Soil lumps

[FrankB]

Thanks to both FrankB and to heavenlywarrior!

@heavenlywarrior - are you aware that NWDA sell a preset for fake stones that might help? Or if you don't want to go the fake stone route, you might try a population of distorted spheres (N.B. you can't use TG's internal sphere object for this - it has to be a sphere imported from another program; also, I've found there seems to be some peculiar glitch with the positioning of this kind of population - you have to move them up, otherwise they sit invisibly below the terrain they're supposed to be sitting on.)

Uh, wait. Just a few days, and Ryan's dirt surface is going to be available, delivering exactly that. Look at the image posting forums for Ryan's 4 or so latest image posts.

Cheers,
Frank

[arisdemos]

@ calico, I didn't find (with a very short search) that Volker article on "dirt" per se, but I still have his tgd from that article. In fact I am using a modified clip taken from the original file right now for a desert landscape scene. I added a painted shader mask to one of Volker's original tutorial terrains and the mask cuts away to reveal a dirt/rocky surface underneath a sandy upper layer.

[PorcupineFloyd]

Have you tried a few billowy fractal displacements?

You could try at last three.
One major with low variation.
One medium with basic perlin and some more variation (although below 1)
One small for detail.

Plus some small (really small) fake stones for that extra detail (but not stretched as in fractal surfaces)

[heavenlywarrior]

Cheers PorcupineFloyd, I'll try this

[arisdemos]

Hi HW, per your request this is the tgd that I mentioned to calico, and I hope it can be of assistance. I believe that Volker's instructional piece on "dirt" that I first read and then experimented with is still on this forum somewhere!.

[rcallicotte]

Is this it? - http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1888.0

[arisdemos]

@ calico, I don't believe the thread you have put up is the one, because I have the tgds' for the "strata" instruction and they do not look any thing like the scenery that I sent in the "dirt" tgd yesterday.

@ HW, You will need to go into top view mode (in addition to the preview window) and get a white painted shader mask made of the foreground area, and make that mask *.jpg (with a re established name) available to your render via the same folder as the tgd I sent resides in. Make the area of your mask to your own set of coordinates, location  and size,
and then you should be able to work on gaining the tilled look (possibly with vornoi) that you said you want. I am kind of adding this instruction on getting another mask made assuming the least amount of experience with painted shader masks, so if I am preaching to the choir please disregard. Good luck and let us know how your endeavor goes.

[rcallicotte]

Well...have you considered just putting your TGD up, since you got it from Volker anyway?

@ calico, I don't believe the thread you have put up is the one, because I have the tgds' for the "strata" instruction and they do not look any thing like the scenery that I sent in the "dirt" tgd yesterday.

[heavenlywarrior]

Thank you arisdemos, I'll let you know as soon as do sth constructive.

Regards

[arisdemos]

@ calico the tgd is already posted, check a couple of replies back on this page that I made to HW.

[rcallicotte]

Thanks arisdemos.