Getting Started
with VNS 3: Fields
& Forest
Part 5B. Ground Effect Materials
1. If we're going to make this
look like Yellowstone, we need to change the Western Desert
ground to look more like a series of volcanic deposits. Go to
the Ground
Editor Material page.
2. Select Show Advanced Features
 on the titlebar
to reveal the Material Gradient.
3. Click Show Material Controls
 at the right
end of the gradient to access Material Gradient controls.
4. This Ground Effect is made
up of 2 Materials, Flat and Steep, controlled by
a Material Gradient. The left color pin is the Flat
Material and the right pin is Steep.
5. What controls the gradient?
Click the Material Gradient Driver Texture Operations  button and
Edit Texture.
6. The texture is a Dynamic
Parameter, one that changes depending on a project parameter.
In this case, Slope is the Parameter controlling the texture.
The slope goes from an Input Low of 0° to an Input High of
90°, which are the same numbers that appear at each end of
the Material Gradient. This texture is using terrain slope to
place the Flat and Steep Materials. Close the editor.
7. To see all the Flat
Material properties, make its pin active and Show Material
Controls  to
hide the controls.
8. The Selected Material
section shows that the Flat Material has a Diffuse Color
texture. When there's a texture, it supersedes the color well.
When the texture has transparency, the color well color will
show through.
9. Select the Diffuse Color well
to open its Color
Editor. Change the color to yellow: Red 255, Green
255, and Blue 0. You can also pick a color from
one of the Swatches, or create a Swatch of your own and
add it to the Components\Image\Color Swatch folder.
10. Keep the color and
Disable the Diffuse Color texture.
11. Click the right pin in the
Material Gradient to make the Steep Material active.
12. Change its color to blue:
Red 0, Green 0, and Blue 255.
13. Keep the color and
Disable the Diffuse Color texture.
14. Disable the Strata
channel.
15. Save the project and render
a preview. Simple colors are a good way to evaluate Ground Effect
and Ecosystem coverage.
16. The blue Steep Material
needs to render farther down the slope. Show Diagnostic Data and click and drag at the base of the
foreground hills to see the slope values. They range from about
20° to 30°.
17. Show Material Controls
for the Material
Gradient. We'd like a sharper transition between Flat
and Steep Materials somewhere around 20°. Select the
yellow Flat pin and change its Position to 20%.
18. Select the blue Steep
pin and enter a Position value of 30%. Flat Material
will give way to Steep Material between 20% and 30% of 90°,
or between 18° and 27°.
19. Hide the Material Controls.
Save the project and render a preview.
20. That's the transition we're
looking for. Enable the Diffuse Color Texture and
Strata channels. Select the Flat Material pin in
the Material Gradient and enable its Diffuse Color Texture.
21. Save the project and render
a preview.
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