splitting a terrain into several 'layers'

Bug Reports
#1

hello all…

i just installed a WM demo and would like to try to do the following thing:

i have a terragen terrain that shows a bit of ocean (0 mts.), some lowlands (1-50 mts.) and some ‘highlands’ (50-200 mts.)

now i would like to…
1
keep the ocean as is, ie remain flat and unaffected by all alterations ill apply to the land aereas.

2
smoothen the lowlands (make them look ‘sandy’)

3
apply heavy erosion to the highlands.

from what i gathered, i can split the heightlevels of the terrain with a splitter module.
but how do i go on afterwards ?
what module do i use to assing the heights, and how do i bring all this back together ?

any help is appreciated
congrats for this great program

Dongle

#2

The Height Splitter is designed to split the terrain up into regularly spaced slices, so it’s probably not what you want. You will need more precise control of the heights.

You can use a regular Splitter, then attach several Height Selectors to it and use those to select your heights. Then you would use other outputs of the Splitter to make your adjustments on the terrain (it would affect the whole terrain at this point), but then use a Chooser device with the original terrain as the primary input, the Height Selector as the Mask input and the affected terrain as the 2nd terrain input. This will give you a combination of the original and modified terrains based on the height you selected. Now feed the output of this Chooser into the primary input of the next chooser, use the other affected terrain as the secondary input, and the other Height Selector as the mask input, and again you’ll get the combo you want. These directions may not be entirely clear, but they will hopefully point you in the right direction. Experiment a bit and post again with specifics if you have a problem.

  • Oshyan
#3

@jones

Experiment a bit and post again with specifics if you have a problem.

yup, i guess/hope ist easier than it sounds …
will take a dive into this and be back with a post

thanks java :slight_smile:

#4

@jones

I havent entirely gone through the labyrinth you set up for me yet …
i got carried away experimenting …
But I will eventually …

Id like to ask you another thing really quickly:
Suppose i want to lower my ocean or a part of it (‘sealevel’ coincides with my lowest available elevation) in order to create more ‘space’ for erosion along the coast, can i use a Bitmap-mask for that as i would, say, in TerraMaker or TerraFormer ?

Thanks Again
Dongle

#5

yes… you can, though I personally would prefer to try to make the mask using WM stuff, so that it works ok if you randomize things and want a new seashore…
But the prinicples are the same be it an external bitmap or something cooked up inside WM.
For loading the external file you just need to use the logical “File Input” device to give you the heightmap of the mask…

To opt for the harder route, of trying to make the ocean mask inside WM, you can try using an “Expander” device in Tighten mode in combination with “blur” or “bias/gain” before the “Height Selector” to try and remove the interior non-oceanic region. Doing so may affect the coastline as well :frowning:

In either case it won’t look very well in Explorer View (because of using “!” devices).

Oh, but for the “Expander” and “Blur” devices you need WM Standard. :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

@fil & jones

thanks for all you efforts
sorry i cant attend to this thread faster and more frequently, but im having some unexpected virus troubles which need to be voercome before life gtas back to normal…

will try out all you posted and and return feedback

greets
dongle

#7

No problem. Good luck with the virus troubles! I’m not sure what your level of expertise is, but don’t forget the myriad of online virus scanners and stand-alone virus removers available, all free. Also AVG Free Edtition from Grisoft. :slight_smile:

  • Oshyan
#8

@jones

np
im using panda usually …

popping in off and on is not a problem, rather than me having less time to play with your tips …

greets
dongle

#9