To developers: Math functions for desert dune profiles

Shigawire

Shigawire
Dear Frontier Developments <3
I write this thread hoping that it may help you in your planetary landing module planned for the near future.

In my own quest to create a procedural desert in World Machine Pro, I worked out this machine:
index.php


index.php


However, the limitations of this methodology is that the glacialize and blur functions depend on it being a rasterized terrain with a set limited x and y size. Also my machine is too complicated to be useful in realtime rendering. Obviously this method can't be used for Elite Dangerous' desert planets seeing as you have to:
  • Be able to project the terrain on an entire planet (and not just a rasterized tile)
  • Program the procedurals manually using mathematics
So I came across a different method for a different application, Terragen 3 Pro. This is a dune profile tutorial created by the user "wiwine" on that forum. The benefit of this method is that it creates all the things that are required for a realistic dune profile, using only trigonometric functions such as cos and sin. That means it could more easily be transferred to your own work on the planets in Elite: Dangerous.

You can find the tutorial here, showing the mathematical trig functions applied to achieve it.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=18400.0;attach=50831

p.s. he is still working on the tutorial


Here is an early preview of what kind of deserts you can make with this math:
index.php
 
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Gen-Han-Solo

Banned
Gen-Han-Solo
Looks very cool when can we run round and use a dune buggy on the planet it looks so real .

Shigawire said:
Dear Frontier Developments <3
I write this thread hoping that it may help you in your planetary landing module planned for the near future.

In my own quest to create a procedural desert in World Machine Pro, I worked out this machine:
index.php


index.php


However, the limitations of this methodology is that the glacialize and blur functions depend on it being a rasterized terrain with a set limited x and y size. Also my machine is too complicated to be useful in realtime rendering. Obviously this method can't be used for Elite Dangerous' desert planets seeing as you have to:

  • Be able to project the terrain on an entire planet (and not just a rasterized tile)
  • Program the procedurals manually using mathematics
So I came across a different method for a different application, Terragen 3 Pro. This is a dune profile tutorial created by the user "wiwine" on that forum. The benefit of this method is that it creates all the things that are required for a realistic dune profile, using only trigonometric functions such as cos and sin. That means it could more easily be transferred to your own work on the planets in Elite: Dangerous.

You can find the tutorial here, showing the mathematical trig functions applied to achieve it.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=18400.0;attach=50831

p.s. he is still working on the tutorial


Here is an early preview of what kind of deserts you can make with this math:
index.php
Click to expand...
 

Shigawire

Shigawire
Patrick_68000 said:
Nice technical. This is a photo that you made during your last holidays in the Sahara ?
Click to expand...

No, that's a render that "Wiwine" made in Terragen 3 using the mathematics in the pdf he posted in his thread.
It's still a work in progress.

Terragen 3 may be a very specialized rendering application, but the mathematics behind this is universal, and can be utilized by Frontier Developments when they make planets. :)
 
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Patrick_68000

Patrick_68000
Shigawire said:
No, that's a render that "Wiwine" made in Terragen 3 using the mathematics in the pdf he posted in his thread.
It's still a work in progress.

Terragen 3 may be a very specialized rendering application, but the mathematics behind this is universal, and can be utilized by Frontier Developments when they make planets. :)
Click to expand...

I was joking of course. I read your first post in this thread. Perhaps the tools are already operational in Cobra for this kind of work ?

:)
 

AJbombadill

A
I would be interested in trying your setup from World Machine to play around with, do you have the snapshot of your Device Workview in high res so all the nodes are readable? (tried zooming in but they are all blurred)
Thanks!
AJ
 

AJbombadill

A
WOrld Machine Pro request for the dune setup

Shigawire said:
Dear Frontier Developments <3
I write this thread hoping that it may help you in your planetary landing module planned for the near future.

In my own quest to create a procedural desert in World Machine Pro, I worked out this machine:
index.php
Click to expand...
Hello,

I would like to use your dune generator for World Machine Pro, do you have a higher resolution of the setup as it is not possible to read clearly, or do you have a copy I can download? Thanks!
Sincerely,
AJ
 
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Shigawire

Shigawire
Since Horizons is on the way, I would like to reiterate this thread in the hope that Frontier will give desert planets (or biomes) the love they deserve.

I will be disappointed if desert planets will merely be based on height map "blobs"

AJbombadill said:
Hello,

I would like to use your dune generator for World Machine Pro, do you have a higher resolution of the setup as it is not possible to read clearly, or do you have a copy I can download? Thanks!
Sincerely,
AJ
Click to expand...

Hi, AJbombadil. I stopped paying attention to the forum posts I made. I should've subscribed to this. I'm sorry. Yes, I have the machine for you if you want the file. PM me an email address.
 
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