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Introduction |
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Emulating Bryce in
Pixels3D is easy witht he help of ShaderMaker or ShaderMakerPro.
All you need to start is a grayscale B&W image to control
the meshs' displacement ( white for peaks black for valleys
) made in Photoshop. And then some Math Functions to control
height colours on the mesh, such as snow to rock to plains.
Pixels3D
| studio | v3.6 and above
ShaderMakerPro
Photoshop
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Downloads |
Starting
Out |
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Create a simple grayscale
map inside Photoshop and save out as PICT file. You may use
existing grayscale maps from Bryce if you don't feel creative.
Open Pixels3d and
lets create our scene, then export to RIB file to create our
shader in SMP. Create a simple Shape>Mesh and scale
to the camera's veiw like pictured right. For this scene I'm
also using some animation via camera to path. This is not necessary.
Choose File>Export>RIB to export the RIB file out
of our mesh and save it to the SMP/Previews folder.
Now Duplicate
the Mesh and Move it higher on the Y axis like so. This
will be our water line. You may apply your water shader or the
one bundled to this Mesh.
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ShaderMakerPro |
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Save our scene above
and open SMP for ease of shader creation. Click on the preview
and select the RIB file from the popup menu. Locate our saved
out RIB in the SMP/Previews folder - this will help us better
visualize the shader on our flat surface.
Since this is an
animation I'm using the FrameNumber node to animate our height
growing, obviously if you don't want to animate the mesh leave
it out. Create an Image Map node, load our grayscale map, and
plug the node into the Main Shader's Displacement input. You
may follow the animation using the values and nodes pictured
right.
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Controlling
the Height Colouring |
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As with Bryce, the
shader colours in heights of each cv or point. Were' only going
for a simple height on the Y ( snow to rock to plains
). First, create a Math Function node, change it to Clamp,
then link a Y Current Point into the first input. This
will control how much of the value of each cv's Y pos will be
effected. Next, create another Math Function node and
link an fBm node in its first input to "soften"
the edge of our height colouring changes.
Create another Math
Function node and change it to Subtract, then link
the inputs out to both already made Math Functions. This
will control the mixing of both the height values and the softening.
*Follow
the picture on the right for the values and linking.
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More
Control |
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Ok, now that we have
the mix factored in lets boost the contrast to show more of
a change in the height colouring. Create another Math Function
and change it to Multiply. Follow the values pictured
right.
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The
Snowcaps |
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With our long line
of Math Functions lets now add the effect to a new Blender
node. Create the Blender node, link in the "contrast"
node into its
3rd input. For the colours use a brown and white or use any
colour node to get your texture. Follow the inputs and values
as pictured.
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Refurbishing
the Controls |
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Now that we have
created the Snowcap, lets create the plains, by following the
steps mentioned in Controlling the Height Colouring section.
This time, switch the values and linking of the "mixing"
node.
*Follow
the two pictues, Math_Function_62 is the name of the "mixing"
node.
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Blending
the Two |
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Finally, lets create
another Blender node and link the Snowcap Blender in
the 1st input, then a grassy colour for the 2nd, then the 2nd
"contrast" node ( Math_Function_52 )into the 3rd.
Preview the
shader until you get the results your looking for, then save
it. Rememeber, if your using the Frame Number node, understand
that the number is at zero so no displacement will show, you
must work with out it at first.
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Back
to Pixels |
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Back in Pixels3D,
select the lower mesh and open ShaderMaker ( cmd-w )
and load in the shader. Let's render it out, if you are animating
using the Frame Number, set the frame number in the Timeline
to about 00:00:03:00 to get the full displacement.
Render out and have
fun, you can also replace the Y Current Point with a
Surface angle for showing off colouring between plateau's and
such like the Bryce Canyons.
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