Blending Image File Shaders together

[jvillinger]

Probably a simple question for most of you:

As you can see from the Planet I'm working on (which of course is currently lacking clouds), you'll notice that the desert and the rocks don't blend naturally. Each of the shaders currently have another distribution shader for altitude, and I want them to blend / blur more seamlessly on their edges.

Note: Yes this question has already been asked, but I'd rather just get a personalized response instead of trawling through the forum for 30 minutes for generic / ambiguous advice that isn't specific enough. Cheers! 

[jvillinger]

Not sure if it helps, but here's how my shaders are currently set out:
[attachimg=1]

[jvillinger]

I attempted to look at the Distribution shaders and cranked up the 'Max alt fuzzy zone' to 10x the usual amount (now 2000), as seen in the image.

Unfortunately, although it did blur the shaders together a bit, it blurred each Image File Shader with the original Surface Shader I used for the water, giving all of the individual areas a blue outline.

Ugh...

[jvillinger]

I think I'm getting there. The problem is that the Image File Shaders are blending with whatever default shader is sitting underneath them, but even with overlapping Altitude constraints, they seem to ignore any Shader that has a Distribution Shader attached.

I decided to skip the middle man and create a duplicate 'Sand' shader which they can meld into instead of the water. This new shader has no altitude restrictions and blends into the others seamlessly.

I would still appreciate assistance with allowing adjacent shaders to blend into one another, even if they have a Distribution shader attached confining their altitude.

[Matt]

If you have both max and min altitude constraints on your various land layers, perhaps just use minimum altitude constraint instead. This should work if you start with lowest altitudes and layer up to higher altitudes. Or, instead, use only maximum altitude constraint and have your shaders build up in the opposite direction (highest altitude to lowest, with ocean last).