It has always amazed me at how much effort it really takes to get started again at the start of a new year when nothing truely has changed other than the rolling over of the date. So here I am full steam again with my contracted work and all that fun research and development here at Tantrum Games that everyone here has come to love. The close up terrain detailing system is in the process of getting a makeover making the finer details of Protomajor even that more interesting. Usually at this detail level some sort of noise is just added to the heightmap and textures are then blended based on different weighting rules but we are taking the step towards the use of prototextures. With this technique the textures control the fine details versus the previous other way around. Prototextures are still like regular detail textures but with added embedded microgeometry. This system still uses weights but the microgeometry determines how the textures are blended plus the added detail to the final terrain shape. I hope to make screenshots availabe here later. On another note I have always been interested in old world astronomy and nautical equiment such as astrolabes, sextants, telescopes, and globes and I have been on the search for some time for a "globe" that is a Gnomonic projection on a cube. If someone finds one or can point me to were I can acquire a finely crafted one a reward may become available.