Time to get back to work

 

I feel like I have put one foot through the doorway into the Gaea terrain creation. Its node-based system and impressive selection of erosion systems make it a preferred choice for complex terrain. Not in every single case, but in general.

Spot art for a Facebook group I belong to:

True Sky 3 and some old models

Start of Week 

Last week's aims:
Complete Gabe's challenge - tick! I conceded and moved on to the next aim: learn Gaea. That's another tick! Also, refresh my Random Flow skills. Tick!

This week

• Re-engage with the Halo: Raptor scene 002 work. There's a conversation happening with the env team.
• Take another look at Random Flow -- there's a new major release out. I'd better get it installed and take a look.
• I desperately need to complete a small project. A fully-fledged but simple-ish scene.

The game's afoot!

 Gabe has provided a Gaea-created terrain that I will attempt to match in World Creator. He's not gone out of his way to make this extra-difficult; it doesn't use any wildly complex erosion forms. However, it's still shows that Gaea output can just look very natural straight out of the door. This could still be a challenge.

I should have specified that the results should be shown in Blender, because the test is for terrain forms, not Gaea's native rendering/materials capabilities.

 Gabe's challenge. See his work: https://www.artstation.com/gabe_dobsky

Start of the week

Last week's aims:

Scene 002: I made progress by going to the asset preparation. Mostly the city and the depot, which are close to completion. That's a tick! I will finish the scene this week.

Superhive trades: Some thought. Nothing structured, nothing like a plan. Given that I paid out a fortune to get a porch roof repaired, I really need to focus more on bringing in some money. Put this into this week's aims.

Blender School: I actually looked into two areas:

Random Flow
I followed the more recent tutorial, and I have a practice exercise, the results of which I will show off tomorrow. It's still an amazing tool, but you need to use it right; too many users think it's all you need for surface detail, but it's got to be balanced with designed elements, or it looks obviously like a lot of random greebles.

Panels, Extrusions, and Slices. Scratching the surface of Random Flow!

HardOps/Boxcutter
Oh gawd, I think I have completely lost all the knowledge. I struggled to do something really basic with Boxcutter, and the notes I created in this blog didn't help much. A proper refresher will be required. Frustrating, but at least I know it's an issue.

This week's new aims:

Complete Gabe's challenge, today. Strict time-box! I need to complete Scene 002, this week.

The Random Flow practice exercise: Today/Tomorrow. This is a personal effort that shouldn't bleed into the working week, but if it isn't finished by the end of tomorrow, it won't be. One of the reasons it didn't get finished is that I am trying to be a lot more active during weekends. I spend much of one day getting out into the world and taking photos. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lucasdigital/

Photography

Some of yesterday afternoon's efforts:

City Centre from Parkwood Springs

Looking back towards home, from Parkwood Springs

Blender-School: Random Flow

 The city I'm building for Scene 002 continues at a slow pace. I realise I could save time by using Blender Guppy's excellent Random Flow add-on. It's great, but I always struggled to remember how to use it effectively, so lets get into it...

Documentation (updated recently after a significant change to the add-on's UI)

Random Flow

"Random Flow is a random mesh generator designed for fast and easy hard surface prototyping and concept art. This is a fast-changing add-on with lots of new functionalities in the future."

For science fiction environments, you often need to model a lot of surface detail that isn't particularly purposeful. Often, you are breaking up empty space with geometry and lines. Random Flow lets you quickly apply surface details by creating face-based panels and extruding them.

Once installed, you bring up Random Flow's master panel using Shift+F1 (see above).

• Usually, Random Flow details consist primarily of Random Panels, which break up surfaces without significantly changing the form of the target object.
  
  
• The details created depend on the size of the target faces; larger faces produce larger panels, while smaller areas naturally yield smaller panels. 
  
  
• Randomisation is applied to generated/floating elements that are cut out of the target object, ensuring all changes are non-destructive. Randomisation can be applied in Object or in Edit modes.

Random Panels Page 1

Random Panels Page 2

There are a dizzying number of parameters. As Blender Guppy says, he could make the tool simpler, but such an effort would rob you of incredible fine control. 

The operator presets are a great addition; I should get familiar with the effects of each one.

City build

 Scene 002

I'm taking a break from the terrain materials. Yesterday I took Gabe's previs depot model and shrank it down into something I could place into the scene. It definitely works better than my rushed lash-up. I may need better materials.

Next, I started to build out the city on the island/coastline. Creating a low-poly city that has enough detail to be sold as a real place requires quite a lot of mesh noodling. While slowly setting up a base mesh, I was aware of how well Blender Guppy's Random Flow would handle mid-level details. 

I haven't used Random Flow for a while, and I've forgotten the finer details of its procedural system. I should watch the recent beginner's video about it.

True Terrain Material Testing

Looking at the pre-built material, which I intend to do a breakdown for: