help with grass shader/texture for uneven surfaces

[kevinyoung1]

Hi all - first time posting here! So sorry if this answer can be found deeper within the forums.

 

I have been working on a master plan animation video. It has been going extremely well, considering that I have been using an extremely old SketchUp file that was modeled very poorly, and then attempting to clean it up for the animation. The model itself is extremely large, and I have been trying to find ways to get very good grass texture to work.

 

I've attempted a grass with a bump, but from far away it looks just green, and when you get close it looks okay...and maybe it's the grass texture I'm working with, but at one point in the animation, my co-worker pointed out that it looks like alligator skin. ()

 

I then stumbled across this: http://www.ramyhanna.com/2008/05/ultimate-mental-ray-grass-shader.html

 

Which seemed very promising. But it only works with flat surfaces. I browsed the comments and they suggested either scaling the model down (which I did) and adjusting the parameters (also did this). But I believe there are just way too many uneven surfaces - the texture looks terrible!

 

So, are there any suggestions for how to deal with this? I would love for the grass shader to work, as it looks amazing how from far away its one texture and then it falls off into another texture that looks good up close.

 

PS - it may be that I need to scale everything down even more (still pretty big model). In that case, my question would be whether or not it's possible to scale the camera path along with the model so that the views are maintained despite scaling down.

 

Thank you!

 

(Attached is an image that shows most of the model. It is still in the process of being cleaned up. We are working with basically white buildings, grass, and road. Perhaps eventually trees. The grass is green for now, because that is the only way to make it look clean.)

 

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/asset.php?fid=47180&uid=105361&d=1375297632