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TUTORIALS | Virtual landscapes

ON THE CD
● Full copy of
WorldBuilder Pro 3.6
(3D World edition)
SEE PAGE 114

WORLDBUILDER

Deep in the woods


Turn the landscapes of your dreams into realities with Digital Element’s powerful WorldBuilder Pro 3.6
software. Use the full copy on the CD to create the magical forest scene above BY DANIEL P FERREIRA

W
ith a range of versatile features, WorldBuilder (flat planes) for the background elements, as they don’t have to be
is a powerful standalone application that enables detailed, and a normal camera movement won’t reveal that they’re
you to create and render detailed outdoor not 3D. Plus, they render extremely fast!
FACTFILE environments featuring all kinds of vegetation. For the foreground areas, we’ll create clusters of L-Systems
It has multiple object libraries that help you build scenes (true 3D) trees and generate unique variations using the Random
FOR
WorldBuilder quickly, and is compatible with most major 3D applications, Seed control, before altering their orientation and textures. Finally,
DIFFICULTY such as 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave 3D and Softimage XSI. You we’ll place different types of objects, such as stones and grass,
Elementary can composite scenes together with any of these applications using area scattering. We’ll use only one direct light source in the
TIME TAKEN during render time, sharing lighting, shadows and cameras. scene, although you can get fantastic results using several sources
60-120 minutes In this tutorial, we’ll be using the full copy of WorldBuilder Pro to simulate light bouncing or to highlight particular areas.
ON THE CD 3.6 (3D World edition) on the CD to create the wooded landscape To finish off the scene, we’ll arrange some close-up trees and
• WorldBuilder Pro 3.6 above. The software comes with extensive help files, and we advise manually place them in exactly the way we want. Then we’ll align
(3D World edition)
you to work through these before beginning work. If you get stuck them to the terrain, and the scene will be ready to render. Some
• Full-size screenshots
• Additional textures at any point in the walkthrough, refer to the settings shown in the postprocessing of the final render in an image-editing program such
• Final scene file full-size screenshots and final scene file included on the disc. as Photoshop will give us a look much like the image above.
ALSO REQUIRED First, we’ll create the base terrains using the skeleton lines that
Photoshop (for image define the areas and elevation of the land, then we’ll texture them. Daniel P Ferreira is an effects animator working at Sony
postprocessing work)
Once we have an initial environment that we’re happy with, we’ll Pictures Imageworks. He’s currently working on Spider-Man 3,
start to place the different layers of vegetation. We’ll use card trees having just finished The Chronicles of Narnia.

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Virtual landscapes | TUTORIALS

STAGE ONE | Creating the landscape

Let’s create the skeleton lines that will define the The landscape will follow the skeleton lines, so Several modification icons become active in the top
01 shape of our landscape. Start by selecting Create > 02 you’ll need to adjust them in the Front view to 03 bar when you select a skeleton line. You can modify
Landscape. Go to the Top view and press [F12] to define the height. A good trick is to make them a line with the commands to add, move and delete
create a skeleton line. You can define the shape of the line rounded in the Top view (like the altitude curves in an nodes. With Fractalize Skeleton and Defractalize Skeleton,
using your left mouse button. Press the right button when Ordnance Survey map), so that the mesh is smoother. you can add or subtract random line detail. Try all of the icons
you’re done. Copy the layout shown in the image above. to learn how to work with skeleton lines.

STAGE TWO | Camera, terrain, lighting and textures

Once you’ve drawn several lines as in the image To see how the grid of the terrain is working, To change the way the skeleton lines affect the
04 above, create a camera with [Shift]+[C], so that 05 perform a wireframe render with [Ctrl]+[3]. You 06 landscape, you can go to the Skin properties
you’ll be able to see the scene from a viewpoint of can change the parameters of the landscape in the pane (below Settings in the Properties list for
your choice. You can also create a Parallel Light: press Scene Tree to the right. Click ‘Landscape0’, then choose Landscape0) and change the Evolution and the Roughness.
[Shift]+[A] and move the origin to the place you want. Settings from the Properties list that appears below. You can Experiment with different values, and see the results of an
Now go to your camera view via Window > New > Camera. use the bottom pane to set the grid resolution. You can also OpenGL render in your Camera view by pressing [Ctrl]+[4].
activate the function to have objects cast shadows here.

Once you’ve defined the basic terrain, you can add Before performing a test render, you need to apply Now to set up the shadows under Parallel Light. Set
07 a sky from the library. From Window > New > Library, 08 a texture to the landscape. Select ‘Area1 (full)’, which 09 the shadows to ON using Disable in the right-click
right-click inside the blank Library window and open appears below Landscape when you press the plus menu. Set Generate Map to First Frame: it may go
the file sky30. It has a list of different skies that you can drag icon. Go to ‘Default material’, then right-click, select Add and back to Never, so be sure to check when you add or change
and drop into your scene. For our sample scene, we’re using choose Texture. Click File in the bottom pane to import a file: geometry. Set Size to 1024, and pick ‘Intensity interpolation’
rainy1, removing the clouds and sun and changing the we’re using T_N_4.bmp. Check the placement of the image, with both the a-buffer and extra details active. We’re ready to

gradient colours. and be sure to activate Super Sampling. do a Production Render of the Camera view with [Ctrl]+[7].

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TUTORIALS | Virtual landscapes

STAGE THREE | Landscape areas and objects

Now to start placing objects on the landscape, Click the new area (it’s called Area 2 by default) and, You can now adjust parameters for the objects. In
10 starting with rocks. First, you need to define areas 11 under Properties, right-click ‘Area 2: ON’ and select 12 the Rotate section, set all the max angles to 180
where the objects are going to be placed. To do this, Add. Select ‘Clusters of Shaded Objects’. Now open and the min angles to -180 to get a random rotation
go to the Top view and select Landscape on the Scene Tree. the Library and use right-click to open the stone20 library. on the stones. In Size & Density, change the minimum and
Some icons will appear at the right of the top bar. Click the Drag some of the stones into the Object List window of your maximum height of the objects, as well as the minimum
Create Area icon and draw a shape, then click the right mouse ‘Clusters of Shaded Objects’ property. Once you have some separation. The Random Seed at the bottom is important,
button when you’re done. stones, you’ll see that they’re distributed inside your area. because it will define the distribution.

STAGE FOUR | Dealing with trees and grass

To place trees at the back of the scene, create a new Once you have the trees in the area, adjust the Size Card trees would look unrealistic in the foreground,
13 area far from the camera. Draw it on the Top view, 14 & Density and Rotation as with the stones, but this 15 so we have to use 3D geometry. In the libraries, we
but monitor it in the Camera view to ensure the time use only 10 degrees on the X and Y max angle, have a choice of tree types that we can use in our
correct placement. Using the method from step 11, add and -10 degrees on the min. That way, the trees will bend scenes. Create a new area in the middle of the landscape and
Scattered Vegetation to the area. Via the Objects List, add more naturally when rendered. These objects are cards add Scattered Vegetation, then open the plants20 library and
plants from the xplants library. We’re using WillowFamily. (simplified trees), so they’ll render very quickly. go to the ‘spruses’ [sic] section under Trees.

From the Library, drag SpruceServian and Under Placement, make Tiling 1/1 and Soft Edge The next step is to add grass. Create a new area
16 SpruceSmall trees to the area’s Objects List. In each 17 0.01/0.01. Use Pyramidal filtering with a scale of 2. 18 close to your camera. Open the Library, select
object’s Material Tree, select the firtrunk material, Under Rotate, change the X and Y settings to 8. grass20 and drag the Meadow 2 object onto the
then right-click on Phong Photometry, select Add and choose Activate the Cast Shadow option in Shadows & Reflections. area you just created. Now we’ll adjust parameters to achieve
Texture. In both the Texture and Bumping objects, click File Adjust Size & Density and Random Seed to suit, using Draft the right look. Start with Blades: set ‘Min angle to horizon’
and select Textures\greenbark.jpg. Preview renders to see how things look. to 50, so that they spread more.

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Virtual landscapes | TUTORIALS

STAGE FOUR (continued) | Dealing with trees and grass

EXPERT TIP i
Incremental renders
A good way to get faster feedback
from any changes you make is to
use the incremental design step
system built into WorldBuilder.
After any render, you can select
Tools > Incremental Design Step
Forward. WorldBuilder stores all the
information about the Z position in
each pixel, freezing the render as
a background image and hiding the
rendered elements on trees. You can
Adjust the Clumps and Patches parameters, and Using the same technique, create another area in
accurately render new elements on
19 keep doing Draft Preview renders to see if the 20 front of the camera to place smaller grass. To add
top of your previous render to assess
placement is good. If not, change the seed until more diversity, create an additional area that covers
how different settings work. To go
you’re happy with the results. Take care when performing both grass areas, and add a cluster of vegetation using the
back, just select Incremental Design
a Draft Preview, as the grass may look different here than in CarexFlacca Plant variations from the plants20 library. The
Step Backward.
the final render. Finally, under Colors, change the two Top key is good distribution, so keep changing the Random Seed
Color options to get the look you want. under Size & Density until you find it.

STAGE FIVE | Final touches

The scene just needs a few final details. Tweaks to


21 Ambient Light and Atmosphere usually work well:
you can find both under Scene in the Scene Tree. For
Ambient Light, choose a colour that’s slightly lighter than
black. In Atmosphere, add a Layered 2-Color Fog. Adjust the
parameters so the fog starts far from the camera and isn’t
too thick. The colour should be close to that of your sky.

Now to make some close-up trees. Open the Variator Finally, we’ll add some elements to the foreground balanced. Remember to try out different Random Seed
22 library and drag GrandFir to Landscape0 under Scene. 23 section. We’ll create four additional areas based settings until you get the most pleasing distribution, and
This creates an L-System: a mathematical on Clusters of Vegetation, which we’ll fill with check the provided sample files to get any extra guidance
representation of a tree. You can adjust values such as trunk objects from the plants20 library. Try the object variations you might need. Now you can select Render > Final
size, then click Run L-System to form a tree. Make several and from BIGPINE, StonePine, Weed (found under Extra) and Rendering and choose the output location for your file. If you
drag them into the landscape. Orient each with Rotate, then Cabomba_Piauhyensis (under Water Plants). Create the areas want a high-resolution image, the render will be split into
press the Landing button in the toolbar to properly align it. and place the objects so the distribution looks nice and parts and then automatically stitched together. ●

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