Middle Earth DEM Project

[Redrobes]

If you can get me the height info then I can just do the snow and glaciers and you apply that to your model so keeping the original erosion. When I move snow about I can either erode as I go or not, it makes no difference to me.

Do you want a greyscale snow depth map or a full HF2 style water height (depth) map as the result ? Also, do you want runny snow or thick viscous style or just take my best guess ? And do you want solar directional heating applied and if so what direction - like the image lighting ?

[Steel General]

Holy poop! That looks more like a photo than a render.

[Redrobes]

Monks, I have the same view using DF. It does seem as though it was pretty thin and concave. I did cut down the viscosity to make these so maybe if I had left it higher then it would have been more bulbous and convex.

Shall I try another run ?

[monks]

I think what I have in that latest shot look pretty close to yours there but I'm noticing that I'm not getting the nice protrusions of the mountain through the snow like you have on the ridges and peaks.

http://www.skindustry.net/medem/file...nder35crop.png

http://www.skindustry.net/medem/file...2/render37.png

The concavity is not really a major problem. At the moment I'd like to get those protrusions. I noticed as well that this dem I'm using is corrupted- see the rear of Mindol, where has all that terrain gone?

Could you try another run with a little less glacier coverage and a bit more powdery snow?

monks

[Redrobes]

I have another going up now - give it quarter hour from now...

The new one is with thicker viscosity so it drops down from the sides less but is more bulbous. I have the shot of it in wilbur and you can see its got depth in the V bits.

My image is a rough guide with a quick texture calc so it would depend on the snow thickness. What I am thinking is that maybe the viscosity of the last one was so thin that it never got bulbous at all and that you applied it too thick thinking like I did that it needed to be more bulbous and convex. So it was too thick causing what was thin snow layer to become thick. Here are the shots of the new one and wilburs visual of it. This is using default gts viscosity now - I shouldn't have changed it in the first place but I was not getting any glaciers at all for a while. I found out why but it was unrelated to viscosity.

Took so long to upload those images that the FTP has finished now.

Edit -- Oh yeah, I forgot to zap the excess liquid water off the map before saving. I can do another one later though if thats an issue.

[monks]

that looks superb in df- imagine what can be done with these maps...!

I opened the last one up in Wilbur too. Everything seemed fine. I think this is almost certainly me misunderstanding the nodes in TG. I'm converting the heightmap to an image mask in Wilbur. I think I need both a heightmap and an image mask to control the surface extents...that's just one thing I'm not sure about. I think it's time to have a good chat on the TG boards about this.
The excess water can be removed no probs I think.

monks

[Steel General]

Based on the fact that I have absolutely no idea of what I'm talking about, the snow/ice/glacier? seem awfully thick - though the render itself (even without the grass) is awesome.

[monks]

hehe- no, the ice is too thick- need to make some changes.

The crashes were almost certainly caused by the settings I was using: render detail = 6. Apparently 2 is the highest one should ever need to go....!

So, that's good news- hopefully can avoid crashes now. Got a repeat one coming down with detail @ 2 for comparison.

monks

[Redrobes]

Monks, head over to this thread and see GM's link and my post...

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3338

[monks]

Dmytry Lavrov, yes amazing programmer. Last time I heard, one of his wee projects was a volumetric terrain editor using isosurfaces...? I heard it on the grapevine- hehe dunno if anything ever came of it.

spot the difference...

http://www.skindustry.net/medem/file...iontest_17.png

So, it's either tackle the ice again or incorporate more veg...

monks