Topics

I'm exploring ideas on making canyons. Here's one:

Can anyone explain why there's a dip between two joining terrains when using the max device? I need my terrains to join smoothly, but right at the cross-over there's this very visible black line you can see in the mask that creates a dip in the terrain. According to my understanding of the max device that dip should not be there.

My 1st island map was not as pretty as I would like so I'm focusing on the look and feel with a new canyon map. I want the terrain itself to be a major experience in the game, so that simply navigating the environment is an enjoyable experience as player literally explore new vistas. More to come.

Is it possible to export a mask as a flat plane mesh? I need a water surface for my ocean in UE4, with very accurate holes cut in specific locations.

Is there a file that can be updated to set the defaults on the build resolution slider?

A device that can scale incoming terrain length, width, and height all at once would be very helpful, thanks!

Hi, Here's a WIP island map for a mod I am making for the game ARK: Survival Evolved.

I did only a quick texture, since the real textures will applied in the game along with foliage of course.

I am noticing good game maps are not detailed the same way and have different requirements from terrains made to look aesthetically pleasing. For example, the various terraced ledges around the map are about twice the height of the player and so form a ledge that must be navigated.

This island is mostly auto-generated and only the rivers and islands themselves need to be created manually. Once complete I will be able to easily generate new islands using the shuffle button.

The map in WM is 46km with a height of 5250m, and will be scaled down to 8km at a height of 921m for use in Unreal Engine 4.

I need a coast line mask, but the coastal erosion is too strong. Is there any other way to get a mask of the coast without using coastal erosion?

In the advanced perlin, is each octave 1/2 the size of the one above it, or does the scaling change between octaves?
If the scaling is always the same then using octaves 1-5 would be identical to using octave 6-10 at the same scale correct?
I'm trying to find a good place to start when creating large landscapes. I mean, I can scale it smaller so I'm using octaves 1-6, or I can scale it larger whereby octaves1,2,3 become so large they really have no affect, and I'm effectively using octaves 4-9. Is there a difference? Or am I just driving myself insane asking questions that should never be asked?

It's well known in fields of information visualization that curved flowchart connections are easier for the human eye to follow than sharp angled connections, and a default of Bezier curved device lines (with the option to revert to anged lines) would improve the visual aesthetic and clarity of the device connector grid.

Thanks!

See section "Rounded Corners Make Information Easier to Process":
http://uxmovement.com/thinking/why-rounded-corners-are-easier-on-the-eyes/

See pages 7 & 8 "Curving around obstacles":
https://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/pubs/Dagstuhl-curves.pdf

A more in depth study, see page 12 & 13:
http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=honors

I keep getting these very deep and tall erosion channels, and I'm not even using channeled erosion.

What determines erosion scaling anyway? I always seem to end up with erosion channels that are like 10ft walls in my game terrain.

How do you use the shape guide input to control multiple octaves in the advanced perlin? You can use the "Shapeguide lead-in level" to control more octaves with the shape guide, but every octave added is identical to the first, which is pretty useless. I would expect each octave controlled by the shapeguide to get successively smaller by 1/2, just like normal.

Anybody have success controlling more than one octave with the shapeguide? If all additional octaves are the same as the first, then I don't understand it's value.

When drawing curves it would be nice to have:
1) Ability to lock the axis by holding a key so lines can be drawn perfectly straight horizontally, vertically, or even at an arbitrary angle.
2) Modify the entire curve using Raise/lower, expand/contract, forward/back.

Thanks!

When placing a device in the grid, a number should be appended to its name, eg erosion1, erosion2, erosion3, etc.

A reset button in the device window would return all values to what they were when you opened the device.

Anybody have any experience/ideas on making caves for your favorite 3D software using WM?

I'm going to try making some caves for Unreal 4 by creating a terrain mesh and flipping it back onto the terrain to act as a ceiling.

I'll post whatever ideas I come up with and if anyone else has some experience with caves, please do share :)

I'd like to understand how terrain mesh coordinates are determined in relation to the 0,0 world origin coordinates when "Always export at origin" is not checked in the mesh output node.

I'm trying to line up a terrain mesh with the same terrain made from a heigh map in Unreal 4 and the mesh has to be scaled up 35% for some unknown reason, and I have to drag the mesh origin way far to the right for it to line up with the terrain. I'd like to be able to calculate the scale and coordinates, instead of having to line up the mesh visually.

In many 3D packages you can enter basic math (add,subtract,multiply,divide) into a number field to compute a result, and this would be very handy in WM :)

[Feature]

Feature
Allow auto-incrementing of output files names

Reason
So you don't lose the 3 hour render file you just made to a 10 second low resolution test

[Feature]

Feature
A check box for each device to disable random seed participation.

Reason
The purpose is to allow for a terrain that can be shuffled to create random new terrains, while allowing the user to choose which parts will be randomized, and which parts will remain constant.

[Feature]

Feature
The extents needs a zoom ability to quickly zoom in and out of terrain to see details, without having to create and move around a small set of extents just for zooming.
Basically, all extents with the new 'zoom' property would be grouped and could be centered on the same spot using a quick button, without having to go to layout view.

Reason
I always make 4 extents for zooming, each smaller than the last, to zoom in on terrain features.
My map is large so I have to constantly center my 4 extents over each feature im detailing, then move them all to the next feature, and so on

I'm a total noob, and wondering how I might create different terrain types in different regions of a single map single map. The regions should blend together of course, so it's natural. I'm thinking it has to do with masks, but I'm not sure how to set it up.