Is it possible to warp the strata shader?

Started by Roberts, January 09, 2017, 09:09:56 AM

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Roberts

If so, how? What I want is the straight stratas to become bent and less straight. I hope you understand what I mean. Could someone please explain to me if this is possible, as I have tried without luck so far.

Thanks!

Robert

Dune

You could try this.

bobbystahr

Thanks Ulco, been meaning to ask about how this works; the screen grab is most informative....
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

Roberts

Thank you very much Ulco!

I'm trying your suggestion and try to learn what really is happening in that setup. But it's looking promising so far...  :)

Cheers,

Robert

Roberts

#4
Hi again!

I´m still a bit puzzled by the strata and outcrops shader. First of all, it doesn´t seem to respect slope constraints. That is, if I plug a strata into a surface layer, it will not respect that surface layer´s slope constraints. Why? And how can I make a slope constraint affect also the strata?

EDIT: (I managed to figure this problem out. It seems the surface layer with the strata connected to it had to be in the "shader" section of the node network, not in "terrain" where I had it. So it works now, the strata shader is respecting the constraints of it´s parent surface layer  :) )

Second thing: Is there a way to warp the strata before it is applied to the terrain? I have a real-world terrain I don´t want to distort too much, but I would still like to apply a vertically warped strata to it. I want to keep the original silhouette, but still apply a quite warped/bent strata to it. My idea is; if it´s somehow possible to warp the strata before it is applied to the terrain, the warping will only affect the strata, not the original terrain. I guess what I´m after is to limit the warping to only the strata.

Hope my attempt to explain makes sense. (I´m not sure I understand myself) :P

Regards

Robert

Dune

You make perfect sense. Regarding the strata on surface shader, it doesn't use the slope restraints, because there isn't a compute. In the texture division youév passed the compute terrain, so there it will use slope restrictions. If you'd add a compute normal just before the surface + strata in the top section it will work.

Second case; you'd need to somehow warp or vector displace the strata as a separate thing and then add as vector displacement in the main line. It is complicated and I am still struggling with this as well, but if you take some displacement, add a strata shader and then turn that displacement total via a displacement to vector or shader into a vecor or color, you can use that to be warped and applied elsewhere. It takes some experimentation though, it isn't very straightforward. 

Roberts

Sorry for a late reply, but thank you Ulco for answering and helping. The experimentation continues:-)

Another thing about the strata and outcrops shader. It has in its settings a "tilt angle" value. It seems to me that it can not tilt more than around 45 degrees. If I set the tilt angle to something really high, like 85 degrees, which is nearly vertical, it still tilts in a less steep angle. Sorry for not posting any images, I am not at my computer right now. Can anyone confirm that the strata shader can not handle vertical angles or am I wrong? (I hope I'm wrong :-))

Cheers

Robert

Dune

No, it can't, really. You could try the same method as described and make a scalar or vector out of some strata displacement first (blue nodes: displacement to vecor/scalar), then apply some warping and/or rotating, then use it for displacement or vector displacement again. You can get interesting results that way, but it's highly unpredictable and requires some serious experimentation.