Power Fractal and a flat surface/saltfield

neods · July 25, 2007, 01:37:41 PM

I'm trying to create a picture similar to the attachement. But my question is how can I create a user set flat terrain when I'm using Power Fractal to generate my infinite terrain? And as a side note I'd like to ask for the people who have purchased the Deep Animation version of Terragen, are the builds more advanced in some fields? and how is the motionblur rendering, is it usable or very very slow? Thanks, and I really enjoy this forum, it's a great resource for info on this unique program.

Here is an external link to the image that I'm trying to replicate.
http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71552877sh0.jpg

[attach=#]

Mavcat · July 25, 2007, 01:47:02 PM

I'd say use a power fractal and a distribution shader or masking,cant check it out now because im rendering something

Volker Harun · July 25, 2007, 02:00:16 PM

As Mavcat pointed out, you could blend the Fractal terrain with a shader. Or you could play with the Adjust Coastline in the displacement tab of the fractal terrain.

old_blaggard · July 25, 2007, 02:04:48 PM

You can also increase the noise variation in the power fractal to get the displacements on your terrain farther apart.

neods · July 25, 2007, 02:21:18 PM

Is there a precise way to position the masking? or is it just a matter of blending these procedurals together?

Mavcat · July 25, 2007, 02:22:05 PM

You can use an image for masking

Edit : That'll be a black and white picture,with the white color letting the terrain through the mask,and black will be flat (I THINK!!)

Volker Harun · July 25, 2007, 02:26:03 PM

Well, at first you have a flat terrain.
You add a fractal terrain - go for old_blaggards idea - if this is'nt fine enough, try that coastline thingy, I told you, too.

Else, in the fractal terrain, at the very bottom you can turn on blend by shader. Create a new Powerfractal and use this as blend shader. Try settings:
Feature scale 10,000
Lead in 5,000
smallest 4,000
in the second tab reduce the colour roughness. Then reduce it again ,-)

neods · July 25, 2007, 06:05:13 PM

Thanks guy for the great support. After testing quite a few different techniques I went with the ImageMap Camera Projection. This way I could perfectly place the mask anywhere I wanted. And When I Plug the ImageMap node to the Base Colours node I can see the maps area of influence very easily. Thanks. Can anyone comment on the MotionBlur features of Terragen 2 Deep Animation?

bigben · July 25, 2007, 06:47:14 PM

I haven't noticed any considerable performance differences with motion blur and it does make things a lot smoother when you get very close to the terrain..

Have a look at <http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1843.0>

It's only every 1/4th frame and without motion blur would be quite jerky in the sections where it goes close to the canyon walls...

and a tip from Oshyan

Quote from: Oshyan on July 17, 2007, 02:14:16 AM
Just a note for info, the AA quality also controls motion blur quality. AA is reasonably fast to render so you might want to up the AA if you're looking for better mo-blur results.

- Oshyan