Quote from: Matt on June 19, 2011, 12:08:18 PM
This would only affect the data that is put into the heightfield, not the position it is rendered at. The settings in the generate node control the position of the 'window' into the shader that generates it.
Now I'm confused. Isn't what's going on all about putting data into the heightfield?
My response was just based on quick messing about so it works but it's not the correct solution I guess. But what is the correct solution here? Because something is working in an unusual fashion and I'm not sure what it is. I tried this with an Image map shader too, just to check it wasn't something about the Simple shape shader. I did this:
- Start a new scene
- Set Heightfield shader 01 to use Position centre.
- Create an Image map shader and set it to the same size as the heightfield. The position will be 0,0,0 like the heightfield already. Set it to use Position centre and Plan XY projection. Turn on displacement and set the amplitude to 1000.
- Click the Generate Now button of the Heightfield generate node.
You'll only get relief in the lower left corner of the heightfield, which is what Dune was seeing, even though the Image map shader is exactly overlaying the heightfield.
To get the relief that you'd expect in the heightfield with this setup you can go to the Use shader tab of the Heightfield generate node and click Position centre. That gives the results one might naively expect. So this does work for the simple case of one shader being placed over a heightfield, but I agree it might not be what you want for multiple shaders like Dune is using. It will also work with Position lower left if adjust the position appropriately.
The intuitive way this would happen is that the Heightfield generate would capture the data as its shown in the preview, for example if you position a shader in the centre of the heightfield that's what you'd see in the heightfield. However it doesn't necessarily work that way it seems.
Regards,
Jo