Devils Tower

Started by pixelpusher636, March 13, 2021, 06:50:33 PM

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WAS

No problem. Honestly, I wish the heightmap load / geotiff also had just normal scaling options to override any data to not have to do anything special.

PS to put in distance terrain around the scene plug a PF or what not into the Main Inputs of both heightfield shaders being merged. Or you could pipe the merge shader as a child of a surface layer and apply terrain to the surface layers Main Input.

PPS Heightfield smooth is slow on large heightmaps, and since we want it smooth for our own trees/rocks you can leave it at 1000x1000 points.

pixelpusher636

Thanks for the tips WAS. Also good to know that the smoothing progress bar is actually doing something.
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

WAS

Hmm to add further, for some reason the merge by height doesn't seem to work. It works in the shader preview, if you add a surface layer to the smooth side and apply testing colours. The base is smooth. But in render, the whole thing is smooth. I don't understand what's up there. It's using final space, and I used to use this method.

pixelpusher636

Well that's further then I've gotten. After crashing the first few times I tried opening it, it finally opened and progress on "HeightfielSmooth: Smoothing (0%)..."
I'm patiently waiting.   :D

Additionally, I'm wondering if it's doing anything at all based on the lack of processor activity. Hmm
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

WAS

Ah. This is a headache of heightmaps. The auto generation is on, which happens at opening, which is prone to crashes.

I have a fixed TGD I'll upload in a moment. I am baking out the 3D Objects texture to delight and see if it can be used to at least texture the sides of the stone.

WAS

Ok so here is an updated TGD that should load and allow you to generate the heightmaps manually.

Also here's a texture that came with the 3D object that I tried in the project. It has shadows so not great unless mimicking the lighting of the textures. Delighting was not possible with such a blurry muddled texture, and such hard shadows.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lmayKVLNzYHaP5vJqatxaAWv7pQr2dtM/view?usp=sharing

pixelpusher636

I had a thought of bypassing some of the extra steps maybe? While possibly creating additional steps?
I plugged the tif into world machine and generated a Terragen terrain. If you are interested in the terrain here is a link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vnhKcxpe2MDO69w36BgYL6KgGQpA-cue
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

pixelpusher636

Quote from: WAS on March 14, 2021, 03:13:42 PMOk so here is an updated TGD that should load and allow you to generate the heightmaps manually.

Also here's a texture that came with the 3D object that I tried in the project. It has shadows so not great unless mimicking the lighting of the textures. Delighting was not possible with such a blurry muddled texture, and such hard shadows.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lmayKVLNzYHaP5vJqatxaAWv7pQr2dtM/view?usp=sharing

thank you WAS! It looks like I posted after you'd posted this somehow. Thanks for the share and the generous time you've put into helping! I'm off to give this a whirl. 
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

WAS

You can also directly save the generated heightmap (from the first one) and save it as a TER/EXR too. Right click the green nodes down arrow on the node and save file.

You could also use a third generate and plug the merge shader in it, generate at 700 x 700 meters with points at 8196 x 8196 and save that heightmap to have the completed setup, with smoothed terrain and all saved as TER/EXR.

pixelpusher636

I think I will go that route. After opening this new version it looks fantastic. I'm amazed on how much of those vertical eroded flutes came through!

Thanks again WAS!
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

WAS

No problem. See my update to that post about obtaining the whole finished setup with smooth base as a TER/EXR. Maybe reduce stitchable borders to 0 in the first two original generates to gete a solid map at 700x700.

pixelpusher636

Quote from: WAS on March 14, 2021, 03:37:43 PMNo problem. See my update to that post about obtaining the whole finished setup with smooth base as a TER/EXR. Maybe reduce stitchable borders to 0 in the first two original generates to gete a solid map at 700x700.

Thanks again WAS 
The more I use Terragen, the more I realize the world is not so small.

sboerner

QuoteFor some reason DEMs of this region, 3m lidar dems, 5 and 10m satellite dems, etc, have all been removed from the internet.
Apparently the anthrax scare wasn't sufficient.