First of all, I really love World Machine and it’s the most awesome terrain generator I have ever used! And I am really glad to be a member of the community.
Now to the matter, I am trying to create a Corsica-like terrain based on these images: http://www.rigsofrods.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=364299&d=1358023002, http://www.rigsofrods.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=364301&d=1358023002. Everything came out pretty good, but the rocks doesn’t seem to be exactly like the ones on the images. I know that applying erosion on a noisy advanced perlin is the best solution to get realistic rocks, but since I am using thermal weathering, it’s difficult to combine them realisticaly (add erosion on the slopes as rocks). I would appreciate it if anyone could help me get more realistic rocks. Thanks.
Oh, ignore the colors, they are just a simple test.
Glad to hear you’re liking World Machine… nice mountains you’ve achieved there!
The links to the images don’t work for me, so I’m not quite sure what effect you’re going for… in general though you are dead right that noisy erosion can produce some extremely nice rock effects…
if you provide new image links I might be able to toss a few more ideas out there.
Sorry for that, here are the images: http://rapidshare.com/files/729348049/images.zip (couldn’t upload here because of the size). Also, I think I have found the solution to my problem, but I would like your thoughts. (download the updated file below)
So, it’s been a couple of months since I put this project on hold. I managed to achieve a quite satishying result. The only thing I am not very satisfied for, is the transition between the rocks and the rest of the ground. They are applied after the thermal weathering, but they look pretty artificial. So, how do you suggest I should improve it?
Here are 2 pics. The first from World Machine (don’t mind the weird edges) and the second what I am trying to achieve.
Very nice modeling! You’re definitely very close to the inspiration here . You’re right though, the rocks look a little flat. What about simple solutions like adding a blurred version of the rock texture to the heights, to pop them out of the mountain a bit more?
nicely built johnny!!! there are two ways you can get the protruding rocks :-
this is a synthetic workaround, may not look realistic. cut off erosion using a mask that blocks the peak from being eroded may do the trick.
dax pandhi at quadspinner.com has done some brilliant things with his geoglyph device. a preview super erosion device is available for purchase at cornucopia3d store. this would be a more realistic approach.
@Remnant, yes I will blur the texture a bit more, however the real issue is with the mask used for the shape of the rocks. Take a look at my last posted .tmd file here to see the method I used. Unfortunately that mask doesn’t really work for the peaks, neither convexity would help. So, I am trying to find a way to apply rocks all over the terrain, but use erosion for smoothing parts, without destroying the realistic pyramid-like overall look of the terrain.
@WFab, I am not sure if I understand exactly what you mean, but if I get this right, it isn’t actually erosion the issue. The problem is with the rocks’ mask. You could check the last .tmd I posted here, to see my method and maybe you can think of a solution. And I know about the super erosion device. It’s really nice! Maybe I will buy it in the future.
Anyway, so far I have just showed part of the whole project. It’s actually a 30x30km island, that I am working on about a year or so. I created about 4 different climate types, inspired by Corsica. The dotty green colours represent the trees.
This is absolutely stunning. Any chance I can take a look at ur TMD file? I am trying to create something almost identical to what you have achieved here.
So, after a really long time, I decided to rework this project and find a solution to the problems, especially the one concerning rocks, and I think I achieved pretty convincing results!
@ozdeadmeat, I have spent a lot of time on this project, so I would prefer not to distribute it for the moment, sorry. Maybe I can make a quick tutorial file and upload it sometime. I have uploaded a Ctest.tmd in the first post, that shows some technice about how to create a ridged mountain like this one, but it’s pretty old, still though it’s useful. You should try that out, if you haven’t already.
That looks really good!
That reminds me of the comic Asterix in Corsica, Uderzo did a great job to nail the looks of Corsican Mountains in a comic style.
Here are some images:
And I am really glad to be a member of the community. 
