Soil lumps

heavenlywarrior · May 18, 2009, 06:09:01 PM

Could somebody help me with how to make little soil lumps looking like those on a freshly ploughed field?

DK

neuspadrin · May 18, 2009, 06:14:39 PM

Can you get a picture of the image in your head to help people here kinda help you?

Also, probably something using sine waves or something.

kevnar · May 18, 2009, 06:44:18 PM

From what I understand, adding displacement to the surface layer makes the bump-mapping effect. Not sure how exactly it works, but this might be what you're looking for.

Anyone else got a better explaination for both of us?

heavenlywarrior · May 18, 2009, 07:04:11 PM

Quote from: neuspadrin on May 18, 2009, 06:14:39 PM
Can you get a picture of the image in your head to help people here kinda help you?

Also, probably something using sine waves or something.

Yes, here something similar to what I'm looking for:

heavenlywarrior · May 18, 2009, 07:10:16 PM

The white field above is sth I've just created. I thought about adding fake stones with different sizes - basicly very small ones covering almost the whole field and some a bit bigger here and there. Anyway I can't get it how to make these soil lumps, so that they have different shapes (not neccesarily round ones) and realistic look.

Oshyan · May 19, 2009, 02:52:07 AM

I suggest several layers of differently sized Fake Stones shaders for a start. You can texture them with Surface Layers, Default Shader, Image Maps, etc.

- Oshyan

FrankB · May 19, 2009, 03:02:07 AM

Hi,

the soil lumps are not exactly easy to achieve. If you want rather coarse lumps and don't have to see much detail (meaning your "ploughed field" is farther away from the camera), then you should try and experiment with a mix of fake stones and "lump"-scale displacements.

But if you are interested in some high defnition "dirt", you should definitely check this out: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=6466.0

and this (see background behind the road): http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=6464.0

This dirt preset will soon be available.
Regards,
Frank

domdib · May 19, 2009, 05:45:46 AM

heavenlywarrior, could you tell us how you did the ploughed field (or even post a clip file?)? I was planning to do something similar soon.

FrankB · May 19, 2009, 07:23:43 AM

Quote from: domdib on May 19, 2009, 05:45:46 AM
heavenlywarrior, could you tell us how you did the ploughed field (or even post a clip file?)? I was planning to do something similar soon.

That's a photo, Dominic

Regards,
Frank

domdib · May 19, 2009, 07:38:45 AM

Mmmm... I meant 'field.jpg', i.e. the white field

FrankB · May 19, 2009, 08:55:12 AM

ok, that's a simple sine. Take the functions a build sin(x) or sin(z), then plug them into a displacement shader. The render above, I think, has used a plane upon which the sine was applied.

In TG2, you need to build formulas from inside to outside.
First you get x:
[get position in texture]

below that, you need a node to extraxt just x from the get position function: [x to scalar]

Below that, the [sine scalar]

That's is.

Regards,
Frank

arisdemos · May 19, 2009, 12:00:34 PM

Volker had a small tutorial on "dirt" that was made some time ago, and I found that in using the painted shader masks on his tgd that I was able to section or strip off little plots of what looked like eroded/disturbed soil. If it is any help there are procedural methods for obtaining what looks like plowed furrows by math formuli functions that is explained along with how to obtian wavy sand dune type structures for texturing. These methods are explained in detail on one of the threads here and are not impossible for the average user to implement.

rcallicotte · May 19, 2009, 12:08:38 PM

@arisdemos - Thanks! Do you remember the name of the thread or anything that might help to find it?

heavenlywarrior · May 19, 2009, 03:35:46 PM

Sorry for the delay, I had a busy day today and could't anwer immediately.
Thank you all for your suggestions.

Quote from: Oshyan on May 19, 2009, 02:52:07 AM
I suggest several layers of differently sized Fake Stones shaders for a start. You can texture them with Surface Layers, Default Shader, Image Maps, etc.

- Oshyan

I thought about solving it in this way, but the problem is how to obtain shapes of stones so that they resemble real lumps. I've tryed playing with various settings in displacement tabs but the only results which I got were:
1. bigger stones
2. stones with more round shapes
3. stones looking like cactuses
4. shadows of stones on the ground with stones blown to many pieces

It would help me a great deal if somebody gave me a bit more detailed information or perhaps posted a simple clip file.

Quote from: domdib on May 19, 2009, 05:45:46 AM
heavenlywarrior, could you tell us how you did the ploughed field (or even post a clip file?)? I was planning to do something similar soon.

I made it basicly following this tutorial with some gentle modifications:

http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1168

Today I also added two function nodes to make my field a bit more displaced lengthwise and place it a bit lower comparing to the rest of the scene.
Here's a clip file:

domdib · May 19, 2009, 05:49:08 PM

Thanks to both FrankB and to heavenlywarrior!

@heavenlywarrior - are you aware that NWDA sell a preset for fake stones that might help? Or if you don't want to go the fake stone route, you might try a population of distorted spheres (N.B. you can't use TG's internal sphere object for this - it has to be a sphere imported from another program; also, I've found there seems to be some peculiar glitch with the positioning of this kind of population - you have to move them up, otherwise they sit invisibly below the terrain they're supposed to be sitting on.)