Landscaping Question
Rhian-Skyblade
Posts: 223
It's me again with my pesky questions ;-)
I found a landscape picture - made in Vue
http://massi-san.deviantart.com/art/Avatar-Fan-Film-Mountain-Scene2-Test-copy-378704301
From the looks, with loads of work - it should be possible to do something like this in Carrara, too??
Though what kind of displacement maps do I need to get a (1) pillar and have them (2) looking equally jagged, rugged and rough?
I experimented a little in Bryce to create a displacement map - but I have no idea how to achieve the hard edges, chinks, cracks and all that.
Any Idea?
Post edited by Rhian-Skyblade on
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Comments
Very very cool scene! Yeah!
Okay... here's how I would suggest the start of such a project - and that's just me. 3dage and PhilW likely have much more experience with the displacement, so I'll leave that for someone more experienced.
I have had to try and recreate a twenty foot + tall cliff, using a nearby, natural waterfall as a reference. The main thing that helped to pull off the right look was to first take a deep breath, and study the lines. Note how large chunks of stone erode in near ninety-degree angles. Horizontal and vertical lines. Before going further... look really good at that - and how they form. Feel how the stone fell apart to create that column. What got carried away by nature's forces where mostly cubes in shape - though some that were elongated - but most everything fell apart in chunks of squares - and where then flushed away - leaving the remaining pillars that you now see.
So I would start in the vertex modeler creating the pillars. I would make them using the 'construct > cube' at least a few times - to keep the mostly square chunks detached from one another to help to create a natural seam between where they fit together. Since this is mostly vertical work, you might find 'Construct > Cylinder' easier to deal with so that you can change the number of vertical edges from one to the next easily - and keeping low Polygon counts. Since we want to keep mostly cubic in nature, a cylinder with five edges on the z axis, followed by (and/or preceded by) one with four, and then three and/or six sides, leaving a single polygon for the top and bottom - and scale them as you build upwards. Build out your pillars and then use box modelling (extrusion method) to create the higher poly masses of organic green that has been growing all over it.
If you have Photoshop, try using the Filter > Texturize > Cralequer(or however that's spelled) effect to help to create the surface textures and bump maps.
I gotta go to work. Back later.
btw: that cliff I had to replicate in real life - which evolved into a thirteen foot vertical waterfall from that twenty-three foot cliff - all made using blocks of stone starting at nearly a ton a piece to nearing three tons for a single stone! The crane would lower the stones down to me where I could then push them by hand into place. They had to be huge - not just for that awesome look - but also so I could build out as I got toward the top - in a cantilever fashion. Nearly killed me a couple of times, that job!
Four large submersible pumps pushing the water through 3" pipes made that waterfall pretty real! I build a stone room under the vertical free-fall of water with a bench cantilevered into the surrounding one piece walls!
Fun ;)
Good luck. We'll get this.
Gotta agree with Dart for the pillars. The terrain editor can't do under cuts, so you'll have to use the vertex modeler. Another modeler you could possibly use is the metaball modeler, though you may end up needing to convert it to a vertex object for adding shading domains and UV mapping.
The pillar elements combined with a terrain could be awesome. Good luck!
I guess I need a lot practice :D
Duh! damn time... need to buy more time flowers and slap those gray man for stealing it.
Work calls
Looks to me like you're off to a great start.
Really is a great start!
Hey Rhiana,
We should send the SDK for Carrara to Bethesda and ask them to make a Skyrim for Carrara! :)
Using Carrara as the toolkit - a special game engine that runs .car assets!
Okay - so I'm dreaming... it was another five-hundred, thirty-seven, million degree day today - and the stone is STILL heavy!
And who was it that decided to put the ground all the way down there, beneath our feet? That's a lot of lifting! LOL
excellent start, love the water around the base even
I would take a slightly different approach, FWIW....
First, and most importantly, I would do some research on the net and find photos of real, natural structures that are something like the result you want. Look at them closely, and make a note of how the rock looks, all of the different textures, and the basic shape of the structure, etc.
Second, make a mental note, or actually draw on paper a basic structure to get it fixed in your mind of what you want to achieve.
Third, go into a modeller and start with a VERY low-rez, blocky primitive. Add loop cuts, mesh density, etc., as needed, and push and pull edges to give you the basic, overall sharp structure, including any outcroppings or jagged cuts.
Fourth, gradually increase the resolution of the mesh where needed, and use a Displacement Brush to add texture. IMO it's far easier to use this technique for visual modelling. Start with the coarsest texture first, then gradually increase mesh rez and fineness of the texture as you go. Also, make your own alpha masks for the displacement brush to give you the look and variety you need in the texture. And make sure you mix and match different brushes so you don't get a single texture over a large area.
Another option, if you can find it, is a really nice rock texture image to use as an overall displacement map for some parts of the structure, or as an alpha mask for your displacement brush.
I strongly suggest you consider making your own alpha masks for the displacement brush, based on real world rock textures. Really not hard to do, and the results will be far superior, IMO.
Thanks for all the replies :)
I will be experimenting for a while until I have what I want. Don't want too many polygons since my scenes always turn out very lush and detailed.
Yes. The method I mentioned is actually intended to be very low poly. Big blocks with textures applied. The more I build with real stone and earth for people, the easier it becomes in 3d within Carrara. I doubt I'll find time within the next few weeks - but I will make some more examples for you - but I really like what you've made in such a short time. I really do. That's a keeper.