Newbie Chrome ball question

[insignet]

this is strange... I made a height field quickly and put the ball shape in there and it seems to reflect a lower res version of the terrain? You can see detail at the base then as it increases in altitude the goes lower res. Same results with Envir enable, disabled.

[cyphyr]

As Martin mentioned earlier this is (I think) due to the "Ray detail multiplier" in the internal network of your render node. Try higher settings in there but Martin is more qualified than me so I'd look to him for further advice.

Also you may want to search the forums for cube map creation (otherwise known as skyboxes). This avoids the use of the sphere altogether. Basically 6 images rendered looking forward, backward, left, right up and down stitched together seamlessly to form a cross (like a Christian one). Most 3d rendering software (including Lightwave) that supports environment mapping will be able to use a cube map.

hope this helps

Richard

[insignet]

Thanks will check it

[lat 64]

Well boy Howdy!
I did not know there were internal nodes in the renderers.
It could not find them at first. They only appeared after I ran a first render and then I got a "+" sign at the right side of the node.
Much thanks from me too.

Update:
I went through this for a learning exercise(or exorcize ) I have the same banding. It seems to me to look like the detail in the refection drops off at the band. Perhaps because it is off camera maybe? Like a population crop or something?

[insignet]

Dammit... your orb looks better than mine It's strange,  the displacement detail gets reduced in the reflection, the banding and this issue must be connected in some way... but which way 

[Tangled-Universe]

Ok, so *if* in this latest orb/sphere the "ray detail multiplier" has been increased to 1 and this didn't help then I can only think of one other cause at the moment:
The geometry which is being reflected correctly is all in frame or is only out of frame to the right/left of the camera.
The geometry which is being reflected incorrectly, at reduced detail, is *behind* the camera and probably can't be fixed using the options I suggested.

[goldfarb]

The geometry which is being reflected incorrectly, at reduced detail, is *behind* the camera and probably can't be fixed using the options I suggested.

if this is the case, move the camera very far from the sphere and change your lens to frame it up....

[cyphyr]

Obviously! slaps forehead. 

Of course, tried it and it works a charm ... only one possible issue. It would appear that holes are in parts of the terrain in front of the camera but facing away from it. A more detailed and populated scene may hide these shortcomings.

Thank you for your insight

Richard

ps the camera FOV for this is about 2deg.

[Tangled-Universe]

What did you do/fix Richard? It's not very clear

[cyphyr]

Just what goldfarb suggested, moved the camera about 70m away from a 1m sphere and zoomed in (fov at about 2deg).
In this way almost all of the terrain that is reflected by the sphere is in front of the camera but since the camera has a very high zoom factor (low fov) the foreground is not visable.
Easier to see from a tgd.

Richard

[jo]

I have to say I've always thought this was a very odd way of capturing data for environment mapping when you have a CG source. OTOH, I thought it was quite a clever way to capture real world data. Just had to make the comment :-).

Regards,

Jo

[insignet]

Thanks everyone for your help. Like I said at the beginning I'm still learning, there's so many cool things on these Terragen planets, takes time to create new worlds btw on a slightly different note I found this interesting, Procedural generation talk for Elite Dangerous demo- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTBvpd3_Vqk

[Tangled-Universe]

I have to say I've always thought this was a very odd way of capturing data for environment mapping when you have a CG source. OTOH, I thought it was quite a clever way to capture real world data. Just had to make the comment :-).

Regards,

Jo

I agree. Somehow, intuitively, you'd tend to think that at the edges of such a spherical lightprobe you wouldn't have enough fidelity/resolution to make it suitable as a lightsource in other 3D packages.

[cyphyr]

There's a process where you take four chrome ball shots/render taken at 90 deg to each other and through some fancy photoshoping turn them into a single spherical projection environment.

scholarly complex article  on the subject
Slightly more sensible article

I agree though the simple cubic sky map version is so much easier.

Richard

[lat 64]

Ha! All I wanted to do was make a pretty chrome ball just like the big kids on the playground.

So, am I right in thinking the fractal/procedural terrain just renders in view of the camera? And not off camera like, say, on the back(unseen) side of the mountain?

If that is the case, then it shows me how really elegant this software is.

Russ