Broken Shadows From Clouds

Started by Aleksei, December 02, 2016, 04:51:10 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Aleksei

Hi!
I've tried to make a cloud look from the space and stumbled upon a problem with shadows. They are totally wrong. Looks like a bug. Or maybe I'm missing a magic checkbox somewhere in the settings? :)

Multi-purpose Design Tool: • NORDSKILL •

Oshyan

I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks like your cloud layer is fairly far from the coordinate origin and there are known issues with precision and accuracy when far away from 0,0,0. That might be related to or causing this. Do you get the same issue if the cloud layer is at 0,0,0?

- Oshyan

Matt

The voxel buffer doesn't work well with cloud layers that are tilted too far from the XZ plane, as is the case here because of where it's located on the planet.

You can make the shadows work correctly by turning off "Use voxels for shadows" on the Optimisation tab. However, the voxels are still used for shading the clouds, and therefore there are still problems.

I plan to improve this behaviour in future. For now, unfortunately Easy Clouds and Cloud Layer V3 are only suitable for locations near the normal working area at the "top" of the planet. For other locations you'll need to use Cloud Layer V2.

Matt
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

Aleksei

Thank you, Oshyan & Matt!
Both solutions work for me.

P.S. And what are the cloud layers V2 and V3? I cannot find these names in the Terragen interface.
Multi-purpose Design Tool: • NORDSKILL •

Oshyan

#4
When you create a cloud layer in Terragen 4 most of them will use Cloud Layer v3 (new cloud shading) by default. This gives you more realistic cloud rendering (new in Terragen 4, as you know :D ). The cloud types that do not use Cloud V3 in the Add Cloud Layer list are all 3 of the Global presets and the High-level: Cirrus (2D). All others use V3 cloud shading, or a variation of it (Easy Cloud). To clarify further, many of the new presets use the "Easy Cloud", which uses the shading of Cloud V3, but has simplified controls and less power, in exchange for more realistic out-of-the-box cloud shapes that match the cloud type of the preset. To create a generic Cloud V3, you would use the "Mid-level: Generic" preset, which gives you a general-purpose Cloud V3 layer with full settings available.

If you look in the title bar of the node settings for any node (including cloud nodes), or hover over them in the node network for tooltips, you'll also see the type/base name of the node displayed after the custom/user-created name. So for example in the default scene if you create a Mid-level: Generic cloud from the Add Cloud Layer menu in the Atmosphere Layout, then hover over the node in the node network view, you'll see: "Name: Altocumulus layer 01" "Type: Cloud layer v3". If you double-click to open that same node, in the title bar of the pop-up settings window you'll see "Altocumulus layer 01 (Cloud layer v3)". If you created one of the other presets (aside from Global and 2D), you would see "Easy Cloud" instead of "Cloud layer v3".

- Oshyan

Aleksei

Multi-purpose Design Tool: • NORDSKILL •