Version 1.4.2

CHANGELOG

All notable changes between the original voxmapper.py (tkinter) and the current voxmapper_qt.py (PyQt6) implementation.

This changelog summarizes refactors, new features, bug fixes, and behavioral differences introduced when the project was migrated and modernized.

v1.4.2 (migration -> PyQt6 & improvements)

Major refactor

• Rewrote UI from tkinter (voxmapper.py) to PyQt6 (voxmapper_qt.py). The application now uses a MainWindow class and modular UI builders in ui_builder.py.
• UI construction split into separate builders: build_noise_ui, build_grass_ui, build_landmass_ui, build_image_ui.
• Theme handling extracted to a ThemeManager (theme_worker.py) and applied at startup.
• Worker logic moved into dedicated worker threads in preview_workers.py (e.g., NoiseWorker, GrassWorker, LandmassWorker, ImageWorker, GenerateHeightmapWorker, GrassExportWorker). This replaces older inline threading/multiprocessing usage.
• Executor/manager pattern introduced (executor_manager.py) to handle multiprocessing pools for chunked noise generation.

User interface and UX

• Consistent modern Qt UI with tabbed interface: Noise, Landmass, Grass Map, Image Import.
• Preview canvases implemented with QLabel widgets showing scaled QPixmap/QImage from PIL conversions.
• Interactive preview pan and zoom implemented using eventFilter on preview labels (mouse drag + wheel zoom) while preserving focus mapping between preview and export.
• Zoom and position indicators added to UI (zoom_label, position_label) and updated during interactions.
• Sliders linked to spinboxes with helper _link_slider_to_spinbox for consistent UX.

Progress and export improvements

• Export operations (heightmap/generations) now provide visible progress bars and cancel buttons:
  • Noise heightmap export uses export_progress (universal) above the Noise preview.
  • Grass export has grass_export_progress above the Grass preview and a GrassExportWorker that emits progress updates per-row.
  • Landmass export now has land_export_progress above the Landmass preview and uses GenerateHeightmapWorker progress updates for multiprocess stages.
• Cancel button wired to request thread interruption (requestInterruption) and sets shared flags where applicable.
• Export cleanup consolidated in _export_finished_cleanup which hides and resets all progress bars and disconnects worker signals.

Worker & generation changes

• Noise generation moved into chunked multiprocessing via executor_manager and worker helpers; results are stitched together (np.vstack) and post-processed through create_heightmap.
• GenerateHeightmapWorker reports progress across multiple stages (noise generation, postprocessing, saving) via progress signal.
• GrassExportWorker added and implemented to emit progress and support cancellation; exports grass maps directly from a worker thread.
• start_noise_worker helper returns a started NoiseWorker and adds a cancel convenience method.

Image & import handling

• Image import and processing use PIL with safe pil_to_qimage helper producing deep-copied QImage to avoid use-after-free crashes.
• Image preview updates run in ImageWorker thread to keep UI responsive.
• Grayscale conversion, green overlay, gaussian blur, and other filters handled more robustly (PIL ImageFilter, numpy operations).

Robustness and reliability

• Added a Qt-friendly top-level exception hook qt_exception_hook to show errors in message boxes while printing stack traces to console.
• Extensive try/except usage to avoid crashing the GUI from worker exceptions.
• Logging improved through Python logging calls for debug and error visibility.
• Graceful worker interruption attempts: workers are requested to stop and waited for briefly before forced termination.

Bugs fixed / behavioral changes

• Fixed landmass export cleanup bug (incorrect self._export.finished_cleanup reference) -> now connects to _export_finished_cleanup.
• Progress bars for Grass and Landmass exports added (user-visible progress previously absent for grass exports).
• Preview-scaling mapping: preview zoom/scale accounting improved so exports match the preview view (store _last_preview_effective_scale and use to compute export scale).
• Safe QImage conversion to avoid GUI crashes when worker threads exit (deep copy strategy in pil_to_qimage).

Removed or changed features

• tkinter UI removed entirely; legacy voxmapper.py functions and tk widgets replaced by PyQt equivalents.
• Some tightly-coupled inline functions in the old monolith split into smaller modules (e.g., ui_builder.py, preview_workers.py, executor_manager.py, workers_utils.py).

Developer-facing changes

• Project structure changed — new modules to review: ui_builder.py, preview_workers.py, executor_manager.py, theme_worker.py, workers_utils.py.
• README version bumped to v1.4.2 and short notes added.

Version 1.4.1

This release includes the following improvements and fixes:

• No more errors when generating images
• Noise tab is now Mountain tab
• Reworked GUI
• Added canyon settings

Version 1.4

This release includes the following additions:

• GUI layout improvments
• Image Import tab
• 'landmass' noise type
• shapes generation moved into separate tab
• renamed exe to voxmapper.exe
• added icon for the program

Version 1.3

This release includes the following GUI improvements:

• Full GUI enhancement (sliders, background, header, buttons etc)
• Scale value shows above the preview window
• Added zoom buttons

Version 1.2.1

This release includes the following fixes:

• Density slider under the Grass Noise Type toggle now works correctly and independently from the Grass Amount slider in the other tab.

Version 1.2

This release includes the following updates:

• Added new grass noise type toggle
• Shrunk the GUI to accommodate the new grass noise type section
• Added logo
• Added scrollbar to the GUI

Version 1.1.1

This release includes the following fixes to the biome_ground.lua script:

• fixed grass material not setting as an unphysical material
• decreased color gradient steps for all biomes to add even more definition to the biomes

This should make it so that you can now walk through grass instead of walking on top of it.

First release

This first release includes the following files:

• texture_generator_gui.exe (main file)
• texture_generator_gui.py (worker file)
• texture_generator.py (dependency file)
• biome_ground.lua (custom ground voxscript to make the ground)

To open the program, extract the .zip file into a folder on your PC. Open texture_generator_gui.exe to begin creating your heightmaps.

To use biome_ground.lua, import as a voxscript into the Teardown map editor, then choose your generated heightmap and grassmap in the appropriate input fields.

To set different biomes, type one of the biome tags inside its input field.