hi there,
is there an in-depth tutorial on how to generate splatmaps in WM?
I´ve seen an example file already – is this all, one must setup to get a splatmap?
What things are important/to setup when creating such a map?
Is a splat-map always = “a splat map”?
What is it based on? How to fine-tune it?
I’ve had to do a lot of learning on my own about making splatmaps.
The complexity of splat maps (also called"weightmaps" or “alpha maps”) depends on your texturing needs. But they are pretty straightforward in concept, though. Since you’re just assigning the placement of textures to one of the four RGBA channel, you can use a number of aspects to define how you want your splatmap defined.
(It can be as simple as using three “Select Height” devices with various heights selected, all connected to a “Channel Combiner” device that’s connected to a “Bitmap Output” device’s RGB Input, and with one more “Select Height” device’s elevation connected to the Alpha Input of the “Bitmap Output” device, which will produce a simple splatmap of generalized elevations serving as the different splatmap regions.
Or it can be a bit more complex like using a “Select Slope” device as masks coupled with a flow mask and sediment deposition mask. Though, you can make even more complex splatmaps, like with using “Select Angle” and “Select Convexity” devices.)
There are a number of ways to do it. It really comes down to the level of detail and style of splatmap you want. A simpler game won’t need a complex splatmap, and you can get the job done using Select Height and Select Slope devices, and maybe a deposition mask.
Anyways, this jabbering might not be helping much, so I’ve included a fully-documented example file down below. Works with WM2 Basic, Standard and Professional. Feel free to look at it, play around with it, and ask questions about it.
Also, anyone is free to redistribute their own improved version of this example file (read Creative Commons license details upon opening file).
As an added note, I am currently working on a number of video series productions for an online tutorial vendor, covering a number of World Machine topics, as well as a series on general game environment topics, and one of the topics include splat map production.
They’ll be low-priced, but in-depth and using real workflow examples. I’m creating a new World Machine 2-centric tutorial site where I’ve been planning to have free overviews and tutorial articles, including an article explaining a bit about of the splat map creation process, its objectives for a game production, and some workflow examples using Unity.
(Guest writers will be welcomed. Basically, I want to create a World Machine 2 Nation, à la BlenderNation.)
I can finish the video series when my new microphone arrives in the mail this week. It’s holidays time, so I can expect it’ll take a little while. I’m also currently working for a game developer and on two game projects, so it’s a weekends/spare-time production. 
Wow Brian, this helps a lot !
Thank you very (very!) much for explaining and for adding an example - for a WM noob like me a good base to explore from 
Please keep us updated on “WM-Nation” and your tutorial series
You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful.
This experience here helped me as well. In trying to explain a few things, I had to set up some methods to show them, methods to explore more and expand upon, as well as some topics I should discuss about, such as various types of splat maps that depend on the simple or complex style of the game–all good material for the WM site and the video series.
Sometimes you just don’t see areas to teach until you start sharing what you know!
I can not open the .tmd file - please see attachment
Ah. Crud. I’m sure that’s a result of which version of World Machine 2 I used here.
I used the latest dev build, World Machine 2 Professional 2.9.0.1 Development Release (64-bit). I think the latest stable release is World Machine 2.3.5.1 for Basic, Standard and Professional version.
But I didn’t use any new devices that aren’t in WM 2.3.5.1, so I thought this file would open okay, despite the different build versions. I guess not. (Perhaps here’s where newer builds/releases of WM could use a “save in legacy mode” option.)
I’ll just rebuild it over again from scratch, using WM 2.3.5.1. No problem, though. Check back in an hour or two. 
Jupp, I am useing the latest stable version 8)
Thank you for investing some time in it to help out learning how to splatmap
Here you go, Onkelpoe! I apologize for the wait! I had to find some time again to recreate it all from scratch using the latest stable release. But finally, it’s done! PHEW!
Anyways, let me know if this one works for you, and how well it helps you. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer what I can.
Just to clarify for other users: This example file below (“A Splat Map Example - Redux”) that is exactly like the example file I submitted in my first reply here, except it’s made to work with all versions of the latest stable release (WM 2.3.5.1–Basic, Standard and Professional versions).
My prior example file above (“A Splat Map Example”) only works with the latest developmental release (WM 2.9.0.1 Development Release). (Though, either file will work fine in the latest development release.)
Here’s an additional little tip that might help you: analyze various results of the Splat Map Display or Texture Map Display.
Thank you very much for this awesome files !
Ok, I roughly understood a few things about it - but I guess, a “general” thing is missing/I am not sure about:
When to use “Select Height” or “Select Slope”?
The values for the “Height Selector Sliders” - how do you tune them? How do you find the right heights? Just be testing or some certain maths?
See, I can understand the setup - but did not grasp the “tuning” for this!
Can you give some hints on that?
Yeah, I get your frustration there. The Select Height and Select Slope devices don’t have an immediately-clear sense of just what they’re controlling, and there’s not a whole lot out there explaining them in-depth. You see values are changing but you don’t know just in what predictable way they’re changing.
My short answer to your question is:
The Select Height device controls height information, based on height information measured in meters. Your elevation range is ranging from your base elevation (0 meters, by default) to your maximum elevation (2625 meters, with default settings), as set in your Project Settings. Note that this doesn’t mean you necessarily have a terrain that’s 2625 meters high, but rather to say that’s your maximum elevation available.
The Select Slope device controls slope information, based on slope information measured on a scale to 0 to 1.00 (I tend to think it as a scale from 0% to 100%). It is not dependent on height information, but rather on the amount of slope coverage, regardless of height information. Slope coverage can affect areas of all elevations that fit that sloping amount (percentage) range as specified by the sliders.
The example file below provides a little more in-depth detail about these two devices. While not the only devices useful for splat maps, these two are heavily-used for splat maps, and are the stars of my prior example file.
Hi Brian,
Nice tutorial world.
On an aside, I just looked at your world file here and there is indeed a regression where the height selector linked sliders don’t work properly. I have just added the fix for it into the queue of things that will be fixed when the next set of releases happens (which is very soon).
Thanks, Stephen.
Hey, while you’re at it, there’s a small hiccup with the Select Slope device as well, where when you input the numerical values manually, they don’t update.
To Onkelpoe and anyone else reading this thread, here’s a bit more about the logic of splat maps in general:
What You’re Doing When You Use the Selector Devices
When you’re changing the Select Height or Select Slope values, what you are changing is the range of what areas of the terrain are to be affected. So, when creating splatmaps, which use RGBA channels to represent specific regions of your entire terrain, it’s best to think about what of such range of values get used as values that determine the distribution of the Red, Green, Blue or Alpha channels.
In other words, the goal of using devices to create a splat map is to assign specified values (be it specified elevation information, specified slope percentage information, etc.) that will dictate how your splat map’s RGBA channels will be displayed.
When you keep in mind that you’re (typically) distributing a single channel value when using a Select Height or Select Slope, you can better see what you’re doing. Each of such control device such as selectors or filters function in a specific way, so if you learn each of such device’s function, you’ll immediately know what you’re controlling. You can start to predict how they will control what channel of your splat map.
The way you gain confidence towards creating the splat maps you want is by, first, knowing what tool is right for the job, and, second, by knowing just want you want with from the splat map. Do you have a specific goal of a splat map in mind? If not, you should take time to think about what you’re looking for. A general direction or plan is going to determine what devices you use–again, given that you understand what these devices do.
(Hopefully, my two example files have illustrated what the Select Height and Select Slope devices do, and well as how you can begin to test what other devices do.)
Representing the Red/Green/Blue/Alpha Channels
When you’re using the default of just four inputs for the Splat Map Converter device, any of those inputs can represent any channel. If I’m not mistaken, the Splat Map Converter is channel-agnostic, meaning you can use any of its input and outputs as any of the RGBA channels.
Typically, though, you’ll represent them as, from top to bottom, the Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha channel, in that order, which likewise make its outputs match that order. Since you’ll be pairing a Splat Map Converter to a Channel Combiner device like 99% of the time, and the Channel Combiner device strictly follows this RGBA order, it’s usually best to follow this RGBA order with the Splat Map Converter device as well.
Even when you use more than four inputs with Splat Map Converter (you can use up to 16), again, it’s best to stick with using them as that RGBA order, only now that RGBA order will repeat again after the Alpha channel. So, if you have eight inputs, you’ll have two sets of that same RGBA order: RGBA-RGBA. You can just plugged the two sets of RGBA order into two different Channel Combiner devices. This is how you create multiple splatmaps.
(And If you have an unconventional number like six inputs, predictably, you have: RGBA-RG. And so forth.)
Controlling RGBA Distribution for Splat Map
Whatever you put into each of those four Splat Map Converter inputs will control what areas on your terrain/splat map get those respective values (and again, typically, you’re using an RGBA order of values). You determine how you want your RGBA channel values distributed with your splat map by considering what devices you want controlling the distribution of those values.
In most cases (though not always), you’ll want the Red channel value setting the top elevations while your Alpha channel value setting the bottom. I personally use Red for high elevations, Green for flow maps, Blue for general regions, and Alpha for deposition maps.
In my “A Splat Map - Redux” example:
[ul][li]“Top Elevation Regions” (a Select Height device) controls the Red channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Primary Output heightmap” output as its input. This dictates all that appears red (or reddish, if blended) on the splat map.[/li]
[li]“Sediment Flow Regions” (a Select Height device) controls the Green channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Flow map” output as its input. This dictates all that appears green (or greenish, if blended) on the splat map[/li]
[li]“Sloping Regions” (a Select Slope device) controls the Blue channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Primary Output heightmap” output as its input. This dictates all that appears blue (or bluish, if blended) on the splat map[/li]
[li]“Deposition (Ground)” (a Select Height device) controls the Alpha channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Deposition map” output as its input. This dictates all that appears transparent (or, in some programs, sometimes this channel is represented with usually a dark color) on the splat map.
Though the splat map is simply using the Alpha channel’s information as a means to dictate where real textures that will replaces it will be applied, inside whatever program that will use the splat map. It’s information as transparency is irrelevant, in terms of splat maps. We’re just borrowing its space as a channel. In World Machine 2, the splat maps come out looking largely transparent, but rest assured, all the distribution information is still there and it will work perfectly fine as a splat map.[/li][/ul]
Some of the channel colors overlap and blend (you might see a purplish hue, where the red and blue areas overlap), but all that you see there is a result of just those four channel colors’ values variously affected.
Feel free to use whatever gets you the kind of results you desire. Save your World Machine files before doing experimentation to enjoy risk-free trial-and-error.
Controlling Splat Map Converter’s Behavior
You can alter the behavior of these values’ priority as desired, with the Splat Map Converter’s “behavior priority” setting. You can use that in conjunction to how you arrange your input devices (mainly, erosion maps and selector/filter devices) into Splat Map Converter.
Again, Splat Map Converter is channel-agnostic, so unless you have a specific reason to use a different order, stick with using its inputs as an RGBA order. Sticking to using the Splat Map Converter’s inputs as “Red-Green-Blue-Alpha” will result the same order for its outputs. This order is highly-recommended and usually goes without saying because it’s the single order for the inputs for the Channel Combiner device.
The outputs for the Channel Splitter device are of a similar order: Red, Green and Blue–but the alpha channel is left for other devices to supply, such as one of the three Erosion device’s mask outputs (typically, a “Deposition map” output) or the fourth Splat Map Converter output. The Channel Splitter device is useful for taking an image (or any RGB output) and splitting it by its RGBA values, which can be useful, for instance, if you wish to determine splat map information from another set of RGB values.
Putting It All Together
You typically pair a Splat Map Converter device or a Channel Splitter device with a Channel Combiner device, which you take the combined output of the Channel Combiner device out to a Bitmap Output device to provide its RGB values, and you take whatever you’re using as the alpha channel (say, the Erosion device’s “Deposition map” output, as in my example) into the Bitmap Output’s Alpha Input. The final result will be a splat map.
That’s the basic logic of splat maps. Basically, there aren’t any hard “rules” for it, as splat maps will depend on your particular texturing needs (it all depends on just what you want your splat map to define), but I’ve ran through a general method most commonly used.
Conclusion
I hope that wasn’t too confusing, but use this more as a reference to use as you gradually get the hang of the workflow through exploring and experimenting with my examples, rather than trying to digest this all at once.
I’d hope you were able to follow along well along here, but you don’t have to try to get all this at once. Take your time to really see what is being said here, through trying things out for yourself. And keep in mind that I am actively working on productions to better aid on this and other topics dealing with World Machine.
I’m open for questions, and I’ll try to answer them to the best of my ability and my availability. Though, try to see if you can answer your question first, through experimentation while using the Preview Lock method I repeatedly mentioned. I can’t stress that little method enough! That’s really going to be your best bet, and is what I used to learn everything I know and what I still use to learn with myself.
Good luck!
Brian - thank you (again) for your great support and explainations - awesome!
Ok, my first shy try in translating/understanding:
•“Top Elevation Regions” (a Select Height device) controls the Red channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Primary Output heightmap” output as its input. This dictates all that appears red (or reddish, if blended) on the splat map.
•“Sediment Flow Regions” (a Select Height device) controls the Green channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Flow map” output as its input. This dictates all that appears green (or greenish, if blended) on the splat map
•“Sloping Regions” (a Select Slope device) controls the Blue channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Primary Output heightmap” output as its input. This dictates all that appears blue (or bluish, if blended) on the splat map
•“Deposition (Ground)” (a Select Height device) controls the Alpha channel’s color value of the splat map, using the Erosion device’s “Deposition map” output as its input. This dictates all that appears transparent (or, in some programs, sometimes this channel is represented with usually a dark color) on the splat map.
So - I interpret it this way:
Top Elevation Regions (a Select Height device) stands for “snow on top of a mountain” - to assing a “Snow texture image”
Sediment Flow Regions (a Select Height device) stands for “carved scratches -aka erosions” - hmmm, what texture image could be assingned here? They´re just blackish or what?!
Sloping Regions (a Select Slope device) stands for “every surface, that is a slope” - to assign a “Rock texture image”
Deposition (Ground) (a Select Height device) stands for “the flat round” - to assing a “Ground/Floor texture image”
In conclusion:
Let´s say I´ve got a “Sandstone” scheme color-map and want to mark the regions on a splatmap…
Top elevation - here I select a height mabye… let´s say… Max. down to Max. -10%
Sediment Flow - hmm, not sure what to do with it
Sloping Reginos - here I select every thing that is “slope”? Normally I would say, all slopes should have about the same texture later on - so all slops should be selected
Deposition ground - well, the rest of the map goes here
Now, please rip it apart
Yeah, you’ve got this. I think you’ve pretty much got the gist of it.
[Once again, my reply will be more of a reference, and not so much something to digest all at once. I’m writing for a general audience as well, which is why I’ve started using bold labels. Read only what seems relevant to you.]
My Example File Was Very General
To be honest, I didn’t have a particular goal in mind when I created that example file, but rather just created something generalized. Just what those regions could be depends what you’re going for, really.
As for the particular example I gave, with some minor slider tweaks and some well-chosen textures, it could’ve easily been a splat map usable as snowy mountains, muddy hillsides or dry deserts mountains:
[ul][li]
The “Top Elevation Regions” could’ve been used to define something like snowy tops as you say, and it could just as well be made into: dirt tops, frozen glacial tops, or even cooling spews of molten lava.[/li]
[li]The “Sediment Flow Regions” could’ve been used to define something like “carved scratches” (erosion), and it could just as well become: streams of ice melt, fluvial fans (sediment), runny mud flows, or even lichen growth on rocky surfaces.[/li]
[li]The “Sloping Regions” could’ve been used to define something like general rocky surface for every general surface, and it could just as well become: general grassy surface or general dirty surface.[/li]
[li]The “Deposition (Ground)” region could’ve been used to define the the flat ground with a ground/floor texture, and it could just as well become: settled moraines (soil and rock deposition), glacial outwash (meltwater deposition), or even salt deposition of an arid region.[/li][/ul]
There’s really no limit to how you can tweak these as repurposed regions, and to what you can assign their RGBA channel values to represent.
Don’t Be Afraid to Think Outside My Four General Regions
While it’s a good general idea to use, my particular categorizations here of “Top Elevation” and Sediment Flow" are just generalized regions, useful for this example. While you can certain stick to a simple scheme like this one, it’s all up to you how you want to structure your splat map’s region layouts.
Some region layouts can have fewer, where you’re using two channels to define where all snow will appear (useful for assigning snowy tops and snowy flows down the sides of mountains). If that was something you were looking for, you’d be using two or more channels of your splat map to direct the placement of the same snow texture in your game.
You could even save yourself a channel to use for something else by first combining those two or more regions you might would want defining the snow here, all before plugging them into the Channel Combiner device, leaving you free to use a channel for defining more of other regions.
Remember, you can have as many Splat Map Converters devices (and others like the Channel Splitter device) as you want, before combining them with a Channel Combiner device–you can even combine Channel Combiner devices and use the combined together as a single RGB output, if needed. The regular Combiner device comes in very useful for this sort of thing.
And some region layouts can have more than four channels, by using two or more splat maps to get the job done (depending on the allowances of your game engine/3D program, of course), such as having something like the four aforementioned categories, plus something like more talus debris definition to accompany the slopes and perhaps some defined regions where visible rock will appear in the snowy peaks.
Thinking outside the box can be handy for problem-solving. Once you’ve gotten the logic of the devices, just how cleverly you direct their usage is totally up to you! There are some generalized ways, such as the one my example used, but if you’ve got a complex result in mind, if you understand how each device works, you already have what all it takes to create a complex solution. You’ll probably have a general idea how you’ll do it, before you even start working. The rest is just a bit of trial-and-error.
Tips On Going About Defining Your Sandstone Example
As for your example of a sandstone scheme, if you wanted something like a Sandstone scheme color-map you want to achieve with a splat map, the very first thing I would do is grab some photo references and maybe even a few technical illustrations from educational institution sites about geology of just what sandstone scheme looks like and how/why it’s formed.
In fact, learning how landforms form is a very good way to get a sense of just what you’re seeking to structure, and it’s something I do continuously. I have thousands of photo references on my computer of various landforms and landscapes, and I still never seem to have enough of them–there’s always something I notice about the landforms I seek to emulate.
But even just a general quick look at some reference will go a long way in guiding your creation process. A good 15 minutes or so of looking at reference will guide your assignment of regions in splat map creation better than an hour’s worth of trying to imagine it. It sounds so obvious, but it’s surprising how little we actually do rely on reference sometimes–or, at least, how little rely on it in clever ways.
And don’t be afraid to create your own “anatomy” diagrams if you need to, just to point out to yourself what general regions/features you want to point out in your splat map. Sometimes I even draw a picture of what I see in photos–even a crude drawing of what you notice about picture can help you start noticing what your eyes notice most.
You can even label the parts of the terrain, either by looking up official terms for them or just using your own little system of identifying them–only the results matter. Labeling parts of your self-made reference is a great way to solidify the stuff in your own head. You often times remember what you created yourself better than what someone else showed you.
Master the Geological Parts to Better Master Your Splat Maps’ Parts
The goal in labeling your own reference is to get better at noticing the “parts,” which will help you during region definition in splat map creation. Once I know what some “anatomy” of landforms are, such as “moraines” or “fault scarps,” I’ll better know just what feature I’m trying to capture in my splat map.
I would look for one of many geology glossaries and geological diagrams online, as posted on many universities sites. And not just Google Web searches–sometimes, I find better luck doing Google Images searches on “geological features,” “geology definitions,” “geology glossary” and “types of (mountains, canyons, geological erosion, etc.),” etc.
If you wanted sandstone schemes, I would look up several images of “sandstone formations” or “sandstone landforms” to see what you get. I’d try to find out just what kinds of sandstone landforms there are, because if you’re talking about something like a sandstone canyon, there are several different styles of sandstone canyons. The Grand Canyon alone has several types of canyons featuring sandstone, probably one of every kind around.
It would also depend on how simple or realistic you were trying to capture your terrain. That will greatly determine just how many channels you may need to combine before combining everything into one (or more) splat maps.
Collect pictures of a general sort of terrain you’re going for, and among that general pick of images, you’ll be surprised how fast you’ll immediate start to notice some of what primary characteristics give it the characteristic as “sandstone formation.”
Next Post, We’ll Build Your Example
Anyways, stay tuned. In my next post, I’ll go over how I might would go about defining something like sandstone landforms in World Machine 2. Since they can be so different, I’ll just overview the general setups for five different sandstone formations, briefly explaining how I would have their splat maps assigned.
If I find some time later on, I might come back and even post up an example World Machine 2 file, showing these setups firsthand.
Brain - I am speechless - it would be awesome, if we could go thru some “real life” splatmap generation
Tomorrow, I´ll experiment with some…
Maybe we could cover some “standard” splatmaps/colormaps:
Canyon, Heighlands, Alpine (Mountain+Snow), Jungle/Island/Costal like?
I thank you very much for this GREAT support, you already done to me (us) - I can´t state that enough 
Great guide, Brian! I might link to this forum thread from the facebook page to point more people on the right track on splatmaps – its a confusing subject for many.
As an aside, if all your splatmaps are meant for the same engine/level/whatever, you can use >4 channels by simply setting the number of outputs in the splat converter, which will make sure that the set as a whole will exhibit the proper sum-to-one behavior. So set to 8 outputs and send the first 4 to one splat bitmap and the next 4 to another.
I’m not sure if I’ll have much time to go over “standard” splat maps for other listed region types. Though, honestly, I’m not too keen on giving “standards”–even loosely-said “standards.” (I’ll explain just why, at the end of this reply.)
I know this text probably isn’t the most exciting stuff on the surface. Text replies are like getting sweaters for Christmas. :?
But I’m laying down some foundations here. Having a general mindset for deconstruction your idea, combined with basic knowledge of the basic devices, will be all you generally need to define any of those other kinds of regions.
There’s really no need to go into “standards” since the same general mindset goes into any type of terrain: Get a clear idea what you’re trying to do, map the idea out a bit in your head (or on paper, if you need to), have a clear understanding of each of your devices, and go for it!
It’s really hard for me to measure how deep I’d need to go in teaching you here some of the basic functions of the WM2 devices.
(In the future, I’ll have far more concise posts.)
My Tutorial Videos Will Cover Other Terrain Types
It’s hard to make a big idea small enough to read.
So, I will have video productions, overviewing basics and showing workflows of many kinds of terrains, all pretty soon.
I’m now looking into designing a macro for producing splat maps with a few preset, including some for the region types you’ve listed, as well as an article on tips about splat maps for both realistic and stylized terrains.
I plan to directly show some of how I would break down my process when working on a project. I might even use one of my clients’ projects as an example (with their permission, of course).
These WM2 video productions will take just a little time, however.
Though, you seem to get the gist of making a splat map–the rest is just guiding the process with a lot of imagination as to just what you want (that’s most of the work!), and a little thought to see your own way through to your idea.
If I Had to Summarize the One Thing You Should Focus On…
Get a sense of how each device works in basic function, and it’ll start to help you visualize how you’ll break down your idea.
The devices might seem a lot to take in at first, but really, they’re not as complex as one might would think. Many are straightforward:
[ul][li]If you need to define height elevations, use a Select Height device.[/li]
[li]If you need to define slope regions, use a Select Slope device.[/li]
[li]If you need to define front-facing regions of your mountains or a specific angle from the horizon, use a Select Angle device.[/li]
[li]If you want to thin out the erosion regions, you’ll want to use something like the Simple Transform or the Curve device.[/li]
[li]If you want to thicken out selected regions, you’ll want to use an Expander device.[/li]
[li]If you want to select regions for erosion, there are many ways to do it, but typically, you’ll use a “Natural”-type device such as the Erosion device’s flow, wear and deposition map outputs, or the Thermal Weathering device’s talus depth and talus age map outputs.[/li]
[li]You can even define your own custom regions with a Layout Generator device, perhaps in conjunction with “Filter”- or “Selector”-type devices[/li][/ul]
This is just a simple look. I’ll work on a series of concise videos, each solely focused on each device’s function, as well as situations where they come in most useful. I just ordered a new microphone, which should arrive this week, holidays permitting.
Though, you don’t have to wait on me. Again, you can learn these devices yourself through just simply pulling them out, connecting them variously, and messing junk up in my example files. It’s okay to mess the example files up learning–that’s why I built them.
GeekAtPlay has a series of free videos that overviews these devices:
“Discovering World Machine” playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaH1PMiI_7AiQQelxrcnXqnif4HeMKzzR
These videos here aren’t in-depth, but they are useful for giving an overview of some WM2 devices. Though, if you’ve got the gist of splat maps so far, these might be just all the jump-start you need.
Think of the Devices as Categories
The devices are all categorized as groups, with each group generalizing aspects of heightmap-based processes performed during terrain design:
[ul][li]Generate your terrain (e.g., via procedural generation, input files from hard disk, and/or custom layouts) with “Generator”-type devices.[/li]
[li]Combine outputs in certain ways (e.g., combining two heightmap outputs in several ways, and choosing between selected height inputs) with “Combiner”-type devices.[/li]
[li]Apply filters on outputs in specific ways (e.g., smoothing, terracing and canyonizing) with “Filter”-type devices.[/li]
[li]Perform natural processes on them (e.g., fluvial erosion, coastal erosion and thermal weathering) with “Natural”-type devices.[/li]
[li]Select regions according to a specific parameter (e.g., height elevation, slope percentage, and horizon/angle information) with “Selector”-type devices.[/li]
[li]And convert outputs with various color information conversions (e.g., producing normal maps, light maps, and splitting/combining color information) with “Converter”-type devices.[/li][/ul]
These are the most-used groups of devices to use, so look up and play around with each one.
(Within WM2, just select a device and then go up to Help & Web -> Device Reference for more info about it.)
There are other groups of devices, like the “Parameter”-type devices and “Flow Control”-type devices, but generally, you probably won’t need them for most general work–usually, they’re used more with highly-specific work, dealing with scripts, and building custom macros. You also have a some “Macros” devices to aid you in some extra (usually time-saving) ways, which can be quite handy at times.
For the most part, you usually can get the job done with the basic six categories of devices: Generator, Combiner, Filter, Natural, Selector, and Converter (with maybe the Parameter and Flow Control devices on occasion).
Then you just export your results out variously using one or several different “Output” devices.
The Device Reference Is Your Friend
This is why I encourage new users to check out the Device Reference, to learn more about each affecting devices.
Device Reference: http://www.world-machine.com/learn.php?page=devref
And again, I’ll stress using the Preview Locked method on your devices, esp. previewing your splat map results on an Overlay View device (as shown in the “A Splat Map Example” file). It’s a small tip that does wonders for analysis.
World Machine 2 gives so many workflow options, and one can have so many different needs, that there’s not really so much a formula or series of formulas I can give anyone, but rather a mindset.
My Caveat about Tutorials and Examples
I can give tutorials, and very soon will have some workflow tutorial videos and a new Macro produced, but there’s a caveat to tutorials and Macros–people tend to get dependent upon them, focusing more on their specified results rather than the kind of general thought process that came up with the result.
What happens is that you’ll see a bunch of people with the same-looking results, but with generally no idea how to break differently beyond it with control.
Go to just about any game terrain forum and all you’ll see are copies of the work of Amir Abdaoui (formerly wenda111287) on YouTube. And while the results are certainly nice, and the creators certainly learned a lot from his clever process, they’re all the same result!
That’s something I want to avoid here in merely giving “how-to’s” and examples. I’d rather give a general mindset about breaking down your process and then let you specific the workflow. Your confidence will come in knowing what your tools are–how to use them comes rather second-nature.
Once I’ve finished the five sandstone examples as insightful direct visuals, by using what I’ve already described in terms of defining regions for yourself, you should be able to define any terrain you want.
I work freelancer and I’ve got some work for clients to do as well, so these example files and their brief explanations might take about 1-2 days to do.
Thanks, Remnant! I hope others find this thread useful.
Perhaps others can contribute to this thread as well. I think with a general mindset behind the process of splat map creation given, it’ll be easier for other folks to share their various splat map results without people being so dependent upon workflows that they become paralyzed when creating their own.
And, funny enough, I was aware of that method and was actually referring to that >4 channel feature with Splat Map Converter a bit here:
...Even when you use more than four inputs with Splat Map Converter (you can use up to 16), again, it's best to stick with using them as that RGBA order, only now that RGBA order will repeat again after the Alpha channel....This is how you create multiple splatmaps.
Just why I later suggested the use of multiple Splat Map Converter devices, I’ll never know. Silly-brain moment.
Thanks for pointing that out! I wouldn’t want anyone lead to redundant practices. Your suggestion is [shadow=red,left]much[/shadow] better, and more concise.
It’s just as Remnant himself said, folks:
[glow=red,2,300]For multiple splat maps, you can use greater-than-4 channels by simply setting the number of outputs in the splat converter, which will make sure that the set as a whole will exhibit the proper sum-to-one behavior. You can set it to 8 outputs and send the first 4 to one splat bitmap and the next 4 to another.[/glow]
I just made a quick example file to show this method. Hey, please feel free to comment on any tips to improve it, Remnant!