A super early WIP, but wanted to share this awesome free castle model pack I came across: https://rendercrate.com/objects/RenderCrate-Medieval_Castle_Kit
Looks great so far!!! Looking forward to your next steps. :)
It seems you have to create an account to download this model kit. It says "free", but at the bottom it says $15 per month and donating is optional. What does it mean? Is it free or not?
wow - seems like a nicely detailed model!
It`s free, but you have to register.
The 15$ is a (suggested monthly) Donation which you can tick off.
CHeers, Klaus
Ah, OK. Thanks.
Yeah, just uncheck the $15 box and you're good to go. I missed that the first time as well and was confused when their "free" registration led to a PayPal login. Kind of sneaky if you ask me. >:( It's a cool model though, I've been looking for a nice castle for a long time. ;D
Just downloaded it. Quite a Big Mac!!! Tomorrow I'll check it out. Thanks again for the link!
This is indeed a great find aknight. It's truly hard to believe it's free yet it is! I do have a question for you and the other experienced TG users.
1. How are you dealing with .usd files? If Blender what is the trick? When I opened the .usd files in blender no textures were linked.
2. In the same program you imported the usd files are you using that to separate and export the individual models with textures?
Thanks for sharing aknight, this is an amazing find with so many possibilities.
Just to clarify, I wasn't asking for the entire step by step. I was genuinely curious about you longtime users workflows.
I was asking for advice on a program or workaround that would allow to import and maintain the image links. As it is now, only the base image link is intact. ???
Sorry, I've been camping at Glacier the last few days, which is definitely going to lead to it's own set of images 🙂. I imported the usd files into Blender, then selected and exported individual objects as obj. Then I manually applied the texture images in Terragen, (color, roughness, metalness). Takes quite a while though. If anyone knows a better way I'd be interested to hear it.
I'm pretty sure you never have to apologize for ghosting the forum to go to the source of great inspiration for TG! Wow, I'm feeling envious of you again. You are in my favorite part of the country. :) Look forward to seeing some fantastic renders inspired from your trip.
As for importing into Blender— I tried both the latest public release and the alpha version and neither version did what I wanted. In TG I had a default shader with the "Base Color" image and that was it. Additionally only one object part when their should be three. Structures, Walls and towers. This only matters if it's to be textured as intended, otherwise I guess the base image is fine. The Readme file mentioned that using the usd file (depending on your software) the image textures would be setup automatically while the FBX you would have to setup the textures. I've tried importing both formats with identical results.
Maybe I'm missing something but I had thought that this should be setup like a model with PBR textures? I didn't think you could just use the default shader alone to apply the multiple images. Anyhow, sorry for all the hassle when all you were doing was sharing an amazing castle set. :) Though I am genuinely curious if anyone knows anything regarding the proper way of shading and how to achieve it.
Some progress, but not quite where I want it. Too hazy maybe, or maybe not hazy in the right places? Still some work to do on the forests and the little town, and I'm not sure about the lighting direction.
As far as Blender goes, I imported RenderCrate-Castles.usd, selected Castle_Large_A in the right-hand pane, then checked the "Limit to Selection Only" in the obj export dialog. That gave me a single building when imported in Terragen, with no texture maps (though the UV's seem to be intact, which is important). I've never had any luck getting textures to automatically map over when converting through Blender, I've usually ended up just assigning the images in Terragen.
My understanding is that in the more recent versions of Terragen (4.5 and up), PBR materials are handled almost entirely through the Default shader. The way I usually map them in the Default shader is:
- Base Color or Albedo > Colour image
- If Roughness map > Roughness image
- or if Gloss map > Roughness image (check Invert box)
- If Metalness map > Metalness image, set Metalness slider to 1
- If Displacement map > Displacement image, adjust displacement multiplier to taste
- If Opacity map > Opacity image
- If Emmisivity map > Luminosity image (not 100% sure on this one)
- AO (ambient occlusion) map > not used in Terragen (Can use as a color function on Default shader to emphasize crevices)
- Normal map > not used in Terragen
- Metallic roughness map > should be split by color channel into separate metallic and roughness maps and then used.
This is complicated by the fact that the PBR workflow in Terragen used to require more nodes, and the outdated (https://planetside.co.uk/blog/tips-and-tricks-working-with-pbr-materials/) information (https://planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,26658.msg265834.html#msg265834)is the first thing that pops up when you search.
@Kevin Kipper, this would be great for a dedicated section in the documentation, since this question comes up often, and it would be great to have a single point of reference.
Here's a quote from some correspondence I had with Matt last year, "
On the subject of PBR, a lot has changed since that thread. When I wrote in that thread, we had to use a network of shaders. In 4.5 the Default Shader has a number of changes to simplify the PBR workflow, and in many cases it should be possible to do everything within this shader, without resorting to external image map shaders, blend shaders or anything else. The default values have changed and are designed so that you can drop textures into the various slots and it should just work, but you might have to experiment with some of the checkboxes if it looks wrong. I added some remap checkboxes to do things that previously you had to use additional shaders for, and the metallic option removes the need to use the "high IOR" trick to simulate metals. At the same time, the shader maintains backward compatibility with old materials."I'm still not 100% certain I'm doing this right, so if anyone knows more feel free to chime in.
Interesting! I was wondering if I was missing something and have often wondered why I had to use all the additional nodes and default shaders, Turns out I guess I didn't have to so thanks for the info! By the way I'm liking the progress with the castle. Looking forward to seeing where this ends up at.
Thanks again for the info.
Here's the next iteration. Something seems off with the scaling, but I'm not quite sure what it is. The boats maybe?
If you compare to the smaller windows on the castle, they seem quite alright. Maybe a tad larger, but don't they come in the right scale?
I like the rock, very natural with those hard outcrops, but I would add a little color variation especially among the decidious trees, or some patches with dead trees or other species. Canopy is a bit monocolored, IMO.
Looks fantastic!!! Yes, the ships might be a bit larger, but not much. It's quite a huge castle (the round one. I checked it as well.).
This in an exellent update!
It looks really great and also convincing, especially the water fits nicely with the botanic and touches the soul.
The trees are different in their tones which are bright but natural (what I love!) and the mossy gras on the rocks looks also great.
In the beginning I thought... well... its just an import thing, but guess what... It turns out to morph into a hell of a scene and a great picture!
STORMLORD
Overall a balanced and very moody image, I will save it to my Library where I have archived references from others.
Beautiful congratulations !
That is a beautiful scene and render! The cliffside and foliage is very well done and the castle model 'sits' very naturally into the landscape. The POV is majestic and creates a nice sense of 'grand' scale. Sometimes I think there is 'mathematic' scale and 'eyeball' scale, and the difference can be disconcerting: if you viewed the castle from the ships POV I'm guessing the 'mathematic' scale would be 'true' and the 'eyeball' test would agree. From the high vantage point the scale of the ships is, to my eye, a problem. Especially if you focus on the large tower part of the upper castle while simultaneously viewing the ships in the water. It creates a sense of 'wrongness'. This is all very nit-picky, and by no means does it diminish the fine work in this image. The human optical capability coupled with the brains 'post-processing' and pattern recognition algorithms filters visual input in sometimes 'strange' ways. Scale can be tricky over large distances, especially when looking down into a deep canyon. Painters have historically 'fudged' the scale to 'please' the eye. I don't know how much more you intend to spend on this image, it really is quite nice as is, but some playing with the 'eyeball' might be an interesting experiment.
Thanks and thanks for the feedback all! Here's another update. More colors in the trees, messed with the ship scales, and added some more buildings and a bridge. I think I'm done with this POV at least, though I may try one more render from the lower POV I started with originally.
WOW!! Masterclass work man!! That canopy looks fantastic and the eroded river banks look very natural too. You really did a nice job and the castle looks like it was built right into the mountain as intended. Thanks for sharing.
Quote from: pixelpusher636 on August 11, 2022, 09:49:29 PMThat canopy looks fantastic and the eroded river banks look very natural too.
Thanks! For the trees, I used that warped image autumn leaves trick I posted a while back, but with a green image instead of an orange one. I hadn't tried that before, but I think it worked quite well.
As for the eroded river bank, that
may have been an accident with the painted shader...but it ended up looking good so I kept it. I guess Bob Ross was right after all! ;D
Bob Ross 😂 for sure even as retro as his episodes are now, the basics he taught will always be relevant & true.
Also wow! I did not think of using the Autumn warp for anything other then autumn. GREAT outside the box thinking again man!
This update really does it. The trees' variation is great, and the bridge sets the scale of the ships right, even if they weren't enlarged. The 'problem' with the castle is that it's extraordinarily large, not like the usual castle, so eveything looks small in comaprison, but a bridge can work as a good size reference.
Wow, what an improvement!!! Yes, the castle is really a huge one, but nevertheless now it looks great. The bridge really helps as a size reference, but the ships can't pass through I'm afraid... ???
Great Update, love it!
Would like to see some other perspectives of your castle scenery.
STORMLORD
That is some epic scenery! Well done.
CHeers, Klaus
Quote from: Hannes on August 12, 2022, 07:34:53 AMbut the ships can't pass through I'm afraid
A sacrifice the kingdom is willing to make for aesthetics ;)
Here's a couple more viewpoints on this scene, just for fun. First a higher one:
And a lower one:
Quote from: aknight0 on August 14, 2022, 05:52:02 PMA sacrifice the kingdom is willing to make for aesthetics ;)
;D ;D ;D ;D
Wow, those other views are fantastic! Especially the top view!
Maybe it's because it's Halloween, but I had try lighting this for some night shots.
Very nice! I love these lit with light and the reflections across the water are nice.
The work has come along nicely. The lights in the castle are a nice effect, but perhaps there might be fewer lights, randomly placed about the castle?
Cool! I agree with masonspappy. You could use a PF and transform shader set to world to make the lights less and random, at the same time some lights maybe half obscured, etc.