more than photorealistic terrains

[sascha@lpp]

Hi, I think I found a way to create real terrains in ZBrush, I know that this program is not specified on this, but....

So I don't mean somthing like Vue d'Esprit or other programs, I mean that if you want the Alps you can have them :)

Theorie is simple, all you need is GeoVu (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov) , a nice little Data Access and Visualisation Freeware running on PC and Mac. Download a Dataset, set colors to black/white and export or screenshot this as bitmap, import the bitmap as Alpha into ZBrush and follow Pixolator-skript AlphaCentury.

Sorry, I'm just a little DemoZBrushUser and the import functions are disabled, so I can't test my theory.

Here a bitmap of the Faltenjura, near the Alps (sorry, I just have european datasets)
so I mean the real Faltenjura, you can actually see a part of the Alps in the lower right corner.
Play around with it and tell me if it works.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1010533162tio.gif

If I have the time, I seek some more nice places in europe.

Sascha,

(hey, if I keep posting like this, does somebody give me a FullVersion??) :D

[juandel]

hehehe, thank you for the tip, Sascha! :D (i just downloaded GeoVu but did not manage to access any files worthwhile to turn into alphas yet... i sure wished its "interface" (in fact its non-existant) would be as intuitive as z-brush’s :D ). well, very early this morning i could not resist to grab your gif and to make a terrainalpha from it and came up with this within half an hour:

http://www.cyber-webs.com/zbrush/saschalph.jpg

of course, it is everything but photo-realistic :) and boring... the treetool came out of my small toolbox and the shmoove deer i picked off 3d-commune’s zbrush section a few weeks ago, a .ztl called 4leg i think created by brycetech (apologies to the true creator if i am wrong - if i am right: thanks, BTech! :D).

if you have any coastlines or mountainshapes with less clouds and jaggies above them in your files i would be mucho interested to give it a try with them, Sascha! anyway: doing your own within the demoversion with 2.5d brushes or 3d-objects is the easier way to achieve vistas like the above one.

t+TIA
-juandel :)

[Ron Harris]

gasp 30 minutes....you did good Hansl....I have to look up some stuff on the fog and atmosphere...your look is the one I am trying to achieve....Great to see your post
:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Smiles]

Ok, Here is my problem :). How do you find the images? I downloaded the app. But it appears to be empty. Now no laughing! :)I have no sense of direction! < I Picked a Mail Truck as a landmark once ........ Yes I realized it, just not soon enough ;) Hay, hay, I asked you not to laugh :).
Do I need to enter actual mathematical cords?
I have a fear this stuff. Just like my fear of bugs! So no testing on north, south, east or west! I do "try" and face my fears so..Any tips on this app. would be appreciated :)
Thank you to anyone who has the patients to post a reply to this lol.

[DM]

I tried importing the terrain as a bmp file into the Alpha palette, and ZBrush just kept disappearing of my screen, I have no idea why. I then tried it in Vue d’Esprit using the bitmap import in the terrain dialogue and did produce a landscape. The idea looks interesting as I’ve been looking for some method to produce accurate terrain images for the Isle of Wight. Where Vue translates the grey scale into terrain levels, you would have to guess in ZB with inflation, so it might not be accurate. Thanks for the info, and Juandel how come you had no problems importing the terrain image into ZB, have I got a weird computer. I'm no help to you Smiles, I've looked at the site and haven't really understood how to use it, but then I'm only a bear with a small brain.
Dave

[juandel]

:( hmmm, Dave, that was no problem at all over here... i converted the .gif into a .psd in photoshop, blurred it a bit, resharpened, blurred, saved, imported the alpha, did the alphacentury thingie (in fact there are a few z-offset-planes beneath the 2 ones showing up as i experimented with several offset values)... sorry, dunno and cant imagine what went wrong when you did it... the Isle of Wight projects sounds very :tu: :tu: :tu: so i hope you manage to get it going, amigo!

Smiles: hmmmm, there is sample data (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geovu/geovu.shtml) to download via ftp from their site, it’s huge!, then via set-data you fix the path to that sample-folder and with "search" i managed to open a few files... which seems to open a bunch of functionalities. i played with it for just a few minutes and opened a few photos only, though, so i guess we better wait for Sascha to explain things to us... i just did a google search with GeoVu, looks like there is a lot of interesting data in that format on the web!

Ron: hehehe, the z-offset is a quick thing to do, followed by some rotations and sizing, i switch fog-on asap and keep playing with depths 1 and 2 and colors, high intensity to cover all flaws and to save time as you do not have to care about doing a sky :D, a lil fiberbrush in front to cover even more flaws, painting a few "flowers" with simplebrush and stroketype: dragrectangle, placing a few ready made tools like trees and deer, trying to antialias when doing a best render, voila!

- juandel

[Smiles]

Thank you juandel and DM. :)
I am downloading now :)< will see how i do after that lol>
OH and by the way...I saw you laugh! lol ;)