Hi all, we are looking on a way to create a road on a mountain.

Here is the thread I've sent to E-on:
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/support/ShowMessage.php?id=1153464289

The result we would like is like those links:

http://www.moto-net.com/images/routes/sardaigne/montee.jpg
http://document.linternaute.com/document/image/550/route-montagne-maroc-ouarzazate-829267.jpg
but how to do it in vue. We are beginner and trying the software.

Bob

Hi, you can easy create with standard terrains. Just create your Mountain and copy&paste it.. You need it for a Shape. After this design your roads at the mountain and cut them off or for smaller scenes but the 2 terrains together so we get the different between.. Sorry not easy for me to write in english:)

But maybe it woud help you search a tut about lakes, rivers or waterfalls.. its form the idea behind it the same... at rivers and lakes wie cut some out and at roads we attach some.

 

bye and good luck

Quote - Hi, you can easy create with standard terrains. Just create your Mountain and copy&paste it.. You need it for a Shape. After this design your roads at the mountain and cut them off or for smaller scenes but the 2 terrains together so we get the different between.. Sorry not easy for me to write in english:)

But maybe it woud help you search a tut about lakes, rivers or waterfalls.. its form the idea behind it the same... at rivers and lakes wie cut some out and at roads we attach some.

bye and good luck

Thank you for your answer.

Do you think you can point me to any tutorial you think it would be useful to get your method working ?

I've found this: http://members.tripod.com/~ggbe/beginners/river.html but doesn't seem very useful.

I read your letter to e-on.  It seems to me that you are going to need to fully and exactly re-create the terrains for the geographical area in question.  Vue only allows the user to manipulate terrains in a very basic sense.  If you have to exactly re-create a terrain mass, you are going to be spending tons of time getting Vue to do what you want, and I mean tons.  Especially getting those winding roads.

I wish you good luck.

G&C

Try to get GeoTiffs of the region you have to create. Geotiffs are black-and-white-maps that represent the height of a terrain.  In these you can try to paint your roads in photoshop or in vue Terrain-editor. Then create your vue-terrain from this map.

I've been trying to do that for quite some time now and with only a little bit of luck.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1223052&member

The above link (and resulting image) started out as a height map I made in Photoshop. A little tweaking once it got into Vue and I made the rocksides and hills more weathered.

I can offer this advice if you go the Photoshop for terrain route - when you have a gradient, it goes up as a flat angle, NOT a curved angle.

Meaning if you want a gradual slope to get steeper, then more gradual, you will have to expect to bring it into Vue and play with the Raise and Dig brush on a VERY LIGHT setting - set the Flow to very low to be able to control the amount of changes you make.

I settled on making stairs as it was easier to create the flat "steps" rather than a winding road/path.

OT - that link to the "beginners" river thingy? Wow, what version of Vue was THAT made in?
Good luck and happy experimenting!
-Lew ;-)

Hi thundering1 - a suggestion for you...

Now you have your very own height-map, and if your version of Vue supports it (I have V5I and no earlier versions) try the following....
Use the height-map as a guide for where to draw your roads in your 2D app (on a separate layer). The roads should be all the same grey-scale value (pure black or pure white are probably easiest).
Delete/clear the original height-map and save just the road-map (pun intended)..

In Vue, load your height-map into the terrain as usual and do your tinkering. SAVE YOUR SCENE! The next step cannot be undone! You only get one chance at it per go...
Go back to the terrain editor, re-enter the "picture loading" dialogue and load the roads into the 2nd slot.
The roads will now be combined with the terrain. Any part of the roads pic that is not black will uniformly raise the terrain it's sitting on (it is ADDED to the 1st pic).
The amount of influence can be controlled...If your roads are white on a black background, then the roads will be raised. If "negative" (black on a white background), then everything except the roads will be raised, giving the effect of sunken roads. Be warned that you have to use fairly large maps to avoid pixellation...1024x1024 might not be enough. Also be warned (again) that once you leave the picture dialogue, Vue will immediately consolidate the 2 pics into a single one.I have yet to find an easy way around this problem - it means you've got to get it right in the pic. dialogue...

You can then use the same road-map to control the texture strengths, thus enabling you to apply a different texture to the roads...(which might be all you need to do in the 1st place, you might get away with not having to alter the terrain)...

You can use the same technique to carve out river-paths, except for those you need to create river-maps that have blurred edges and vary in width... Getting a texture onto the rivers is not an easy task tho. I've tried a couple of approaches, but nothing too successful so far. Working on it...

I think I've got that right.
If not, at least it'll give both of us something to play around with for the next few days:-))

Cheers,
Diolma

Diolma - that is SLICK!! Yeah, once I finish with Photoshop today (yes, I work from home, so I take it home with me ;-) ) I'm definitely going to play!

Thanks for the tip!
-Lew ;-)

I cannot claim credit for the idea, I think I read it somewhere or other.

For roads, you need to get pic 2 to have marginal influence on the terrain - say 99% terrain to 1% road or thereabouts. It also depends on how close to the terrain your camera is - yet another variable.. It'll probably take at least 3 reloads to get the mixture right.. (but at least you get the opportunity to free up all that memory that Vue's lost track of).

OTOH, you can create dry-stone-walls (or the Great Wall Of China) effects by using greater proportions...

The approach does need a fair amount of experimentation beforehand to see what the effects are, and quite a bit of patience to gt it right (there are so many things that need to be taken into account) - but it CAN  work...

If you do try this method, I, for one, would be very pleased if you posted the results you get (assuming you can w/o infringing copyright), whether said results are good or bad...

Like I said, I'm learning too..

Cheers,
Diolma

Quote - I've been trying to do that for quite some time now and with only a little bit of luck.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1223052&member

The above link (and resulting image) started out as a height map I made in Photoshop. A little tweaking once it got into Vue and I made the rocksides and hills more weathered.

I

Great image ! But it would be interesting to have a look at how your Heightmap file looks like, in order to get an idea on how the rocks and the stairs border has been done.

Bob

Here are the 2 images I used (scaled down from 2048 each) to create the 2 main terrains you see in the image I mentioned above. What I'm thinking of doing is simply "smoothing" out the steps. While it sounds simple, what I think I'm going to end up hainng to do is create a gradient for EACH STEP to go from one to the next, then even do a smoothing once I get it into Vue since I'll get jeggies and "steps" from one grey value chance. It's not as smooth as you might think, but it can work I guess.

BTW, I tried an image with the procedure descibed above, so I'll post that next.
-Lew ;-)

Didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but it gave me some ideas to play with so I'll do some further testing in the not-too-distant future.

Diolma - thanks for the ideas! Let's see where they go!
-Lew ;-)

ARGHH Thundering1, exactly the result I'm looking for. Could you please give the procedure to achieve this, the way the heightmap has been created (complete procedure if possible), the mapping, maybe create a little tutorial, as this is a great result....

PLEASE HELP !!!! You did it the way I'd like...remember, I'm a newbie !

Which one - the stairs image or the one with the car?
Just making sure, and I'll get on a tut for you guys.

-Lew ;-)

Quote - Which one - the stairs image or the one with the car?
Just making sure, and I'll get on a tut for you guys.

-Lew ;-)

The one with the car off course. I love that guy !!!

THANK YOU !

I think I figured out a better way to go about it - so gimme one night to figure it out or at least make a test for you to work with.
Talk to ya soon-
-Lew ;-)

Here ya go - happy testing!

-Lew

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2659373&page=1#message_2748462