Ultra High-Res Planet

#1

I’m modeling a planet for a personal project and I could use some advice/feedback on several aspects of this project. I’m about to start writing a series of novels and before I really finish fleshing out the story I want to model the planet it takes place on to aid in the creative process and give me landmarks to point to and render out for certain 3d stills and cut-scenes along the way.

       Currently I'm running into some walls in 3ds max 2012 alone, I cant accurately depict tectonics and I have bad procedural texture tearing when I zoom to close to the planet. I cant scale up anymore either or the volumetric atmosphere glitches and stops attenuating and i get a host of other problems from working at the upper scaling limits of max. So im looking at 3rd party solutions, Ive found a really great tectonics simulator that im having some trouble getting to work but ill deal with that later. It simulates tectonics and rivers and erosion and even precipitation and biome mapping.
       
       [https://github.com/Mindwerks/worldengine](https://github.com/Mindwerks/worldengine)[img]https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Mindwerks/worldengine-data/master/images/examples/ancient_map_seed1.png[/img]



       My main question is does anyone know of someone who has done a similar project they can link me to, or know of a software package that does the things I'm looking for? Ive seen Terragen 3 and WorldMachine and they look great for the most part but I don't see tectonics mentioned and Im new to those types of landscape programs so I don't really know their limitations . I can use the python simulator and kick that into terragen or world engine then into 3ds max but if possible i want to streamline the workflow and minimize cross program work. (and cost) Im willing to pay for the nicer programs if I need to as its pretty important to the project, I don't want to under-detail it now and then re-do it later, but I would like some feedback from people who have used those programs before I go too far down any rabbit holes.
       
       As far as my system I have an intel hex core running at 20ghz total and 12gb of ram soon to be 24. Im currently at 9.5gb ram used on the planets mesh and though I'm upgrading I forsee ram problems in Max trying to model the entire planet there.
       
       Here are a few images of the current model I'm working on, probably going to be scrapped though due to lack of tectonics and rivers. The renders are 6000x3000 so you'll need to zoom a lot.
   [img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/wireframeplanet2.jpg~original[/img]
  [](http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/BIGPlanet_2.jpg)[[img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/WithClouds2b.jpg[/img]](http://s475.photobucket.com/user/d1g1tal_0ne/media/WithClouds2b.jpg.html)
      [img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/homeworld.jpg[/img]
       
      [img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/planets.jpg~original[/img]
       
      
       [img]http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/withclouds3.jpg~original[/img]
       [](http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr113/d1g1tal_0ne/wireframeplanet2.jpg)
#2

I’d wholly recommend you go with Terragen (pro+animation).

I’ve used it in the past, messed around for a bit of personal stuff, and its a very malleable piece of software.
Shameless self-promotion to follow:

I’m assuming that by tectonics you want some form of animation where whole parts of the world move about and interact?
If so, you can easily put a few basic shapes together in photoshop or whatever and throw them into Terragen as a mask (with some perlin noise linked through a warp modifier to give it that non-rasterized look for close-ups) and you can then make your planet with just a few perlins, maybe make some interesting mountainous and/or oceanic regions around the plate edges for effect.
Then its a simple matter of adjusting your x/y co-ordinates within terragen on the tectonic masks you made and bam, you’ve made a planet with tectonic plates!

The terragen forums are super helpful and I’m sure someone there can give you some decent pointers to get you started.

I’ve also messed a fair bit with world machine, but thats more for specific landmasses and vistas and isnt really designed for making worlds with. you could use it to make your tectonic plate masks though if you REALLY wanted, but thats getting a bit gratuitous :smiley:

Some people might recommend E-On’s Vue, but that doesn’t even take into account a planet’s curvature, yet alone spherical atmospherics.

#3

Thanks for the reply, good info about the scale difference between Terragen and WM. As a follow up question, is there anything that WM does that Terragen doesn’t do?

Regarding why I want tectonics; I’m trying to make the planet as scientifically accurate as possible, the setting of the story is one of the most crucial aspects. I was able to fake realistic looking coastlines with fractals, was even able to fake continental shelves by nesting two identical fractals together and bumping the mix level slightly to match the shape. That gives me pretty good landmasses but they don’t interact with each other in any way and more importantly it doesn’t put mountain ranges or rivers in the right spots. Trying to imagine where mountains and rivers should go based on the terrain and the environment planet-wide is impossible without a simulator.

I simply don’t have the time to become a student of tectonics and then Photoshop up something that looks realistic then do the same with the environment and biome mapping and river placement and do it all manually by hand. I need to be able to generate maps to account for those variables then use that overall map as a blueprint to flesh out the rest in Terragen/3ds max.

#4

World-Machine’s best feature is also one mostly unique to it; its erosion node is simply un-paralleled. perfect for ridges/sedimentary shifts, and rivers. terragen as far as i know doesnt have anything like that.
but world machine cant render anything. its basically just a heightmap and texture painting software designed specifically for landscapes.

It has been a while since i last used it, but id imagine making mountain ranges within terragen to match up with your plates to be pretty easy if you set up your nodes the right way. as for rivers though, they are a bit more tricky… i dont think theres any way to simulate them within terragen, but you could do some fancy high-pass filtering to get decent enough rivers going…

what youre looking for then would be a billowy power fractal with a coastlines modifier on it. that would give you a pretty decent base to then base your tectonics off…

gonna be honest though, if youre looking to simulate planetary tectonics at the macro level then either youre doing a very interesting graphic novel, or you’ve hit a writers block. just power through to the next chapter, you’ll get there! :smiley:

#5

Thanks again for the info on WMs capabilities, Google searches only give so much insight.

Regarding the graphic novel, I’m really envisioning the story as a LoTR/Potter animated-live action trilogy but since trying to animate such a thing solo would be abjectly impossible I’m opting to write a series of novels first and incorporate 3d stills and static flythroughs as im going. Hopefully i can get some traction once i have enough content. Its really not intended to be a book or a graphic novel but that’s one of the steps to the ultimate goal. I would say its very interesting, Ive been working on the story for about 8 years now. I just haven’t actually written much yet due to the changing nature of the story. I have large swaths of the underlying plot line finalized in my head with many key frames along the way where I have smaller pivotal scenes fleshed out but in very few places do I have the entire point A to point B fully fleshed out yet. I like to think of it as a “final gather” style approach to writing LOL.

The setting is on an Earthlike planet with a Moon besieged by hoardes of unspeakably evil monsters. To escape the unending and unstoppable flow of them they blow up the moon using magic and as its exploding create a fake shell in the center with a gravity spell and the exploding moon chunks fall back down to form a new Earth sized crust. A thousand years of magic assisted terraforming and water generation and you’ve got a binary planet system. The story starts as the new civilization starts teleporting back to the original planet to reclaim it.

So ill need one planet for the original, one for it after the tidal shifts and the super ocean form, and one for the Moon after it gets upgraded.

The first book in the series is way more personal and down in the weeds with lots of interpersonal interactions and lots of set up for the rest of the series so I need to have all my ducks lined out before I actually start writing it, as any changes to book 1 will ripple. Book one is more of a FPS turned RTS by the end as opposed to a full RTS or RPG like books 2 and 3 will be.


//youtu.be/Xv-vgfN6P84

Theres an old conceptual rendering of the planets shell

//youtu.be/6btqHY-ODw0

This is an old intro video I worked on, you can see the super oceans in this.

#6

This is the prologue for book 1, i wrote this 2 years ago, its still a rough draft.

Home-World: Flux

Prologue:
Litheria, known as the Millenial City, had actually existed just over a thousand years before the war began. Its central spire, known as Citadel Litheria, towered above as the oldest part of the city. Little is known about the construction of the citadel except that it was built shortly after the Council of Thirteen appeared. The Council of Thirteen remains a secretive organization comprised of the worlds most powerful Wizards, Sorcerers, Arch Mages, and Clerics. Less is known about the origins of the Council and their motives or agenda than is known about the Citadel itself. the Citadel stood as an impervious seat of power for the Council, casting their influence far and wide, and around it a city had grown over time.
The war began suddenly, creatures of the night began to pour from the Underdark at a rate none had ever seen. From every cave and cavern, every entrance to the Underdark spat out every manner of creature that hides within it catacombs. At first the armies of the world held them at bay, old rivals became reluctant allies against a new and clear enemy, and for a time a united front was held. All wars which had raged just weeks before ceased, with a global cease fire ordered an entire world worked as one. Yet despite their newfound unity, victory was not to be.
Creatures of ever increasing size, strength, and ability began to appear, the Underdark had become infested with the things of nightmares. Horrific, unnatural monstrosities known as Abberations appeared in swarms, streaming from the Underdark like ants. Many such creatures posess psionic abilities, controlling the minds of those who would stand against them. Fragile alliances quickly came undone, they turned allies upon one another once again. This new enemy quickly overran the defenses of the discordant nations and struck directly at the general population. The world faced an enemy whose nations armies could have hoped to defend against, but whose dwindling civilian population could not.
The Council of Thirteen sent word around the world, a simple message to all nations and races. “Flee to Litheria, we have room for you, we can protect you. Travel quickly and by daylight, our armies march even now to defend your withdrawal.” The Litherian army, though not as large as some armies, is comprised of highly skilled and well trained soldiers with no shortage of armaments. Spreading out in all directions, they quickly established secure supply lines and assisted escorting increasing numbers of refugees to the Citadel. Heavily armed with powerful magical weaponry and specialized knowledge of and training against their opponents, the Litherian army pushed back the invasion.
Many choose to flee to Litheria which was well known for its defensive capability, its walls having never been broken by siege. Though travel under such conditions was dangerous, many believed it to be their only hope. Those who survived the journey were escorted to the Great Hall, an enormous extradimensional space in the center of the Citadel itself. Within the Hall giant multiple level wooden structures had been fashioned in advance to house survivors. Eventually, tens of thousands would call these structures home.
In time the abberations became too numerous and powerful even for the Litherian armies and a final retreat order was given. The remaining forces defending the retreat returned to Litheria and those who had chosen to stay and fight, or had not yet made it, were beyond help. What remained of the worlds armies had either deserted and fled to Litheria, or huddled silently in hiding. In time the war made its way to the door of Litheria, the armies of the abberations surrounded the city out of range of its defenses, waiting for the time their numbers were great enough.
Surrounded by a seemingly infinite enemy, all other armies defeated and their own soldiers fatigued and wounded, defense of Litheria became a fight against extinction. Having saved as many as possible, the gates of Litheria were closed for the last time, and the Wall of Litheria was raised. Though the power of the Council is great it is not infinite, the walls of the Citadel strong but not impenetrable. In what they thought was their darkest hour the scope of the invasion became clear, Dragons themselves had allied with the abberations and joined the siege of Litheria.
Facing imminent destruction by overwhelming odds the council gathered atop the spire for a final ceremony. The Citadel shook violently with several loud jolts before erupting in a deafeningly loud, low pitched roar. Stone structures crumbled into the streets of the city from the shock as the Citadel slowly rose above the city. Sacrificing themselves, using the power of the Citadel and their very souls to amplify their magic, the Council looked to their moon to forge a new world for the races of men to flee to. In a burst of light, Citadel Litheria had escaped its enemies to live another day, and fight another time.
Nearly a thousand years after the fall of Litheria, a new world bustles with activity. The races of men are replenished out of the reach of the creatures that once threatened them. Citadel Litheria towers over a new city, whose rivers flow in all directions, providing a once dry and desolate landscape with air and water. With a new Council, a new home, and new found hope, Citadel Litheria launches a counter-invasion on the world they once called their own. The war for the Homeworld had begun.