Colour gradient using UVW map

[iToo_Butler]

I am using Forest pack to place some stones along a wall to create a wave breaker along a coastal road. Is there a way to give them some colour variation so the rocks at the top look normal, but as the rocks get lower towards the sea they turn green like they are covered in seaweed? I have a blend material setup with two materials. One normal rock and one with a green tint and a gradient to control the blend but when I apply a UVW map to the forest pack it all disappears.

Any advice?

Cheers.

[Paul Roberts]

Hi,

We don't recommend adding any Modifiers to a Forest object because it disables instancing but it should still render. If you are using Points-Cloud display mode you may find though that it disappears in the viewports. As an alternative there are a couple of ways you might be able to achieve this using Forest Colour or if you're a V-Ray user, using V-RayDistanceTex that maintain full instancing support.

Using Forest Colour:


* Create your wall using a vertical surface and using Forest's UV mode to place the bricks. Make sure the surface is UVmapped.
* Create your blend material as normal but add a Forest Colour map to the Blend Amount map slot.
* In the Forest Colour map, turn on Tint > Override.
* Check Get Colour from Map.
* Add a Gradient Ramp to Tint map slot.
* Set the Blending mode to Normal.
.

Using VRayDistanceTex
This technique has the advantage of allowing you to create a gradient that follows an undulating terrain.


* Create the wall however you want. It isn't important for this technique.
* Create a solid ground object, this will be used to drive the distance based gradient.
* Create your Blend material as normal but add a VRayDistanceTex map to the Blend Amount map slot.
* In the VRayDistanceTex material, add the ground object to the list of VRayDistanceTex Objects.
* Adjust the Distance value to control the size of the gradient.

I've attached a file to illustrate both these approaches. I hope it helps but if you have any other questions please just let me know.

Many thanks!

Paul

[iToo_Butler]

Thanks Paul,

It might just be my blending mode in that case as I had setup exactly how your first option shows. I will give both of these options a go. Thank you for the great answer once again!