Desert terrain

Hello!

Im making some sort of a adventure game and trying to make a desert(sand) terrain.

Is there a way to make the typical rigged sand dunes in/with unity?
What im talking about is something like this




All i can do is hills that doesnt look like desert at all.

 

Looks like desert to me. Just need to decrease the elevation on those mounds and pick some areas to flatten nearly completely.

 

It might look like desert because of the sand texture, but it do not look like i want with the riggs and slopes

 

I'm assuming you are trying to achieve this effect. This would be very hard, if not impossible with the current Unity Terrain system. To achieve this effect you will either need to model the terrain in a modeling program like Blender or Maya; Or you can use 3D models that are modeled to give the illusion that the terrain comes to these sharp edges.

 

You might try to use World Machine. I haven't tried yet with dunes but plan to do so very soon. It has a nice erosion feature and lots of modules you can add on for various techniques. It does have a free version that you could trial and see if it works for you before purchasing. Size is limited in the free version but still a good way to see if it works.

What you need is to get some directional erosion going that makes the steep on one side and shallow on the other. This is the basic structure of any wind eroded feature, including sand dunes. The steep side should be no more than 45 degrees, which is the angle of repose for particles.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing what you are able to make. Terrain sculpting is challenging in Unity but so much fun with the right tools.

 

I have done some maps in World Machine, pretty advanced program, and i do not completly understand about all these modules and lines and settings you connect everything with, mostly i end up in a S***ty terrain anyway and far away from what i was suposed to make hehe.

Maybe you could make a tutorial when you start with your dunes?

 

Maybe...we will see. I will at the very least show you what I did. It will be a bit as I am working on a swamp at the moment but I feel the need to have dry feet.

 

Thansk kind of you! i guess you will show the settings for each add on? that would be a great start to play and learn with
Put your boots on and walk the swamp!

 

Well, I essentially live in a state that is a swamp...lol....so it does get boring. Kind of eerie to see your real world in a Unity terrain, especially the dangerous wildlife. lol

 

We could switch for a day or two so i can explore the swamp lol. I agree, i would not mind to see the place i comes from in unity, that would be aswesome haha.

 

if you can use splatmap: http://www.world-machine.com/library/index.php?entry=39&type=0&sort=recent&focus=1

 

Thanks, but i have no idea how to open .dev files?
EDIT: Im so stupid sometimes haha... .dev is for World Machine or else it wouldnt be on their site...guess i need to wake up before posting in forums

And a update for my map, this is the best i can do without any external tools


EDIT2: how do i use that .dev file in World Machine? seams like the program dont find the file when i put it in the Macro folder.

 

You install the macro in documents/worldmachinedocuments/macros.

 

@cruising Love the endless desert look already, good stuff!

 

Thats was what i did and i could not find it in WM, how ever...i had 2 setups of that map, i placed it in the other one and found the macro in WM lol

Thanks!
its not endless, it just look like that because of the fog

Heres a update for the WM dune terrain in unity i made, not exactly the result i want but still better.

 

Looks nice!

 

Thanks! I still want sharp rigs, but that seams to advanced for me

 

You might want to look into ridged perlin noise (aka ridged multifractal noise). It generates heightmaps looking something like this:

http://s429.photobucket.com/user/lintfordpickle/media/tutorials/RidgedMFoutput.jpg.html

I think World Machine has support for it, although I've never used it.

 

Hey mate, stumbled upon the thread and made me open worldmachine and try it out myself.
You can see the result below (render in 3dsmax - not unity) and you can get the WM_project/heightmap (in raw and png)/and the dunefield macro i used here. Cheers and good luck to your project

 

Okay, what you need is RTP.

Make models of the ridges then have them blend into the terrain.

EDIT: It should be noted that RTP also does a TON of other very cool things and is pretty much a manditory tool for proper terrain at this point (along with Horiz(on), Terrain Composer, and Advanced Foliage Shader).

Oh, and Suimono Water is worth looking up too.

 

@moure I borrowed your heightmap, so I could create this test-environment (using standard assets, free speedtree, a static 3D model of a camel downloaded from turbosquid, one texture (ground) plus one skybox (AllSky) and Simple RPG Camera to run around):

Spoiler

 

Also, a gif (16.6mb, sorry!)

Spoiler

 

Really does look like a desert, hills might need to be smaller. but other than that, it looks cool!

 

After two years I don't think they care.

 

There are many different types of deserts.
Some deserts, do have rocky hills and mounds.
So your art work scenery, is realistic enough.

But all have one thing in common, ridiculously hot, barren, dryish wastelands
with almost no plant life in them.

Also, nice art work. Your desert, kinda looks interplanetary.
But still looks, like it's from planet Earth.

 

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1875963715000294-gr4.jpg

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?img...ZAhVCKKwKHTtHAds4ZBAzCEYoRDBE&iact=mrc&uact=8

crappy image, but shows sat photo next to topology map... study it and you should see how the dunes are made as if in a hightmap.

 

@cruising Three years later, but still curious to know how you managed to make that perfect fog? External asset? I am working on desert environment too and would love to know how to achieve this perfect blend between terrain, horizon and skybox while giving it a beautiful depth...

 

Its all standard, i just added standard fog and copied the color of the sky where it is brown. Then i fine tuned the color in the color settings to blend it all togeter

 

Very realistic, nice work

 

@moure I couldn't get the height map to import correctly into unity. Am I doing something wrong?

 

what image size is your heightmap.. that could be an issue.... double check your image size..

if this is your first time importing a heightmap into Unity...

make sure you are using a .RAW file format... has to be Greyscale more... no color RGB date.. Greyscale... aslo.. make it 16 bit.. you will be 4 times as happy than if you make a 8bit greyscale image..

Raw file format
16bit Greyscale image
power of 8 pizel resolution

make it Square for your own sanity, no rectangles.. also there is an upper size limit... I forget exactly what it is.. but you will not be happy trying to make a terrain with a 20,000x20,0000 pixel resolution... that might just be me, your mileage may vary..

 

WorldMachine is a nice tool, there might also be some examples already, like this or that.
Try to get some inspiration and get used to the tool. My idea would be to start with some billowed noise (I guess, or 0.5-perlin) for the sharp edges and maybe annother noise type multiplied to shape individual dunes.
The second image is a bit tricky, it looks like very smooth surfaces but sharp errosion on one side. This could be done with masking based on where the slope is facing.
EDIT sorry for some reason I only read the first few posts and didn't realize this is an old thread

 

Necro, off topic. Closed.