Conceding defeat!

This morning I had another crack at Gabe's Gaea terrain. It was a closer run than I expected, but the assignment really was about which tool gives best-of-class results. Gaea wears that crown! I still think World Creator is a brilliant tool, and it is still capable of amazing output. It could be that the deficiency of my WC terrain was down to a lack of skill on my part, but that's fine.

To be clear, Gabe's output has been given the Full blender treatment. This was a test of terrain quality.

World Creator's interactive capabilities let you "paint" your terrain. I LOVE that.

So I will be investing a lot of time in learning Gaea...from the ground up!

Random Flow test scene

Yesterday, I mentioned using Kitbashing to finish the test scene quickly.

KitBASH!!!

Today I will be pulling some of it back and doing some cleanup. Plus adding pipes. Lots of pipes!

A deep dive into Cableator

Firstly, a progress report on the terrain...

I'm pleased with the topology in general. The snow mask is a bit leaky, so it isn't bright white like I'd hoped. The ridges are less pronounced, Gabe's mountain is less nuanced, but it sells the landscape better -- it just looks authentic. Right now, I'm thinking of conceding and retooling to use Gaea. Maybe I'll give it a second pass, but it will need to wait. In the meantime, Gabe issued an update to his terrain. <I make a face>

I think I will be getting to grips with Gaea very soon. Gaea 3.0 early access is due out next month.

Back to the Random Flow personal project

I decided to throw a lot of design elements into the Random Flow structure -- like I said, you need to balance random greebles with stuff that shows clear intent, tells a story, and/or presents recognisable, realistic elements that set both scale and context -- like ladders, doors, lamps, etc.

To this end, I don't have time to build many custom models. Instead, I gathered some models I've built over the last few years and stripped off some elements for a kitbash. I don't do much kitbashing because modelling and designing are my thing. This is a good example of where having a library of bits is useful for getting something out the door.

I want to add a bunch of realistic pipes and cables to the structure. This part I will build, but I will call upon the aid of some Blender addons - firstly, Cableator.

Let's do a deep dive:

Blender-School: Cableator

Documentation: https://cablerator.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Do you need an addon in order to create a curve, edit its start and end points, then make it into a solid? No, but if you want it to be really quick and easy, then Cableator is way ahead of the curve!

For openers: two ways to make a cable

1) Create a cable by choosing endpoints. This is the most straightforward method.
2) Draw Cable by drawing a path. This gives you more path control, but it tends to be erratic, adding lots of control points that make your cable twist in ugly, broken ways. 

Create a cable (Docs)

1. Click on polygons to define start and end points of the cable. Hold Ctrl/Cmd to snap to polygon centre;

2. Adjust cable width with S, cable tension (length) with D;

3. Hold Shift while changing values to make values more precise;

4. Hold Ctrl/Cmd while changing values to snap to 0.05 steps;

5. Change other options like twist mode, resolution and subdivisions;

6. Left Click to confirm the cable;

• If there’s a cable selected before creating a new one, the same cable width or profile will be used by default;

• If there’s a curve without width selected before creating a new one, the same curve will be used as a profile;

• If there are one or two endpoints of a different curve selected, these points will be used as starting points;

• If another bezier curve point was used as a starting point, there will be an option to join the curves with J key;

• Press Q while in modal to quickly add another cable;

Draw a cable

1. By default the cable will snap to visible geometry. Press D to switch between Surface and Cursor pen depth;

2. Draw with Left Click-Drag;

3. Undo with Ctrl+Z;

4. Confirm with Right Mouse Button or Esc;

• If there’s a cable selected before creating a new one, the same cable width or profile will be used by default;

• If there’s a curve without width is selected before creating a new one, the same curve will be used as a profile;

Editing Cables

• Width (S): width of the cable.

• Tension Delta (D): changes the cable tension (length).

• Resolution (F): cable length resolution.

• Tilt Cable (I): tilts the cable and automatically recalculates tilt values for all points.

• Bevel Resolution (V): cable profile resolution (if no curve profile is used).

• Scale Profile (T): curve profile scale (if a curve profile is added).

• Offset the Closest Point (Shift+W): offsets the point closest to the mouse cursor.

• Grab Profile (B): grabs a profile from the active doc or from the ext doc (switch with Shift+B).

• Twist Method (H): controls how the curve twists in 3D space; changing this can help remove curve artifacts.

• Show Wire (X): toggles Wire mode on/off for the curve. Wire mode is turned off on finish.

• Fill Caps (C): adds caps to the ends of cables.

• Set Bevel Object (A): assigns a profile to the cable.

• Move a Point (M): reattaches the point closest to the mouse cursor to a different face of any object.

Create a complex-form cable (ribbed cable)

1. Create a cable where you want the complex cable. Scale it down so it's not visible. You only need the path.

2. Create the rib section out of a cylinder. Remove the end cap faces after creating an inset.

3. Scale the cylinder, bevel the edges.
4. Select the cable, bring up the Cableator menu and select Add or Edit Segment.

5. Use Array (C) to bridge the path.

You have a ribbed cable! So dang easy!

Simulate

Select the meshes before selecting an existing Cableator cable to add them as collision solvers. Then, when the simulation runs, Blender does its level best to account for realistic object collision. It doesn't always work, but there are tools to improve results. Even so, a tweak here and there is much easier than manually staging realistic cables.

1. Create a cable and complete it.

2. Select meshes with which you want the cable to detect/collide. 

3. Run Simulate.

4. Probably fix. There are some post-simulation options that can help improve outputs. 

On the seventh day...

Take a rest from those terrains, already!

Yesterday I scratched that constant itch. I made me some landscape renders using World Creator and Blender with True Terrain 5.

Horrah!!! A giant terrain under True SKY 3, with a large Geo-Scatter-based scatter! In this case, the scatter is "fake" trees. Alpha scatter uses cards (flat planes) that align with the camera to produce the impression of a vast forest. It gives me confidence about ramping up scatters in scenes.

The next test will be with proper scatter objects, probably on a much smaller terrain.

The latest batch consists of 8x8km terrains. That's big enough for a city. It's the terrain size for a moderate mountain range, as you need about 4km for a mountain.

16x16k resolution gives you a 1GB EXR displacement file and a single mask weighing in at 100+ MB. These are unwieldy and probably too large for most users. You do get lovely detailing, though.

Today?

I need to answer the question of the aerial scene, but that will wait until tomorrow. So...

Shamrayev project: I need to pick it up and move it forward. We're still doing detail modelling, fixing and optimising. I am thinking of using MatPlus, which was just updated to 1.1 for the project. 

Blender School

I need to complete some training -- I'm far behind on this! 

 A new course, purchased on sale. It includes a massive amount of build, UV unwrapping and rigging footage. It has to be a bit less instructive and more like a follow-along YouTube video, but the end results speak for themselves - some very impressive elements! I'm sure I'll learn something.

I need to complete this course by Cov Philips. I was making good progress when I purchased it. 

I will need to start this course again as it's been gathering dust since May 2024. I stopped because I kept getting Blender crashes while following the first few lessons. Hopefully, this issue will no longer apply. HardOPs is still considered the "go to" workflow for serious (seriously sci-fi) hard surface modellers.


Cableator 1.6 is out! (Docs)

Cableator is such a good tool, but I've never fully understood its feature set. I need to read and watch a full run-through. I particularly want to see how the simulation aspect works. 

There's a really good tutorial from Blender Bros, although this is now three years old!