Getting Started
with VNS 3: Roads &
Buildings
Part 7D. Overlapping Terraffectors
1. Let's add a dirt road to take
us into the development. Go to the Terrain Task Mode,
right-click Terraffectors, and Add Component from Gallery.
2. Load Dirt Road from
the Component
Gallery.
3. Go with the default Ecosystem
Elevation scaling option.
4. Add the Cabin Road
vector to the Dirt Road Terraffector and confirm.
5. Save the project and render
a Cabin Plan preview.
6. Activate the Road view
and render a preview. There are 2 functions of a Terraffector:
to modify terrain and render Ecosystems. In the Road view you
can see the interplay of both functions. Terrain-wise, the 2
Lane Highway Terraffector cuts into the Dirt Road. On the Ecosystem
front, the Dirt Road Ecosystems are rendering on top of the 2
Lane Highway.
7. Let's look at the terrain
issue first. Go to the Dirt Road Terraffector Editor and General page. If you switch between
the Dirt Road and 2 Lane Highway, you'll see they
have the same Priority and Evaluation Order. The
same Priority allows them to overlap, which is good. The same
Evaluation Order means VNS flips a coin to see which affects
the terrain last, in this case the 2 Lane Highway. You should
never leave Evaluation Orders the same and let VNS roll the dice.
8. We want the Dirt Road to fill
in the 2 Lane Highway ditch. To make the Dirt Road evaluate last
it needs the lowest Evaluation Order. It can't be less than 1
so go to the 2 Lane Highway and increase its Evaluation Order
to 2.
9. Save the project and render
a preview. The Dirt Road affects the terrain last and fills in
the highway ditch. Now for the Ecosystems placed by the two Terraffectors.
Notice that the 2 Lane Highway Terraffector's Asphalt
Ecosystem has render priority over the Dirt Road Terraffector's
Gravel. The remaining 2 Lane Highway Ecosystems have a
lower priority than the Dirt Road Gravel.
10. Go to the 2 Lane Highway
Terraffector
Editor and Edit Cross-section
Profile. Select each of the first three points and you'll
see they have a Priority of 2. The fourth point rendering Gravel
has a Priority of 1 and the last two points on the road shoulder
have a Priority of 0. Move this profile to one side of the screen.
11. Switch to the Dirt Road
Terraffector
Editor and Edit Cross-section
Profile. Click and drag its titlebar to move it away from
the other profile. Except for the last point, all nodes have
a Priority of 2, the same as the 2 Lane Highway's Asphalt
Ecosystem. Just like Evaluation Order, you should not leave Priority
the same for overlapping Terraffector segments unless you don't
care who renders when.
12. We'd like the 2 Lane Highway
Asphalt Ecosystem to have render priority over everything
else. Go to its profile and increase the Priority of each
Asphalt segment to 3.
13. The 2 Lane Highway Gravel,
ShortGrass, and TallGrass Ecosystems should have
the lowest priority of all Terraffector-placed Ecosystems. The
grass segments already do. Select the Gravel point and
change its Priority to 0.
14. We'd like the Dirt Road Gravel
Ecosystem to have render priority over the 2 Lane Highway shoulder
Ecosystems but not the Asphalt. Go to its profile and change
all Priority values to 1 except the last one, which
is already 1.
15. Keep the changes to
both profiles.
16. Save the project and render
a preview.
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