Cave Creation

repete

Hello all

I need a cave system and I am wondering what is the best way to approach this. I bought world machine a while back and I am thinking it may be a quick way to create it e.g
export a small terrain from WM, edit this in mudbox (to make look like a cave system)
flip the mesh 90° in modo and then create the cave floor.

Cave system done with uv's.

Have any of you done this ? is there a better way ?

Cheers
pete

Twister3

Maybe [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnnWNvvsP3s"]this [/ame]is what you are looking for? With this technique he was able to get some pretty cool results: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwyYOOxTRqY"]Level Design Part1 Plastelina New Version HD - YouTube[/ame].

repete

Plastelina looks very cool but I can't envisage myself modeling that in modo (would take me years:polytwitch:). I guess I need to experiment with wm & mudbox as a cave is a form of terrain, just upside down. Could probably just create two terrain types as a base: roof / floor and add in the details in mudbox.

mudbox has serious terrain capabilities that I have yet to explore !

Thanks for the input

Twister3

I'm sure modo has some deformers like lattice in Maya or FFD modifier in Max. You could also think about extruding it along a spline as seen here [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk56bjGHhMI"]Maya - Special Polygon Extrude Technique!! - TUTORIAL - YouTube[/ame]
So I'd make about five to ten modular pieces and use decals and bigger structures which will be scattered around the cave to create a unique look.

Mark Dygert

There was an article about generating caves procedurally from a few different noise algorithms. I believed they used Maya and a bit of scripting to create procedural modular caves based on privatize shapes. It seemed like it was doable in other packages that had access to procedural noise modifiers, but they managed to automate the process and customize it so you ended up with more cave like details.

Sadly all google likes to cough up these days are crappy links associated with minecraft...

repete

Thanks guys

I am looking for high detail and below is a quick terrain exported from mw to modo and flipped:



I did this in 10 mins btw !!!

I guess the problem areas would be the sides.

Angry Beaver

To me 'cave' is to generic, are we talking spelunking, are we talking lair? Do people live in it is it in a damp environment, is there game-play?

How i'd approach making the entire thing depends upon a lot of factors. but mainly I'd block out the entire flow of the cave system with quads, drop it into something like mudbox and then go nuts with a few custom brushes that best describe the rock formations I consider appropriate.

ActionDawg

Mark Dygert wrote: »

There was an article about generating caves procedurally from a few different noise algorithms. I believed they used Maya and a bit of scripting to create procedural modular caves based on privatize shapes. It seemed like it was doable in other packages that had access to procedural noise modifiers, but they managed to automate the process and customize it so you ended up with more cave like details.

Sadly all google likes to cough up these days are crappy links associated with minecraft...

probably an obvious question but have you tried adding -minecraft to your query? that usually gets all the crap filtered out

fade1

i would lowpoly sculpt your base environment and then use displacment map(s) from your sculpt app to get nice topology. tiling texture make it easier. add some normalmapping for fine detail.

Sandro

I'd just make modular rocks, ridges, stone formations, stalagmites, couple that with custom shape geometry with tiling texture/normal and assemble it in engine.

Sculpting or generating whole thing might work but I doubt texture resolution will hold up when player starts walking inside and checking out stuff.

repete

The game is horror sci-fi fps (think of a mix between prometheus & dead space).

I was watching this awesome tutorial from Wenda:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0o3bqoM0Qg"]How to create a terrain for Cryengine and UDK Part 1/8 - YouTube[/ame]

It got me thinking about creating a cave system based around the same technique. I want it to look natural and it wont be a massive level as it will just be an open place to connect to an underground alien world but it would be prudent to have it looking as real as possible which definitely poses some texturing problems. It might be better to use mega texturing but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Below are some inspirational pics for the game from Wayne Haag, David Levy and Alex Kozhanov:











Thanks for all your input and ideas !!!

Pete :thumbup: