Sand Dunes

[Harvey Birdman]

I had started to develop a shader that would do dunes with ripples a while back but before the latest release it would blow up when I tried to render it. Works now, though!



What do you think, Sethren - look something like your pictures of the drive to Vegas?

[rcallicotte]

Hey, that's nice.  Ooops.  I'm not Sethren.   

[Harvey Birdman]

That's ok. You're allowed.   

[Sethren]

but i am, he heee!

Is that what you are trying to re-create? Those specific deserts?

[Harvey Birdman]

No, not really. It was pretty much just a test bed for the dunes shader that got out of control, and then I thought it was somewhat reminiscent of your photos.

I'd done up a couple of smoke tree-ish plants to put in among the boulders, but they didn't look very good once I actually put them in the picture. I'm hoping it is due in part to the population problem in the latest build and that they'll look a little better later.

[rcallicotte]

I like the crinkles in the mountains.   

[sjefen]

Good job. I like your mountain to.
I would prefer the dunes to be bigger.

[bigben]

The ripples look good... perhaps just a touch more horizontal distortion

[Harvey Birdman]

Thanks, guys. The dunes shader is pretty versatile. You can set direction, period and amplitude for macro dunes and smaller ripples (so the ripples can run in a different direction than the dune as a whole), then add variable noise-based distortion to the directions and the dune height so it doesn't look too regular. Add a bit of shear to the output and that's what you get.

I'll try tweaking the ripples if I run it again with some plants. I'd like to do a nice nasty thunderhead behind the mountain, too. 

[Sethren]

That dune shader sounds like it has a lot of potential.