it is possible to accurately recreate Earth in Terragen 3?

Started by Ariel DK, January 14, 2015, 12:36:59 AM

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Ariel DK

hello everyone! this is my first posting on Planetside Forums
I began to use Terragen more than a year ago because since I study art multimedia and 3D graphics, I always wanted to recreate the Earth from space
but soon I realized how hard it was ... many people underestimated how hard it is to recreate our planet, regardless Use software package for it (I tried with C4D, 3ds Max, and Vue ), but only terragen proved to be the most convincing to achieve my goal
I've seen hundreds of videos from NASA and beauty is extremely difficult to recreate (or at least so I thought until I saw the film "Gravity")
here are obviously tons of shader written for a renderer called Arnold
however can be the basis of this knowledge be used in TG3?
and if so ... how?
I tried using textures from NASA, but are only useful for the surface (86k textures). for clouds, there is only one map 43k (very bad at altitudes of 300 km)
I found it impossible to recreate some type of similar cloud whose pattern is similar to the real clouds seen from space (or at least similar to clouds texture pattern 43k)
I know this is an old topic, but never has been taken so seriously. I just want to create an earth that seem real and I am convinced that Terragen is the right tool for this job
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

here a test render of my work
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Dune

Welcome to the forum. You might want to check out some files available at NWDA; there's global clouds and global worlds. Saves you a lot of work.

Oshyan

This is also a strong interest of mine, so I'm happy to support your work as much as I can. I can say that of course the NASA data is the best source, but I have found it to be inconsistent in resolution and quality. I have been hoping to work with another forum member, BigBen, on a project to create the best possible, easily used, ready to apply out-of-the-box texture set of Earth data, including color, height, clouds, city lights, specular, water, maybe even bathymmetry, but that project hasn't get been started.

In general you can get good basic results just by using the existing NASA data. But as you found, it works best from higher altitudes. It is inevitable that global data will be limited in resolution because as resolution increases, data size increases, and memory use also increases. So even if you have 64GB of RAM, you will soon be out of memory working with huge 50,000 pixel square images/textures/displacement maps/etc.

As for the clouds, I think the best thing to do is work on a setup where the NASA map is a mask or other modifier for the Density Shader of a Cloud Layer in Terragen 3. This allows you to add procedural detail to the NASA data, which works on a smaller scale and thus at closer camera distances. The trick is in getting the right procedural function scales and patterns to complement your NASA cloud map and the right densities, depth, altitude, etc. as well. It may be best with multiple cloud layers all with varying settings, but using the same or similar variations of the NASA cloud mask.

There are a number of threads around here on the forums where several people have achieved varying degrees of success with Earth renders. It's worth looking around and trying a few different searches to see.

And, as Dune mentioned, there are some more procedurally-oriented full planet scenes and presets available at NWDA, which could help with some aspects:
http://www.nwdastore.com/

- Oshyan

Ariel DK

thanks for your answers, I agree with Oshyan that the solution is given on finding the right way to mix some texture for clouds with procedural details, or maybe with that package clouds in NWDA
the truth is that I've already tried, but the main problem I had was that this method worked well for the vast cloudy areas, but not very well for small clouds (the smallest completely disappeared), the result was that had vast cloudy areas, and others areas completely clear
I will try with those clouds in NWDA
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

mhaze

You could combine several cloud layers to achieve the small details.

Ariel DK

you are right, but I never tried.
refers to connected a cloud texture like a Final Density Modulator, and use a Power Fractal Shader maybe?
unfortunately I really have not had time for this
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

while I have not been to this topic .. now the Iceland contest is ending I have time to go in this..
in fact I have new promising results
I decided change the mask for a "semi- procedural" cloud layer
I used a Alpha image of continents for create cumulus, cirrus and others
here is a fast preview
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Oshyan

That looks very promising. Are you using other image-based data for cloud positioning/shape at all, or just the continent mask?

- Oshyan

Ariel DK

is only a alpha mask with many Power Fractal Shader
had previously proven with a relief image (black and withe) and 24 bits per channel
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

after a laborious night I'm on the right track
the "semi-procedural" clouds seem to adapt well to the geographic patterns (especially cirrus clouds)
but this is only the beginning .. I will need more tests soon
I go to sleep, good night to all
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

Ariel DK

the next step is a little highly detailed cumulus layer
Hmmm, what version of Terragen does God use?

bobbystahr

This is coming along really nice, you're on track for sure!
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist