Precise terrain generation

[Jahred]

Hello,

Don't you think it would be interesting to consider the creation of a new procedural terrain generation plugin on 3ds Max? It is typically a very complementary tool to yours : knowing that scattering tools are improving in the engines, they are taking shares on Forest Pro (Chaos Scatter). I think it would be a good additional asset that would complement and work in synergy with your software suite.

In bulk, the software present in the landscape is either incomplete or abandoned:

- SplineLand, the most accurate with really smart retopology tool but development abandoned years ago, buggy

- TerrainAxe, accurate but requires a lot of manual manipulations to get it right, not sure if you can give precise level points. No idea how it will feel in use

- CityScape, too "rough" when you have precise levels to represent, it's more for large scale urban and its zoning system seems well thought out

Start again from the SplineLand spirit with the retopology improvements integrated to max these last years + zoning synergy like "CityScpae" with Forest and RailClone in support. It would be a dream

When SplineLand crashes too often, I cobble together a manual system with splines, projection modifiers and the retopology + terrain tool. But it's not as efficient.

If anyone has an efficient plugin that I missed, the reference is welcome.

[iToo]

Hi,

If that helps, in the past i played with World Machine, and it was really nice. It's a separate app, but can export to Max and other engines without problems.

Regarding if we would write our own terrain plugin... it's an interesting idea, but unfortunately our resources are very limited, and currently dedicated to support Forest and RailClone.

[Jahred]

Thank you for your answer, resource constraints are of course a priority... but don't lose sight of this plugin possibility that integrates really well with your software offer.

I had already tested World Machine at the time but once again it was too "macro", we often need precise levels in cut and fill, slope, precise ground work driven by splines.

I hope that a more complete and precise terrain solution will be available in the next few years.

[Jahred]

Hello,

I'm taking the liberty of digging this topic out of the ground. Have your plans evolved since then?

Forest pro is a mature software, there's still room for improvement but it will settle down, the software is mature.

Railclone still has room for improvement and could benefit from a terrain editor, urban at plot scale, quite precise.

I'd imagine a plan editor with precise line control (a la Revit) that lets you edit zones or lines with elevations on the points to create the terrain and place Forest & Railclone objects on it. Max's surveying tools have come a long way and can be used to some extent.

I repeat, an easy control tool for urban & natural zoning is missing and it's a time-consuming and difficult task to get it right. There's TerrainAxe, but it seems a very/too complete factory that must scare users. It should remain a precise but simple management positioning tool for yours plugins, inspired by Civil3D or Revit. I misspoke last time, it's not procedural, rather precise control of zones based on an architect's plan on a small, medium scale.

At the moment, Max is problematic for the task, it's quite unreadable to work with a complete scene and you always have to move 4-5 splines for a change of a few centimetres in one place, select the right spline if the zones overlap, etc. And paradoxically this is partly due to the different, overlapping Forest and Railclone in the scene.

Personally, I'm starting to use Revit for the task as their topo tools have been evolving in recent years, but hey...

[Michal Karmazín]

As my colleague mentioned earlier, the idea is indeed interesting. However, due to our limited resources and a full development schedule, we are unable to pursue it at the moment. We will certainly consider it for future evaluation. Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,

[Tobias Jansson]

VUE is now made free by Bently Systems. I used it quite a lot in the past to create terrain. Perhaps that is an option?
/Tobias