altTerrain Builder
Contact: Chipp Walters
Last Modified: 12/31/2007
Last Modified: 12/31/2007
Using altTerrain Builder
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Terrain Mapping
Terrain Mapping II
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Using Terrains to Model
Support
Buy It Now!
Terrain Mapping
Terrain Mapping II
Vue Lab
Using Terrains to Model
What's the deal with Terrains?
Many of you may have seen some of my posts regarding terrains. It all really started back in 1994 when Kai Krause asked me to beta test his new world rendering program called Bryce. After a few weeks of testing, I created the ATAT picture on the left using terrains only. Kai had mentioned to me he had never thought of using terrains in such a manner.
I thought it was pretty cool at the time but quickly forgot about it until 1999, when I got back into Bryce for a brief period. I again used Bryce to render the second image on the left as cover art for a book called Raising the Dead about the forensic recovery of John Kennedy. It was then I really started to see the power of using terrain maps to create highly complex geometry-- of a certain type. In fact everything in that image is a terrain, except the skeleton and the ground plane.
As many of you know, Bryce has languished, and Vue has picked up where it left off. While I miss Bryce's beautiful interface, Vue certainly has similar functionality.
A notsoquick sidenote:
One of the best and least published features of Bryce, was it's small 'realtime preview' function built-in. As a longtime Lightwave user, I am amazed that no other major software vendor has created such a preview feature (other than Vue). In fact, Lightwave has this killer plugin called FPrime which does just about the same thing. The small preview makes lighting and composing a scene *SO MUCH EASIER*. There's another benefit to the postage stamp render— it enables users to view the big picture first without concentrating on the details. Many years ago, I taught rendering technique as a grad student. Back then, it was only markers, pastels and colored pencils, but many of the same techinques applied. A favorite tool was called a 'reducing glass' which is the opposite of a magnifying glass-- IOW, it made your rendering look smaller. Too many times, students would get lost rendering the details, and forget the whole compositon. The reducing glass forced them to 'step back' and see the whole scene.
Back on track. I'm pretty new to Vue, but instantly recognize the potential of terrains. I guess they do too as evidenced by the Symettrical lattice feature for them.
Many of you may have seen some of my posts regarding terrains. It all really started back in 1994 when Kai Krause asked me to beta test his new world rendering program called Bryce. After a few weeks of testing, I created the ATAT picture on the left using terrains only. Kai had mentioned to me he had never thought of using terrains in such a manner. I thought it was pretty cool at the time but quickly forgot about it until 1999, when I got back into Bryce for a brief period. I again used Bryce to render the second image on the left as cover art for a book called Raising the Dead about the forensic recovery of John Kennedy. It was then I really started to see the power of using terrain maps to create highly complex geometry-- of a certain type. In fact everything in that image is a terrain, except the skeleton and the ground plane.
As many of you know, Bryce has languished, and Vue has picked up where it left off. While I miss Bryce's beautiful interface, Vue certainly has similar functionality.
A notsoquick sidenote:
One of the best and least published features of Bryce, was it's small 'realtime preview' function built-in. As a longtime Lightwave user, I am amazed that no other major software vendor has created such a preview feature (other than Vue). In fact, Lightwave has this killer plugin called FPrime which does just about the same thing. The small preview makes lighting and composing a scene *SO MUCH EASIER*. There's another benefit to the postage stamp render— it enables users to view the big picture first without concentrating on the details. Many years ago, I taught rendering technique as a grad student. Back then, it was only markers, pastels and colored pencils, but many of the same techinques applied. A favorite tool was called a 'reducing glass' which is the opposite of a magnifying glass-- IOW, it made your rendering look smaller. Too many times, students would get lost rendering the details, and forget the whole compositon. The reducing glass forced them to 'step back' and see the whole scene.
Back on track. I'm pretty new to Vue, but instantly recognize the potential of terrains. I guess they do too as evidenced by the Symettrical lattice feature for them.
What are they good for?
Terrains are great for modeling complex object face details which won't be seen up close. I am surprised though at the quality I can persuade from them. The image at the left was the first terrain based product I created in Vue.
The tutorial can be found here on this site. It uses a single terrain to create the front of the computer.
Using terrains, you can model a huge amount of detail very quickly. Much faster than a typical polygon or nurbs modeler. Plus, you instantly have access to the mapping information for color maps, bump maps, distribution maps, luminance maps and others — as the data already exists in your Photoshop file (I assume you use Photoshop or some other high quality image application to create your terrains).
Also, depending on the resolution, terrains can be very memory efficient as well. I would imagine (not tested) creating an eco-system with thousands of the computers on the left would take up much less memory than thousands of imported, texture-mapped, polygon models of same. While there is over half-a-million polys in the terrain, I *believe* Vue handles these better than imported instantiated models. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Terrains are great for modeling complex object face details which won't be seen up close. I am surprised though at the quality I can persuade from them. The image at the left was the first terrain based product I created in Vue. The tutorial can be found here on this site. It uses a single terrain to create the front of the computer.
Using terrains, you can model a huge amount of detail very quickly. Much faster than a typical polygon or nurbs modeler. Plus, you instantly have access to the mapping information for color maps, bump maps, distribution maps, luminance maps and others — as the data already exists in your Photoshop file (I assume you use Photoshop or some other high quality image application to create your terrains).
Also, depending on the resolution, terrains can be very memory efficient as well. I would imagine (not tested) creating an eco-system with thousands of the computers on the left would take up much less memory than thousands of imported, texture-mapped, polygon models of same. While there is over half-a-million polys in the terrain, I *believe* Vue handles these better than imported instantiated models. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
More Terrains
Here are a couple more Terrains which I've been working on. Neither is a complete finished render, but they do have some interesting aspects. The first image on the left is a 1U IBM rack mount server. It consists of a single terrain for the front bezel and a cube object for the rear.
I chose this server because it has curved details on the front. The more I thought about how to create it, the more I figured I needed a tool to accurately create the curved details. I've been working on some new image tools to work with some existing ones (see Buttongadget), and figured I could create a simple profile converter app pretty quickly. So, I spent a little time and created altTerrain Builder. I may add more to it if there's interest.
Here are a couple more Terrains which I've been working on. Neither is a complete finished render, but they do have some interesting aspects. The first image on the left is a 1U IBM rack mount server. It consists of a single terrain for the front bezel and a cube object for the rear. I chose this server because it has curved details on the front. The more I thought about how to create it, the more I figured I needed a tool to accurately create the curved details. I've been working on some new image tools to work with some existing ones (see Buttongadget), and figured I could create a simple profile converter app pretty quickly. So, I spent a little time and created altTerrain Builder. I may add more to it if there's interest.
Electrical Conduit
This image is a single 512 x512 terrain. It uses a distribution map to differentiate the blue boxes from the metal pipes. One of the more difficult things about using terrains is the jaggy artifacting for smooth surfaces. Creating 'smooth' pipes like these is easier if you know a few things.
• Set the resolution of your terrain based upon how close you expect to view it. If it's far away, then a smaller resolution should work fine. Closer up need higher resolutions.
• Use the Diffusive button under the Erode tab. It basically blurs the the image slightly, but at a higher quality than if you had blurred it first in Photoshop. Successive presses of the buttons, make for smoother and smoother terrains, at the expense of lost detail. The image on the left had 1 Diffusive applied to it.
• Use bump maps for small details. Remember, the terrain map isn't the only source of modelling possible for your object— bump maps can work wonders for small details. Also, in the server model above, I used a bump map to create a texture for the curved door surfaces on the front, so that stair stepping wouldn't be so prevalent.
This image is a single 512 x512 terrain. It uses a distribution map to differentiate the blue boxes from the metal pipes. One of the more difficult things about using terrains is the jaggy artifacting for smooth surfaces. Creating 'smooth' pipes like these is easier if you know a few things.• Set the resolution of your terrain based upon how close you expect to view it. If it's far away, then a smaller resolution should work fine. Closer up need higher resolutions.
• Use the Diffusive button under the Erode tab. It basically blurs the the image slightly, but at a higher quality than if you had blurred it first in Photoshop. Successive presses of the buttons, make for smoother and smoother terrains, at the expense of lost detail. The image on the left had 1 Diffusive applied to it.
• Use bump maps for small details. Remember, the terrain map isn't the only source of modelling possible for your object— bump maps can work wonders for small details. Also, in the server model above, I used a bump map to create a texture for the curved door surfaces on the front, so that stair stepping wouldn't be so prevalent.
What aren't they good for?
There are many instances where it's better to model using something else other than terrains. Here are a few shortcomings regarding terrain modelling.
• It won't model objects which have an 'underneath', as the bottoms are always flat. You can boolean subtract from the bottom of a plane, but it takes a long time.
• It's not good for real close-up photoreal work as artifacting can most always be seen
• It's not ideal for high precisions models
Generally, terrain modelling is great when you need to add lots of detail to a model, and you're not concerned with precision. That said, some of the models I've done, are fairly precise ones.
• It won't model objects which have an 'underneath', as the bottoms are always flat. You can boolean subtract from the bottom of a plane, but it takes a long time.
• It's not good for real close-up photoreal work as artifacting can most always be seen
• It's not ideal for high precisions models
Generally, terrain modelling is great when you need to add lots of detail to a model, and you're not concerned with precision. That said, some of the models I've done, are fairly precise ones.
altTerrain Builder Sample
This tent terrain is an example of an object created completely using terrains from altTerrain Builder.
The first profile was used to render terrain A, and the second profile created terrain B. Both are 256 x 256 terrain maps.
Then A was imported into a terrain, followed by importing B and setting the Mixing Mode to Blend, inverting B and rotating it 90 degrees.
A dozen or so pushes of the Diffusive button creates a very smooth surface.
This tent terrain is an example of an object created completely using terrains from altTerrain Builder.The first profile was used to render terrain A, and the second profile created terrain B. Both are 256 x 256 terrain maps.
Then A was imported into a terrain, followed by importing B and setting the Mixing Mode to Blend, inverting B and rotating it 90 degrees.
A dozen or so pushes of the Diffusive button creates a very smooth surface.
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