Detailed Modification of "Tree" Shader

[Psmith]

Andrew or Others:

Does anyone have the expertise to describe what goes into a complex shader like the "Tree" Shader in the "Shaders" palette? To me this shader is incredible in the types of effects that are possible related to the"altitude" or slope of a surface. It actually makes some of the most interesting terrains, very quickly, that I've ever seen.

Can someone explain, in a step-by-step fashion, how such a shader is created and/or modified with other textures, (think of the bark and landscape possibilities)?

Thank you,

Greg Smith

[akira]

Andrew or Others:

Does anyone have the expertise to describe what goes into a complex shader like the "Tree" Shader in the "Shaders" palette? To me this shader is incredible in the types of effects that are possible related to the"altitude" or slope of a surface. It actually makes some of the most interesting terrains, very quickly, that I've ever seen.

Can someone explain, in a step-by-step fashion, how such a shader is created and/or modified with other textures, (think of the bark and landscape possibilities)?

Thank you,

Greg Smith

Here it is:

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/bl...box_mapping.htm

[Psmith]

Akira:

Thank you - I kind of understand what the 3 maps are doing, but would it be possible to use 6 maps instead of just 3, as shown in the 3DS Max example? This might produce even more complex and believable results. What a time saver!

Greg Smith

[Pixelpantscher]

Akira:

Thank you - I kind of understand what the 3 maps are doing, but would it be possible to use 6 maps instead of just 3, as shown in the 3DS Max example? This might produce even more complex and believable results. What a time saver!

Greg Smith

Maybe this is interesting for you

http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/

Regards

Hans

[Psmith]

Hans:

Thanks. Yes, this is very interesting, indeed. You could get lost in there.

Greg Smith

[philnolan3d]

I played with Map Zone and really liked the results but found it very confusing to use as there is almost no documentation, unless they changed it since then.

[Psmith]

Akira:

Looking at the .dds files that are in two similar shader folders, (Dirty Stone, Dirty Stone Bump), they both have normal map textures included, so I'm not sure what causes one of the shaders to display a realtime bump texture and the other not to display it.

Is this something we (non-programming) users can set up, or is this reserved for the shader gurus?

Thanks,

Greg Smith

[Ralf-S]

[Edit...]

Sorry, I misunderstood the topic / question entirely.

[...]

[akira]

Akira:

Looking at the .dds files that are in two similar shader folders, (Dirty Stone, Dirty Stone Bump), they both have normal map textures included, so I'm not sure what causes one of the shaders to display a realtime bump texture and the other not to display it.

Is this something we (non-programming) users can set up, or is this reserved for the shader gurus?

Thanks,

Greg Smith

Hi

I'm not the writer of those box mapping shaders, but I believe that to show bump or not is only

a performance consideration.

This is the trade off when rendering in real-time, you sacrifice performance to get better quality.

I'm sorry I don't think I have time to explain how shaders work here, if you want to know the mechanics of shader writing,

there is a good free book online for you:

http://wiki.gamedev.net/index.php/D3DBook:Book_Cover

But first of all you need to know some basic syntax of C language b/c all of the shaders are written in C.

akira.