Ok, here's a little "proof on concept" i promised in this (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=11267.msg115660#msg115660) thread.
The whole planet is divided in 6 climatic zones (polar caps, tundra, temperate, subtropical, desert and tropical) equally distributed on northern and southern Hemisphere.
The coloring should happen where the color dummy nodes are, the displacement where the displacement dummy nodes are (as the displacement is limited to the climatic zone in north and south, the colors are just overlapped by the next zone).
each climatic zone is defined by its y value, which means in the distribution shader for each zone there is a constant scalar that defines the value of its starting and a fuzzy zone scalar.
the displacement of a zone is limited by the zone on top of it (in nodes hierarchy). A breakup shader is used to get non-linear borders.
this is not meant to be a planet ready-for render; displacements and colors are just to show where it should be within the nodes network and the picture below is just an ortho-render to show distribution of the zones.
to use it, just replace the dummy nodes with the coloring and displacement you want.
any questions, just ask :)
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2336/climaticzones.jpg)
very cool...
thanks
yes, this looks very interesting!
Your a very cool gentleman Goms!