I was wondering whats the best approach when you are about to create a terrain based on real life? Foe example if you was to create Matterhorn Mountain: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/3818_-Riffelberg-_Matterhorn_viewed_from_Gornergratbahn.JPG
would you do it in WM? (is that possible to get it look the same only using WM?)
Or it’s better to take it with Mudbox/zBrush and later use WM for erosion etc. ?
Basically I’d prefer to skip 3D modeling and learn to do it only in WM. Any tips are appreciated.
The Matterhorn is a pretty distinct, unique mountain. So I would probably start with a radial gradient set to pyramid, and distort that with perlin/voronoi to preserve sharp edges but achieve the rippled knife edges of the rock. I would also probably try using thermal erosion over the standard fluvial erosion here.
You can then blend it into other more generic mountains created using perlin noise, etc.
If you use Unity you can use World Composer to generate a height map from bing data and import that into WM. I would be willing to generate an example for you if you want. Just PM me.
I’d put it in UE4 and do the rest there. But it’s generally a test I’m looking forward to see if the height information ends up being accurate enough so I can use the workflow for what I’m doing.
Just letting you know I got time to give it a shot and was quite happy with the result though, “some” of the data are 8bit and contain the stepping artifact and fixing them is so destructive, I for one care a lot about micro details and just don’t like to give the surface a new look by running it through erosion device or blurring it etc. Still looking into finding better solutions.
Well not a source of highly detailed maps but highly detailed “real world” elevation data to use as a base. Because when I’m for example tasked to create the entire beach of Normandy as accurate as possible, it’d not be a proper way to sculpt 8km ^2 by hand. But I managed to get the DEM for the area and save a month and I feel happy now.
It’s definitely not as steep but that’s hard to achieve on such a big terrain (8x8 km), I’m pretty happy with the result itself, since I’m currently trying to build a couple of similar mountains, with sharp and interesting features (I don’t like the standard look of a simple eroded advanced perlin :P)
I’ve attached the project file, I hope it’s going to be useful, as I’ve learned a lot from all the various project files around the forum, let’s keep the workflow sharing up!