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General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: mhaze on January 19, 2014, 11:38:31 AM

Title: bending a plane
Post by: mhaze on January 19, 2014, 11:38:31 AM
Can anyone tell me how to bend a plane?
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: j meyer on January 19, 2014, 11:50:13 AM
Maybe you'll find an answer here
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,10980.0.html
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Dune on January 19, 2014, 12:19:46 PM
You can displace a plane however you want, bending it by simple shape, distance shader (or of course PF), that sort of thing. As long as there's a white/black gradient.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: mhaze on January 19, 2014, 12:27:14 PM
Cheers Dune, I'd kinda come to that conclusion but it's going to take a while to work it out.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 20, 2014, 11:09:18 AM
Quote from: Dune on January 19, 2014, 12:19:46 PM
You can displace a plane however you want, bending it by simple shape, distance shader (or of course PF), that sort of thing. As long as there's a white/black gradient.

Can someone please do a tutorial on manipulating the plane object. I've been able to little with it other than occasionally use it as a water object. Handles on that sucker would be very handy. Jebus, I haven't even managed to rotate it...
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Oshyan on January 20, 2014, 04:06:25 PM
I recommend using the Card object instead. The Plane is quite simply best for the mathematically inclined.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 20, 2014, 04:10:29 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on January 20, 2014, 04:06:25 PM
I recommend using the Card object instead. The Plane is quite simply best for the mathematically inclined.

- Oshyan

D'oh....one day I'll remember that it's there...I have it in billboard category in my brain and rarely if ever use billboards now...
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 21, 2014, 12:02:24 AM
Well I had a play with the Card object and can't seem to get it to do displacement like the Plane...any trick to that? Also when using image maps through a Default shader the Card was very dark compared to the Plane.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Dune on January 24, 2014, 09:32:13 AM
The card is quite invisible, but the plane isn't. So I prefer the plane. You can do wonders with it.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 25, 2014, 03:22:44 AM
Quote from: Dune on January 24, 2014, 09:32:13 AM
The card is quite invisible, but the plane isn't. So I prefer the plane. You can do wonders with it.

I as well would prefer the plane object, if it were possible for a layman to do any more to it than scale and displace....think they'll ever make it like everything else?
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Dune on January 25, 2014, 03:23:53 AM
What else do you want to do with it? It's kind of the same as a planet or sphere...
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 25, 2014, 01:40:21 PM
Quote from: Dune on January 25, 2014, 03:23:53 AM
What else do you want to do with it? It's kind of the same as a planet or sphere...

It's that freaking matrix box which I could never come to grips with all those years back in Imagine...the only thing I couldn't grok.
For example how do you rotate the bloody thing around the Y axis...and sometimes it would be handy vertical as well so same query for the X axis?
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: j meyer on January 25, 2014, 01:47:27 PM
Take a look at this Bobby and give it some tries.
http://planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Plane
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 25, 2014, 03:11:56 PM
Thanks for the link j m...I got that about 1/2 hr ago by accident but gave up as I couldn't get it to image map no matter what projection I used; but my real query was rotating around the Y say to follow a river running diagonally....It would be nice to be able to do this by degree but I suspect a weird algorithm at play that I don't grok....yet.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Dune on January 26, 2014, 03:41:43 AM
In that case you'd better use a card, much easier to rotate.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 26, 2014, 12:28:29 PM
Quote from: Dune on January 26, 2014, 03:41:43 AM
In that case you'd better use a card, much easier to rotate.
I guess what I'm asking for is a key/clue as to how to rotate the Plane around the World Y (should be a simple explanation) as it has way better displacement abilities in my experience.

EDIT
rendering a card as a river atm and displacement is totally absent though I have some dialed in on the water shader. Is this normal behavour and I have to add the displacement after the water shader?
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: TheBadger on January 26, 2014, 12:31:55 PM
Quoteshould be a simple explanation)
;D

You make great jokes!
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 26, 2014, 01:41:15 PM
Well screw both those methods. With a Paint shader it's way easier to simply mask an actual lake object...which is where I'm going with this...later...off to do 2 specific test renders of my glasslight test scene for TheBadger now
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Oshyan on January 26, 2014, 06:52:50 PM
For displacement on the Card object you would need to disable Raytrace Objects. Some objects, like the Plane and Sphere, are displaceable in both Raytrace and non-Raytrace modes, some are not. The next update will make a more clear distinction between the different types of objects in the object creation menus.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 26, 2014, 07:07:37 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on January 26, 2014, 06:52:50 PM
For displacement on the Card object you would need to disable Raytrace Objects. Some objects, like the Plane and Sphere, are displaceable in both Raytrace and non-Raytrace modes, some are not. The next update will make a more clear distinction between the different types of objects in the object creation menus.

- Oshyan

Thanks for the info Oshyan and as disable RT isn't an option I would use the card is well nigh useless for me at least....
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Oshyan on January 26, 2014, 07:22:07 PM
I don't understand what you mean that disabling RT Objects isn't an option for you...

- Oshyan
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: Dune on January 27, 2014, 05:48:18 AM
But if you want a river on a plane, why not make it big enough to cover the whole river, or use a sphere the same size as the planet? You can mask any non-water out (to decrease render time) by using the opacity tab in a default shader.
Title: Re: bending a plane
Post by: bobbystahr on January 27, 2014, 10:29:33 AM
Quote from: Dune on January 27, 2014, 05:48:18 AM
But if you want a river on a plane, why not make it big enough to cover the whole river, or use a sphere the same size as the planet? You can mask any non-water out (to decrease render time) by using the opacity tab in a default shader.

Not a problem any longer...I had just forgotten about masking the lake with a Paint shader which is what I've done and it works a treat.
@ Oshyan...as I often (most often) have glass in my scenes having RT on in kinda necessary.