Ah, I typically use Grand Designer to make mine.
Really?
FT3 as you can guess from the name is a generator of maps fractals (you can use various types of algorithms). And in addition to being able to export to Google Earth (you would see them as a planet, but instead the Earth is your map), you can export this map programs for "cartographic" 2d in the same family (of those used also for making maps fantasy).
Anyway, I did not know this Grand Designer, we throw a look.
Nice
It can do basically all the same things besides rivers, and without fractals. Instead it uses different types of noise generators, which contrary to what it sounds like, works pretty well. Just as one example, I made this planet with it
Nice, and this program (Grand Designer) allows you to create even entire solar systems, or only planets?
What you can edit in this program? For example there are maps in ft3 "climatic" (ie the various biomes: tundra, desert, temperate forest etc.) Can be set via some value (certainly not have a variety of environments realistic, but at least you have an idea of who we biomes They are based on various settings). The same thing is in Grand Designer?
Here are a couple of screen FT3 however:
[img=http://s7.postimg.org/3juc1bpcn/ft3.jpg]
[img=http://s7.postimg.org/difansys7/ft3cli.jpg]
Only the planets, but with the right settings you can make basically any type of planet. The solar system making I do in Universe Sandbox Legacy since it has the feature of adding your own textures (not that great but hey it's something)
Grand Designer doesn't have outright biome settings but you can get similar effects, again, with the right settings, mainly due to the fact that it can make many types of planets (nearly all of which wouldn't even have biomes, but it can as you saw make Earthlike planets) For instance, creating a planet with lava oceans is possible, but there is no "lava" setting for oceans/lakes, you have to make the oceans an orangish-red, then turn the water emissive up a bit to make it glow like lava.
You can also add desert zones and ice caps, though, and vegetation and sediment (which typically I use the sediment as the overall vegetation/ground color and the vegetation as forests/jungles ect.) Each layer (ie. sediment, vegetation, desert, ice cap, cloud, ect.) can be non-used if desired. Though it's still in alpha like US2, but in version 1.0 (the next planned version) cities and roads (with city lights on the night side of the planet) will be added. I could give many examples and type long long pargrphs about whats possible with it, honestly, and it's very helpful for creating planets for US Legacy.