I had started to develop a shader that would do dunes with ripples a while back but before the latest release it would blow up when I tried to render it. Works now, though!
:)
What do you think, Sethren - look something like your pictures of the drive to Vegas?
Hey, that's nice. Ooops. I'm not Sethren. :-[
That's ok. You're allowed. :)
but i am, he heee!
Is that what you are trying to re-create? Those specific deserts?
No, not really. It was pretty much just a test bed for the dunes shader that got out of control, and then I thought it was somewhat reminiscent of your photos.
I'd done up a couple of smoke tree-ish plants to put in among the boulders, but they didn't look very good once I actually put them in the picture. I'm hoping it is due in part to the population problem in the latest build and that they'll look a little better later.
I like the crinkles in the mountains. ;D
Good job. I like your mountain to.
I would prefer the dunes to be bigger.
The ripples look good... perhaps just a touch more horizontal distortion
Thanks, guys. The dunes shader is pretty versatile. You can set direction, period and amplitude for macro dunes and smaller ripples (so the ripples can run in a different direction than the dune as a whole), then add variable noise-based distortion to the directions and the dune height so it doesn't look too regular. Add a bit of shear to the output and that's what you get.
I'll try tweaking the ripples if I run it again with some plants. I'd like to do a nice nasty thunderhead behind the mountain, too. :)
That dune shader sounds like it has a lot of potential. :)