(WIP) Displacing Terrain Shaders with Weather (ON HOLD FOR NOW)
![Those Things](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/userpics/823/n7COZ6G1GX0GW.jpg)
Hello, beautiful people! Just wanted to show you what I'm working on right now, in case you're interested. I'm about half done building a large collection of 4k (2k also) shaders, that depict highly realistic ground and terrain. They're so detailed, you'll be able to park your camera down near the ground, and shoot at a low angle without worrying about low resolution blurring and aritfacting ruining your shot. You'll get a bunch of different types of terrain, from ashphalt to dirt, to cobblestones to rocky, and each with a variety of weather conditions ranging from dry and dusty, to rain soaked and wet, to snowy and frozen. Use them to replace existing ground materials in your environments, or just slap down a plane primitive and make your own terrain. I guess you could also apply these to people and creatures, if you want to create weird, rocky, dirty people and creatures. I don't know, that's between you and your fevered imaginations...
Anyway, enough of my rambling nonsense, here's some example pictures to show you how it looks. These are just one shader applied to a plane primitive with one hundred divisions, tiled 3 x 3, and lit with an HDRI. Rendered nice and fast. No postwork at all.
Low angle shots are no problem with these shaders, all the detail is preserved.
High angle detail shot, dry and dusty conditions.
The exact same terrain, after a good, long, rain.
The same terrain again, this time covered in snow.
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/f4/5c6f467254673b853b6c5b64d4f36a.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/f4/5c6f467254673b853b6c5b64d4f36a.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/a8/3d4717f2d5a0bc9db2bc4dc17cd4f0.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/a8/3d4717f2d5a0bc9db2bc4dc17cd4f0.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/dc/d0d990351f80ee9edd4ea1c7b43bc4.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/dc/d0d990351f80ee9edd4ea1c7b43bc4.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/f3/bca15d86dc3dda86194bc2eb3d7df4.png)
![](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/thumbnails/FileUpload/f3/bca15d86dc3dda86194bc2eb3d7df4.png)
Comments
So, let me run down how the discovery of this thread went for me.
I came on the DAZ Forums to see what was new this morning. I come into the Commercial Products section, and right at the top I see a WIP about terrain shaders with WEATHER - OOOOOOOOOOOOOO, then as I'm about to click on it I happen to notice who created the thread. Remembering how much I love the last shader pack, and how detailed and amazing those were, my jaw drops, eyes widen, and I gasp enough that my coworker next to me looks over to see what happened. I can't explain it to him, cause he doesn't know what any of this is, so I just have to say it's something cool about computers and he goes back to what he's doing, as I continue to stare, wide-eyed and open mouthed.
So, given the awesome epicness of your previous shaders, seeing your name on a shader pack means I had mind-purchased this before I even opened the thread lol
These look outstanding, by the way! Can't wait to see the wintery ones![laugh laugh](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/plugins/ckeditor/js/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
Ha ha, really? That's awesome! This response totally makes my whole morning. I'm getting ready to go out and photograph the cobblestone streets in my village for this project, and I shall now do so with a happy grin. :D
Very nice looking! But there is something I don't understand: one hundred subdivisions? Do you mean SubD 100? Or rather SubD 10? Because SubD 10 is already more than one million of faces, so subD100 I am not able to count... It would be indeed really cool to have these ground effects using only roughly one million faces !
I didn't phrase that properly. I just meant this:
Lots
OK! Thanks for the input! I was afraid of the subd 100! 10000 faces with a subD 3... If the Displacement subd works as the subdivision subD (this I don't know) it is around 640 000 faces, which is fine for my old computer. And even if there is one more level in disp subd than in resolution subd, it would do just a bit more than 2 million faces which is still fine... edit (if I'm not to tired for such calculations, for 640000 faces on a 20 meter plane it makes a 800x800 faces, meaning a level of detail of 2.5 cm per face(20 m / 800)..)
Ahh, there we go. I knew someone good at math would have the actual answer.
Faster than you'd think, but probably slower than you'd like.
Truer words have not been spoken
@Thyranq "Truer words have not been spoken "
Definitely that.
@Those Things
I feel like I should be creating a slush fund just for your releases. You are already on my "buy immediate list".
THIS!
I'm super stoked for this. There are so many situations where I just need Ground and in a specific shape (usually flat).
Will there be tire tracks in the mud, too.
These look fantastic. I've long been saddened by how generally terrible the ground looks in most scenes.
That's actually what started this project. I needed ground for a scene, and realized that if I got my camera anywhere close to pretty much anything I could find, it all fell apart visually.
Ooooh, good idea. I'll do some Substance Designer tests!
Me tooooo...
I can't wait!
And footprints would be cool. A sandy beach without footprints looks weird
*sigh* Iray only I take it?
:( Yes.
Boy, someone's got shader fever. These look very good, especially the snow on the small rocks. Cobblestones are a great idea, especially if there will be sidewalk shaders, too #suggestion. Will there be any suitable for forests or grasslands?
Another Daz Essential!
You know what? I had EXACTLY the SAME reaction. Minus the coworker part as I was alone at the time.
So, yeah. Instabuy!
If I could make one request... would it be possible to somehow split the 'to download' packages in a way that it's possible to only download and install the 2k versions? I have serious issues with bandwith and diskspace and for most of my work the 2k version would be sufficient. But as I said it will be an instabuy anyway :)
Ha ha, definitely. I mean, I spent all that time learning Substance Designer and Alchemist, and so many possibilities to make Daz better opened up, so I'm just running with it for now. There will be plenty of dirt shaders that would be perfect for forest trails and whatnot, but I'm steering away from grass for now. There are already a lot of grass shaders in the store, and there's only so much that can be done (realistically) with displacement. I do plan to cover things like beach sand, mud, gravel, possibly craters, wood chips, cracked earth, cobblestones (my village is a target rich environment for photos of those), asphalt, certain types of concrete, rocky paths, stone walkways, that sort of thing. Pretty much any sort of terrain that can maintain its detail and realism when the camera is positioned near the ground.
Yes, I learned from the Food Shaders experience, and will certainly endeavour to split the package up into more easily digestable chunks.