The never ending questions of WM!

Hi all! I am completly new to this program and this type of programs, in short words I am a huge noob. I enjoy taking pictures, but do not always have the time to go to the places that would make a beutifull picture, therfore I thought, why not make the pictures I want to take! One step leads to another so here I am :smiley:

Now as you guessed from the topic name, here are som questions I wonder about:

  • Is it posible to make caves?

  • Can you put in trees, etc?

  • Are there very few toturial to this program, cause I can only find very few?

  • How does a picture go from this;

to this? [list][/list:u]

I would be thankfull for every answer, see you around :o

Dammit, there are no edit button! I forgot one question;

  • Is it posible to make rivers, and lakes up in the mountain?
    The river would the natrually float from the highest point to thw lowest…

It seems like what you’re missing is moving the terrain you create in World Machine to a rendering program like Terragen. World Machine is strictly a terrain generator (and a texture mask generator actually). It doesn’t really do any “rendering”, it doesn’t deal with objects (trees, etc.) and there is no “water”. That’s all stuff that would be handled by another program like Terragen (although it doesn’t yet support objects either) or Vue d’Esprit. You generate the terrain, the basic landscape, in World Machine, then you use the File Output Device to save it in a format that your rendering program will support (Terragen uses .ter, Vue would use one of the bitmap options most likely), load it into your rendering program and make the rest of your scene there, including water, trees, clouds, etc.

So to answer your specific questions no WM can’t do rivers, caves, or trees. Caves are impossible in a normal Heightfield, which is what World Machine operates on. It is just a grid of height values and having a cave would mean 3 height values for each cave element (one for surface height, one for roof height, and one for floor height). This is not something that is supported in a normal heightfield format. Some programes like Vue d’Esprit can create cave-like things out of objects though.

I suggest you take a look at the available landscape rendering and scene generation applications out there. Terragen and Vue d’Esprit are good places to start.

  • Oshyan

Oh, there is an edit-button - it is situated at the top of your post to the right - you may have to scroll to the side to see it.
btw.: You should avoid posting large images. :wink:

Thank you for the tip! It was just what I was looking for!

Btw; The reason for the large images is that I did not find a spoiler button?

Compared to Terragen and Vue d’Esprit, how well does Bryce work? devaintArt has an offer for Bryce 5 or 5.5 for $20 or $60. I am thinking about getting it if it works well as a renderer for World Machine.

Any thoughts?

Joseph

ok then–

How do you go from x to y?
You’d be absolutely floored to see how easy it is to create a picture like the one you posted using a World Machine/TerraGen work flow.

That’s not to say you’d get the same artistic flare, but the technical presentation could be very similar with just a little practice.

The key is World Machine uses a very robust and realistic erosion algorithm. Combine that with Rigid Fractals and you’ll create terrain that “feels” very realistic–just like the picture.

On a more general note, do some research of your own–many of the things you see in programs like snow texturing and erosion are covered extensively in scholarly journals. You’d be happy too see much of the foot work has already been done, now just find it and read.

Caves, trees, etc
The one thing to keep in mind is 99% of those wonderful TerraGen renderings are almost completely devoid of vegetation (like your example). Bottom line, adding goodies like Tree’s and vegetation beyond simple grasses isn’t always necessary.

If you really must add such stuff though, you’ll either have to wait until TerraGen 2 comes out, or buy a dedicated 3d app/

If I were you though, I’d take some time to download the demo’s of each program and build up a confidence level with each programs interface. That way you can come back here with questions that are a little more specific.

Good Luck!

ps…webdancer, I’d have to give the nod to TerraGen. It’s atmosphere rendering and file compatibility make a solid choice.

Did that kinda sound like spam . . . oops. It wasnt. I just thought it was a good deal.

I do like Terragen a lot, I have used it off and on for years. I was just wondering compared to the others since Bryce
is currently cheaper. I be a little poor and want good for my money.

Thanks for the imput, I like to know how they compare and user base stuff.