Terrain

| Texture | Terrain | Advanced | Render Tree Usage

Category: Texture

Shader Family: Texture

Output: Color

Uses a fractal to create a realistic landscape, complete with snow, mountains, and grass. Each color can be changed to simulate a different terrain. To create lakes and other landscape effects, use flat surfaces that intersect with the displacement-mapped terrain.

Name	The shader's name. Enter any name you like, or leave the default.

Texture

Texture Space

Selects the texture projection to use. See Specifying a Texture Projection [Texturing].

Bump Mapping

Enable	Switches bump mapping on or off.
Bump Map Factor	Defines how "bumpy" the bump map will be. A negative value inverts the bump inward; a positive bump map factor bumps outward.
Use Alpha	Uses the texture's alpha channel to achieve a bump map.

Terrain

Snow Color	Defines the snow color (mountain caps), which is defined as the highest region.
Rock Color	Defines the rock color, which is defined as the area between the snow and grass.
Grass Color	Defines the grass color, which is defined as the lowest regions.

Alpha

Copy Alpha to RGB	Multiplies the RGB channels with the alpha channel by the factor defined in the Alpha Strength parameter.
Alpha Strength	Determines the factor by which the Alpha is multiplied with the RGB channels.

Boundary

Snow-Rock	Defines the height of the region between the snow (high) and rock (middle) regions.
Rock-Grass	Defines the height of the boundary between the rock (middle) and grass (low) regions.
Blending	Controls how much the colors between regions blend with each other. High values take longer to render.
Ruggedness	Controls the ruggedness between each region.

Fractal

Type	The algorithm for the pattern: Legacy produces the same pattern as in versions prior to Softimage 2013. Default produces the same pattern as shown in High Quality display mode.
Ratio	Defines the amplitude of the successive iterations relative to the current one. For values less than 1, successive iterations have a lower amplitude; for values greater than 1, the iterations have a higher amplitude and the fractal becomes unbounded.
Iterations	Defines the number of iterations used to define the fractal.
Amplitude	Defines the base amplitude of the fractal used to calculate this texture. This parameter only applies to the amplitude of the first iteration; successive iterations may raise the amplitude further.
Ruggedness	Controls the overall ruggedness of the landscape. Low values result in a terrain with smooth values; high values create a more jagged and treacherous landscape.
U, V Frequency	Defines the frequency of the fractal in the U and V directions.

Advanced

Bump Mapping

Step	Controls the U, V, and Z steps of a bump map. Use this parameter to "smooth" bumps or make them more jagged.

Alternate

U, V, Z

Specifies whether every other copy of the repetition should be reversed so that the successive copies of the texture are alternated.

Repeats

Texture Repeats

Contains the repetition factor in X,Y, and Z. A value of 2, for example, shrinks the texture so that it fits twice in a [0..1] interval.

UV Remap

Minimum, Maximum

Determines the remapping of the texture image. For a 2D image, only X and Y are used.

Render Tree Usage

All the grass/snow/rock Color parameters can be connected to other textures or image processing shaders. A texture's scalar parameters can be altered to create interesting effects by applying Texture Generator shaders to them. For example, the Bump factor can be controlled with the Fractal Texture Generator shader.

A texture shader has seemingly limitless capabilities in a render tree. It can texture an object, be used as a camera or light projection, define bump or displacement maps, or be blended with any number of other textures to create any effect.