Strata & outcrops node/doc

[TheBadger]

Hi,

The documentation for the strata and outcrops node is missing, or not connected to the help button. I thought that it had been there. I could swear I remembering reading it a wile back but Im maybe misremembering?

Anyway, I just wanted to refresh on what the descriptions of the settings were.

One issue I need to ask about is the default settings for tilt A & D.
That is, the degree settings are 90% default and that makes the strata perfectly horizontal. but thats what is confusing me. because 90% should be totally vertical should it not?

[attachimg=1]

The setting goes all the way to 360. But how is that working? since nothing happens below the surface?

If this is a hilariously stupid question, well just tell me the answer.

[Tangled-Universe]

Perhaps you are remembering my TerraLive session?

In the powerpoint presentation I provided with my first session there's about 4 slides which explain all the settings.

[TheBadger]

Hi Martine. I guess I dont know where this memory is coming from. were those slides in the download files you provided, or just in the video?

I have all the files you gave us, but I did not get to downloading a copy of the videos yet. I meant to. I'll go get them now.

[Tangled-Universe]

It should be in the accompanying files and not in the videos. I didn't have time to go through those so I included them in the powerpoint presentation for reference

[TheBadger]

Thanks Martin

[Oshyan]

There is some decent documentation on Strata and Outcrops. I don't know why the link isn't working (I'll look into it), but I'm a little sad you didn't try the search in the Wiki. I've actually been noticing a lot of people missing the fact that things are, in fact, better documented these days - we'll have to work on getting the word out. http://www.planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Strata_and_Outcrops_Shader

- Oshyan

[Tangled-Universe]

I have added this shader to my list of tutorials for my website.
The documentation is finished, but needs to be converted into a video.
Oh what a long list it is, unfortunately inversely correlated with the amount of time I have for it.

Oshyan, I feel with you, nowadays there's indeed more documentation readily available.

To be specific about the strata shader documentation.
Despite that it's written quite well it's not very easy to follow in terms of some nomenclature.
Especially I, as a non-English speaker, found the "principal layer" naming very confusing.
The documentation I made shows every setting in action, which communicates a bit easier because I don't have to describe things anymore in terms like "principal layers" or find a way to explain "depth" and "hard layer spacing".

Another nit-picking little thingy is that it actually should be called "Stata shader" since it doesn't do outcrops.
You can get those though by making sure you have lateral-like displaced features in your terrain which the strata shader then beautifully converts into outcrops.

[DannyG]

Perhaps you are remembering my TerraLive session?

In the powerpoint presentation I provided with my first session there's about 4 slides which explain all the settings.

Thats a great PP Martin, lots of info thks for putting that together

[TheBadger]

Oshyan,
The link you posted is exactly the page I was remembering. THanks!
:-*So don't be sad, I could not remember that page if I didn't use the wiki before. I just couldn't remember where I saw it, and when the help button did not open to your link, I stopped looking altogether. I thought It was being redone-rewritten, or the server switch lost the info.

I will always use the internal help button first. I love that help button, no other software I use has their help set up that way. And when the documentation is all done and set up to those buttons, it will be brilliant.

By the way, jo has been periodically dropping links to new documentation in various threads as responses to questions. And I always read those posts when I see em'. It just I never payed attention to what the links address was when I opened them.

But yes, I am aware that the documentation is coming along. I think everyone is. Because there has been a LOT less complaining about it the last few months. Haven't you noticed?

[TheBadger]

Hey, I guess this is a good place to post this question.

Can you guys tell me if there is a "best" order for doing strata and erosion. What I mean is, I always put my strata as the last node before the "compute terrain" node. And I don't believe I have seen anyone else do otherwise.

But I also think of erosion as something I should add last. And I think I should want to erode the strata, right? But Maybe this is something thats counter intuitive?

This is the first time I have tried erosion. Have any of you found it effective to do ((in order) Strata node-erostion node-strata node-erotion node)) With various blends or distribution? I know this is very general.

[TheBadger]

Ahhh, so the erosion node does not work on terrains, only hFields? Thats too bad. Have to buy Geo now.

[Oshyan]

Correct, erosion is a "raster" effect, it only works in pixel data, not procedurals. No public product has procedural erosion, only a few tests have been shown from some, and they never made their work public, sadly. So all programs that do erosion currently must do them only on heightfields. You can convert a procedural terrain (finite area) into a heightfield in TG by using a Heightfield Generate and feeding your terrain network into the Shader input port. Set the size to adjust the area of coverage for your heightfield generation, click Generate to create it, then you can run heightfield operations like Erosion on it. You won't maintain the procedural detail of your terrain in full, but you can do the erosion and then apply finer-scale details later instead.

- Oshyan

[bobbystahr]

elegant solution Oshyan