Okay two basic questions/request.
1. Are there any plans to at some point add an erosion shader of some kind to the TG2 node network?
2. Are there any plans to add a shore surf system similar to that (or better than) the one in the Terragen classic?
Thanks,
nvseal
Heightfield-based erosion is already available, and that's what pretty much every other landscape modeling system has. This works fairly well, it's just limited to the area of your heightfield, so it's not appropriate for planetary scale. The only one who seems to have gotten a handle on a workable procedural erosion, which could theoretically cover a planet, is Dmytry Lavrov, who created the volumetrics plugin for MojoWorld, but his procedural erosion system was never made public. As far as I know there are no other procedural erosion systems available, not even in academic research. The "alpine" shader has some visual resemblance to an eroded mountain, and additional shaders of that type are a possibility. Full procedural erosion is a pretty significant area to tackle though, and it's not likely to be an area of focus within the year.
A shore/surf system is a much more strong possibility, and something we definitely want to add sooner than later.
- Oshyan
Looking forward to the surf. Thanks Oshyan.
The upcoming surf is great news, Oshyan. I have been struggling to get a system for surf, but it's very tricky, so I'll stop wasting my time.
Quote from: Oshyan on July 25, 2009, 05:42:27 PM
Heightfield-based erosion is already available, and that's what pretty much every other landscape modeling system has. This works fairly well, it's just limited to the area of your heightfield, so it's not appropriate for planetary scale. The only one who seems to have gotten a handle on a workable procedural erosion, which could theoretically cover a planet, is Dmytry Lavrov, who created the volumetrics plugin for MojoWorld, but his procedural erosion system was never made public. As far as I know there are no other procedural erosion systems available, not even in academic research. The "alpine" shader has some visual resemblance to an eroded mountain, and additional shaders of that type are a possibility. Full procedural erosion is a pretty significant area to tackle though, and it's not likely to be an area of focus within the year.
A shore/surf system is a much more strong possibility, and something we definitely want to add sooner than later.
- Oshyan
Good news about the shore/surf system :)
About the heightfield-based erosion in TG2. Although you say it works fairly well I don't really agree. It's utterly slow and also very crash/freeze-prone.
I was wondering, if Dmytry Lavrov is the only one who so far has been able to create some kind of procedural erosion, isn't there a way to get his technology/knowledge, either by buying it or hiring him?
Or is he working for E-on now? :p
Or is he working for E-on now? :p
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I doubt such a smart guy would help make such... er... well Vue speaks for itself doesn't it. But yeah can't you contact him? Maybe he'd swap a license of TG2 for the code :)
Quote from: duke on July 26, 2009, 09:35:15 AM
Or is he working for E-on now? :p
I doubt such a smart guy would help make such... er... well Vue speaks for itself doesn't it. But yeah can't you contact him? Maybe he'd swap a license of TG2 for the code :)
[/quote]
lol
well, money "always" talks...you never know.
Dmytry is working on other independent projects. He has a stand-alone non-GUI version of his volumetrics system that has been used in a few commercials. He also just released his first game: http://dmytry.pandromeda.com/games/index.html
He has told me in personal emails that he may return to terrain work one day, but he has never expressed interest in making a TG2 plugin. I would love to see that happen, so if you all want to encourage him... ;D
- Oshyan
That might indeed be a nice idea. An advantage for him could be that he could sell this plug-in.
I'd be (one of) the first to buy :)
I'll be the second then :)
Richard