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Building Carrara Terrains Intro

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169
    edited September 2016

    Here is a shadow catcher with a jogger (G2M), park bench, and trash can.

    test render sperica ljogger.jpg
    800 x 600 - 54K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    Looks great!

    Here is an example of the Realistic Sky's Sun size turned all the way up (right? most everyone I know always makes it smaller!) to 500! It doesn't even look like a sun at this size... more like an intense light aura or effect. I like it though... at least for this

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    I moved some things around, turned the water back on (these two scenes (the one in the post above too) are using the Base Sunset preset from Woodlands with Badlands shaders, plants, and terrain object pieces as well as some of the terrain blocks from Underwater Realms)

    I added i13's incredible Drawbridge product, which has some really cool plants, by the way, cranked it around into place, separated the ground and water away from the main model, pasted the terrain into the Vertex Modeler to reproduce it again - which needed to be rescaled down to fit the scene. That was easy though - just select the drawbridge mode to get the outer dimensions (only need one axis) copy one and paste that into the new mesh, with the "Uniform" box checked and Bam! Done!

    Oh... and I tweaked the ground shaders a bit. Being as this is a DUF file (not sure if that matters) 'Hiding' mesh in the vertex modeler doesn't hide it from any other view, including the render. So when I separated the ground and removed the water, I had to give them an Invisible shader to remove them from the render.

    The i13 Drawbridge comes in both Poser and DUF formats, so I installed both - but wanted to try a DUF product in Carrara other than a Genesis figure. Forgot to check and see if any morph/control dials work though! LOL

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    This is the image map I made to blend my terrain textures with the road and river edges that came with the product. So if you have i13's Drawbridge and would like to blend his ground in with your Carrara terrain, go ahead and download the map and give this a try:

    Here's how it works:

    Black will deliver Source 1 fully. White will deliver source 2 fully. That's the way any of the shader mixers work. For further reference on that, Value of 0 = Black and Value of 100 = White.

    So we take the original shader and tweak it into a good Carrara shader, adjusting the Highlight, Shininess, etc., On this particular product, when loaded in using the DUF, the bump channel was set to 500... so I lowered that considerably as well.

    Now we go to the Top level and change it to Complex Shaders > Multi Channel Mixer

    This puts the shader we've just tweaked into Source 1 - so hit the little triangle to close that list down, so we can easily get to Source 2

    Now in my example, I just copied the entire Terrain Shader from Badlands into the top level of Source 2

    As I was saying earlier, Black reveals Source 1, right? So this means that i13's road and the rocks around the moat will show in the shader, and dB_Badlands Terrain will be cast upon the rest of the mesh, whith a subtle blend between to two as they intersect.

    Simply click the map above to get the full sized image, right-click to download

    I also copied the branch shader from "Deadwood" (from Woodlands) onto i13's ivy branches and tweaked out the rest of his shaders. This is a really cool set! Wow! The ground texture is a whopping 6,000 x 6,000 px image!

    EDIT: Note - Since we don't need 6k details for the shader blend example above, I quartered the sized of the mask down to a more manageable 1,500 image map ;)

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    For denser grass, try this:

    Make a grass patch: Create a vertex plane, make it a circle, oval or any shape you want but preferably not square, roughly 1ft across or 1m or similar, depends on the crinkliness of your terrain. Now set up a surface replicator using your grass props on the small plane and tweak until you get the kind of density you want.

    In the Surface Replicator window, select Create Real Instances. Rename the result to taste. This is what we're going to replicate across the terrain. (In theory, we could replicate the replicator, but if you're maxing out the replication count, then . . . no. Life is too short - you'll end up in click-freeze for a week while Carrara recalculates a billion vertexes land.

    Repeat for your other grass/flower groups, and you should achieve a much greater density.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    edited November 2021

    I was working on this scene before TangoAlpha dropped in with that great advice. Phil does a really cool job of teaching that very method in his Advanced Carrara Techniques - complete with working files exmples! ;)

    Anyways, I was thinking of an entirely different approach - as found in mmoir's BMF Landscapes. He (and some friends of mine) uses Carrara's dynamic hair for grass, along with some other replicated shrubs and extra goodies. Looks great, I think!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169

    Guess it is time for my annual rewatch of PhilW's tutorials.  Should have remembered that.

    .

    Dartanbeck said:

    I was working on this scene before TangoAlpha dropped in with that great advice. Phil does a really cool job of teaching that very method in his Advanced Carrara Techniques - complete with working files exmples! ;)

     

     

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    edited September 2016

    Oh man, really?

    His grass tutorial is truly awesome! You'll love modeling the field grass seed pods! Knowing you, you'll be all inspired to do a whole lot more! ;)

    The grass-making portion begins in the sixth lesson of Chapter 9, but the whole chapter is excellent to watch over again.

    EDIT to Add: That whole chapter is all about building this wonderful outdoors scene, complete with a river, custom-made tree, using PhotoShop (but any image editor/creator will do the trick!) to make masks for assisting with shaders and replication, etc., We build a custom cottage, its tarmac driveway, and a nice fence... It's a really fun Chapter!

    Oh, right... and we model grass, too! ;)

    PhilW_Grass_Ch9_Ls6_10.jpg
    666 x 488 - 156K
    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    I might have to go and watch it myself!

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    I've made those grass ears! laugh

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Gee wilikers... I'm gonna wanna see that again... it's been awhile since the last time.

  • DesertDudeDesertDude Posts: 1,235
    Dartanbeck said:

    His grass tutorial is truly awesome! You'll love modeling the field grass seed pods! Knowing you, you'll be all inspired to do a whole lot more! ;)

    The grass-making portion begins in the sixth lesson of Chapter 9, but the whole chapter is excellent to watch over again.

    EDIT to Add: That whole chapter is all about building this wonderful outdoors scene, complete with a river, custom-made tree, using PhotoShop (but any image editor/creator will do the trick!) to make masks for assisting with shaders and replication, etc., We build a custom cottage, its tarmac driveway, and a nice fence... It's a really fun Chapter!

    Oh, right... and we model grass, too! ;)

    Super cool, I just bought Phil's tutorials a few weeks ago and have only watched a few scattered chapters schizophrenic style, but looks awesome.

    For anyone skimming this thread, our very own talented Dimension Theory has a tutorial for creating grass patches here:

    part 1:
    part 2:

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169
    edited August 2018

    Here are some heightmaps and opacity maps I made intending to create a playing field (futbol, American football, rugby,...) surrounded by low hills. Can put in the background.

    360 Surrounded by Hills JPG 1.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 49K
    360 Surrounded by Hills opacity inside square white 1 jpg.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 33K
    360 Surrounded by Hills opacity outside white 1 jpg.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 38K
    360 Surrounded by Hills Path jpg.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 36K
    360 Surrounded by Hills field edge with gap for path.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 35K
    360 Surrounded by Hills inside islands replicators 1.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 74K
    360 Surrounded by Hills inverse islands replicators 1.jpg
    1025 x 1025 - 95K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169
    edited August 2018

    And here is the 360.  Free for any use.  It is NOT an HDRI.  Only intended to fill a background.

    EDIT: sorry - got an upload error.  Thought too large so I converted to a zip file.  Still got an error.

    Meanwhile, Wendy posted the following in another thread.  Good to have here.

     

    http://terrain.party/

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169

    Tried again.  Sorry.  Having trouble with forum software.  Maybe later.  sad

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169
    edited August 2018

    Aaargh - neither the render nor the zipped version will load.

    Yet, a screenshot of the render in photoshop element will load

    Aaargh

    terrain wont load.JPG
    1867 x 1040 - 277K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169
    edited August 2018

    OK - I've uploaded it to sharecg.  Definitely overkill.  


    https://sharecg.com/v/92092/view/15/2D-Resources/Field-surrounded-hills-360-degree-backgroun

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • SileneUKSileneUK Posts: 1,975

    Really nice job, Dio!   I am in the middle of making a real-life based terrain. My biggest problem now is creating another terrain for the rolling hills, etc around the base terrain, this would be something that would go to the horizon. You have given me some ideas here!

    I converted my terrain it to a vertex object. I really enjoyed making the heightmaps and working with Carrara's shading tools which are excellent... but wish there was a way to make a river banking with a cut-in edge like an overhang, instead of a straight or graduated edge down into the riverbed.  Do you know what I am trying to say? Once I had it as an object, I was able to manipulate it anyway needed, but there must be a lot of terrain tricks I would like to learn. Another way around that was to use some objects to sink into the river's edge.  But up on the cliffs, I also wanted some overhang and the texture map for objects became too challenging to blend in with the terrain shader's coloring.

    yes  Silene

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169

    Great points, Silene.  It is a shame that there is not a way to blend multiple heightmaps to get an overhang within the terrain modeler.  EvilProducer used a technique similar to what you described for his free river dells set (Thank you, EP).  I keep meaning to sit down with it and take it apart to see in more detail how he did it.  There is a brief description on the first page or two of this thread, but I am usually better off taking a look at the actual scene file.

  • SileneUKSileneUK Posts: 1,975
    Diomede said:

    Great points, Silene.  It is a shame that there is not a way to blend multiple heightmaps to get an overhang within the terrain modeler.  EvilProducer used a technique similar to what you described for his free river dells set (Thank you, EP).  I keep meaning to sit down with it and take it apart to see in more detail how he did it.  There is a brief description on the first page or two of this thread, but I am usually better off taking a look at the actual scene file.

    OMG... I was posting back on page 1.... I should re-read this thread again for Dart and EP's pointers.  I was taking a lot of meds in March 2014 before my back operation...I sounded so erm... 'chirpy'

      blushcheeky Silene

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    another trrific thread!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    Diomede_Carrara said:

    OK - I've uploaded it to sharecg.  Definitely overkill.  


    https://sharecg.com/v/92092/view/15/2D-Resources/Field-surrounded-hills-360-degree-backgroun

    FYI: Dropbox (free version) is really useful for this sort of thing. Just drop what you wish to share in the "Public" folder, then go into the folder, right-click on what you wish to share and choose "Copy Dropbox Link" (or something like that) and paste that to whomever you wish to share it with, like this forum, e-mail, etc.,

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    Headwax_Carrara said:

    another trrific thread!

    Thanks, HW! :)

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Worth a bump plus anyone had a play with fractal terrains 3 by profantasy? 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    edited November 2021

    I haven't, but I do have their Campaign Cartographer 3+ from back in my D&D days (which will likely never end, whether I play or not).

     

    I was amazed at the quality of the software and how many vector presets came with it - beyond the fact that it also has the tools to create custom vector images to add to the cartographer. It's really quite awesome.

     

    It also included a database, I think, for designing and tracking game campaigns.

     

    I think I'm way off track here, except that I have a feeling that, if ProFantasy made it, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if it looks like something I'd want to use.

     

    For me, terrain is mostly a background thing, so Carrara's tools are plenty. Even when I'm actually doing a pan of the landscape... I still like what I get from Carrara's terrain editor.

     

    Still... I have a friend who uses (and loves) Gaia, and the results he gets are stunning. 

     

    It looks like Fractal Terrains is more of a world-creation tool. I think my CC3+ might have even come with it. I'll have to check one day. But I don't think it's for making things like Carrara terrains - more like a whole planet. I could be mistaken.

    Learning new songs for practice tonight so my time is limited, or I'd look further. The band is crazy busy these days and our calendar for next year is filling up fast!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    I think you still have a copy of Dogwaffle, don't you?

    Have you tried that for making terrains?

     

    3D Designer can be addictively fun! (Filters > Transforms > 3D Designer - don't forget to make n elevation map first)

    Here's a wonderful demonstration of the new tools that came in Howler 9.5 by Philip Staiger - I believe your version is at least that, right? 

    If not, yours still likely has some great tools within the 3D Designer. I never tried it until after this update - actually not until seeing this video!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    With it you can export many types of map for use in Carrara's terrain editor, or even export an OBJ, which can be a lot of fun as well. 

    I did some experiments with it back in the day. The images are in this forum somewhere....

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    Here is a link to a post in this thread where I was experimenting with Howler's 3D Designer

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,213

    so sad seeing @Dimensiontheory removed his videos

    he had a lot of awesome Carrara stuff up that he took down crying

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    I know... and for what purpose? Did we bother him by watching/enjoying them?

    Same with Daz 3d taking down their cool legacy videos. It was always fun to go back and look at history. Now they're pulled, and it just bites.

     

    I just went through this thread and fixed the gallery images I posted back then. Same images, just that the gallery update wrecked the links.

    Hmmm... I wonder how many other threads are dorked from that?!!! I'll try and fix them when I can.

     

    Okay... back to working on those songs! LOL

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