Creating and Surfacing a 1-Polygon Mountain

 

Note: these instructions are for LightWave 7.5. To find commands in other versions use Alt-F10.

 

  1. In Modeler, create a box. Type n and set the dimensions as desired (e.g. width and depth of 2 meters, height 0).
  2. Select the bottom and side faces and press Delete, so that you have only a plane left for the top. (This doesn’t appear to be necessary in v9 if you haven’t given it any height.)
  3. Make it into a subpatch surface by pressing Tab.
  4. Save it and open it in Layout. 
  5. It appears less smooth in layout because the default subdivision level setting in layout is 3 instead of 6. The subdivision layout can be changed in the Object Properties window (geometry tab). Change it to 7 for display and 10 for render.
  6. At this point you can make it into a landscape by using a Displacement Map. We’ll use a procedural displacement. Open the Object Properties window, and click the Deform tab.
    1. Click the T for Displacement Map.
    2. In the Layer Type dropbox, click Procedural Texture.
    3. Select the Crumple Procedural Type.
    4. In the Falloff tab, set the X and Z values to about 50%.
    5. Adjust Texture Value and Small Power to get the look you want.
  7. You can also experiment with other procedural displacements to get other sorts of landscape.
  8. Get the camera in a position in which it has a nice view of the landscape. To do so, go to camera view and control-drag or control-right-click-drag to adjust the camera. Add a keyframe.
  9. Press F9 to render a frame.
  10. To apply a surface, open the Surface Editor. Open the Color Channel Texture Editor by clicking on the T button for the Color Channel.
  11. Change the Layer Type to Procedural, and set the Procedure to Crumple.
  12. Click the Add Layer button and add a Gradient layer. (It should be above the crumple layer in the list.)
  13. In the Rendering Options window, turn on VIPER (in version 9, click the Render tab and click VIPER on the left).
  14. Click in the gradient box to add another key near the bottom. Change the color of the top key to dark green.  Add a key in the middle and make it brown.
  15. Press F9 to render a frame. Adjust gradient box to get the look you like.
  16. The mountain is too smooth. You can make it bumpier by adding bump mapping. To do so, in the Surface Editor, click the T button by Bump.  Turbulence is fine.
  17. Set the layer type to Procedural, and leave the procedure set to Turbulence.
  18. Enter texture scale values of about 1-10% of the size of your plane. (If you created a plane 1m on a side, enter scale values of 10 mm.)
  19. Click ^F5 to bring up the backdrop editor. Add sky and clouds. (Double-click the sky tracer to set options.)
  20. Render a frame and admire your mountains. Say “oooh” and “aah.”

SkyTracer2 instructions for Lightwave 9

 

  1. Create a new scene in Layout.
  2. Under the Render tab, enable VIPER. Render a frame with F9, click Continue, and then render a frame in VIPER.
  3. Select Windows -> Backdrop options.  Click the Add Environment tab and select SkyTracer 2. Double-click the SkyTracer 2 line to open the options window.
  4. Under the Clouds tab, click Enable Clouds. Viper should show clouds in the sky.
  5. Sky Tracer should have added a light representing the sun, called SKT_Sun. Click the Sun Position tab to set the desired time of day, etc.
  6. Experiment with the other settings.
  7. Note that SkyTracer can take some time to render. You may wish to ‘Bake’ the sky – make it into an image that can be loaded as a background much more quickly. Click the SkyBaker button to bake the sky.