Basalt Rock Formations?

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Hi Everyone,

I have been floating around on these forums as a guest for about the last 3 months, trying out clip files and tdg's that folks are kind enough to share, figuring out bits and bobs as I go along.

I had an idea for a scene and wonder if it's possible to create those hexagonal stone columns like those found at The Giant's Causeway (attached a couple of pics)

I'm pretty sure this will point me towards those frightning blue nodes that I've been avoiding like the plague all this time..

Thanks in advance,

Andy

[Tangled-Universe]

I'm pretty sure this will point me towards those frightning blue nodes that I've been avoiding like the plague all this time..

LOL Sounds very familiar!

[Henry Blewer]

This could probably be done using an image map or two. I am not familiar with these formations. Basically, it would  take a honeycomb of a varied gray scale pattern. Plug the image map into a displacement shader.

[TheBadger]

I would like to see how you could do this with image maps, and have it look real. Very interesting to me.

[Dune]

There is a filter in Photoshop that does honeycombs. You could try that one for a start, perhaps soften it a bit, or kind of eliminate the black lines between. Make a few different ones and set them at the same location with different displacement and they will give you the different heights (just theoretically thinking).

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Thanks guys - gives me a couple of starting points to go from.

A friend suggested starting off with a voronoi shader but again I don't fancy going anywhere near the blue nodes just yet...

Cheers,

Andy

[Henry Blewer]

The GIMP photo/paint program will do honeycombs also I think. You'll need a gap between the cells to color them in differing grays. A slight blur should remove that when you are done coloring the cells.
Anyway, this is the easiest way I can think of t do this.

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Thanks for the tip

Gimp had a filter that creates mosaics and lets you choose the number of sides - set this to hexagonal and came up with this for a quick test. What kind of image size should I be using for the image map? Guessed at 1024x1024 but is obviously easy to change if needed...

Also, being a noob, I'm struggling with where to connect the displacement shader that the image map plugs into - I'm sure I'll get it eventually

[Tangled-Universe]

Without the beveled edges this would work pretty nice as a displacement map.
The columns shouldn't have any kind of edge, since every pixel represents an "elevation" when you use the image as displacement map / heightfield.

The way to set it up in TG2 would be:

1) create image map shader -> load file -> set projection mode to "plan Y" -> set appropriate size, say 50x50m for starters
2) create displacement shader -> connect image map shader output to "function" input of the displacement shader (right) side -> set displacement factor in displacement shader (scale is in metres)
3) connect displacement shader output to compute terrain

Cheers,
Martin

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Many thanks - I'll give it a try once I've got the highlights out of the image map in the first place -  thinking about it now, I realise they'd probably look spiky round the edges because of this.

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Ok so this is what I've got so far - need a better image map in the first place still and need to make the gaps between the columns narrower. I'll pick this up when I next get on my PC - as for now, it's time to climb the wooden hill for me.

Thanks for everyone's help (especially TU) it's much appreciated.

I WILL get the hang of this awesome app...

[Henry Blewer]

This is a very good start. There are many, many things that image maps can be used for in Terragen 2. Keep working at them. We'll be coming to you for advice soon.

[Red Eyed Jedi]

Getting there slowly - I still haven't cleaned up the image map properly yet as these filters all seem to want to apply a light source (where the bevelled edges came from in that image map above) so it looks like I'll have to create one manually. Because I'm impatient and wanted to get stuck in, I decided to use it anyway so I know it looks a bit rough and ready. Here's what I've come up with so far using dandelo's PGS Evolution 2 clip file for the grass.

Also Inky's Cirrus & Little Fluffy Clouds clip.

[Henry Blewer]

The second image is getting there. Your wave scale on the water is too high I think. Try reducing the roughness.

[inkydigit]

looking good...glad the clip file was of use!
now all you need are hundreds of tourists!!