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View Full Version : Realistic Mountains - tutorial?

mireneye
03-26-2010, 07:02 PM
So I've been at this for a few weeks on and off now but I just can't seem to make it right so I come here asking for help. Kind fellow artists?

One of the main problems I face is that it's difficult to make it look good both close up and far away. Shadows and detail/normal maps help to break this up a bit if you use multiple UV channels but there are still problems.

Size:
Size is everything, very hard to get it correct. I want to be able to model details into the mountain but these details should realistically blend into the mountain like they do IRL if you would stand far away from it.

Theory:
Maybe I should just look at how mountains are created IRL for inspiration. Images help a lot but maybe understanding the process of erosion, aging, and how dry and wet surrounding effect different types of rock would help.

Any ideas? Maybe a tutorial you can point me in the direction of? I'm so sick of all the damn nice mountains/terrains in new games (FFXIII comes to mind) I wanna do something similar haha.

Cheers!
Nyro
03-26-2010, 07:30 PM
You'll probably get best results with specialized software, such as Vue, Terragen or Bryce.
mireneye
03-26-2010, 07:45 PM
Oh snap, I should have said it's for game/mod purpuse and I kind of doubt there is a good pipeline. I could be dead wrong tho.
surreal-reality
03-26-2010, 08:30 PM
Hey in maya at least, try displacement with either stucco, solidfractal, or or of the other ones, and give a plane some subdivisions, then go to modify > convert>displacement to polygons.

You may not notice any difference in height depending on your scale, so just scale the plane in y until you do.

If there;s not enough detail after conversion, undo, and give the original plane more subdivisions.

It's a good starting base for carving your own mountains / features and whatnot.

hope it helps!
mireneye
03-27-2010, 02:32 AM
Yeah, there is essentially a similar function in 3ds-max. Generally I don't like what they output as base, I feel there is quite little control and heightmaps tend to be difficult to work with to get a good high/low ratio.

Important to note, the sky in the following image is not mine, the rest was modelled with handmade textures by me:
http://i43.tinypic.com/apenti.jpgOther things to note is that this is rendered ingame from Morrowind.. I have limited things to work with but eventually there will be a shadowmap(darkmap) and a detailmap added to this.
Piflik
03-27-2010, 03:51 PM
Pete Draper has some really good Mountain tutorials in his Book 'Deconstructing the Elements'.
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