Building Populations - Skyscrapers in Rows

Started by D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet), September 06, 2018, 11:24:24 PM

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D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

Just starting to think about how to build a city in Terragen.  Specifically, I need to create a spherical render for a Skybox which has many different sized buildings in the distance (and horizon).  So my building populations will surround the camera in a circular form.  Populations are defined as a square/rectangle, but I assume I can mask these with a Simple Shape Shader and get circles right?

Also the buildings need to have illuminated windows, as this will be a dusk/night scene.  So I need to investigate materials too.

Through any tips you have at me if you have time.  I'll figure this out on my own, but it always is nice to have some friendly advice to start.  ;)

Derek


WAS

Quote from: D.A. Bentley on September 06, 2018, 11:24:24 PM
Just starting to think about how to build a city in Terragen.  Specifically, I need to create a spherical render for a Skybox which has many different sized buildings in the distance (and horizon).  So my building populations will surround the camera in a circular form.  Populations are defined as a square/rectangle, but I assume I can mask these with a Simple Shape Shader and get circles right?

Also the buildings need to have illuminated windows, as this will be a dusk/night scene.  So I need to investigate materials too.

Through any tips you have at me if you have time.  I'll figure this out on my own, but it always is nice to have some friendly advice to start.  ;)

Derek


Are these more LOD buildings are a higher level of visible detail?

Dune

Or one huge population with a blacked out central circle. These will take some time to populate, anyway, so after that's done, better save a pop cache.

cyphyr

Ha! I am working on a very similar project at the moment. City buildings of in the distance and to the horizon is not a big issue since you can't see clearly how they relate to each other and any road infrastructure you may have. Intersecting buildings are likely to happen but at that distance will not be a visual problem.

I would load each building object separately and have four population nodes  with their rotation limited to min 0 max 0, min 90 max 90, min 180 max 180 and min 270 max 270 respectively.
Also look at the "Spacing variation in a,b", setting this to 0, 0 will create a perfect grid.
You will need to calculate your "Object spacing a,b" to allow sufficient gaps for other populations and the more populations you have the trickier this will become.
Of course you can create a custom mask (Use density shader) for each population but realise that this will calculate the distribution masking based on the objects centre and NOT its bounding box so make allowances for that.

As regards the illuminated windows as long as the buildings are UV mapped all you will need to do is make an appropriate image and plug it into the luminosity channel of the default shader.

Hope this helps and looking forward to seeing your results (if you can post them) :)
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
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D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

Thanks guys, this is super helpful.  Thanks cyphyr, thats a huge help!

I'll post an update here when I have something in progress.  ;)

Derek

D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

I'm finally back on this, so hopefully I will have something generic I can show soon.  ;)

-Derek


cyphyr

www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
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Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

bobbystahr

I built a sci fi one once from the city blocks given away on DAZ by moebius but it went out the window with my computers back in the catastrophe of 2010...maybe I'l rebuild it for fun.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

I gave up on the idea of using Terragen Populations for making a city.  I'm trying a different approach now similar to this:
https://www.cgchan.com/static/doc/scenecity/1.4/_images/index.jpg

The developer of the Blender Plugin said he imported the city in this image directly into Terragen as one big chunk (no materials, but a good example):
https://www.cgchan.com/static/doc/scenecity/1.4/

I'll just be breaking up my city into a certain number of OBJ chunks.
My buildings will be far in the distance, and at night so I don't have to worry too much about details.
When it's done, and "releasable" I'll post the result.

Check out "SceneCity - City generator addon for Blender" here:
https://www.cgchan.com/store/scenecity


-Derek