Masking Fake Stones

Dune · June 30, 2012, 03:09:11 AM

Check this out, Bobby. Maybe it helps.

Tangled-Universe · June 30, 2012, 03:57:14 AM

I think Bobby wants to have each fake stone layer a different texture.

As Jason (Inkydigit) pointed out you will need surfacelayers/powerfractals separately for every fake stone shader.
Jason, there's no easier way to do it. It makes perfectly sense of course to give every fake stone shader it's own set of shading if you want that done separately

I've attached an example below, it uses Ulco's scene as a base, so in order to reproduce this exactly you will need his .tgd above.

Tangled-Universe · June 30, 2012, 04:23:17 AM

It can easily get pretty daunting though.
Below you can see how the network looks of those stones.
There's a lot of displacement being performed and computed and then every stone has separate shading, although they do share some fractals.
Just to give an idea what's possible.

inkydigit · June 30, 2012, 08:41:13 AM

thanks guys for jumping in, I did not have time to have a look at the tgd last night as I was busy!
(sorry Bobby)
@Martin, I know there is no easier way to do it, but I always try to find a shortcut if possible!!...my node networks can get pretty complicated very quickly when using fake stones!
my last image (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=14753.0) used 11 layers of stones using merge shaders and 'highest raise' to separate the different sizes effectively...

Jason
ps Martin, love the displacements on those stones... they look great!

monks · June 30, 2012, 09:34:10 AM

That's awesome guys...I did try the surface layer into the shader input of the fake stones node last night but it didn't immmediately look like it was going in the right direction. Was going to try it again today...but here we have it! :-D
I think getting this right is a strong basis for any project so I think I've learned something really invaluablel here.

monks

bobbystahr · June 30, 2012, 09:46:16 AM

wow...now we're cooking with gas. I sense a creative surge coming on...if only a similar solution could be had for my SSShader separate texturing conundrum from a while back. It has me currently scratching my head like this FS thing had till all y'all figured it our so elegantly...thanks to all the participants....off to play...

bobbystahr · June 30, 2012, 09:48:26 AM

Quote from: monks on June 30, 2012, 09:34:10 AM
That's awesome guys...I did try the surface layer into the shader input of the fake stones node last night but it didn't immmediately look like it was going in the right direction. Was going to try it again today...but here we have it! :-D
I think getting this right is a strong basis for any project so I think I've learned something really invaluablel here.

monks

That's what's so freakin' great about this forum...so many 'gurus' to call out to....

bobbystahr · June 30, 2012, 04:54:31 PM

Well that was most educational. Here's a WIP of the image I'm working on with this set up. I use image maps almost exclusively due toi my colour blindness so it is good to get them in the pipe...

monks · June 30, 2012, 05:15:27 PM

They rock!

I've seen a lot of great results with image maps. Might give that a try myself at some point. Are you using bump maps for these?

monks

bobbystahr · June 30, 2012, 10:14:10 PM

Quote from: monks on June 30, 2012, 05:15:27 PM
They rock! I've seen a lot of great results with image maps. Might give that a try myself at some point. Are you using bump maps for these?

monks

Yes, but only on import objects....terrains and FSs and I think Simple Shape Shaders will all displace, as they connect to the terrain is my theory......the colour maps came with displacement, alpha and specular as well as regular bumps but I displace the FS's with the displace one....

penboack · July 01, 2012, 08:17:28 AM

Can anyone explain what the "Separate Geometry" parameter does?
My searches aren't coming up with anything other than people saying they don't use it!

inkydigit · July 01, 2012, 11:01:10 AM

@ Bobby, that looks great!...
about the 'SSShader separate texturing conundrum', did you try using the output from the SSS as the blending shader input for your image map or surface layer?

monks · July 01, 2012, 11:20:45 AM

Bobby, so, do you use the displacement map as an image map to displace with? Which node of which shader type would you plug that into to?

monks

bobbystahr · July 01, 2012, 12:12:43 PM

Quote from: monks on July 01, 2012, 11:20:45 AM
Bobby, so, do you use the displacement map as an image map to displace with? Which node of which shader type would you plug that into to?

monks

When using images I proceed thus:
1. add Surface Layer
2. in Colour Tab>Colour function select from the + Create new shader>Colour Shader>Image map shader
3. select map from the dir you choose and select mapping method from Projection type and scale the map as needed then
go to the Flip, Repeat Tab and select repeat in both directions.
For displacement follow these steps in the Displacement Tab [this is where you add your Displace image..generally an exact copy of the colour map but in grayscale ] adding your displacement with the slider or type in the field.
hope this helps

bobbystahr · July 01, 2012, 12:25:35 PM

Quote from: inkydigit on July 01, 2012, 11:01:10 AM
@ Bobby, that looks great!...
about the 'SSShader separate texturing conundrum', did you try using the output from the SSS as the blending shader input for your image map or surface layer?

yup...think I've tried everything I can think of. They seem to be a part of the terrain calculation and that screws them up as separate objects for texturing. Here's one to mess around with if y want....