Visual Nature Studio 3 Feature of the Week
Years in the making, VNS 3 is the biggest 3D Nature upgrade ever.
With features that immediately benefit everyone from beginner to advanced users, VNS 3 is already producing great results in the projects of visualization experts around the world.Each week our Feature of the Week will focus on one of the new cutting-edge features VNS 3 offers. This week's feature is:
Ecosystem Blending
Another new VNS 3 feature that is a significant departure from previous versions is Ecosystem Blending. Prior to VNS 3, each individual polygon rendered could have one and only one Ecosystem applied to it. Borders where Ecosystems met were defined by hard, triangular, sometimes sawtoothed edges that could only be minimized with increased Fractal Depth. VNS 3 now offers Ecosystem Blending, which computes up to three different Ecosystems for each polygon (one for each corner) and blends between them across the polygon. This results in natural, soft and smooth edges at Ecosystem borders no matter how low your Fractal Depth is.
All Material properties -- including Bump Mapping, Reflectivity, Transparency and even Foliage are cleanly blended across the polygon, resulting in gradual feathering between Ecosystems. This makes close-up environments much more realistic with no need to hide or disguise ecosystem borders. Distant vistas also improve, showing a nice natural progression between landcover types without seams and distinct borders. Nearly every project can benefit from the new VNS 3 Ecosystem Blending.