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Author Topic: Visualize DF in Blender  (Read 2063 times)

zetathix

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Visualize DF in Blender
« on: October 09, 2018, 11:39:36 am »

I use exported maps from DF legend and modeling a 3D scenery in Blender 2.80. This scenery is around 1/40 of the whole map. This is inspiring from Isoworld tool.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Different map.
Whole map.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Cloud is particle system which using rainfall map.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Starver

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2018, 12:36:06 pm »

Very good. I've used Blender to work on the 'ASCII' data maps (and some DFHack data) for a less photorealistic and more "3d Matrix-like default graphics made flesh" alternative, in the past, for a more in-joke version of rendering, but it looks like you've gone towards a quite attractive visualisation tool. My hat off to you.

(Is it just a snapshot? I imagine you could you further process a series of renderings into a movie-sequence)
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Telgin

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2018, 01:24:30 pm »

That's really cool.  I've never done anything like this in Blender, so how did you import the map data?  Using a Python script?  And is all of that procedurally generated or are you hand modeling the terrain after importing it?
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zetathix

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2018, 09:07:46 am »

Thank you for your reply guys.

I didn't do any hand modeling, What I do is simply based on displacement, composite shaders and particle system (because python is beyond myself). I use elevation (el) map as displacement source on subdivided flat plane, for the whole land mesh.
And other plane to make whole water surface, same process but with water elevation map.

Cloud layer is a plane which mapping with rainfall (rain) map, and use the map to control size and density of cloud particle system which generate on the plane. Trees are the same method with vegetative
 (veg) map but generate particles on land mesh.

So this way I can change textures and get a new world map any time.

But this method is too heavy with poly count from huge high-subdiv terrains. So I splited land and ocean plane to smaller chunks, so I can push more subdiv to the area where I want to render.
Blender version I use is 2.80, which already have EEVEE, a realtime renderer, which is nice to play with the shader and lighting.

I already plan to do some fly-by with timelapse lighting, but I just want to push more limit to the look first, try my best to reach the level to the 'world creator' app quality but it seems difficult by how heavy the scene is, and the way blender manage the scene. But I still want to try new way to make it looks better and use resources cheaper while not compromise with quality too much.

On some past days I try to compositing procedural textures by using exported map as masks. This is the result, but still not quality I want to render as sequence.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Cathar

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2018, 10:25:54 am »

This looks absolutely stunning, especially the sunset one

Madman198237

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2018, 12:53:53 pm »

PTW

Amazing work, absolutely amazing.
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mightymushroom

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2018, 02:20:59 pm »

Gorgeous views.

What I really like is how easy it is to recognize the terrain elements (in particular the shapes of the streams in these pictures) and think, "Yes, this IS what a Dwarf Fortress map looks like if only the game rendered it in 3D." I realize this isn't a full-fledged plug-in visualizer, but now I'm dreaming . . .

"Alrighty, mates, that there's the Mountain of Destination right in front of us. Another day or so on the wagons and then we'll be Striking the Earth!"
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Imic

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2018, 01:28:53 am »

The mountain of destination, in the range of where we’re going.
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snow dwarf

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Re: Visualize DF in Blender
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2018, 10:09:18 am »

PTW
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