how about a spaceport down in Valles Marineris? A couple cities scattered around the Tharsis Plateau...

Forget Earth... Mars is THE place to show off a terrain engine like Pioneer 🙂

I think you need a refresher! (-:

It was about 20 years ago... 🙂

...

Of course, since pi is a irrational number, the sequence of digits specified does appear in it somewhere. What scuppers the idea for me is that pi is half the circular constant (almost all maths is simplified by replacing pi with 2.pi), and I would be suspicious of messages from aliens suggesting that they'd made the same fundamental screw-up in basic maths that we did.

It appears somewhere (an infinite number of times, I suppose...), the question being whether it can be put down to chance given the number of digits examined.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2001-10-25/

I seem to remember the sequence being very long and highly improbable. But I seemed to remember what I said in the previous post too! 🙂

I like the fundamental idea, even if the details were questionable. At least it wasn't in base 10, eh...? 🙂