Question: incorporating an object

[lladell]

Greetings all. I am new to the forum and really appreciate all the great Terragen guidance here. I've attached a scene I am working on. I am trying to depict a tower of rock (a la Devil's Tower in Wyoming) with a skull carved in its face. I imported a skull Terragen object (from a tutorial) and shoved it back into the rock face. I then coloured the skull with a surface shader.

This sort of worked, but as you can see from the image, the skull doesn't appear to be carved into the rock - it looks like someone very large shoved a skull into it. I bet there's a better way - perhaps a way to use the skull tgo object as a height field or some such? I would love the skull to look like it's made of the same stuff that the rock tower is made of.

Suggestions appreciated. 

[TheBadger]

I would like to hear some thoughts on this too. I always wanted to blend an object into a terrain without having to do much post, like in these two images here:
http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/statue_ring_the_lord_of_rings_tolkien_argonath_lotr_isildur_anarion_fellowship_desktop_2011x1135_wallpaper-25254.jpg

And with more detail, something similar to this:
http://www.topsir.com/d/2007-4/Presidential-Portraits-Mount-Rushmore-National-Monument-South-Dakota-31.jpg

[Kadri]

#Do it in post if it is a still.
Fully or after you did it like here by blending the edges a little more with the the surrounding.
If you use near similar colors displacement it could work as an object too as you did here.

#Use a image as a displacement on the wall-rock.

It is up to your liking-what you want to archive mostly.
There could be other ways too.
#For example exporting the rock and doing it in another 3D software and then importing ones again in TG2.

[Oshyan]

If you apply the same shaders as the rock face to your object it could work, but A: whatever UV mapping it has may mess it up, and B: the scale may need to be adjusted.

- Oshyan

[TheBadger]

I have been thinking about this. The only thing I can come up with to get the result quality like in my image examples, is to start with the object and then build a scene around that.

Make the model and texture, and then make a scene that matches the look of the model. Make the terrain look like the stone the statues are cut from.
Then try to get the terrain to hug the object, not just let the object sit in the terrain.

Here is how someone else went about trying to solve a related problem:
"...I use several Painted shaders, each connected to a Displacement shader. With a separate camera I circle the building and paint the terrain underneath it. With the values for the displacement I can raise or lower the terrain where needed. It's a rather crude method IMO but I do rely on vegetation to mask any imperfections."
AndyWelder http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=13909.0

Sounds like a rather complicated way to do it. Anyone know a easier way yo get at what andy was doing in addition to what Kadri mentioned?

[Kadri]

It is an old thread:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5400.0

Here is the file (free) of the Argonath :

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/260843

You could try it TheBadger. I think you make it harder then it is 

[nbk2]

Just an image texture on a camera doesn't work?

Obviously with more elaborated objects this won't but for the example in the first picture, it seems the way to go.

You can maybe (depending on the picture!) sculpt it in zbrush or if you need it to be heavily populated you need a spherical map and do it on a planet.

You just need to make sure that your zbrush displacement map starts at 0 or 100 % and then is inwards displaced.

[nbk2]

If you just connect the basecolour into the object shader it's very simple with rock.

I could also connect a merge shader but in the parts shader that went black (Not on the first level). Generally you can displace objects, to make them more match, but then you probably better get over the image map route.

You could use a similar colour scheme and use a perlin texture to displace.

[TheBadger]

Thats a pretty good blend your getting nbk2. Looks like it would work that way. Are you doing just what Oshyan said?

Thanks for those links Kadri!

@DandelO
If your reading this, would you mind posting a link of your final image for the LTOR work that Kadri linked to. Just curious.

[dandelO]

Hi, Badger. I actually submitted a different image to that, for reasons that escape me. It was crap.
A variation of one of the Ringwraith previews that are also in that thread.
I have the files somewhere on an old hd that isn't connected to anything just now, actually, there's loads of stuff on that that I should get off at some point.

[Kadri]

That scene had much potential as Oshyan said. Would love to see it finished Martin 

[TheBadger]

That scene had much potential as Oshyan said. Would love to see it finished Martin  

+1
Or do the Mount Rushmore one! That would be a challenge

[nbk2]

Thats a pretty good blend your getting nbk2. Looks like it would work that way. Are you doing just what Oshyan said?

Yeah you just plug in the base colour into the object and your sorted.

I did some hectic tests trying to get the same displacement (ie PF) on it but the Merge shader didn't like me. But I haven't really studied it in detail. It was rushed. But basecolour definitely works.

It might be easier in a production speed environment to just deform the model a bit or render without raytracing the objects so you get displacement from an image map.

[lladell]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I ended up connecting a color shader for my rock tower to the skull object, and that was satisfactory.

A couple posters suggested editing the object itself. I have never done so, and wondered if you had any suggestions for modeling software that would open/create/edit .obj models. Something with a merciful learning curve would be ideal. If such advice is already available here in the forums, I'd be grateful for a pointer.

Regards, Leo

[TheBadger]

Hexagon is the simplest I have seen and has tons of in-depth tutorials. http://www.daz3d.com/?dzid=PPCbrandedUS&gclid=CJPp0PninK8CFWvktgodThbOcA Its still free.