squid Posted June 11, 2002 Share Posted June 11, 2002 Hi, I am working on an aerial perspective of a 500+ acre site. I am hoping to use the same 3D model for the eye-level perspectives as well. There's three mild hills on this site (approx. +50 feet change in height.) Here's what I've done so far: 1. I created the splines (at 10' increment) in AutoCAD 2. Import splines into VIZ4 3. Using imported splines, made a terrain object. Everything appear ok at first, but after a closer look, I see facets around 'tight' turning contours (in areas where the creeks and roads are.) Can anyone suggest a better technique? Thanks, Squid Does anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizzy Posted June 12, 2002 Share Posted June 12, 2002 could you post a picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted June 12, 2002 Share Posted June 12, 2002 how accurate do you need to be? also consider displacement mapping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted June 12, 2002 Share Posted June 12, 2002 hi squid, a photo would be nice to see your problem. in the main time, maybe these will help you out. 1) smooth the mesh 2) meshsmooth the mesh (if it does not have to be too accurate) 3) nurbs nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Lund Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 One good technique I like to use is to build your terrain splines at a higher resolution and apply the Normilize Spline modifier befor you turn it into a compound terrian object. The normalize spline modifier will keep the same shape of your spline but "normalize" your veticies at set incements. Example: if you set the increments to 6 inches you will then have a vertex on your spline every 6 inches. This will give you a better looking mesh and give you controll over your serface resolution without drasticly changing its shape. I highly recommend that you use this technique every time your working with a terrain. Good luck! [ June 25, 2002, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Erik Lund ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted July 2, 2002 Share Posted July 2, 2002 Nice idea eric. Here in Utah I'm working with complex terrain sites that require a LOT of accurate vizualization and I tried using the normalize spline mod with my current method and it does make things much nicer. Thanks for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squid Posted July 6, 2002 Author Share Posted July 6, 2002 hi everyone, sorry that i have not been able to post further updates, but i have been working overtime on this presentation and was away meeting with the clients during the past several weeks. since i was running out of time, i had to use the methods that i already knew to terrain object and shapemerge & glue to make roads, curbs, grass, etc. and about 10,000 rpc trees (but that's another story altogether...) One good technique I like to use is to build your terrain splines at a higher resolution and apply the Normilize Spline modifier... this sounds like great idea, i'll have to try it for the next iteration. i will post a picture to illustrate the problem - can anyone suggest a url for storing images? thanks, squid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dollus Posted July 10, 2002 Share Posted July 10, 2002 The Viz terrain modifier works off of the vertices of the splines, so just use the methods above to refine curves. For a 500 acre site, I would think RPC content would be serious overkill (and serious overhead). Have you looked at Forest Pro from Itoo? It might be a good altenative for you if you do a large site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squid Posted July 15, 2002 Author Share Posted July 15, 2002 Hi, Here are the images before the tweaks. http://www.imgstudio.com/download.asp?src=0715200211340124.jpg http://www.imgstudio.com/download.asp?src=0715200210500557.jpg For a 500 acre site, I would think RPC content would be serious overkill (and serious overhead). Memory overhead was surprisingly good (for 4000-5000 rpc tress) Final render (5100x2865) time was under 1 hour on a p42200 with 512ram I did have memory problems with the RPC Spray Script. It seems that the file size doubles or triples after multiple RPC spraying of trees using RPC Spray Script - Not sure if it's a good remedy, but my solution was to save the viz file (with rpc trees) periodically, create new viz file, import old viz file with rpc trees, then save new viz file. Big thanks for the 'normalized spline modifier', it reduced the poly count considerably! Squid Squid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don McClure Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Being the WorldBuilder guy -- I'm going to go ahead and recommend WorldBuilder http:\\http://www.digi-element.com so -- why Worldbuilder? 1) Creates a dual scene with 3D Viz that shears cameras lighting, etc. and composites the joint render during render time, using everything's native renderer 2) Because of this you don't need to import or export -- just set up a joint render. 3) Imports DEM, gray scale height maps (which is easy from topo maps) and uses splines. 4) Render quality is excellent. Okay -- so there is the WorldBuilder pitch. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creasia Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 I am not sure if this technique is applicible to what you are doing, but for my terrains in 3DsMax I like to start out with a plane divided up into as much detail as you wish starting first with low detail and then convert it to a mesh. From there I use soft selection on the edit mesh modifier, select and drag points on the z plane. Points nearby are affected by the soft selection settings as to how much they follow the point or group of points you are dragging. You may depending on your detail have a fairly rough mesh. At this point apply a mesh smooth modifier and for a little variation apply a noise modifier for a rocky terrain. Render the top view and brush texture over it in photoshop and then apply it as a map to the model. Right now I am creating a wonderful canyon with a waterfall soon to follow. Hope this gives you some ideas. I have never worked with Viz before though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugga_Guy Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 10,000 rpc trees (but that's another story altogether...) That's a miracle. I would feel pain if you mentioned just 100 rpcs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archinano Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Personally I use VUE 6 infinite and Maya for Terrain modeling. I like the results I get along with Renderman. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio Branch Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) Personally I use VUE 6 infinite and Maya for Terrain modeling. I like the results I get along with Renderman. Do you have any work you can show? I would be interested in using Vue on some projects... EDIT: IF...I can get it to work. Edited July 16, 2008 by Claudio Branch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamburgerTrain Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Sounds interesting. Especially renderman renders as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 http://www.rhinoterrain.com/ this helps me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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