|
3DSM - Landscape
| Here you will be taught how to make a realistic
landscape in 3dsm. This tutorial is for version
5, but should work with 3 and 4 as well. In
this tutorial, all settings will be done under
metric units. If you wish to follow along
exactly, change settings to metric by clicking
on customize in the top menu, then units setup,
and choose metric. |
| 1) Create a plane in the top viewport.
Width and length should be around 15m by 15m.
For realistic scenes, if other objects were
to be included, you would want to choose real
dimensions, such as 100 m x 100 m. In the
modify tab, adjust the length and width segments
to around 25. The more segments, the more
the plane will become modified later on. |
2) In the modify tab, select DISPLACE. In
image rollout, click on NONE for map, and
choose NOISE. (you can use smoke as well,
or choose bitmap and use your own map you
make in photoshop. )
Increase the strength to 1.5 meter. You should
now see peaks and valleys in the plane. For
taller peaks, use a strength number higher
than 1.5 m. |
*Extra Info*
Maps read the alpha channels of a picture,
i.e. the amount of black and white, and different
degrees of gray. White means positive, black
means negative. 3dsm will let you use a color
photo as well, and it will automatically adjust
levels of black and white in the image. The
default NOISE map in 3dsm is an excellent
image of black with white speckles, which
means all white speckles will become "peaks"
in the displacement. Smoke had a good black
and white image as well. |
| 3) Though the plane has peaks and valleys,
it has not deformities on the other axises.
Therefore, we will add a NOISE modifier. Click
on modifier, and click on NOISE. Use these
settings. |
| You can see now the plane has more randomness
and complexity in shape. Rotate and zoom with
the perspective camera till you find a suitable
spot to work with. I choose an area that looked
like this. |
| 4) Now for some interesting methods. We
will make 2 copies of this ground plane layer,
and place each copy just SLIGHTLY under the
one above it. Click on the plane, and click
on the move button. Zoom in on either the
right of front viewports to a nice close-up
view, but with the move gizmo still visible.
Hold down SHIFT and then move the plane down
the y axis ( use the gizmo to constrain the
axis ). Let go of the mouse button, and it
will ask you if you want to clone the image.
Click YES. You now have made a copy of the
layer by simply holding shift. Do this again,
and create a 3rd layer just under the first
two. |
Click to enlarge
| 5) All the modeling is done. Now to texture
the model. We will use standard 3dsm materials,
since they look good, and you already have
them. But for future reference, you can use
ANY texture you want. Open up material editor,
click on any new gray sphere, and click on
GET MATERIAL button, and look through. Material
library for Ground_Grass. Double click to
add it to the sphere in the material editor. |
Click to enlarge
Open up the MAPS rollout ( if not open already
) and select OPACITY. Leave at 100, check
the box to on, and then click on the word
NONE to select a map. Select the FALLOFF map.
You will see you grassy sphere has quite some
opacity to it. This opacity will vary with
height conditions. Assign this material to
the TOP MOST plane ( the first one you made
most likely ).
|
Click to enlarge
| Give a test render. If the grass looks to
zoomed in or blocky, increase the tiling.
Do this by clicking on the diffuse color map,
and then make the tiling 2 instead of 1 for
U and V directions. |
Click to enlarge
| 6) Now, choose a new gray sphere again,
and apply the material Ground_Gray Dirt (
standard ). Again, choose a Falloff opacity
map, and tile the diffuse channel to 2 if
you think necessary. Aplly this material to
the SECOND ground plane - the one JUST under
the grassy plane. Try a test render. You should
now be able to see the grass AND where the
grass is see through, you can see the cracked
ground dirt. |
Click to enlarge
7) Final texture, choose a new gray sphere,
and choose the material Ground_SandShore (
standard ). Do not bother with an opacity
map on this layer, since there will be nothing
more under it. Just simply apply it to the
third ground plane ( the bottom most one ).
Feel free to increase the tiling to 2 or whatever
you think looks best. Give another test render,
it should look like this. |
Click to enlarge
| 8) Now we need a sky. 3dsm comes with some
sky pics, or you could find ANY on the internet
- just search google for SKY pictures. Anyway,
click on Render, then Environment from the
menu at the top. On environment map, click
on NONE and choose BITMAP - then search your
hard drive for the sky pic you found. ( an
alternate, more adjustable way of doing this
is to create a plane or box behind the perspective
image, and then in material editor, apply
the sky pic bitmap to the plane ( or box )
you just made. This way, you can adjust the
length and width of the pic you just used,
but it takes a little more work. For beginners,
try just simply using the environment option. |
Click to enlarge
| 9) The last step is to add light to the
scene. The simplest thing to do do is to add
an omni or spotlight onto the scene - with
most light towards the back of the view (
where the sky is ). Make sure to turn shadows
ON in the modify tab. |
Click to enlarge
Here my final render: Landcape.jpg That
is it for making a landscape. Very realistic
looking, and not too much work. I would like
to show you one last optional step. You can
very easily add FOG to this mountaintop by
this method:
Go to render - environment again. Under atmosphere,
click add, then add VOLUME FOG. Then play
around with the setting to your hearts content.
But make sure fog background is on, that you
lower density to 5-10, and that you turn on
EXPONENTIAL. You can get a result like this
|
Click to enlarge
Heres my final render:
|
