Need help on creating procedural planets

Started by eapilot, November 02, 2017, 05:03:25 PM

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eapilot

I've posted on this subject, and I'm going to tackle this again.  I would like to build procedural planets for skybox purposes, with customizable terrains, bodies of water, and global clouds.  One specific thing I would prefer to do is change the position of the planet instead of the camera  for the sake of matching up with scene files that occur in the origin (to render a planet in space in Vue, you have to move the camera).  I am brand spanking new on the terrain nodes for Terragen, having only tested its cloud and sky tools before.

I looked at Cypher's SimpleContinent.tgd that was uploaded in the thread below.  Unfortunately, once you move the planet's position, the shape nodes don't move with the planet.  Also, is the best way to add an ocean is to add a sphere with the water shader and slightly increase the scale?

Any pro tips will be helpful!

http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,23392.msg236848.html#msg236848

cyphyr

Thanks :)
Can't check right now but I think if you set the shape node origin to the planet you should be good to go. Also try the transform node with and without world space enabled.
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eapilot

I have no idea how to do that.  Currently the shape is still at the origin.  I haven't really done anything yet, but here is the current location of the planet.

Dune

I think this would be the best way, but you'd have to test it. You'd somehow have to add/subtract the new planet location to/from the existing, copy that into the transform shader and thus move all textures with it. I only have an old online TG version, so it may look a bit dated  ;)

eapilot

For planetary clouds, would you only use Cloud layer v2?

Oshyan

Yes, v3 clouds need to be localized and so are not appropriate for planetary work. The v3 shading is also less beneficial at that scale.

- Oshyan

eapilot

I have been dissecting some of other peoples planets.  I am now learning how to build procedural terrain.  Often the Warp Merge Shader and Redirect Shader are used.  What is the difference between the Warp Input Shader and the Warp Merge Shader?  Is the defualt of piping one Fractal downstream into another a mix?  As a user of World Machine, are there other common functions to merge, masked by height?

KlausK

Hi. Did you take a look at the wiki? There is a 1 page description for each of the Warp shader nodes.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Other_Shader
Perhaps that answers your question.
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eapilot

@KlausK

I couldn't wrap my head around the difference between the Warp Merge Shader and the Warp Input Shader.  I saw that the Warp Merge Shader is used a lot for procedural planets, but I'm not sure what kind of control you have with it or why it is so popular.  The node graphs for procedural planets are a little overwhelming to me, so I'm breaking it down to a simple scenes to try to learn what they do. I'm looking for a guide for best practices through the forum.

Matt

#9
The difference between the Warp Input Shader and the Warp Merge Shader is:


  • The Warp Input Shader warps the shader attached to the main input (Input node) and any shaders further upstream of the main input.
  • The Warp Merge Shader warps the shader attached to the Shader input and any shaders further upstream of that input (in other words a "side branch"). It merges the side branch with the main input, but only the side branch is warped.

I've updated the Wiki with this information.

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

eapilot

Thanks for the explanation Matt!  By the way, thanks for updating the Wiki.  I have been using it a lot.

eapilot

Is there a cheap and fast way of rendering shapes to test for global clouds and for terrains before piping it into the Density input?  Like mapping the fractal shapes to surface layer shader first? NVSeal Global Clouds Pack has a lot of fractals layered with warp merge nodes and it is hard to figure out what is driving what.  And the render times are long.

Oshyan

You can get a good 2D representation by just connecting the Cloud Density Shaders individually (or in series, for total coverage) to the planet shader input.

- Oshyan

eapilot