Procedural terrains
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Daniel, I will do a kinda tutorial once I have all the kinks worked out and there are a few. The Google earth image gets changed into an extreme bump or better word a displacement map which is then used as a map on a flat mesh to create a physical relief. I want to see if I can map the actual image as a texture and then use it also as a displacement map in oder to give a better 3d representation.
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This is simply AMAZING, Pete..!!
Looking forward to learn more about this...
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Fantastic stuff Solo...looking forward to see the way you do it.
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This is a cool progress to watch.
I can imagine using the displacement-to-mesh idea for lots of different things as well. -
St. Andrews golf course in Scotland.
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Looks good. What happens with buildings. Do they come up accurately?
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reduced poly version.The houses do not raise right due to google image had shadows that screw with the displacement.
fast render (20 seconds due to image being texture)
Still needs tweaking, but this could be a new way of doing terrains, may need a code expert to make this a ruby idea however. -
My god, this is amazing. Still don't understand how this is works though..
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haha... me neither.. i understand how the bump maps or displacement maps work in the renders.. but how are you achieving that complex sketchup mesh?? awesome stuff.. i just recently saw someting on the maxwell forums where someone had just taken a google earth image and used it as a displacement map.. wasnt accurate at all, but was really cool and simple..
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[Off Topic]: I tried texturing a freeform in Vue...and didn't succeed .Seems as Vue doesn't really has real UV-mapping tools (only cilindrical,spherical, etc..which results in distorted soup). Next step: Zbrush?
Sorry for the OT. Now please continue with this nice landscaping process
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I would also believe Z-brush to be the best option. Vue has more mapping tools than SU and others alike but by no means a true solution.
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Just to chime in here and show there is some more interest in this process. We are doing stuff like this more and more and I for one would love to see a tutorial on this process. Time usually doesn't permit us to do the freeform thing and we end steping the contours from survey data or traced images.
I guess my real question is: Are you getting an accurate "dem" image from GE to use as a displacement map or is this more of an "artistic guess" at landscaping. Either way you are certainly on to something here. If someone could build a displacement map routine ruby for sketchup I'm not sure I would need autocad anymore.
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Fossa,
I would not say it's an artistic approximation but more of a primary image limitation, see the images I get from GE have shadows and the shadows are a very instrumental in getting the displacement map accurate. I have not yet tried using the new GE sun positioning feature yet and will in due coarse try different settings. ( I will continue with this in a few days , as soon as my current project completes).
I agree a terrain generator ruby would be awesome and another reason to not use those $$$ apps and keep the workflow down to a single app. -
Soooooo much to learn...nice work (again!), Pete. Will be watching close for that tut as well as I just today got a small house project where a stone outcrop is the prominent and center feature of the site. The architect wants to have it poke thru a deck and maybe a little of the floor structure to the inside (at a fireplace)...should be a fun model to build but it will have to look better than what I've done before: so perfect timing!
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excuse me a sec while i pick my jaw up off the floor.
that is the most amazing terrain model, or any organic model for that matter, i have ever seen.
that was a genius idea to use the terrain tool + subd and smooth. i never would have thought of that. you have, once again, succeded in making me feel like a begginer. -
Have you done any experimenting with Heightfield ruby? Where displacement is done by a grey scale image. The darker areas are the lowest point and the highest point are light.
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lapx, I have not, sounds like the kinda thing I may be very interested in trying. got a link?
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hi lapx
what is the height field ruby?
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Hi Pete
although this is off topic I had to reply
Opened the forum today & was amazed to see a photo of where I live. Any reason you picked this area of Scotland or was it just random? Small world eh.
Cheers Dave
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Hi Guys,
heightfield_gen.rb by Didier (scroll down to find it - I didn't want to link the ruby/text file itself).
On another note, you may also be interested in the Cloud_V6 (i.e. SU 6) plugin also by Didier if you have a bunch of points (xyz coordinates) surveyed at a site.
However all this you are doing here, Pete, is really impressing and awsome. I think even Google would be interested!
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