Help With Terrain Shading

[Jonathan Fantucchio]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am working on an exterior which I rarely do in my line of work and I am wondering what is the best method of applying multiple(about four) Vray materials with displacements onto a terrain mesh. I tried VRay Blend material but I was trying to use it in conjunction with vertex painting but it doesn't seem to work properly. In the scene I Have a riverbed,grassy terrain,sand,with corresponding displaced materials which look good on there own.

 

How are others applying materials to terrains.

Is there a tutorial I can follow or any advice to go by.

 

Thanks!

[Tom Sproule]

Hi,

 

I don't really understand what you are doing or what you are trying to achieve.

 

You only really want to be applying displacement to landscape close to the camera - as otherwise you're going to be using resources for something which is unnecessary.

 

I'm not sure if you are looking at a massive landscape of mountains, or if you are landscaping someone's garden.

 

If you want information on how to apply displacement effectively, I posted a tutorial on youtube recently.

 

 

Please help clarify what you are trying to achieve.

[Jonathan Fantucchio]

I apologize since I think I worded my question incorrectly. I rarely do nature type stuff and so my wording may be off. I'm just trying to apply multiple materials to a small terrain mesh thats a small yard with a stream. Wet soil, muddy soil, dry grassy soil,ect. I was using Vray blend material but its not working. I wanted to do something like vertex painting the material on to the mesh if its possible. And yes there will be closeups which is why I mentioned displacements. So what techniques are people using to apply multiple materials to a small terrain mesh?

[Tom Sproule]

Hi Jonathan,

 

Okay, thank you for clarifying, that makes sense.

 

I can't say, so maybe someone else can give you their workflow as that's not how I would approach it. Generally, I would approach it by using soft selection and painting the landscape into the rough shape you want. To have wet mud material under and at the edge of the water I would use a VrayDistanceTexture (in the material editor under Maps Vray). I'd probably also use this for the transition from dry mud to grass... I'm not sure, depends on what I'm trying to do exactly.

 

Some people are using Quixel Megascans for what you are trying to achieve:

 

https://quixel.se/

 

Also some people are using Real Displacement Textures:

 

https://www.rd-textures.com/

 

There are other PBR textures out there which are being used, but these are just some of them.

 

I'm sure others could answer your question better than I have, but this is my two cents and I hope it helps.

 

Best, Tom

[Francisco Penaloza]

To create different displacements effects on a single geometry you will need to create a single map (Black and White) with the displacement info. then apply that as a displacement map.

 

You can't combine in real time different displacement into a single mesh inside Max, they will all combine with each other, they won't isolate if that's what you need.

 

So better create your terrain, unwrap it and apply a single texture to the different levels of displacement.

 

As mentioned by Tom, Displacement is very RAM hungry so try to be smart on when and how to use it.