Terrain Erosion

 

 

After configuring the desired parameters, click on the Erode button to apply erosion. This makes the terrain appear more weathered and affected by forces of nature.

 

To apply the erosion effects, you must have already generated a Terrain grid.

 

Preferably, you'll want to already have a fair amount of detail built into the terrain height field, either through the use of a base map (DreamScape Noise is perfect for this function) within the Generate Terrain rollout, or through the use of the Paint Texture Map option. The Terrain Erosion algorithms look for variances within the existing height field where realistic water channels might have existed.

 

A simple gradient , or minimally painted height field will not show nearly the effects of the same erosion settings as will a detailed height field.

 

Simple Map w/Erosion	Detailed Map w/Erosion

 

 

Iterations - This option controls the number of erode iterations.

 

For each iteration step, erosion calculations are conducted over each segment of the Terrain grid. Many iterations will produce more aged and eroded terrain surfaces, but it will take more time to complete the calculations.

 

Erode - Clicking this button will take the current Erosion settings and apply them to the height field.

 

 

Water Erosion

Water Capacity - With higher values, more soil will appear to be carried by the "water" and will result in faster terrain erosion.

 

Water Capacity = 2.0	Water Capacity = 5.0	Water Capacity = 10.0

 

Soil Softness - This spinner determines the soil softness (how quickly the water will erode the soil).

 

Soil Softness = 0.1	Soil Softness = 0.3	Soil Softness = 0.8

 

Sedimentation - This spinner determines the apparent sedimentation of the Terrain.

 

Sedimentation = 0.03	Sedimentation = 0.1	Sedimentation = 0.5

 

 

Thermal Weathering

Strength - This spinner determines the thermal weathering strength.

 

Strength = 0.5	Strength = 10.0

 

Erosion Angle - This option determines the thermal erosion angle.

 

Erosion Angle = 0.1	Erosion Angle = 1.0	Erosion Angle = 5.0