Blender - Some Awesome New Features

[efflux]

I could actually give you dozens and dozens of example uses of that Modo gradient editor in terms of just landscape use. In fact there are endless uses. One thing you can do in Modo is use the gradient for displacement height colour so that in the low cracks of the displacement it's one colour then as many colours as you want gradient out until you reach the other end of the gradient where the displacement sticks out most.

If you want to see some of the effects just for surface shading look here. It's actually so endless you couldn't even provide all the example uses of that gradiet editor. This is just surface shading stuff. You can plug any data in and have any data coming out. You can't tell me some of this stuff isn't useful for landscapes.

http://docs.luxology.com/modo/701/help/pages/shaderendering/ShaderItems/Gradient.html#page=page-1

[efflux]

You can get the gradient to repeat or mirror itself over any value range. One example is that you can do something similar to the strata and outcrops but no need for these oblique shaders. It's all done in the gradient editor in Modo.

[efflux]

Check through all these tabs for Modo's procedural textures:

http://docs.luxology.com/modo/701/help/pages/shaderendering/EmodoTextures.html#page=page-2

It also has a surface generator shader. This applies objects to the surface.

There is no contest now. Modo is awesome and particularly the Linux version.

The bottom line is that The Foundry who own Modo, Mari and Nuke are going to utterly clean up. These are three of the best apps in their class.

[efflux]

Heading towards trillions of poly's at render time now in Modo. I really don't think there is any serious limit to the scale of your scene with careful use of replicators.

[Dune]

This is awesome!

[efflux]

Dune. You haven't seen anything yet. Modo is awesome!

I've got some fantastic terrains and I haven't even turned them to mesh yet which will fascilitate proper overhangs. The shader tree is incredibly powerful and it seems we are finally there in terms of a standard 3D app being able to handle immense scenes. We are talking trillions of polys at render time. It blows Blender away in sheer scene size.

I'll post another picture soon but I'll have to stop because this is eventually going to put Terragen to complete shame.

[rcallicotte]

Have you guys seen the Modo plugin from Allegorithmic?

I wonder...how is Blender.org handling this sort of thing.  A plugin for modo for Substances would be interesting as well.

[rcallicotte]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1-iPexmJ1g

[efflux]

That's not something I've looked into since primarily I'm focusing on procedurals. Eventually I will probably utilise other textures. Modo has one really cool way to use texture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQUNpD9K2GM

In Modo, currently I've been working on how to deal with distance i.e. you have physically based daylight with bakground that create an horizon except your ground mesh won't meet it. You can obviously see this as you gain altitude. What you do is add a volumetric ground plane. This isn't a polygon but you can stretch it thousands of km into the distance if you want and it's never mesh - which could create some problems. You can colour texture it. I'm working on various cloud methods including flat planes. I think Blender is actually slightly better at creating 3D clouds. Modo has volumetrics but to use this for big clouds it needs extra features added in connection with lighting.

[efflux]

One thing you can do in Modo which is awesome is sculpt particles. You can sculpt directly on clouds. these clouds are not good for actual sky clouds but currently have correct features for smoke and such like. This sculpting also means you can sculpt rock arrangements. You have your rocks on the ground and the brush reacts with them the same as if paint i.e. you can swirl the stones around, increase/decrease size etc with a wacom! This is incredible.

Another test I'll be doing is replicating entire terrains. Modo could definitely handle this and you only need a few replications. I've done this in Terragen with Heightfields. You can just use the same terrain a few times but rotate it around. You can't rell it's the same terrain unless you get really high. In Modo it's definitely possible to create a great look of distance. That part is solved. The only thing areas where Terragen beats Modo is really vaste scenes where you are very high or into space and clouds. In my opinion most of the rest is better in Modo.

[efflux]

Modo is mindblowing. There is a shader to apply variations to textures created from particles, polys or objects so you can have stones all different or each leaf on a tree a slightly different colour etc. Lots of people complain about the lack of shader nodes but when you get into this shader tree it makes you wonder. It's more powerful than most node networks.

And here is a particle tree. It could be made more like a real tree but the beauty is the way you can do anything.

http://forums.luxology.com/topic.aspx?f=9&t=76202

[efflux]

Here's the last two images. Gone way off track but the thread was my attempt to see what could be done in other apps and where Terragen has major weakness. It's turned out Modo has gone way beyond my expectation. Tested clouds again and I've sussed it out. Modo can do reasonable clouds no problem. It can be better than this which is my first success at getting them generally right. Render time a few minutes. Then a Modo terrain. render time 48 seconds. The Modo renderer is lightening fast. Click on the images to see full size.

Modo can do the volumetric atmo stuff. Light rays through clouds etc.

Does this mean I'm ditching Terragen? No but Modo is definitely my main app now. It may be a long time before I use Terragen again. It's lacking features that I need and Modo doesn't lack those things.