Topic: Displacing a mesh to make a simple terrain in Blender

[kat]

Make a simple terrain in Blender using Displace

Making a terrain need not be too difficult an exercise. Using the latest version of Blender the following video tutorial runs through the process of using a subdivided mesh to make a simple terrain using a heightmap to 'displace' the object to form a simple terrain-like surface. An effective and straightforward time-saving solution for producing game ready terrains with relatively little effort.

 - for more detail and example file click here

[ratty redemption]

kat, is this an updated version of the tutorial you posted last week?

[kat]

Not updated per-say. It uses the same heightmap and goes through the same process as before, displacing a mesh, just from the point of view of the newer versions of Blender. Using the same image for displacement means people can see what's going on as a direct comparison between the two versions of the application without worrying too much about incidental issues.

[ratty redemption]

understood, and cool, i'll go watch this one as well. i previously thought you might of uploaded it again due to your site maintenance.

[Lawrence D’Oliveiro]

You don’t actually have to attach the texture to a material before using it in a displace modifier. In the Textures tab, you will see 3 icons for selecting what type of texture you want to set: Material, World or Brush. Pick Brush, set up your texture there, then attach it in the displace modifier.

[kat]

You can bypass adding the material to the mesh itself if you want (it makes no odds really other than later on when texturing the mesh), but using a 'brush' texture provides no advantage to simply setting up a 'normal' slot and assigning that to the modifier instead. It also potentially means you have additional data to clean up and prep for exporting as not all scripts can read that particular type of slot set up.

In addition to the aforementioned you also need to keep in mind the context of the video, it's for people 'new' to the whole process, so the suggestion of using brushes over complicates the knowledge being presented. In those instances it's best to keep things simple.

[kat]

Comment from YouTube mentioned using 'Subdivide' properties when creating the mesh. This can be used but it must be noted that it doesn't divide the mesh in the same way as 'simple' (or 'standard') subdivision - the difference equates to standard Subdivision dividing faces rather than adding 'cuts' in the mesh as illustrated below. This simply means using higher values for the latter to get an appropriate level of mesh division.

Note however that using "Subdivide" properties limits the "Number of Cuts" to "10" by default so the property may need to be re-applied to gain a denser mesh - which then means any subsequent subdivisions divide and already divided mesh, which typically over-divides without a way to easily reduce the count.

Standard Subdivision is preferred then, as it's easier and quicker, it also divides using 'power of two' so it tends to match pixel distribution better (read that as "without the user thinking about it").