AMARHYS : Modeling and Texturing mountains


This tutorial requires some good knowledge of following 3DS Max tools/functions :

  • Object modifier stack.
  • Gizmo manipulations.
  • Material editor.


Some important notes :

  • To get same result as this tutorial, you have to use generic units (Customize/Units setup... and check [Generic Units]).
  • Screenshots of this tutorial have been rendered using a "Catmull-Rom" Anti-Aliasing (AA).
  • When a parameter value is not specified, keep default value.
  • Do not forget to name all your materials and maps, even if not specified in tutorial.



MODELING MOUNTAINS :


First, let us create mountains geometry :

Now, the map to displace geometry :


Cursor 1 (Pos=0, RGB=0,0,0)

Cursor 2 (Pos=34, RGB=75,75,75)

Cursor 3 (Pos=42, RGB=255,255,255)

Cursor 4 (Pos=73, RGB=255,255,255)

Cursor 5 (Pos=82, RGB=75,75,75)

Cursor 6 (Pos=100, RGB=0,0,0)


You should get something looking like that :



TEXTURING MOUNTAINS :


Now, let us concentrate on mountains material :

For "Ground" material, we need these 2 bitmaps : ground.jpg and grass.jpg

Come back to material editor :

Now, if you render the scene, you should get this :


Notice than ground texture appears on top of mountains. We will fix that later. Now, let's work on rock material.


Unlike ground material, rock material mapping is much complicated. Indeed, mountains geometry is too complex to use a single [UVW Map] modifier. We could use some procedural maps which do not require any mapping coordinates but results are often non-realistic. Finally, we will use a bitmap rock.jpg, two [UVW Map] modifiers and a [Falloff] map.

Come back to material editor :


How to interpret this map : all faces of "Mountain" object whose normal is parallel to mountains local X axis will be mapped with "Bitmap X" texture and all faces whose normal is perpendicular to mountains local X axis will be mapped with "Bitmap Y" texture. All "intermediate" faces will receive a mix between "Bitmap X" and "Bitmap Y" depending on [Falloff] mix curve.


If you render the scene, you should get this :



Now, let us try to improve rock material removing bitmap repeat effects. To do that, we need two [UVW Map] modifiers and several [Mix] maps.

Come back to [Falloff] map used for rock :

If you render the scene again, you should get this :



Last step : update the material so that ground texture does not appear on top of mountains.

Come back to top of "Mountain" material :


Cursor 1 (Pos=0, RGB=0,0,0)

Cursor 2 (Pos=30, RGB=0,0,0)

Cursor 3 (Pos=40, RGB=255,255,255)

Cursor 4 (Pos=100, RGB=255,255,255)


Final map tree :



And final rendering :



>> Download 3DS Max scene >> Download maps

(c)Amarhys - Copyright 2003 Xavier CROUZY webmaster@amarhys.com