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Gaea Documentation User Guide
Getting Started
Installing Gaea Your first terrain
Interface
Getting around Startup Screen Viewport Build Manager Preferences Keyboard
Shortcuts Command Reference Status Bar Customize Gaea
Graph
Infinity Graph Toolbox Properties Convenience Features Drag Out Portals and
Chokepoints Predictive System Organizing and Sharing
Using Gaea
Create with Primitives Modify Shapes Pinning Nodes Post Process Stack Eroding
Terrains Look Dev Procedural Textures Build and Export Build Strategies
Understanding Resolution Baking and Caching File Formats File Recovery and
Autosave
Using Erosion Studio
Erosion Studio Basic Sculpting Sculpting Tools Workflow Strategies
Build
Build Types Build Manager Export Meshes Terrain Scale Preparing Terrains for
Tiled Build Build Swarm
Advanced Topics
Automating Gaea Draw with Recipes Fix Artifacts Migrating Terrains Separating
Complex Projects
Bridges
Houdini Preparing TOR files Create a Bridge
Appendix
Troubleshooting with Watson Fix Stairstepping Conflict with Nahimic Parallel
Processing
Node Reference Learning Knowledge Base Version History
Menu
Gaea Docs
Getting Started
Installing Gaea Your first terrain
Interface
Getting around Startup Screen Viewport Build Manager Preferences Keyboard
Shortcuts Command Reference Status Bar Customize Gaea
Graph
Infinity Graph Toolbox Properties Convenience Features Drag Out Portals and
Chokepoints Predictive System Organizing and Sharing
Using Gaea
Create with Primitives Modify Shapes Pinning Nodes Post Process Stack Eroding
Terrains Look Dev Procedural Textures Build and Export Build Strategies
Understanding Resolution Baking and Caching File Formats File Recovery and
Autosave
Using Erosion Studio
Erosion Studio Basic Sculpting Sculpting Tools Workflow Strategies
Build
Build Types Build Manager Export Meshes Terrain Scale Preparing Terrains for
Tiled Build Build Swarm
Advanced Topics
Automating Gaea Draw with Recipes Fix Artifacts Migrating Terrains Separating
Complex Projects
Bridges
Houdini Preparing TOR files Create a Bridge
Appendix
Troubleshooting with Watson Fix Stairstepping Conflict with Nahimic Parallel
Processing
[{"url":"/Guide/index.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Introduction","text":"uid user-guide\r title introduction
welcome welcome to the gaea user guide. the documentation organized to help you
get started with gaea quickly and easily regardless of your skill level.getting
started installing contains instructions on installing gaea. if you are
completely new to terrain design software we recommend starting with the
first-terrain to familiarize yourself with the gaea interface in getting-around.
the using gaea section explains various concepts in detail such as using
primitives to build scenes harnessing the power of erosions to make realistic
terrains procedural color-production using the buildmanager and among many
others.for advanced users the advanced topics section walks you through various
terrain and workflow paradigms in gaea. refer to the reference to learn about
individual nodes their functions and usage
advice."},{"url":"/Guide/Getting-Started/Installing-Gaea.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Installing Gaea","text":"uid installing\r title installing gaea
installationsoftware requirements microsoft .net framework 4.8 or later.
microsoft visual c++ runtime. if either not detected the installer will try to
download them automatically.typical install (recommended) installing gaea simple
process. depending on your installation location you may need administrative
privileges. installing to program files will require admin privileges download
the latest version. run the downloaded .exe file. by default gaea installs to c
program files quadspinner gaea but can be directed to any other folder. for
security purposes we recommend the c program files folder. once setup complete
gaea will launch. follow the on-screen questions to set up your default
preferences. the gaea central project repository and build stacks are placed in
documents gaeaby default. however you can change this folder to any other
location through theinstaller or at any later time via the preferences. the
documents repository where your projects presets build output and other data
kept.choosing either the same folder for both the program and the data folder or
making the data folder sub-folder of the program folder will lead to failure.
make sure the two paths have different roots. at the very least you can setup
root folder with two folders program and data and point the respective paths
there to avoid conflict.clean installation to clean your installation instead of
uninstalling and reinstalling we recommend using the reset settings (clean
install) option in watson.advanced use casescreating portable installation by
default gaea stores its user data in c users [username] appdata roaming
quadspinner gaea(or gaea bleeding edge for bleeding edge version.). you can
force gaea to use the installation folder itself. go to the folder where gaea
installed and create new subfolder called userdata. now when you start gaea it
will use this folder for all user data and settings.you must have write
privileges for this folder. additionally the existing appdata folder will be
ignored. if you want to transfer the same settings copy the contents of the c
users [username] appdata roaming quadspinner gaeafolder into the userdata
subfolder.administrative install and mass deployment see
article-deploymentfloating server this feature currently in development and may
not be available until version 2.0. please contact technical support for an
interim alternative.branchesproduction ready production ready builds are stable
and thoroughly tested both by the qa team and regular users. they are released
1-2 times each month. bleeding edge features are rolled into these builds slowly
once they undergo thorough testing.bleeding edge bleeding edge builds are
released 1 or more times per cycle. they are mostly stable but not fully ready
for production. you get to try new features as they are added and provide early
feedback so we can modify them to your satisfaction.install side-by-side both
builds install to different locations and do not share settings or registry
entries. this gives you the flexibility to try new features without endangering
your work projects.troubleshootingif gaea fails to start ensure gaea.exe and
archon.exe have firewall permissions for local tcp ip communication and are not
being blocked by your antivirus software. ensure you have at least 10gb of free
space in your windows temp directory and in the cache folder set in gaea
preferences. install the latest cpu and gpu drivers. see nahimic if none of
these work run watson and file ticket. our support team will help you figure out
the
problem."},{"url":"/Guide/Getting-Started/Your-First-Terrain.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Your first terrain","text":"uid first-terrain\r title your first
terrain the absolute basics creating terrain in gaea very simple. if you are new
to graph based workflows lets look at how easy it to get realistic mountain in
seconds. if you have worked in graph-based applications you will find it very
easy to use gaea. in fact you will find our conveniences massive boost to your
workflow. you can skip to create simple terrain.using the graph drag the
mountain node from the toolbox and drop it onto the graph. this will create the
mountain node. next find and drag the erosion node and drop it on top of the
mountain node. you will see gaea automatically connects the two for you. the
other way to make nodes to drag line out from one of the ports and drop it into
empty space. in the menu shows up start typing and you will be able to find the
node you want. click the node you want in the list and it will create node and
connect it to where you dragged the line out from.further learning learn more
about the graph conveniences dragout and the learning.create simple terrain the
core gaea workflow is create-modify-erode-texture-export. using the graph
creation process above lets create the following graph. we dont need to change
any settings yet as we will use just the defaults. gaeas defaults are fine-tuned
to give you great results almost every time. if you dont like the shape of the
initial node you can try changing the seed value or using the bulky option in
the mountain node to make it larger.create all terrains start with primitives.
these nodes are divided into core primitives which contain basic shapes and
noises and geoprimitives which provide geological shapes like mountain ridge
crater etc. these serve as the starting point on which you can add further
modifications. you can mix multiple primitives by connecting the output of two
primitives to combine node and using various combination modes.modify
modifications using nodes such as adjustment and filter nodes let you modify the
primitive to change the shape adjust heights or even stylized it. in our case we
will add warp node to add some warping randomness to the shape.erode this the
crucial point for most terrains. erosion what makes your procedural shape look
realistic by performing millennia of geological processing in seconds. you can
use the erosion or wizard nodes to erode the terrain.texture once you have your
terrain ready it needs to be textured and colorized. the texture node great way
to create sophisticated mask made from slope soil and other components. mask
like this needed to colorize the terrain. next use the satmaps node to pick from
over 1400 satellite color maps to flow color through the texture mask.build now
your terrain ready you need to build the terrain to convert the graph into
actual asset files such as displacement maps meshes and texture maps you can
take to your dcc app or game engine. see building for more details.next
stepslearn more read how primitives work in the primitives section. erosion has
many intricacies which are crucial to learn. you can read more about it in
erosions. try the lookdev nodes. they can create entire looks for terrain in
single pass. they can replace or augment erosion nodes. color-production goes
into more detail about how to create color maps. read the other pages of the
using gaea section.tutorials try the following tutorials for more advanced
workflow. tut-hero-mountain
tut-shattered-mountain-lake"},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Getting-around.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Getting around","text":"uid getting-around\r title getting
around the gaea interface the gaea interface sreamlined and minimal. all
essential tools are available within the main interface. it split into 3 main
parts the viewport the graph and the properties panel.viewport the viewports
help you visualize your terrain components as you build the graph. there are 2
viewports the 3d viewport and the 2d viewport. the 2d viewport also doubles as
an editor surface when using nodes such as island or mask. viewport toolbar
gives you access to all the options for both the viewports and the lighting for
the terrain. for further details see viewport.graph surface the graph the core
of gaea. this where you take nodes from the toolbox and implement them on the
graph surface. the toolbox menu allows you to change the toolboxs configuration
such as full size or expert mode. the graph can be split into multiple tabs
which are shown above the nodes. the tabs also share space with key graph tools
on the far right such as pinned nodes the baking menu and more.the corner menu
in the graph gives you additional options to move nodes between graphs for
further details see graph.properties panel the properties panel lets you modify
the nodes on the graph surface. when you select node the properties for it will
be visible here. the post process stack available at the bottom of the
properties panel. these adjustment options can help you skip the need to create
additional nodes. between these the apply lock button. if node takes long time
to process and has been marked as heavy or you have toggled auto apply changes
to the node properties are not applied until you click apply. for further
details see properties. this are also lets you switch to the build tab which
houses the build manager. for further information see buildmanager. below the
build manager controls the terrain definition. this where you can control the
arbitrary scale of your terrain. for further information see scale.toolbars
beyond the graph and viewport toolbars there are other toolbars across the
interface. at the top the main toolbar shared with the title bar to give you
maximum workspace area. it gives you access to key file commands and lets you
change the resolution and quality of the viewport. the main menu accessed by
clicking the gaea title. on the far right you can change the scale of the ui.
you can also see the version and edition of gaea you are using. in the bottom
right corner of the interface there are few advanced options for caching and
memory optimization. for further details see
cache."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Startup.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Startup Screen","text":"title startup screen\r uid startup
startup screen the startup screen your main entry point into gaea.project screen
on the right side you have all the commands you need to get started. on the left
side you can access the most recently opened projects.load license if your
installation not authorized with license key you will find the enter license key
button under the gaea logo. you can also access it from the about menu. without
license gaea will revert to the community edition with resolution
restrictions.commands command description - new project creates new project
using the default template. right-click for alternate templates. open project
opens an existing tor project file. sculpt existing terrain see erosion studio
options. further details below. open quickstart browse through the collection of
quickstarts and example files ships with gaea. recent files list of recently
opened files. right-click for additional options. new version when new version
available.open modes when opening gaea file you can choose one of the following
modes either in the file dialog or by right-clicking the recent files list in
the startup screen. open mode description - normal opens the file normally.
force low resolution forces the file to use 512 x 512 preview resolution. this
useful when your file saved with high resolution preview setting and you do not
want to wait for the high resolution previews to build. session cache ignored in
this mode. open and suspend engine the file opened at the saved resolution and
session caches are also loaded. however the suspend engine option in the graph
turned on so the nodes are not processed until the engine resumed manually. this
useful for making quick adjustments to file without waiting for previews to
build. menu commands the menu in the top right gives you access to additional
options. menu command description - preferences opens the preferences dialog.
disable 3d viewport this option lets you disable the 3d viewport and replace it
with the 2d viewport. this can be helpful for diagnosing problems working in
only the 2d view or quickly changing the settings in an existing file for
building. help takes you to this documentation. about displays version and other
information for the installed version of gaea. exit exits gaea.erosion studio
project commands description - new sculpt imports an existing heightfield into
erosion studio to begin new sculpting project. open project opens previously
saved sculpting project to resume work or reapply the procedural sculpt on an
updated heightmap. version updates clicking the new version command lets you see
the release notes and changelog for any new versions are released. you can
review the notes and choose to upgrade.when possible gaea will try to use patch
upgrade to reduce the download size and avoid using unnecessary bandwidth on
your internet connection.quickstarts the quickstarts browser lets you open
examples and technique demonstration projects ship with
gaea."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Viewport.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Viewport","text":"uid viewport\r title viewport the viewport
your primary method of examining and exploring terrains. it provides heavy duty
3d view of your terrain at different resolutions. gaeas viewport harnesses the
powerful unity engine and has been deeply customized to fit advanced terrain
systems. the viewport can process an 8.3 million polygon terrain in milliseconds
allowing you to work at high resolution. 3d viewport alt and mouse left to drag.
can be customized in preferences. wasd for directional movement. q and e for up
and down. mouse wheel for zooming. mouse middle for panning. space to re-center
on the terrain.when using stylus you may need to adjust the sensitivity for
panning zooming and other movements. you can change the sensitivity in
preferences. the toolbar on the side has the following commands 3d viewport
first person mode (temporarily unavailable) toggle 2d viewport lighting and
viewport settings 3d shading autolevel simple mode equalized mode (only visible
with 2d maps)viewport settings the viewport settings let you modify the look of
your viewport. for details of the lighting options see light. the colors section
lets you modify the color gradients used for rendering the heightfields terrain
and data mask outputs. you can optionally autolevel or reverse the terrain
gradient. the water section lets you use the optional water surface. this
superficial element does not affect the actual terrain or any nodes.first person
view the first person view has been temporarily removed from gaea. it will be
added again soon.2d viewport the 2d viewport provides flat previews with
pixel-to-pixel accuracy. in many situations especially when dealing with masks
you can see visual data may not be readily visible in the 3d viewport. the 2d
view available directly in the main window alongside the 3d view when activated
from the main toolbar in the top left. it can also be opened as separate window
through the graph toolbar in the bottom right. mouse wheel for zooming. mouse
middle for panning.2d mode the 2d mode lets you see an orthographic view of the
terrain. additionally you can right-click the viewport to select secondary
outputs if node provides them. for example you can see the erosion nodes wear or
flow output without having to plug it into another node. by default the
secondary output will be overlaid on the terrain. you can turn off the 3d
shading in the toolbar to see the mask by itself.plain autolevel view this mode
shows basic heightfield with minimal lighting. 2d maps are shown in grayscale
with black representing lower areas and white representing higher areas. this
great way to examine your terrain from an unbiased perspective especially when
dealing with 2d data such as data map outputs secondary output from erosion and
so on.you can change the gradient representing the mask color gradient in the
viewport settings.equalized mode if the 2d view too difficult to see the
equalized mode emphasizes the image to help you see better. this particularly
helpful when working with delicate masks and other 2d maps. the equalization
process superficial and does not affect the actual terrain. the mask color
gradient even more useful in this
context."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Build-Manager.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Build Manager","text":"uid build-manager\r title build manager
the build manager the build manager gives you easy access to crucial output
preferences. it accessed by the build tab in the sidebar. mark for exportnode
list the node list shows you all the nodes marked for export. you can
temporarily toggle node by clicking the checkbox next to the node. this does not
affect the build only the output. this can be useful when you just want to see
few specific outputs or you need to go back to rebuild an older project for
selective output. when node has multiple outputs such as the erosion and breaker
nodes in this example you can individually toggle which ports should be saved as
files.build settings you can define the output settings for your terrain. these
settings are used for the build process which will create the asset output from
your graph. you can choose platform game engine specific properties here.build
destination you can choose the build folder and other options in this section.
build switches are available from the dropdown icon in the build button. the
build button starts the final build process.terrain definition the terrain
definition lets you choose the overall scale interpretation of the terrain -
both overall size and altitude. for more information on terrain scale and
definition see scale. for further details on how to use the build manager see
building."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Preferences.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Preferences","text":"uid preferences\r title preferences
preferences the preferences dialog gives you easy access to common preferences.
it can be accessed from the gaea main menu. you can also access it from the
startup dialog.workspace toolbox this option allows you to set the look of the
toolbox buttons. the icon option shows the toolbox buttons as icons. the labels
option shows labels in the toolbox along with small icons. you can select the
hide option to hide the toolbox. nodes lets you select the node size in graph.
three options are available small medium and large. connections you can select
from 4 types of connections efficient straight bezier and circuit. colors this
option lets you choose the color scheme for the ui. you can choose between
normal and bright. optimize visuals for older hardware checking this option will
reduce the visual effects. it will not impact functionality. this option will
disable dropshadow effects in the ui slider hover preview and other ui details.
this option requires gaea to restart. show favorites in graph you can check this
option to show favorites in graph. ask before deleting node checking this option
will ask you before deleting each node. unchecking this option will delete the
node without your confirmation.viewport rotate this option lets you select the
key combination to use to navigate in the viewport. you can choose from alt +
mouser alt + mousel mouser mousel. quality you can choose the viewport quality
from low medium high and ultra. viewport style viewport style options affect
graph workflow only. select embedded to keep the viewport attached as part of
the main window. select floating to detach the viewport from main ui and keep it
as separate window. select floating top most to keep the viewport floating and
on top of other windows. invert y-axis this option lets you invert the y-axis of
the viewport.build gaea documents location you can set the location where your
gaea documents are stored. central build repository this option lets you set the
gaea build folder. cache location you can set the cache location.others autosave
when performing major operations this option will autosave your files when
performing major operations. you can access your autosave folder at c users
[you] appdata roaming quadspinner gaea autosave. keep autosaves beyond 90 days
gaea cleans up the autosave folder for files which are older than 90 days. check
this option to keep the autosaved files beyond 90 days. check for updates on
startup checking this option will check for updates each time gaea started. send
anonymous usage data and hardware statistics gaea collects anonymous usage
statistics and hardware data we use to improve the software. this information
collected anonymously once month and does not contain any personally
identifiable details."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Keyboard.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Keyboard Shortcuts","text":"uid shortcuts\r title keyboard
shortcuts interface shortcuts you can also access handy reference sheet in gaea
from the help menu in the top right corner of the main window.general commands
command shortcut - new ctrl + n open ctrl + o save ctrl + s save incremental
ctrl + shift + s undo ctrl + z redo ctrl + y toggle 2d viewport f6 suspend
resume engine attempt to cancel preview build esc viewport navigation
commandshortcut - move forward left back right w s d move up down q e center
terrain in viewport space node and graphgraph commands command shortcut - -
quick search nodes tab zoom graph to fit all ctrl + 0 multimix selected nodes f8
convert connection to portal ctrl + p highlight entire chain from current node h
highlight all ancestors (left side)left ctrl + h highlight all descendants
(right side) right ctrl + h select descendants e select ancestors shift + e auto
layout selected nodes f4 switch to desired tab ctrl 1-9 go to and select
favorite node 1-9 show the exposed properties editor f12 node commands
commandshortcut - delete node connection del duplicate node ctrl + d rename
nodef2 refresh node f5 bypass node b pin node preview f pin node for color
preview g mark node for save f3 bake selected node and ancestors f9 reset node
to default settings ctrl + r cycle display mode ctrl + t open connect menu c
open disconnect menu x open quick navigate menu add node to graph favorites ctrl
+ f2 collapse expand node f11
"},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Commands.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Command
Reference","text":"uid commands\r title command reference commands gaea has
commands spread through several menus and toolbars. below you can find full
reference of all the commands in each area.main menu command description
shortcut - new creates new project ctrl + n open opens an existing tor project
file ctrl + o open recent recent files open recent file open an autosave browse
recent autosaves save saves currently opened project file ctrl + s save as saves
copy of the currentlly opened project file save incremental saves currently
opened project file incrementally ctrl + shift + s import graph import an entire
file or graphlet workspace customize the workspace. see workspace preferences
change general options navigation shortcuts and default paths license load or
change gaeas license about show information about gaea exit close gaea alt + f4
main toolbar command description shortcut - - new creates new project ctrl + n
open opens an existing tor project file ctrl + o save saves currently opened
project file ctrl + s save reminder timer reminds user after selected specided
time interval save as saves copy of the currentlly opened project file save
incremental saves currently opened project file incrementally ctrl + shift + s
undo undo the last operation. open dropdown to see recent actions and optionaly
undo them. ctrl + z redo redoes and undone action. open dropdown to see recently
undone actions and optionaly redo them. ctrl + y help menu show help menu
options ui scale change the user interface scale toolbox menu command
description shortcut - show most used nodes only show nodes you use most often.
you can toggle this frequently predictive services learn from gaea docs folder
teach gaea which nodes you prefer from all documents in your projects folder.
see learning. learn from this terrain teach gaea which nodes you prefer from the
currently loaded terrain. see learning. list style standard show nodes by
category expert show all nodes together. combine this with show most used nodes
only for minimal experience. toolbox position full have the toolbox stretch the
entire height of the workspace top have the toolbox nest inside the viewport
bottom have the toolbox nest inside the graph graph menu command description
shortcut - move selected nodes move currently selected nodes to an existing or
new graph. portals will be created to preserve connections. import graph import
an entire terrain file (.tor) or an individual graph (.graphlet) import seeds
select an older or alternate version of the current file to import just seeds of
all the needs export graph exports the current tab as .graphlet file show graph
toolbar toggle the optional graph toolbar for easy access to some graph commands
show node categories in the context menu for the graph show node categories
similar to the toolbox show grid toggles the grid for the graph snap grid snap
nodes to the grid items snap nodes to relative nodes nearby for easier
organization node properties menu these commands require node to be selected.
they will only work with one node not command description shortcut - reset node
to defaults reset the currently selected ctrl + r upgrade node if you defer
upgrading an old node while loading the terrain you can upgrade it later with
this command. toggle auto-apply toggles automatic reprocessing of the node when
values are updated. see the heavy nodes section above. revert node reverts the
values back to the state they were when you selected the node. this state resets
every time you go away from the node. it helpful to undo any accidental or
experimental changes you may have made to the node after coming back to it from
another node. save load state saves the state of the node to be recalled later
using the load command. this preserved in the session only and resets when you
close gaea or go to different file. copy paste settings copies and pastes
settings to and from nodes of the same type. expose node exposes properties of
the node for automation. see automation. show exposed properties shows unified
properties panel with exposed properties across all nodes. this useful while
working with exposed properties for automation. sliders show decimals show
decimal points in the sliders. mute defaults mute colors of sliders are set to
default values. it helps identify modified values faster. create preset saves
current settings as preset file. import presets imports presets for this node
from file. presets applies any existing presets for this node.toolbox menu
command description shortcut - - learn from gaea docs teach the predictive
system from your gaea docs folder. see learning. learn from this terrain teach
the predictive system from the current terrain. see learning. list style
standard show all nodes and highlight the ones are most used. expert show only
most-used nodes. the rest can be accessed from the tab search in the graph.
toolbox position full dock to the left of both viewport and graph. top dock to
the left side of the viewport. bottom dock to the left side of the graph.
screenshots menu command description shortcut - -
"},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/StatusBar.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Status
Bar","text":"uid statusbar\r title status bar status bar the status bar gives
you direct access to useful tools you may need throughout your workflow. status
bar the left half shows you status messages while the right half contains the
following tools. toolsscreenshot screenshots menu the screenshot button lets you
quickly take screenshots of the viewport. clicking the button will take an auto
screenshot of the viewport. the screenshot named after your current open file
and suffixed with timestamp and saved in the gaea screenshot folder (eg
rockyterrain_2022-11-10_23-00-32.png). right-clicking the button gives you
screenshot options. you can choose to save screenshot to specific location and
filename or take screenshot of the graph instead of the viewport. the
supersampling option allows you to double or quadruple your screenshots
resolution. for example if you are on 4k display 4x supersampled screenshot will
be 12k in size. the supersampling occurs in realtime on the gpu and provides
maximum fidelity to show off your terrains. 2k and 4k supersampling look
fantastic with 4096 x 4096 previews. in addition you can choose to have
transparent background in the screenshot.height picker screenshots menu the
height picker lets you sample any location on the current terrain view and tell
you the altitude in meters percentage and raw 32-bit floating point
value.suspend engine suspend engine allows you disable all graph processing.
this useful when you want to make multiple changes and dont want the nodes to
update unnecessarily. for example if you wish to make multiple connections or
change several settings across one or more nodes. you can suspend the engine
make the changes then resume it. this can be toggled with the keyboard shortcut
.passive optimizer the passive optimizer runs garbage collection and other
memory optimizations in the background. it will offload cached viewport previews
and other minor data has not been accessed in while. it recommended this be kept
on at all times. this toggle provided for advanced cases where you may need to
stop memory optimization for testing purposes or if you wish to retain memory at
all times.build statistics build statistics the build statistics show the total
build time of all currently built nodes. clicking the button gives you access to
detailed statistics for your current graph which can be very helpful in
identifying bottlenecks. additional pages in the statistics window let you see
your all time usage statistics as learned by the learning. build statistics
build statisticscache size build statistics the cache size shows the total disk
space used by session caches (see cache). clicking the button gives you options
to cleanup older caches to recover disk space.memory usage build statistics the
memory usage shows the overall memory used by gaea for the current terrain.
clicking the button gives you options to optimize the memory manually or discard
different caches to recover memory
instantly."},{"url":"/Guide/Interface/Workspace.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Customize Gaea","text":"uid workspace\r title customize gaea
look and feelgraph styleconnections stylecolorsworkspaceworkspace preferences by
default gaea will reset to its default workspace layout on startup. if you want
gaea to remember any panel size changes and visibility of 2d preview and more.
open the preferences dialog and modify the desired elements. you can also choose
save layout to also save the sizes of the different panels of the main ui. use
reset layout to use reset to default to reset all settings to gaeas standard
default.scaling the ui gaeas ui scales natively to high resolution monitors and
high dpi resolutions. however on higher resolutions the ui may appear small. you
can easily scale it up from the zoom menu situated at the top right of the gaea
window. you can choose between 80% 100% 125% 150% and 175%. conversely if youre
using 1080p or lower resolution the ui may appear slightly large. you can scale
down to 80% to fit the ui within your resolution.default startup terrain by
default when you create new file in gaea it will be blank. if you wish to use
custom .tor file with specific node setup and build manager settings you can do
so by saving the file as start.tor in the root of gaeas appdata folder. the
appdata folder typically located at c users yourusername appdata roaming
quadspinner gaeaso the file would be c users yourusername appdata roaming
quadspinner gaea start.tor. now when you create new file gaea will create new
project based on this file. if you wish to go back to the default blank file
just delete the start.tor file."},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Graph.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Infinity Graph","text":"uid graph\r title infinity graph the
infinity graph gaeas advanced graph-based workflow the key to creating
sophisticated terrains. this open-ended workflow gives you the flexibility to
create almost any kind of results you want.what are nodes? if you have not used
node-based workflows before it may look intimidating but it isnt. gaea provides
very artist friendly workflow where you are not required to create complex
graphs to get good results. each node heightfield processor performs single
task. by connecting several nodes you can create an elaborate program or recipe
for creating complex process. some nodes provide more than one output and input.
these additional ports can be used for more sophisticated processing of your
terrain. typical node graph will start with primitive or create node have
several modification nodes such as erosion or fx and then eventually be saved.
node graphs can only go from left to right never the opposite. they represent
one-way flow. try following some of the simple exercises in the tutorials
section and you will see the graph quite easy to use. conveniences further
enhance the way you create and manage nodes making it easy to try different
things.separating the graph the infinity graph allows you to split your terrain
graph across multiple tabs using portals. this allows you to separate concerns
such as creating the main shape color production exporting masks and so on. by
reducing the clutter complex processes become easier to visualize and modify.
you can quickly navigate across graph tabs using theshortcut on nodes.you can
move select nodes to different tabs. portals will be created as required to
ensure your connections stay intact. see the portals page for further details on
how to strategically create portals and chokepoints to better manage your graph
networks. also see conveniences for various ways to manage nodes both within the
graph itself and across graph tabs.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Toolbox.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Toolbox","text":"uid toolbox\r title toolbox the handy toolbox
sits inside the graph giving you quick drag-drop access to all nodes.
alternatively you can use the shortcut tab while in the graph to quickly access
the search function which appears as popup next to your mouse cursor. using the
toolbox you can drag and drop node from the toolbox to your graph surface. if
you drop it on node it will automatically connect itself to nodes output.see
conveniences for more details on how to use the toolbox convenience features.
modes toolbox placement and other options are available from the menu in the top
right corner of the toolbox.searchthe search feature will present itself when
you press tab when the graph surface focused or if you start typing while the
context menu for the graph open. search also shows up when you drag connection
from port drop it in empty space and then start typing when the node creation
menu appears. by default it shows the last few nodes were used. if you start
typing it will give you list of nodes match your search. if you click search
result the node will be created where your cursor is. if node selected then you
press tab and then press shortcut or click node the desired node will be created
and connected (primary out to primary in) to the selected node. shortcuts enter
creates the first (or selected) node. ctrl + 1 through 9 create the
subsequent.entering into the search field will bring up list of available
portals. this reserved for connecting nodes rather than creating node.recent
recently used nodes will show up separately in the search popup if you clear the
search text giving you quicker access to frequently used nodes without having to
explicitly set them as favorites. the recent nodes list maintained per session.
it will be emptied when you exit gaea.customizing the toolboxmodesfavorite nodes
appear bit brighter than the other nodes. to add remove node right-click on the
node name and check show in favorites. when you toggle the small switch at the
top of the toolbox only your most-used nodes are shown. to see how these nodes
are chosen see learning. this option meant to be used frequently. when expert
mode turned on the section dividers are removed allowing you more screen space
for nodes. this mode more useful when used in conjunction with the most-used
option. toolbox placement you can choose to have the toolbox placed in different
positions. you can change this setting as frequently as you like from the
toolbox menu. full bottom topthe toolbox can also be collapsed when not
required."},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Properties.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Properties","text":"uid properties\r title propertiesevery node
exposes set of properties or settings you can modify to influence the effect
node has on the terrain. when you select node the settings become available in
the properties panel in the right side of the interface. when you change
property the effect immediately applied and made visible in the viewport -
except when dealing with heavy nodes (see below). most nodes have limited type
of properties integer such as 1 2 3 4 etc. they usually define quantity or
finite value like angle. decimals such as 0.1 0.256 0.4885 etc. they usually
define the strength or amount of certain setting. in most cases small changes
can be quite powerful. toggle they usually allow you to turn feature on or off.
choices these take the form of dropdown where you can select one of many
options. color they allow you to choose color for the color production nodes.
file they allow you to choose file from your computer. sliders with unmodified
(default) values are shown with slightly muted colors. this can be controlled
through preferences. some nodes may have special controls specific to them.one
of the easiest ways to learn about nodes properties to experiment changing them
to different values across the range to see the effect they have.if setting says
something like iteration strength cycles or amount be cautious. high values may
take longer to process. modifying values for properties allow numeric entry
(integer or decimals) you can right-click the property and enter number. for
values shown as percentages you can enter value in meters and gaea will convert
it to the appropriate percentage or decimal value proportionate to the metric
value in relation to the terrain definition set in the build tab. see scale for
more information on this topic.microincrements the microincrements panel
available when you right-click an integer or decimals property. with the
microincrements panel you can achieve much higher precision in entering values.
command description halve halves the current value. double doubles the current
value. minimum uses the lowest allowed value. decrease large decreases by large
value. (ex 10 in 100%) decrease small decreases by small value. (ex 1 in 100%)
reset resets to the original default value. increase large increases by large
value. (ex 10 in 100%) increase small increases by small value. (ex 1 in 100%)
maximum uses the highest allowed value.seed reset seed reset minor enhancement
in the microincrements ui. it sets the “default” seed value to whatever the
random value when the node created. so if you play around for while and want to
go back to the original seed you can simply reset the seed.flux markersflux
markers are small dots represent previous values. they appear when you hover
over the slider. when you move the slider the last 3 positions are marked with
little dots in decreasing opacity levels. these handy little guides can be
helpful when exploring settings. they reset every time you unselect node.heavy
nodes we have classified some nodes such as erosion fluvial etc. as heavy
nodes — meaning they can take long time to process and sometimes cannot be
cancelled mid-process. updating multiple settings on such node can slow down or
even freeze up the application. when you modify heavy node it will not update
automatically. it will instead show an apply button which you can click when you
have made your changes. if you move away from the node or select another node
changes will be applied automatically so you wont lose any modifications. the
apply button has an auto apply toggle button next to it. when you turn on auto
apply particular node will update automatically. alternatively you can toggle
the auto apply for any node via the properties menu. if node heavy to process
even though it not marked as such you can toggle off the auto apply. or if heavy
node performing quickly for you then you can toggle on the auto apply.additional
informationpost processing the post process options sit right under the
properties and provide quick access to common functions. see
postprocess.properties menu the node properties menu provides access to
additional functionality. command description - reset node (ctrl + r) resets all
properties in the node to their default. upgrade node upgrades node uses an old
processing version. see autosave. toggle auto-apply toggles automatic
reprocessing of the node when values are updated. see the heavy nodes section
above. revert node reverts the values back to the state they were when you
selected the node. this state resets every time you go away from the node. it
helpful to undo any accidental or experimental changes you may have made to the
node after coming back to it from another node. save load state saves the state
of the node to be recalled later using the load command. this preserved in the
session only and resets when you close gaea or go to different file. copy paste
settings copies and pastes settings to and from nodes of the same type. expose
node exposes properties of the node for automation. see automation. show exposed
properties shows unified properties panel with exposed properties across all
nodes. this useful while working with exposed properties for automation. create
preset saves current settings as preset file. import presets imports presets for
this node from file. presets applies any existing presets for this
node."},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Conveniences.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Convenience Features","text":"uid conveniences\r title
convenience features quality of life for the user the baseline for all we do.
gaea features large array of unobtrusive (and sometimes even hidden) features
can go long way towards making your workflow more efficient. node
managementquick create to create your first node right-click in the graph and
type the name of the node you want to create. then hit enter. the node will be
created at the cursor location. you can also press tab to search for nodes.next
rather than setting up the next node in similar manner and then connecting it
manually you can drag connection into empty space and use the quick create menu.
you can click on particular node name from the quick create menu or you can type
in node name which will show the list of matching nodes. selecting node from
this list connects to your previous node. the quick create menu can also show
suggestions based on your previous patterns. see learning for information on how
gaea suggests nodes.drop createall other graph applications require you to drop
the node connect it manually and then organize as needed. gaea does for you just
drop the node on another node and theyll be connected and auto-organized.
dragging node from the toolbox and dropping it on an existing node will
automatically connect it to nodes primary output. if another node already exists
the new node will be automatically organized for you.interject node drop
interjectif you hold shift and drop node on an existing node the new node will
interject itself between all the outgoing primary connections of the node. drag
interjectif you hold shift then drag an independent node (not connected to any
other node) over connection and release the mouse the node will interject itself
between the 2 nodes of the existing connections.replace node right-click any
node select replace node and type in the name of another node. the selected node
will be replaced with node. if the connections match they will be kept with the
new node. if any port names dont match chokepoint will be created to temporarily
hold the connection so you can reroute them manually.get name from parent
sometimes you have many outputs and you have to spend time naming them properly.
then you need to add auxiliary outputs for those such as normals or data maps
and it can become giant chore to name them all. the new get name from parent
command in the node context menu can get the name of the parent and add the
nodes own name as suffix. for example slope becomes erosion_slope.connection
managementout-to-out quick connectionswhen you drag an output connection to
another output connection combine node created with the 2 ports serving as the
inputs for the combine node.multimixselect 2 or more nodes and click the
multimix button. alternatively you can press f8. this will instantly create
sequence of combine nodes to mix the selected nodes together. for more detailed
control you can select 2 at time and multimix the results.connect menu the
connect menu lets you quickly connect any port to an available portal. select
node and press c to bring up the menu.disconnect menu the disconnect menu lets
you quickly disconnect any port or even remove portal. select node and press x
to bring up the menu. navigation navigating complex graph can be tedious
process. you can use the following conveniences to make this lot easier.navigate
menu the quick navigate menu can be brought up by selecting node and pressing .
you can then navigate to any connected nodes including portals from other
graphs. node bookmarksyou can bookmark nodes you go to frequently. right-click
node and select mark as favorite. you can then access all bookmarked nodes from
the favorites bookmarks menu in the graph toolbar. you can also use shortcuts
1-9 to access the top 9 nodes.auto layout even the most complicated graphs can
be automatically organized. just press f4 in the graph. pressing f4 once will
layout the graph in linear pattern. pressing f4 again lays out the graph in
waterfall pattern. in the waterfall pattern gaea will intelligently try to
figure out the junctions in the graph and stagger the subsequent nodes
accordingly. you can layout portions of graph by selecting the nodes you want to
organize. if no node selected the entire graph will be organized.while gaea will
try to organize the graph as efficiently and tightly as possible it cannot
anticipate all patterns. it recommended you apply auto-layout to portions of the
graph at time - especially those with separate concerns or several branches - to
prevent your entire graph from becoming organized too tightly.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/DragOut.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Drag
Out","text":"uid dragout\r title drag out drag out shortcut feature in gaeas
graph. to drag out click on port on node drag line and then release the mouse.
if you drag out line into an empty area the create menu will show up. if you
drag out line to another port it will try to connect the 2 ports. if you drag
out line and drop it in the middle of another node the connection menu will
appear."},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Portals.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Portals and Chokepoints","text":"uid portals\r title portals and
chokepoints portals the portal node unique concept in graph-based applications.
like wormhole portals allow you to connect nodes across vast gaps (or short
ones) without visible connections. they not only improve your quality of life
but also dramatically change how you think of and use graphs. when using the
graph portals can be used to connect nodes across different graphs.creating
portals any output port in node can be converted to portal. you can create
portal in many ways dragout connection. in the menu appears select make portal.
select node and press c to bring up the connect menu. select the port you wish
to convert to portal. you can also hold down ctrl while selecting the convert
menu command and gaea will connect chokepoint to the desired port and then
convert the chokepoint into portal. this very useful to avoid having to reroute
connections if you change the node itself or want to add another node after it.
you can also convert existing connections into portals. select one or more
connections and press ctrl + p to convert the connections into portal
connections. once portal created small tab with the ports name will be visible
next to the node.connecting to portals you can connect to portal in multiple
ways dragout connection and you will be presented with list of available portals
organized by graphs.dragout connection and type when the menu shows up. this
will present you with searchable list of all available portals. once portal
connected tab showing the name of the portal will be visible on the target nodes
input port. the color of the tab represents the node type of the portal. you can
rename the portal node to change the name displayed in the portal tab.you can
connect to portal port like normal connection. this will create standard
connection. both type of connections can co-exist however using just one
recommended to avoid visual confusion.disconnecting portals to disconnect portal
from target node select the node and press x. you can select the port you wish
to disconnect from the portal.reverting portal to convert the portal back to
normal node dragout connection from the portal and select remove portal. any
connections to other nodes in the same graph will be converted to normal
connection. connections to other graphs will be deleted.chokepoint the
chokepoint node special node whose sole purpose to help avoid re-connecting many
nodes while adding no memory overhead. often graph ends up with natural
chokepoints - single node referenced by several other nodes. if at later point
you want to modify important node you would need to reconnect all the
connections. this can be awkward time consuming and dangerous in some
situations. in this example the second erosion node the chokepoint. it feeds
several other nodes while being critical junction in the terrains creation
process. it more or less the last node in the terrain creation. the easy
solution to interject chokepoint node onto the important node. you can hold
shift while drag-dropping chokepoint on to the erosion node to interject it and
have gaea reroute all connections. now everything routed through the chokepoint
allowing you to experiment with the erosion node later and only reroute single
connection when needed. the chokepoint can be further organized by making its
output portal. you can select all the outgoing connections and press ctrl + p to
turn them into portal connections. this especially useful when working with
multiple graphs.you can give chokepoints (or any node) an icon instead of text.
select node and press f2 to rename. inside the rename field press win + . to
bring up the windows emoji picker. you can pick any emoji. this will create an
icon for the chokepoint instead of an abbreviation.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Predictive.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Predictive
System","text":"uid learning\r title predictive system\r altkey smartsearch\r
alttitle smart search learning and predictive system gaeas internal (and fully
local) predictive system learns your node creation and connection patterns as
you work. this system built into the conveniences and the toolbox. once you get
used to the predictive suggestions you can halve your graph creation times in
most instances.how does it work? gaea keeps track of the nodes you use and how
different nodes are connected to each other. it then predicts the type of node
you might want to create and puts first in the list. the predictions are just
suggestion. they show up separately from the main create menu and are completely
optional.predicting connections when the quick create menu shows up it will
attempt to detect if any patterns exist and try to suggest nodes you are likely
to use. for example if you find yourself connecting autolevel to the flow output
of the erosion node dragging out connection from the flow port and dropping it
into empty space on the graph surface will bring up the quick create menu and
autolevel may be one of the suggested nodes. the suggestions are color coded to
help you quickly identify the type of the nodes.showing most-used nodes in the
toolboxs menu you can select show most-used nodes only. this will hide from the
toolbox the nodes you dont use frequently giving you more screen space and
making it easier to find the nodes you do use.the other nodes are still
available in the quick create menu and search box. for easier access you can do
this frequently using the small toggle switch next to the menu. helping gaea
learn gaeas predictions are based on its understanding of your usage. you can
direct it to learn from existing files or the currently open file from the
toolbox menu.you can choose how far to go into your gaea docs folder. gaea will
then parse every file to learn the connection patterns and preferences. it may
take few moments depending on how many files you have in your gaea docs. once
finished gaea will immediately be able to give you improved predictions.this
directed learning mechanism can be quite useful when creating clean installation
or installing on new
machine."},{"url":"/Guide/Graph/Sharing-Graphs.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Organizing and Sharing","text":"uid sharing-graphs\r title
organizing and sharing the infinity graph makes it easier to re-use graphs so
you dont have to recreate common structures repeatedly. organizing into multiple
graphs lets explore this concept with an example. we have graph where we first
create the terrain then texture it using specific process. to keep the graph
clean its great idea to split the 2 portions into their own tabs. you can do
this in 2 ways create new tab and create the texturing graph structure there.
you will need to manually set up portals to communicate across the graphs.
create the texturing structure in the first graph then select the nodes of
portion and use the graph menu to move those nodes to new graph. gaea will
automatically convert any relevant connections into portals. using portals and
chokepoints in our example were relying on 2 specific outputs - the erosion
nodes primary output and the flow output. we convert those 2 into portals. now
those outputs can be accessed from any other graph tab. in the second graph the
texture and rockmap nodes rely on the primary output while the second combine
node relies on the flow output. we can easily connect them with portals however
in this case we have setup 2 chokepoint nodes. this not necessary but can be
helpful for multiple reasons portals can sometimes be visually confusing as we
dont get to see visual flow from the lack of connection lines. by funneling
things through chokepoints we get to see the flow and multiple nodes can connect
to the same chokepoint. this reduces the clutter can occur if you have too many
connections to the same portal. chokepoints make it lot easier to reconnect
multiple points. for example if at some point we decide to process the erosion
node further by adding another nodewithout chokepoints you would end up having
to reconnect several nodes. here you would just reconnect the chokepoint. in
fact for extra clarity and ease of use you can set up chokepoint in both graphs
and turn the first chokepoint into portal instead of turning the node into
portal. lastly chokepoints become gateways when you share graph. sharing graphs
lets say you like this texturing technique and want to use it in other graphs
later. this very easy to do when you have chokepoints set up and the part of the
graph you want to share in its own tab. you can export graph by selecting export
graph in the graph menu.in the other file you can use the import graph command
to bring in the export graph. it will get its own tab like the graph from where
it was exported. all you need to do next connect the appropriate nodes from
other graphs to the chokepoints of the freshly imported graph.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Create-Shapes.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Create with Primitives","text":"uid primitives\r title create
with primitives gaea terrain software utilizes geological primitives such as
mountain ridge and crater to create basic geometry. unlike traditional cg
applications rely on geometric primitives like cubes and spheres gaea allows
users to generate more natural realistic landscapes through the use of
geological primitives. this unique approach to terrain creation allows users to
easily create stunning complex environments are full of detail and variation.
procedural primitives most of gaeas primitives fall into this category. they
generate basic geological shapes can then be processed and eroded to look like
realistic terrain. procedural generation allows you to create an infinite number
of variations from the same node. primitives often have property called seed can
be used to randomize their shape. by changing the seed value you can create
multiple primitives are based on the same general concept but have distinct and
unique shapes. this can be useful for creating variety of objects share similar
characteristics but are not identical such as field of different-shaped rock
formations or mountain with differently shaped ridges. the seed property allows
you to easily create variations of primitive without having to manually adjust
its shape each time. primitives come in 2 forms basic primitives and geo
primitives.primitives these nodes provide low-level direct access to the most
rudimentary procedural shapes such as fractal noises and simple geometry. perlin
voronoi and gradient are common primitives. by themselves they only create basic
shapes. when combined with other primitives and processed properly with shape
modifiers such as erosion and lookdev nodes they can be transformed into
realistic terrains. multiple primitives can be put together using the combine
node. when multiple primitives are combined they can produce sophisticated
shapes.geo primitives geological primitives or geo primitives for short are more
detailed specific type of creator node. one of the key aspects of geo primitives
to provide shapes require very little erosion. while normal primitives create
basic shapes geo primitives create complete geological elements such as ridge
badlands dunes crater and so on. this can be very useful timesaver because you
get near-complete shapes with single node. when processed with erosion or one or
more lookdev nodes you can produce complete terrain without having to create
elaborate node networks for these tasks. see first-terrain for simple
example.hand drawn primitives the mask node can double as shape. simply press t
to display the mask as change its preview to heightfield. you can process it
further with the fx apex and warp nodes then apply erosion on it to make it into
mountain. you can also pin the erosion node then go to the draw node and edit
the shape and get the eroded result in realtime. while the island node allow you
to draw shapes which serve as guides will be turned into complex archipelago.
see tut-draw-modify.file import to import heightfield in any major 32 16 or
8-bit image format create file node and load the desired file. you can simply
drag and drop valid file on the graph and file node will be created for
you.importing meshes the new heightfield capture tool takes an obj file and lets
you convert it into terrain you can use in gaea. import any obj as heightfield
using obj2heightfield the workflow very simple in gaeas main menu select import
\u003e obj2heightfield. select an obj file to load. alt + mousel to rotate the
view. w e r to move rotate scale the mesh. you can see the capture preview in
the bottom right. use the preview toggle to see heightfield approximation in the
viewport. click capture to save the heightfield. repeat to save more captures.
when finished click return to gaea. gaea will then let you import the capture.
toggle preview during import to inspect if there too much vertical tearing. once
imported the heightfield just like any other output and you can use any gaea
tool on it. the imported heightfield. with erosion and other effects
applied."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Modify-Shapes.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Modify Shapes","text":"uid modify\r title modify shapes
modifying shapesadjustmentsfilterserosion and lookdevmasking masking core
mechanism you will need to rely on when working with procedural shapes in node
graphs. at its most basic masking works exactly as it would in paint program
define an area and only part modified. mask must always be heightmap not color
map. brighter areas are affected more; darker areas are affected less. in gaea
you will mostly deal with 2 types of masking - process mask and blending
mask.process mask almost every node contains mask input port. if you connect
mask to node the processing of node applied only within the masked area. for
example if you mask terrace node the terracing effect applied to the brighter
areas. the mask node often useful in situation where you can manually draw
freehand mask.blending mask blending masks are more useful because they provide
extra flexibility. to create blending mask 2 different nodes are connected to
combine node. the mask will blend the 2 terrains as defined by the mask.
brighter areas defined by the mask become terrain a; darker areas become terrain
b. the added advantage with the combine node that instead of simply blending the
2 terrains you can use one of several different blend modes such as add subtract
max etc. while the mask node useful here too you will probably use data maps
such as slope or height more often.it worth noting that even though portion of
terrains surface may be masked gaea will process the entire surface and then
apply the mask. internally the masking the same as blending mask where the
processed version of the terrain and b the unprocessed version.masked combine
node much faster to reprocess than an effect or erosion node masked. if you tend
to change your mask frequently you can achieve gaeas built-in masking manually.
this done by connecting the processed output to combine nodes input1 and the
original unprocessed output to input2 and finally setting the combine node to
blend mode with 100%
ratio."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Pinning.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Pinning Nodes","text":"uid pinning\r title pinning nodes pin
node for focus pinning node locks the preview to node. when node pinned changes
made to the other nodes will force updates to all nodes between node and the
pinned node. this allows you to see the end result of change. to pin node
right-click it and select pin. you can also select the node and press f. now
when you edit any other node before the pinned node the changes will propagate
all the way to the pinned node every time. the pinned node can be accessed
quickly from the graph toolbar. it shown as green link. pin node as underlay
when viewing 2d masks data maps or color nodes the 3d and 2d previews are
rendered as flat planes. to see how the same mask or color map would look on 3d
surface you must choose which terrain node to use as the underlay. in most
situations this will be the last terrain node before you begin the color
creation process. to pin node as the underlay right-click the node and select
pin as underlay. you can also select the node and press g. the underlay node can
be accessed quickly from the graph toolbar. it shown as purple link. color map
visualized without an underlay. color map visualized with the erosion node
marked as overlay.beware of downstream underlays be mindful when you modify
nodes are before the underlay. if they are part of the chain leads up to the
underlay node modifying them will cause all nodes in between to update as well
much like normal pinning. this can make gaea slow when working in 2k or higher
preview resolution. if gaea detects such an underlay it will stop further
propagation and the underlay will not be automatically updated. red exclamation
button will flash in the graph toolbar. you will need to select the underlay to
update it manually."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/PostProcess.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Post Process Stack","text":"uid postprocess\r title post process
stack\r section true the post process options are below the properties and
provide quick access to common functions. using the post process stack allows
you to skip creating common adjustment nodes. this reduces the clutter in your
graph and increases efficiency. post processing options offer other choices.
these are individual options which you can turn on off per your requirements.
turning on particular option e.g. bias-gain will show the sliders bias and gain.
not all effects are shown in the quick access toolbar. to access all the other
effects you can use the ... menu next to the toolbar. process description -
autolevel (lv) automatically levels the terrain where the heights are
proportionately distributed between the highest and lowest. see autolevel. log
applies logarithmic scaling bulks up the terrain. see autolevel. equalize (eq)
equalizes the terrain where the heights are linearly distributed between the
highest and lowest. see autolevel. max selects the higher of the 2 inputs. see
combine. min selects the lower of the 2 inputs. see combine. diff creates the
difference of the 2 inputs. see combine. invert (inv) inverts the terrain. clamp
the terrain proportionally reduced in height. see clamp. clip the terrain
clipped beyond the extents provided. see clamp. blur applies blur to the
terrain. shaper (人) bulks up or bulks down the output. see shaper. raise (⨂)
uniformly increases the height of the terrain. displace (〰) distorts the terrain
using built-in noise. see displace. autolevel mask (msk) autolevels in the
incoming mask if the node has mask port and connected. influence blends between
the original unprocessed and processed versions. see combine. drop to floor
removes any extra height from the bottom of the terrain.influence drop to floor
and additional parameters for other modes (when turned on) are visible only when
you expand the post process stack. the influence slider very simple yet powerful
tool for layering effects. it blends the output back with the input allowing you
to manage the influence of the current node.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Erosion.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Eroding
Terrains","text":"uid erosions\r title eroding terrains\r alts
selective-processing deterministic-output erosion the primary process through
which we turn abstract and geometric shapes into believable terrains. it one of
the most crucial parts of any procedural terrain. hydraulic erosion the erosion
node the primary erosion node in gaea. it provides sophisticated erosion with
very easy to use interface. the erosion node provides control over the scale
where you can choose the size of the largest erosion feature and the overall
scale of the terrain. resolution independence the erosion nodes algorithm
addresses one of the biggest problems in digital erosion it preserves features
across different resolutions. this means 512 x 512 preview build will maintain
essential parity for all major erosion features with high resolution 4k or 8k
build. you no longer need to guess the output type. the algorithm also creates
exquisite flows with naturalistic curves never before been seen in digital
erosion.selective processing while the erosion node can be masked using the
standard masking process (see modify) the area mask input gives you additional
options. when an area mask connected you can control the rock softness
precipitation or erosion strength. unlike the standard mask the area mask allows
the processing to be masked but not the shape. for example you can mask out the
top part of volcano and choose precipitation as the area effect. this forces the
erosion-inducing precipitation to occur only within the masked area. but the
resulting erosion can flow out and affect the rest of the terrain. for more
information see selective processing in erosion.layering erosion erosion can
give you even more complex results when used multiple times. great way to create
sophisticated erosion to use multiple erosion nodes. single erosion pass fine
but will restrict you because of the settings you can use. in this example we
have selective processing set to altitude with high duration of 30% for creating
the initial pass. the strong grooves flow structure it creates will guide the
erosion in subsequent passes.for the second pass we have default settings except
for 100% downcutting and 100% base level. this creates strong flow structures
everywhere.the third pass fully default. it takes the general larger variations
created in the previous passes and homogenizes the overall texture yet keeps the
larger features. optionally higher inhibition can be used to create more
sediments at the bottom. erosion vs. wizard gaea gives you 2 ways to use our
hydraulic erosion simulation process the erosion node which provides absolute
control over every aspect or the wizard node which offers easier access to the
major aspects. both use the same simulation underneath but provide different
interfaces. both have pros and cons. erosion provides access to all the
simulation controls but it can take some time to find the sweet spot for many
different settings. wizard on the other hand offers fewer easier choices and
various recipes for creating different types of results but it does not allow
you to fine tune your results. if you need the erosion effect but dont want to
art direct every tiny aspect then wizard the perfect node. even for experts it
quick and simple way to add erosion in your graph. if you need precise control
over different aspects of erosion and want to fine tune downcutting or deposits
then erosion the perfect node for your situation. selective processing only
available in erosion. however common uses of selective erosion such as eroding
just the top to create channels or rivers are provided as phase 2 options in
wizard. feature erosionwizard - gaeas signature erosion simulation yes yes
control over the erosion complete limited ease of use limited complete selective
processing yesno data map output yes yes built-in multi-pass erosion no yes we
recommend using both to understand how they will benefit your personal
process.data output the erosion and wizard nodes create 3 key data outputs data
description - wear the portions where erosion removes sediments. deposits the
resting position of those sediments. flow the path of the sediments from their
original location to their final resting position. these maps can be used for
texturing or for driving other nodes.like other data maps the output may not be
readily visible to the human eye. you can use fx to autolevel or equalize the
output. you can also use abs to create solid mask.in digital terrains
inexperienced artists will often try to use the flow output too prominently for
texturing. while this may work in some situations it tends to create unrealistic
textures and can make your terrain look fake and cg. see the misconceptions
section below.determinstic output it worth noting that due to the nature of the
algorithm and parallel processing the erosion flow may differ slightly each
time. to ensure 100% exact results every time you can turn on the deterministic
option in the erosion node. this will force gaea to use single processor core
which will result in slower processing but will ensure your results are
completely predictable. this may not always be necessary. there are also
workarounds. for example if you wish to control certain major flow lines you can
create mask for the starting points of those flows and feed it to selective
processing. this usually done best in second erosion node while the first
provides general erosion across the terrain.misconceptions there are few
misconceptions about erosion in procedural terrains mainly stem from outdated
ideas from previous generation software or inexperience with the medium.erosion
should be the last step previously artists would use erosion as the very last
node in the construction of terrain because hydraulic erosion was the only
process could provide flow deposit and other data maps to be used for texture
creation. this technique based on technological limitations from over decade
ago. former paradigm trained artists (incorrectly) and has led to limited
creativity in digital terrains. further it unsuitable to use the flow data from
an erosion node as the primary driving force in texture. real terrains rarely
have clean flow lines - and those too are mostly in the form of rivers. such
textures make digital terrains extremely conspicuous. with cutting-edge software
like gaea there are many options for generating data maps at any point in the
graph. this removes the need for erosion data for texturing purposes. you can
use texture to create the base for any procedural color map. flow soil rockmap
occlusion and other data maps can generate texture-friendly data without
actually processing the terrain. see the tutorials section for practical
examples.erosion mandatory another old belief erosion required after any
processing to ensure the terrain looks believable. while this may be true in
some cases if you are using lookdev nodes or other erosion processes applying
hydraulic erosion may detract from the non-hydraulic-eroded look you desire
because it creates soft soil deposits and erosive flows. lookdev nodes such as
canyonizer stacks anastomosis shear etc. can create effects dont need to be
reprocessed with erosion to be believable. see tut-rugged-outcrops for an
example of how lookdev nodes can eliminate the need for manual erosion.thermal
erosion thermal erosion the sister to hydraulic erosion. while used less
frequently thermal erosion equally as important in most environments.debris from
erosion ^wipcombining with hydraulic erosion in the real world hydraulic and
thermal erosion occur together. you can mimic this behavior by chaining thermal
and erosion (or wizard) nodes as shown in the layering erosion section above.
chained sequence of wizard erosion and thermal nodes selective processing can be
very powerful tool in such chain of nodes.understanding anisotropy thermal
stress anisotropy governs how erosion and the resulting rock deposits are
shaped. it smooths the terrain while eroding. low values largely keep the
original terrain intact. high values create stronger talus while eroding the
original terrain. for example sharp peaks get eroded heavily with high stress
values. the image below shows simplified version of how thermal stress
anisotropy affects terrain.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/LookDev.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Look
Dev","text":"uid lookdev\r title look dev lookdev or look development nodes are
composite nodes allow you to quickly achieve specific geological formations from
simple shapes with minimum effort. you can even create complete sophisticated
environments from simple shapes with these specialized nodes. each lookdev node
targets particular type of look reducing the need for you to custom build
processing network. fast look development usually procedural artists must rely
on trial and error to come up with techniques to shape terrains for specific
looks. for example realistic stratified mesa formation in gaea would require
anywhere between 12 to 20 nodes. however the stacks lookdev node can create
exact look by itself. lookdev nodes use composite algorithms attain an extra
level of quality and detail not directly possible by using set of nodes. the
shatter node can take any terrain whether simple shape or complex construct and
create surface impacts by breaking down the terrain in various ways. the
canyonizer node can make canyon networks on terrain. at low-yield it can be used
to add lots of semi-superficial detail to an existing shape. see the
tut-shattered-mountain-lake tutorial for full example. for more information on
gaeas lookdev nodes see the individual node pages in reference. usage strategies
in most cases single lookdev node can yield the desired shape. however adding
the same node after and maintaining low strength in both can produce more
elaborate effects. for example 2 low strength canyonizer nodes can generate more
complex canyon system than either node can create by itself. it often useful to
add mild erosion node after using strong lookdev nodes such as stacks to add
some residual erosion. in such situation using the max effect in the postprocess
also useful to avoid changing the shape too much. primarily lookdev nodes are
for creating terrains. however nodes like canyonizer anastomosis and shear can
also be useful when making textures masks. for example adding shear node to
texture nodes output can create distinct variations. most importantly you can
use lookdev nodes to take basic shapes and turn them into elaborate terrains in
minutes. great example of this process shown in the tut-rugged-outcrops
tutorial.lookdev nodes are fast for the amount of work they do. however
depending on the shape of the incoming terrain and the node in question it may
take little bit longer to process. these nodes should be used sparingly;
otherwise they may become overkill - both for build speed and the unnecessary
amount of detail they can add. the latter can sometimes even create unwanted
shapes at very high resolutions. if you do end up using several lookdev nodes
cache are great ways to keep your workflow swift.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Color-Production.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Procedural Textures","text":"uid color-production\r title
procedural textures\r section true ^wip the core concept all the processes for
creating color textures in gaea are dependent on flowing color ramps gradients
into black and white mask. lets take look at basic example. the lowest part of
gradient corresponds to the lowest part of the terrain. the highest part of the
gradient corresponds to the highest part of the terrain. everything in between
distributed as dictated by the gray intensity.todo image in this example you can
see how the gradient from cluter node maps to the heightfield.todo image if
however you take the same clut map and use flowmap instead of using the height
of the terrain as the input you get different type of texture output follows the
flow lines of the flowmap output. to help you create complex procedural masks
from which you can create color textures gaea provides an array of nodes known
as data maps. what are data maps? data maps are special masks. they let you
select basic aspects of the terrain (such as slope angle curvature) or
synthesize complex data through simulations (such as water flow soil deposits
etc). additional quick texturing data maps such as texture and surftex help
create pseudo-random texture masks through which you can quickly achieve color
textures with minimal effort. these nodes break the traditional basic data
(slope angle etc) + chaos (perlin noise) method or the heavy reliance on flow
output from erosion. in these situations you need to find good seed to make it
work. with data maps there visual randomness but its created from systematic
analysis of the terrain and follows natural principles. the resulting color maps
created from this data look more believable. basic texture with data maps the
following tutorial continues from
tut-create."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Building.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Build and Export","text":"uid building\r title build and
export\r related buildmanager build-swarm scale the output from your project
must be saved to file in order to use it elsewhere. to do this you must build
the output. when you build the output gaea will create it at your target
resolution. this may take while to build depending upon the complexity of your
terrain and the effects used. over the course of complex project saving and
managing the appropriate outputs can become tedious task. managing outputs for
several different nodes especially those with multiple outputs (like the erosion
node) can make it even worse. the buildmanager simplifies how builds are saved
organized and managed for future use. export optionsquick export marking for
export instead of creating dedicated output node and having to specify the file
to save you can mark node for automatic output. any node can be marked for
export by right-clicking node and selecting mark for export or by pressing f3.
when you build the terrain all nodes marked for export will be saved to file. if
node has more than one output all outputs will be saved. once node marked for
export it displays this icon underneath the node. by default the name of the
node will be used as the filename. the filename format and the outputs ports to
export are modified in the build tab. the files are saved in the path set in the
build tab.output node if you prefer direct control over where and how the files
are saved you can use an output node. this also useful when you want to save the
same output to multiple formats and set up an output node per format.mesher node
if you wish to export your heightfield as mesh you can use the mesher instead of
output. mesher the only the way to save the output as mesh.build mutations gaea
provides mutation facility during build to generate multiple variations of the
same terrain. you can select up to 99 mutations in the build manager. this will
run the build once per each mutation where seeds of all nodes are randomized.
doing this gives you unique terrain in every mutation while still following the
core recipe of your graph. build mutations build mutations build mutations build
mutationseach mutations .tor file stored with the output so you can manually
tweak specific mutation if desired. you can also specify mutations in the
command line in the build-swarm.buildmanager build-swarm
scale"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Save-Strategies.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Build Strategies","text":"uid savestrategies\r title build
strategies strategies for build outputdisable extra outputs several nodes such
as erosion snowfall and fractalterraces provide secondary output. when you mark
these nodes for export by default all ports are set to export. in the
buildmanager node list you can open the dropdown next to the nodes name to
select which ports are exported. by excluding ports are not required you can
speed up the build process and reduce the amount of data each build
generates.use chokepoint or fx instead of output the output node specifically
built for custom save options or locations are different from the standard
options provided in the build tab. if you just need to organize your files you
can use lightweight nodes as an alternative. both chokepoint and fx are
extremely lightweight nodes dont add any extra processing time. you can use
these nodes to save specific port to different name format and so on. lets take
this example we have two heavy nodes snowfall and erosion. we need to save both
in 32-bit raw format. however when we set the format in the build tab the extra
maps such as snow flow and wear will also be saved as .r32. this problem because
those lightweight masks are better off as 16-bit png files for easier
consumption. so what we do set the erosion and snowfall nodes output save option
in the build tab from all to main. this can be done by opening menu item and
selecting primary only. then we attach an fx node to the snow output of the
snowfall node and another to the flow output of the erosion node. both fx nodes
are then marked for export. in the build tab the output format for both set to
.png and custom file names are added. as an added benefit we can autolevel the
flow map which can be helpful when it very
subtle."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Resolutions.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Understanding Resolution","text":"uid resolutions\r title
understanding resolution\r section true resolution one of the central precepts
of terrain design. when you work on terrain and especially when you export the
amount of detail in the final result calculated based on the size or resolution
of the export image. even when you export as mesh the image resolution critical.
in gaea you work with 2 different resolutions preview resolution and export
resolution. preview resolution the preview resolution controls the quality of
detail of your terrain preview in the viewport. you can choose from 512 x 512
(0.5k) up to 4096 x 4096 (4k) resolution.the higher the resolution the more
detail you will get. higher resolutions however can take 4x longer to process
the image. switch to higher resolutions only when you need to. you can change
preview resolutions as often as you like. when you switch the resolution the
terrain preview rebuilt. for 0.5k and 1k previews the process usually fast. for
2k and 4k it can take longer.4k resolution previews are still experimental and
not fully optimized. this may lead to slower performance with complex graphs.
export resolution the export resolution controls the quality of detail in your
built exported terrains. in gaea there no limit on maximum resolution except for
what your hardware allows. by default you can export to resolutions of 1024 2048
4096 8192 16384 (16k) and 32768 (32k).for resolutions beyond 16k we recommend
using tiled-builds to contend with unlimited resolutions on even modest
hardware. like with preview resolutions high export resolutions can take longer
than the preview - something to be expected with builds. in essence when you
create terrain at preview resolution youre creating template with your settings.
when you build terrain gaea takes preview template and uses those settings to
build the terrain from scratch using the full export resolution. this results in
more detail than possible in previews. for more information on building terrains
see build-manager. resolution dependence all terrains heightfields no matter how
procedural are still bound to the limits of their resolution. while most aspects
of gaea are resolution-independent - meaning an effect or shape will remain the
same across different resolutions - there always chance certain shapes and
effects may change across several nodes when seen at different resolutions. this
natural side effect of heightfield-based terrains. to make sure the results are
as expected it helpful to build and export the terrain at final resolution once
in while. if the shapes change and you are unsure where on the graph it happens
you can mark for export several key nodes in your graph and examine where the
changes occur.forcing resolution if you want to enforce specific resolution you
can do so manually by saving the graph up to the desired node at your desired
resolution. then you can import it to new graph using the file node. this will
upscale the file to the new final
resolution."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Cache.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Baking and Caching","text":"uid cache\r title baking and caching
gaea uses various forms of baked caches to speed up processing and build times.
bakingwhat baking? in gaea baking means building node to specific high
resolution and then storing it in locked or baked form. baked node can display
previews at higher resolution than your normal preview while allowing you to
work with the current lower resolution previews for the rest of the graph.
viewport previews at higher resolution enable you to discern finer detail and
resolution-dependent shapes. however keeping your previews at 2k or 4k can be
slow especially when working with large graphs. when part of the graph finalized
and you do not anticipate any changes even temporarily you can bake part of the
graph to prevent it from being reprocessed when the file loaded or the nodes are
refreshed. if you select high resolution for the baking the baked preview will
be stored at resolution while the rest of the unbaked nodes are shown at the
current preview resolution. once further nodes are finalized you can bake those
too. use the bake menu to choose baking options. with the bake menu in the graph
toolbar you can choose the resolution for baking bake or unbake nodes and use
the session cache.baked cache baking nodes can help save time when editing the
graph or building the actual graph. unlike the session cache baked cache
permanent. baked node cannot be edited unless it unbaked. to bake open the
baking menu and select the resolution you want to use for baking. in most cases
you should select the same resolution as your final build. once the resolution
set select the node you wish to build and click bake selected in the baking
menu. the selected node and all dependent nodes (the entire node tree left of
the node aka ancestors) will be baked.changing the resolution after nodes have
been baked will invalidate existing bakes. nodes can be baked to maximum of 8192
x 8192. higher resolutions will be available in the future. as portions of your
graph are finalized you can bake them to prevent having to reprocess them
repeatedly. when building the final terrain the build-swarm will use cache for
those nodes instead of building them. this can significantly speed up build
times. nodes can be unbaked through the baking menu.working fastersession cache
session or soft cache helps resume your work faster the next time you open the
file. it disabled by default so you have to opt-in to use it. to enable open the
baking menu and enable cache graph on close. when closing the file whether by
exiting gaea or switching to different file gaea will save all the processed
nodes cache to file. next time you open the file instead of reprocessing all
nodes from scratch gaea will load the session cache to memory.for better
performance use solid state drive for your cache location.linchpin nodes an
added bonus of baking it can free up lot of ram. when loading baked cache gaea
will only load linchpin nodes. linchpin node baked node connected to unbaked
nodes. ancestors of linchpin nodes are not loaded thereby saving processing
power and memory. consider this graph. the perlin node connected to 3 different
nodes which eventually come to single multicombine node. the erosion node here
relies only on the multicombine so keeping the data for the previous 4 nodes
unnecessary. when you bake the multicombine node gaea will detect it the
linchpin and unload the previous nodes. non-crucial nodes such as these are
depicted with dotted border to show they are not loaded. baked nodes are not
loaded can be loaded through the property editor. however if you wish to modify
anything it recommended to unbake and bake portions of the graph.export from
preview cache gaea can preview up to 4k. often you will work in 2k for high
definition previews and want to save out the entire exportable node set at 2k
for testing in your dcc application or game engine before firing off full build.
to do this you run the build manager which rebuilds the whole world. but you
already have the world built at 2k from your preview when your preview
resolution and the export resolution are the same the build manager will ask you
if you wish to just save the preview cache instead. this will save you time from
having to rebuild an already built terrain.cache locations if your file
myfile.tor the baked cache will be stored incaches hard myfile_09cb3a next to
it. for session caches all caches are stored in the central cache repository. it
will follow the same naming pattern such ascaches soft myfile_09cb3a. the root
path for the cache repository set in the preferences. the cache readout in gaeas
status bar will show you the size of the cache. clicking the readout button
gives you options to cleanup old cache data.the hex code at the end of the cache
name prevents collisions between 2 files of the same name when using central
repository."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/FileFormats.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"File Formats","text":"title file formats\r uid save-formats\r
section true file formats gaea supports all modern (and some legacy) file
formats for both flat files and meshes.for export format 32-bit 16-bit8-bit - -
- - openexr • tiff • • png • • • raw • • psd • 3d formats wavefront obj (.obj)
autodesk filmbox (.fbx) point cloud (.xyz)for import gaea supports the following
formats for importing data .exr .tif .tiff .webp .jpeg .webp .psd .hdr .pfm .r32
.raw .bmpgaeas project formats gaea saves files in the formats mentioned
below..tor .torx file gaea terrain projects are saved as .tor file. all gaea
editions can read this format. the .torx format available in the enterprise
edition only. when saving in this format gaea saves the project as an xml file.
this useful for direct manipulation..resource file when using hand drawn nodes
such as mask or islands the binary data generated will be stored in
.tor.resource or .torx.resource file. if you have file called bigmountain.tor
for example the resource file will be called bigmountain.tor.resource.if the
.resource file for project missing all hand drawn nodes will become empty. when
running build on project with missing resource the build-swarm will throw
warning and exit..sculpt file erosion studio projects will be saved as .sculpt
file. these files can be large as they contain the source terrain and additional
sculpting data.precision gaea stores and processes its heightfields in 32-bit
floating points which compatible with all professional cgi applications.32-bit
for practical purposes exporting as either openexr or tiff will give you the
best results and maximum compatibility with other applications. if you are using
custom pipeline using r32 or pfm formats may be of more use. see the section
below for those formats.if you are saving output from gaea to bring back to gaea
either in the same or different file we recommend using the .r32 or .pfm formats
for maximum fidelity and efficiency.16-bit while displacement heightfield
information requires 32-bit precision for accuracy; color maps masks and other
secondary data which may have fewer levels of complexity can make use of 16-bit
formats such as png. this can help save on disk space as larger worlds will
require lot of storage space. storing in 16-bit also helps performance. in fact
if your terrain does not contain many smooth details you can even export your
main displacement as 16-bit. game engines such as unity can only import raw
16-bit (ushort) format terrains.8-bit in some cases for example with black and
white masks you may not need high level of precision at all. you can use 8-bit
png output which can increase performance and save disk space.custom workflows
precision if you are using gaea in custom workflow such as automation you may
require the data to be as simple and efficiently readable as possible. 32-bit
float (.r32) and 16-bit ushort (.raw) are the simplest formats you can use. it
simple binary array of float (ieee 754) or unsigned short. the file has no
header and can be read directly as binary stream. the files will use little
endian. the size of the heightfield should be square root of the byte length
divided by the size of the type (4 bytes for float 2 bytes for ushort). the .r32
format will store values between 0.0f and 1.0f. while the .raw format will store
values between 0 and 65535. both formats are recommended for heightfield
(grayscale) data only."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Gaea/Recovery.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"File Recovery and Autosave","text":"uid autosave\r title file
recovery and autosave gaea has different facilities to protect your work at
several junctures. recovering your workundo redo gaea provides basic undo redo
facilities in the main toolbar. you can undo or redo one or more steps. gaea
will list the change in each undo entry when possible. please note while the
state of your file preserved the cache may not be. for example when deleted node
restored or any major change reverted the preview may need to be rebuilt.if you
dont see change try pressing f5 on the desired node to force refresh.revert node
sometimes you may want to experiment with nodes settings and after doing so find
the previous settings were preferable. to avoid bloat gaea does not create undos
for node property changes. instead you can use this command from the properties
window menu to revert the values back to the state they were when you selected
the node. this state resets every time you go away from the node.the similar
sounding reset node ctrl + r command will reset the node to factory
defaults.autosave gaea will attempt to save copy of your .tor .torx file before
every major action. for example when you add new node an autosave will be
created before the node added. same for deleting moving large parts splitting
the graph etc. autosaves can be accessed from the main menu via open recent
\u003e open autosave. files are stored with the original filename and timestamp
suffix such as scene1_2020-08-08_19-05-17.tor. autosaves are saved to c users
[you] appdata roaming quadspinner gaea autosaves . autosave can be disabled in
preferences. sculpting sessions are not autosaved due to size contraints. we
recommend saving often and backing up.backward compatibility gaea backward
compatible meaning it will be able to open older files most of the time. when
node has been upgraded between versions gaea will ask you if you wish to upgrade
the node to the latest version. sometimes this may mean the shape you get from
the node may not be exactly the same. we recommend consulting the new versions
changelog or the nodes page in reference to understand the changes. you can then
choose to upgrade the node or not. if you choose not to upgrade node you can
always do so later one-by-one from the properties window
menu."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Erosion-Studio/Erosion-Studio.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Erosion Studio","text":"uid erosion-studio\r title erosion
studio what erosion studio? erosion studio powerful erosion-sculpting module in
gaea. it separate from the main gaea application as it follows very different
workflow.sculpting workflow while gaea focuses on chaining nodes to generate and
process terrains erosion studio allows you to sculpt erosion by adding hits with
mouse on an existing terrain. however it still procedural process - each hit
recorded and if the underlying terrain modified every single hit reapplied. this
gives you deeply art directable erosion in non-destructive workflow. erosion
studio provides several sculpting-tools let you erode add sediments and create
surface effects. as everything in erosion studio powered by erosion gravity and
slope play an important role. see basic-sculpting to become familiar with
erosion studios distinct tooling. what makes erosion studio quite unique lets
you work with very high resolution terrains (up to 128k [131072 x 131072] given
adequate ram) in 11 resolution in realtime.preparing terrain erosion studio
requires an existing terrain. you can use any terrain as long as it .r32 (binary
array of 32-bit floats) format heightfield. gaea can export any heightfield to
.r32. if your original source from elsewhere you can load file in gaea using the
file node and export it to .r32 then load it in erosion
studio."},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Erosion-Studio/Basic-Sculpting.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Basic Sculpting","text":"uid basic-sculpting\r title basic
sculpting
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Erosion-Studio/Sculpting-Tools.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Sculpting Tools","text":"uid sculpting-tools\r title sculpting
tools
"},{"url":"/Guide/Using-Erosion-Studio/Workflow-Strategies.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Workflow Strategies","text":"uid es-workflows\r title workflow
strategies "},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Build-Types.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Build Types","text":"uid build-types\r title build types
building project once your terrain ready it needs to be built to create the
files you need to use the terrain in other applications. when you make terrain
graph in gaea it recipe. when you build recipe it produces high quality assets
using the gaea build engine which then converts the data into files.exporting
assets you will need to export most of your terrain elements as images -
heightfields for 2.5d displacement grayscale masks or color textures. you can
also export any heightfield as mesh or point cloud using the mesher node. for
more information on exporting assets see building. for the various building
options see buildmanager.build types gaea can build your terrain in one of 3
different ways. each has advantages and disadvantages.normal build normal build
the terrain built normally as single process. this the standard build type and
works for most cases. with normal build gaea will build the entire terrain in
single pass. if you think of it in traditional rendering terms the entire image
single bucket. normal builds provide the highest quality detail; however they
are limited to maximum resolution of 8192 x 8192.split build split build the
terrain built normally then split into uniform grid. the split build behaves
just like normal build except at the end of the build the terrain split into
grid of tiles as defined in the buildmanager. this useful for taking the tiles
into game engines such as unity and unreal; however the build size still limited
to 8192 x 8192.distributed build tiled build the terrain built as seperated
buckets which are then blended together. the distributed build also known as
tiled build splits the terrain into tiles or buckets and builds them
individually. the end result can be either set of tiles or reconstituted single
image. the major advantage this build method does not have the same memory
restrictions as the other builds and can therefore build terrains at virtually
unlimited resolution sizes. the limitation of this build type each bucket while
beingbuilt does not interact with neighboring buckets so slope interactions can
be limited. the resulting tiles are blended with neighboring tiles to bypass
this limitation. in most cases this enough to create seamless look but in
certain cases..? see tiled-builds for details on how terrain must be prepared
for bucket processing.distributed build + recombine tiled build the terrain
built as seperated buckets which are then blended
together."},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Manager.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Build Manager","text":"uid buildmanager\r title build manager
build managerintroduction the output from your project must be saved to file in
order to use it elsewhere. to do this you must build the output. when you build
the output gaea will create it at your target resolution. this may take while to
build depending upon the complexity of your terrain and the effects used. build
manager over the course of complex project saving and managing the appropriate
outputs can become tedious task. managing outputs for several different nodes
especially those with multiple outputs (like the erosion node) can make it even
worse. the build manager simplifies how builds are saved organized and managed
for future use.files to savenode list any node marked for export shows up in the
build manager list. you can also add other nodes directly using the add node
button. each node will expose its savable filename the format in which it will
export and the different outputs it exposes.managing portshelpful optionsbuild
definitionnormal buildsplit buildtiled buildbuild optionsbuild destination this
the path where the built output will be saved. by default it saved in
version-controlled path in the builds repository. you can always enter normal
path directly or pick from presets in the dropdown. for additional information
see organizing builds below.build definition resolution the output resolution of
the build. higher resolutions give you better detail but longer processing
times. format this dropdown allows you to choose the format in which your output
saved. you can also select per-node file formats in the node list. if you change
the selection here all nodes will default to the selection made here. mesh
formats are not available globally and must be chosen per node. for details on
the individual formats available see save-formats. output range output range
description raw terrain retains natural scale between 0..1 and ignores
artificial scaling created by the proportions in the terrain definition. this
may require you to scale the height of the terrain in your target application if
it does not understand natural scaling. proportional terrain scaled to the
proportions in the terrain definition. this useful for mesh exports or
heightfields where scale should be handled automatically. in some cases this
method may show banding. normalized terrain forced to use the full range between
0..1 providing greater scalability. however this will require manual scaling in
your target application. custom terrain data mapped to specific scale you set.
data not normalized to this range but proportionally scaled to fit within
range.custom range only applies to heightfields and masks. color data will be
forced to standard range.tiled outputtiled output experimental at this stage. it
will be stabilized in future updates.additional options resample this option for
builds need to be taken to unreal engine unity or other applications where
standard resolutions dont work. it turned off by default. unreal engine requires
particular dimensions for ingesting terrains. to meet their requirements gaea
will build the terrain at its own fixed resolutions and then faithfully
downsample to the desired resolution. pick the nearest gaea resolution in the
main resolution dropdown then select the target resolution in the resample
dropdown. color space you can choose to save color maps in rgb srgb or scrgb
color spaces. does not apply to grayscale heightfields or masks. mutations gaea
provides mutation facility during build to create multiple variations of the
same terrain. you can select up to 99 mutations. this will run the build once
per each mutation where seeds of all nodes are randomized. this gives you unique
terrain in every mutation while still following the core recipe of your
graph.each mutations .tor file stored with the output so you can manually tweak
specific mutation if desired.build options setting description - - save copy of
this .tor file saves copy of the current .tor or .torx file in the build folder.
close gaea ui the gaea interface - especially when using high resolution
previews - can consume enough ram to cause an impact on high resolution builds.
to conserve memory you can check this option to close gaea when the build
starts. open folder after build check this option to open the build destination
folder when the build completes. generate build log generate machine- and
human-readable build log in .txt format at the build location. beep when done
check this option to sound beep when the build complete.version control and
organizationorganizing builds the location field in the build manager provides 2
built-in options for storing your builds. the first option the central build
repository which stored in documents gaea builds [filename] by default but can
be changed to any location — even to local network or an online shared folder
with onedrive dropbox gdrive etc. this can be useful in team situations.
exported files the second option to have it stored alongside the file in builds
folder. so if your file called myterrain.tor folder called myterrain_builds will
be placed next to it. in both cases inside the builds folder subfolder with the
build timestamp created. the build output files build.info file and the .tor
copy are stored inside this subfolder.example paths central repository c users
username documents gaea builds eastriver 2018–06–22_22–55–31local file d work
terrains eastriver_builds 2018–06–22_21–55–31these are not the only options. you
can explicitly specify location instead of choosing template or you can create
your own combinations using an absolute path and variables such as template
description - [filelocation] location of the currently open file. [builds]
central build repository. [filename] name of the current file without extension.
[resolution] current resolution (eg. 8192). [timestamp] sortable timestamp in
yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss format. [username] your local network identity. [machine]
your local network machine name. [date] current date in yyyy-mm-dd format.
[time] current time in hh-mm-ss format. [+++] increments 3-digit number when an
existing path exists. so you could create your own path template such as
[builds] [filename] [timestamp] [resolution]which would create ~ documents gaea
builds eastriver 2018–06–22_21–55–31 8192or something more specific such as
00.00.00.00 team terrains [username]_[timestamp]   which would create 00.00.00
team terrains bob_2018–06–22–55–31 if you encounter trouble writing to network
shares we recommend hosting the share as drive instead.version controlling
terrains gaeas build manager and build stack give you low level version control
without additional overhead. the save copy of .tor option useful when you want
to manage different versions of your actual project file. when turned on every
time your build finishes copy of the .tor file in the exact state of particular
build stored alongside the build output. you can easily go back to any older
build state for your file and save it as new file. you can also map the folder
to almost any modern version control system (git mercurial visual studio team
services etc.) or share on network folder with your team.build swarm for
advanced use see build-swarm.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Export-Mesh.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Export
Meshes","text":"title export meshes\r uid meshes export terrains as meshes gaea
can convert the heightmap of the terrain into mesh using one of 2 methods
uniform displaced grid or an optimized grid. both options are available through
the mesher node. simply connect the mesher node to any heightfield node you wish
to convert to terrain and it will output the mesh.displaced grid the standard
tried-and-trusted method of terrain meshes simple fixed-density mesh displaced
on the vertical axis. it provides uniform topology using either triangles or
quads. the resulting mesh the same as if you were to create plane of fixed
number of segments and displace it vertically. it provides strong predictable
topology very easy to manipulate. the only downside of this method it uses the
same number of polygons for any part of the terrain regardless of the complexity
required. for example flat featureless area would use the same number of
polygons as highly detailed peak.optimized mesh this method creates optimized
terrains using our sophia algorithm. it creates clean triangles and subdivides
them as needed based on the complexity of the underlying portion of the terrain.
the main advantage of this method it can produce higher quality meshes while
reducing the amount of polygons used. in most cases optimized meshes produce
higher quality results than their grid counterparts and use fewer polygons.
depending on the shape of your terrain you can reduce polygon count by 20-40%.
in extreme cases with large flat areas it can decrease by up to 80% optimized
meshes however cannot provide quad output and are limited to triangles because
of the intrinsic nature of the algorithm.comparison feature grid optimized - -
precise polygon count yes approximate tris support yes yes quad support yes no
quality-per-polygon averagehigh increase quality where needed no yes reduce
polygons for flat or smooth surfaces no yes topological structure equidistant
grid organized irregular network automatic lod generation yes no suited for
sculpting yes nofurther informationobject scale meshes can be exported in 2
scales normalized and metric. normalized scale enforces strict 0..1 range for
values along all 3 axes. metric scale enforces 1 unit = 1 meter so typical gaea
terrain of 5000 meters would be 0..5000 units. the main advantage of normalized
meshes many modern obj importers let you apply scale multiplier which you can
use to scale the terrain very easily. you just need to use the width of the
terrain in meters (see scale). for example the default terrain 5000 meters wide.
you can use 5000 as multiplier when importing and your terrain should scale to
5000 meters.texture mapping by default all mesh exports include texture
coordinates. in special circumstances you can turn off texture coordinate
generation. regardless of the method used to export the mesh it will use simple
planar mapping. in most 3d applications you can apply simple planar mapping of
the exact size of the object to get full uv mapping. you can turn off texture
coordinates and your file size can become 30% smaller. this can be quite helpful
when youre working with very dense meshes. since obj plain-text format most
parsers can take quite while to import. without texture coordinates this process
can be 33% faster. once imported in your dcc application you can apply planar uv
mapping to the object.normal mapping gaea currently does not include
normals."},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Scale.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Terrain
Scale","text":"uid scale\r title terrain scale\r section true gaea supports
setting an arbitrary scale for your terrains through the new terrain definition
panel. if youre casual terrain artist this wont significantly affect your
workflow — the defaults will be sufficient. however if you are creating
precisely-scaled terrains terrain definition your best friend. terrain
definition the terrain definition popup found in the main toolbar.you define the
height of your terrain in meters. the scale determines the extent of the entire
terrain. by default gaea terrains are set to be 2.6km tall (height 2600m) and 5
x 5 square kilometers wide (scale 5000m). internally the terrain vertical ratio
calculated as (height scale) height of 2.6km usually more than enough for most
terrains. for perspective mt. everest 8.8km tall. choosing an extreme height not
recommended unless you know how to handle the ramifications of such tall
terrains. it important to note that while the maximum height set to 2600m it
does not mean any shape created will automatically fill the entire height
range.terrain definition non-destructive. you can scale your terrain and the
update will be immediately applied without the need to rebuild your terrain. you
can change the values as often as you like.important readouts for terrain scale
in the terrain definition you get 2 readouts real scale and height-scale ratio.
real scale this the pixel-to-meters density for your output. it calculated by
dividing your final output resolution (selected in the build manager) by the
scale in meters set in the terrain definition. for example 5000 x 5000 meter
terrain exported at 2048 x 2048 pixels results in 2.4 meters per pixel. you can
change your output resolution to see the exact ratio you get. this information
often used by game designers to ensure scale accuracy between the terrain and
other game elements. height-scale ratio ratio of the imaginary cube. if you
export using raw or normalized scale and need to resize your terrain you can
resize it by this ratio. the ratio simply height scale.scale philosophy scale in
all cg an imaginary construct. with gaea and heightfields we have pixels when
using an image format or an array of floats when using raw format. gaea terrain
in its most basic form cube made of infinite numbers which must be translated to
fixed size as defined by the output resolution and image format. for example if
your output resolution 2048 x 2048 then the size of the terrain in pixels 2048
on either side - this uniform across all image and raw formats. the vertical
capacity defined by the maximum storage capacity of the format. 32-bit tiff exr
raw and pfm can store approximately one million levels of vertical heights.gaea
stores and processes heightfields as floats (a high precision number). heights
are stored in~0.0000000 - 1.0000000 range. for the more technically minded this
just simplification. gaea uses ieee 754 format 32-bit floats. this image shows
the cube of the default terrain size which 5000 x 5000 meters wide and 2600
meters tall. you will notice our cube not an exact cube; it shorter than it
wide. for realistic use we must visualize the data the way we perceive mountains
in the real world. so we force height-to-width ratio to satisfy the human
perception of scale for terrains. if you want perfect cube your height and scale
must be the same. in this image our terrain 5000 x 5000 meters and 5000 meters
tall. so why dont we use perfect cube? because it distorts our perception of
terrains. this what perlin noise would look like in the cube format. this what
the same noise looks like with height-to-width ratio applied. as you can see it
fits our perception better. it important to note all these transformations are
imaginary. the underlying data still fixed grid of numbers.the only place the
terrain scale affects how your terrain processed when real scale turned on in
the erosion snow or thermal nodes. although they can be overridden per node.
this begs the question of how do you the user translate this to practical
metrics for exporting and usage in other applications or game engines.practical
usage of the scale philosophy when exporting the terrain as an image heightmap
you must make fundamental decision keep the natural scale without applying
perceptual ratio. bake the perceptual ratio mentioned above into the pixels.
force the terrain to use the entire bit-range of the image format. these options
are known as the output range options in the build manager. see building for
information on setting those options. below we will discuss the implications of
each option. there no right or wrong way to scale the output range. it depends
on what target application you are using and how.raw scale technically this the
most accurate representation of the terrain because the output exactly what the
software itself sees when processing. but it will not be perceptually accurate.
you will need to manually scale the output along the vertical axis. an easy way
in most applications to create box of the desired size and match the scale of
the terrain asset. or if you use heightmap as displacement source then you can
set the displacement in meters (or appropriate units). if you need to scale it
down vertically use the height-scale ratio explained in important readouts
above.proportional or baked scale this method will bake the ratio you see in the
viewport into the heightfield. this very useful when exporting meshes. you lose
minor amount of vertical fidelity but unless you are creating closeups of the
terrain it will not affect you. when bringing the terrain into your target
application you can optionally treat it as perfect cube and your ratio already
baked into the vertical values.normalized scale forced scaling in many
situations can give you maximum vertical fidelity. gaea will force the terrain
to use the entire ~0.0000000 - 1.0000000 height range in 32-bit formats (16.7
million levels). in 16-bit images would be 0 - 65534. in 8-bit it 0 - 254. if
you need more vertical fidelity for closeups this option may help because you
get more density in the up-axis than in other methods. when using forced scaling
you must adjust the vertical size of your output manually in the target
application. like with natural scale use the height-scale ratio.custom scale
this special option reserved for importing and exporting data in very specific
ranges. in most normal circumstances you will not need to use this mode. if you
wish to use this mode for automation scenarios see create-bridge and
buildmanager."},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Tiled.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Preparing Terrains for Tiled Build","text":"uid tiled-builds\r
title preparing terrains for tiled build split build split build the terrain
built normally then split into uniform grid. split builds require very little
special consideration. you can change any terrain from normal build to split
build without modification. this because the terrain built normally and then
split into chunks. this usually used when your terrain has to be in chunks (aka
tiles) for consumption in your game engine or cg app but it just 8192 x 8192 or
smaller in size. if your terrain 8k or smaller then this our recommended method
for creating game engine compatible chunks. it usually faster and produces very
accurate results. tiled distributed builds tiled build the terrain built as
seperated buckets which are then blended together.tilegates many gaea nodes
often use screenspace transformations or effects. this means theyre not
compatible with tiled build. for example the swirl effect if applied on tiled
build would create separate swirl in the middle of each tile. however you can
use the tilegate nodes to bypass this restriction. the tilegate note tells gaea
the nodes before it need to be preserved at screenspace. so before building the
tiled build the tilegate nodes are baked with special settings. during the build
process gaea will upscale the tiles specific portion with detail preserving
algorithm and then continue the build normally with all the subsequent
tile-friendly nodes.you can have multiple tilegates in graph. they do not add
any additional burden to your memory so feel free to use as many as needed.
simple example you have mountain primitive which eroded then exported. the
mountain node like all primitives are tile-unfriendly. so you just place
tilegate in between the mountain and erosion nodes. the rest of the graph will
remain unaffected.tilegate uses the same baking resolution as the rest of your
graph. you can choose either the highest possible resolution (8k) or if your
primitives are simpler shapes you can use lower resolutions and let erosion and
other nodes handle adding the smaller detail.identifying non-tiling nodes when
you select tiled build mode in the buildmanager nodes do not tile are marked
with an asterisk ◇ in the toolbox menus andsearch.warnings you will find
warnings at the bottom of the buildmanager. for tiled builds there are two
primary warnings.non-tiling nodesthis warning tells you some nodes are not tile
friendly and would need to be moved behind tilegate.if you click the warning you
will be presented with an option to mark the actual nodes with an * prefix in
their names. this can help you go through your graph and move them behind
tilegates.unbaked tilegatesthis warning tells you tilegates are not baked. you
must bake them in order to run tiled build.if you click the warning gaea will
give you the option to automatically bake all pending tilegates at the current
baking resolution.example lets look at more detailed example terrain made with
few primitives processed textured and exported. we will interject tilegate nodes
at key places to make this world tile friendly. first we go to the build manager
and select the tiled build (preview) mode then assign the desired resolution per
tile and the number of tiles per dimension. the readout under the settings gives
you the final resolution of the entire tileset.the existing graph the first
portion where the overall shape created but not detailed with erosion yet the
main sequence of nodes would be not be tile friendly. the mask used further down
the chain also not tile friendly. as such they need to be put behind tilegate
nodes. the remaining nodes are all tile friendly and require no further
modifications. it important to remember most of the small high-resolution
details in terrains generated during this phase.graph with tilegates we add our
first tilegate where the two primitives are combined and the second right after
the mask. now the terrain ready to buildmaintaining qualityblending when the
terrain split into tiles and processed at the end each tile needs to be blended
with its surrounding neighbors so any edge-mismatches can be fixed. in most
cases 25% (the default) sufficient. if you still find artifacts or mismatching
borders after loading your tile set you can increase the blending amount. but be
careful increasing the blending amount will directly increase the memory and
build time. avoid using high blend amounts unless absolutely needed.detail
preservation you dont need to be concerned with losing detail in this process.
almost all nodes are not tile-friendly dont create very high resolution detail.
it mostly erosion and lookdev processes create intricate shapes and most of them
are tile-friendly. ensure they are placed outside of tilegates. if you do lose
bit of detail use wizard with fast erosion settings after the tilegate. this
will add enough 11 resolution details to hide any artifacts create from
upscaling."},{"url":"/Guide/Build/Swarm.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Build
Swarm","text":"title build swarm\r uid build-swarm the build swarm the command
line building engine for gaea. whenever large scale build needed gaea launches
the build swarm to build the terrain. you can also launch it manually if needed.
the build swarm can be found in the gaea installation folder as gaea.build.exe.
the build swarm writes status messages to stdout and can be monitored remotely
if needed. you must use the silent argument when capturing stdout data otherwise
it may overload your application and slow down the build itself.using the build
swarm manually or through automation recommended for advanced users only.
command line argumentsgaea uses double dashes instead of single dash for command
line arguments. for paths always encapsulate them in double quotes to avoid path
truncation. simple example of command line build gaea.build.exe c users me
documents gaea myfile.tor modes silent silent mode disables all console output.
this useful for batch or unattended builds where you do not need visual readouts
for progress or build information. automata or automation automation mode used
when automating gaea from another application. the output limited to simple
status messages which can be read by another software and displayed to end users
as needed. for more information on how to use gaea from other applications see
create-bridge.management switches switch description - - savetor saves copy of
the current file in the build folder. buildlog saves the build log to
buildlog.txt in the build folder. open opens the build folder after the build
complete. close immediately closes the window after build complete. beep sounds
short beep at the end of build.build modification switches switch description -
unclamped forces the build to use natural elevation. see scale. forcescale
forces the build to use full range scaling. see scale. mutate## repeats the
build and randomizes the seeds of every node to create variations with each
build.valid options for the ## portion are numbers from 1 to 99. see building.
nodemap creates an xml node map file for any exposed properties. resolution####
sets the resolution of the build.valid options for the #### portion are 512 1024
2048 4096 and 8192. cpulimit## limit the number of cores gaea will utilize. for
multi-tile scenarios use cpulimit1 to assign single core to each instance.
range-min### sets the custom scale ranges lower limit. range-max### sets the
custom scale ranges upper limit. varvalue sets the value property of the var
exposed node property.see automation for details. any such variable arguments
must come after all switches. range-min and range-max must be supplied together
otherwise the scale will fail. also when these arguments are passed the file
will forcibly use custom scale for output and all file nodes will be forced to
use the mapped scale mode with the supplied scales. complex example of command
line build automation gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea
sidefx_erosion_automata.tor silent resolution0512 fileinz mountain.exrfileoutz
mountain_out.exr duration0.518 rocksoftness0.271 strength0.184 inhibition1.0
baselevel0.0 realscaletrue featurescale2000 seed0 aggressivemodetrue see
automation for details.additional informationbatch building you can run batch
build by executing batch (.bat) file as shown below. rem change drive just to be
sure crem go to the gaea install folder cd %programfiles% quadspinner gaeaset
vars = silent savetorrem list all files to build in quotes gaea.build.exe c
users documents gaea erosionb-001.tor vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea
erosionb-002.tor vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea erosionb-003.tor
vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea erosionb-004.tor vars gaea.build.exe
c users documents gaea erosionb-005.tor vars gaea.build.exe c users documents
gaea erosionb-006.tor vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea
erosionb-007.tor vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea erosionb-008.tor
vars gaea.build.exe c users documents gaea erosionb-009.tor varsin the future
you will be able to drag and drop multiple files on gaea.build.exe to run batch
build.build logs build swarm logs are both machine and human readable. all
values are tab separated. startlog denotes start of log gaeaversiongaea version
stampstart time build start time (yyyy-mm-dd hhmmssz) end time build end time
(yyyy-mm-dd hhmmssz) total time total time taken (hhmmss.ms)resolutionrestotal
build resolution bucket size restiled build bucket resolutionnodenametime node
name and time taken to build(hhmmss.ms)outputpath build destination directory
endlog denotes end of the
log"},{"url":"/Guide/Advanced-Topics/Automation.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Automating Gaea","text":"uid automation\r title automating gaea
preparing your file for automation automation great way to use gaea as
semi-external engine whether to utilize gaeas erosion or other nodes in another
application or generate terrain variations.professional or enterprise edition
required to take advantage of automation features and bridges to 3rd party
applications.exposing properties the first step to automation to expose
properties you wish to modify from the command line. to expose nodes properties
use node properties \u003e expose properties.in the dialog comes up you can
check the properties you want to expose and rename the variable name if
needed.if multiple variables share the same name - even across different nodes -
their values will be overwritten. in such situation you should rename the
variable name to avoid value contamination.repeat the process for any other
nodes you wish to expose. you can access all exposed properties from the node
properties menu \u003e show exposed properties or press f12.to process external
files and also retrieve the output in an automation scenario create file node
for each incoming heightmap and an output for each heigthmap or color map to be
saved. remember to ensure unique name for each nodes filename variable to avoid
crashes or data loss.command line to modify any variables use the following
command line format variablenamevalue. all variables must be appended to the
command line after any switches such as open or savetor. for additional details
on command line usage beyond automation see build-swarm. here full command line
example c program files quadspinner gaea gaea.build.exe c users username
documents gaea erosion_automata.tor silent resolution512 fileinz input.webp
fileoutz output.webp duration0.518 rocksoftness0.271 strength0.184 inhibition1.0
baselevel0.0 realscaletrue featurescale2000 aggressivemodetrueseed0use the
command line review button in the build manager to copy the command line based
on the settings selected in the build manager dialog.xml variable map gaea
provides the facility to create an xml mapping file containing the details of
all the variables exposed their type variable name friendly name value limits
and default value. to produce this xml map pass the nodemap switch to the
build-swarm. gaea.build.exe c gaea erosion_automata.tor nodemap here an example
of such node map. ?xml version=1.0? exposed parameter name=file type=in
variable=fileinput default=parameter name=output type=out variable=fileoutput
default=parameter name=duration type=double variable=duration min=0.001 max=1
default=0.15parameter name=strength type=double variable=strength min=0 max=1
default=0.25parameter name=talus settling type=double variable=talussettling
min=0 max=1 default=0.15parameter name=fine detail type=bool variable=finedetail
default=trueparameter name=real scale type=bool variable=realscale default=true
parameter name=verticality type=int variable=verticality min=50 max=20000
default=3200exposedthe houdini bridge uses the node map to construct the ui for
the gaea node.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Advanced-Topics/Draw-with-Recipes.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Draw with Recipes","text":"uid drawrecipe\r title draw with
recipes hand-draw terrains with recipescreating uniform profile recipetesting
with painted maskprocessing beyond recipeslocalized adjustmentsmultiple recipes
and masked
blending"},{"url":"/Guide/Advanced-Topics/Fixing-Artifacts.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Fix Artifacts","text":"uid artifacts\r title fix artifacts
fixing artifactswhat are artifacts?why do we get artifacts?fix stairstepping
artifactsproblem sometimes when you export terrains at 16-bit you may get
stepping pattern. this because 16-bit data limited to 65536 values. in terrain
terms you can think of this as grade of the slope. each shift between the angle
of the slope no matter how small would consume one of those 65k
values.workaround use 32-bit formats the easiest alternative to use 32-bit
format. 32-bit formats can store ~16777216 values or 16-million grades of slope.
this significantly higher than the 65k of the 16-bit format. see save-formats
for more information 32-bit raw (.r32) openexr and tiff formats. however may
game engines still dont use 32-bit floats for storage and use half or 16-bit
floats.workaround normalize the output as explained in scale your terrains may
often use only portion of the 16-bit range. if your terrains defined limit 2500m
however the tallest point in your terrain only 800m then you are only using
approximately 30% of the available range (in other words you use only 20k out of
the 65k range). however before you go and change your terrain definition to use
lower limit it much easier to use the full range. when building your terrain set
your output range to normalized in buildmanager. when importing into your target
application you will need to scale down on the vertical axis after importing.
this will ensure the proportions can be preserved while tricking the use of the
full 16-bit range. for the vertical scaling ration see important readouts in
scale.fix grid-like artifactsproblemworkaround edge blending or chunk
sizeworkaround disable parallel processing if you see grid-like artifacts in
your output use higher values for edge blending. if does not help try increasing
chunk size. if either does not help you can disable parallel processing. this
may result in slower builds but the result will be accurate and error
free."},{"url":"/Guide/Advanced-Topics/Migrating-Terrains.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Migrating Terrains","text":"uid migrating\r title migrating
terrains compatibility in gaea 1.3 gaea 1.3 are files are not backward
compatible this means file created in gaea 1.3 will not open in gaea 1.2. gaea
1.2 files are partially forward compatible with gaea 1.3 this means some files
created in gaea 1.2 can open in gaea 1.3.breaking changes gaea 1.3 introduced
few breaking changes to existing nodes. biasgain node retired. biome node
retired. channels mode in igneous has been retired. contrast node retired
details node reworked draw node retired. use mask instead. dunes v3 reworked for
better shapes hsl node retired. mixer node retired. poisson noise removed across
all nodes. rocks node has been retired. rockslide node has been retired. sand
reworked to create better realistic shapes. satmaps legacy color library
removed. some older primitives may not work exactly. subterrace node retired.
volcano mode retired in crater. use impact crater (see quickstart).migrating to
gaea 1.3 if your gaea 1.2 file was affected by any of the breaking changes
mentoned above you may need to use one of these workarounds.we do not recommend
upgrading from gaea 1.2 to 1.3 in the middle of project. if you choose to do so
please read this page carefully and weigh your options before
proceeding.preparation first we must prepare the file and safeguard it from
permanent impact. it highly recommended you keep backup of the entire file as
well the baked cache folder and .tor.resource file if they exist.node has
changed if the node in question has changed between 1.2 and 1.3 you may get
different shape but your node itself will still be there and work in 1.3. if you
need to retain the shape then you can bake the node(s) at your desired
resolution. baked data forward and backward compatible between gaea 1.2 and gaea
1.3. after baking you can safely open the file in gaea 1.3 and even allow gaea
to upgrade the nodes. the baked cache will ignore any changed settings.node has
been retired if node has been removed gaea 1.3 may still allow you to have it in
your terrain. any such obsolete nodes can be used when coming from an old file.
however we recommend migrating away from those nodes as soon as possible as
future versions may not fully support them.node has been removed completely gaea
1.2 retired some old and obsolete nodes from gaea 1.0 and 1.1 but kept them in
for compatibility for existing projects. gaea 1.3 may remove some of those old
nodes such as biome rocks and rockslide. if node can not open in gaea 1.3 at all
the only way to preserve its data and use it projects within gaea 1.3 to export
those nodes as .r32 format with range set to raw in the buildmanager. you can
then import those files in gaea 1.3 using the file node.side-by-side
installation like with all gaea installations you can install gaea 1.2 and 1.3
side-by-side in case you wish to use the old version for old files and start
using gaea 1.3 for new projects. see the section creating portable installation
in installing. you can create portable version of gaea 1.2 before installing
gaea 1.3 and then install gaea 1.3 as fresh installation to different folder.
"},{"url":"/Guide/Advanced-Topics/Separating-Complex-Projects.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Separating Complex Projects","text":"uid separateprojects\r
title separating complex projects separating concerns an important guide for
complex projectswhy do i need to separate my project?monolithic construction vs.
distributed processing construction (aka monolithic process) about defining the
general shapes and overall layout of the terrain. processing about turning rough
shape into realistic terrain. the first process where you focus on the larger
shapes and not the details. then eventually the entire graph creating the core
shapes funnels into one (or few) nodes provide the final rough shape. the second
process where the shapes are processed through erosion lookdev and other
resolution-independent worldspace friendly processes.how to break up
terrainusing tabsusing linked
files"},{"url":"/Guide/Bridges/Houdini.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Houdini","text":"uid houdini\r title houdini ^wip houdini the
most powerful procedural design platform. gaeas dedicated terrain processors can
augment houdinis terrain tools to give you the best of both worlds. you can
utilize single gaea node such as erosion stacks texture etc or entire graph
networks inside houdini. installing the bridgetesting your installationgaea
preparing the file to use gaea in houdini you must pick from one of the pre-made
recipes provided with the game dev tools the quadspinner automation recipes
repository on github or create your own. creating your own gaea recipe easy. the
easiest way to first create normal graph in gaea using one of the primitives
matches your houdini terrain. for example simple perlin or range node useful in
most cases. then add the desired nodes to process the terrain. once the entire
graph complete create inputs and outputs as defined below expose properties you
need to modify in houdini and save the .tor file.inputs and outputs for each
heightfield or mask you want to send from houdini create file node. similarly
set up an output for each heightmap or color map to be sent back to houdini.
remember to ensure unique name for each nodes filename variable to avoid crashes
or data loss.exposing variables to expose nodes properties use node properties
\u003e expose properties. in the dialog comes up you can check the properties
you want to expose and rename the variable name if needed. for example when
using erosion the properties duration strength downcutting and inhibition are
useful and can be exposed.if multiple variables share the same name - even
across different nodes - their values will be overwritten. in such situation you
should rename the variable name to avoid value contamination. repeat the process
for any other nodes you wish to expose. you can access all exposed properties
from the node properties menu \u003e show exposed properties or press
f12.testing the scenehoudini implementing the processorsetting up the gaea
sopprocessing the terrainrelated information if you wish to understand the code
for the bridge or make modifications for your own pipeline see sidefxlabs
repository on github. "},{"url":"/Guide/Bridges/Preparing.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Preparing TOR files","text":"uid preparing-bridge\r title
preparing tor files creating your own gaea recipe easy. the easiest way to first
create normal graph in gaea using one of the primitives matches your target
applications terrain. for example simple perlin or range node useful in most
cases. then add the desired nodes to process the terrain. once the entire graph
complete create inputs and outputs as defined below expose properties you need
to modify in houdini and save the .tor file. you can utilize single gaea node
such as erosion stacks texture etc or entire graph networks inside your target
application.inputs and outputs for each heightfield or mask you want to send
from the target application create file node. similarly set up an output for
each heightmap or color map to be sent back to target application. remember to
ensure unique name for each nodes filename variable to avoid crashes or data
loss.exposing variables to expose nodes properties use node properties \u003e
expose properties. in the dialog comes up you can check the properties you want
to expose and rename the variable name if needed. for example when using erosion
the properties duration strength downcutting and inhibition are useful and can
be exposed.if multiple variables share the same name - even across different
nodes - their values will be overwritten. in such situation you should rename
the variable name to avoid value contamination. repeat the process for any other
nodes you wish to expose. you can access all exposed properties from the node
properties menu \u003e show exposed properties or press f12.maintain scale to
ensure both input and output data retains the same level of fidelity we strongly
encourage using 32-bit format for heightmaps. pick the right scale option in the
build-manager settings fits with your applications workflow. see scale for
details. for maximum flexibility we recommend sending data in normalized range
appropriate to the format. in gaeas file node should use the use full range
option to normalize the incoming data unless the data already normalized. select
normalized the output range in the build-manager as well. when you receive the
data in your application after the build you must process it as
appropriate."},{"url":"/Guide/Bridges/Create-Bridge.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Create a Bridge","text":"uid create-bridge\r title create bridge
gaea can be used as silent processor from other applications from the command
line.the end-user must have professional or enterprise edition of gaea. core
concept the bridge can be created using any programming language as long as you
meet the following requirements invoke command lines and wait for process to
exit read xml file save as png (16-bit) raw 32-bit floats tiff (32-bit) or
openexr (32-bit) redirect and read stdout stream (optional)gaea must be
installed along with prerequisites (see installing) for the process to work. the
gaea bridge workflow consists of the following steps app invokes nodemap to get
an xml map of available settings in the recipe file. app configures its ui
according to the xml map. app saves the input heightfield(s) as files. app
invokes gaea.build.exe while passing automation variable values as arguments
including input and output paths. app optionally redirects stdout stream to read
and display status messages. when the process exits app will read the files
saved by gaea in the output path. to create recipe file follow the instructions
in preparing-bridge.in the future file based data transfer will be replaced with
shared memory buffers for faster data transmission. at point you will be able to
send and receive data directly as arrays of 32-bit floats. the
processconfiguring the interface gaea provides the facility to create an xml
mapping file containing the details of all the variables exposed their type
variable name friendly name value limits and default value. to produce this xml
map pass the nodemap switch. the .xml node map file will be created in the same
folder as the .tor file being passed to gaea.build.exe. gaea.build.exe c gaea
erosion_automata.tor nodemap here an example of such node map.your application
should use the xml map to configure the ui for the bridge and present those
options to the user. property description - name user-facing name of this
setting. this can be used to construct the settings ui on your end. type data
type. the options are int double bool choice in and out. the last two are of
string type and used for specifying input and output paths. variable the name of
variable to be used in the command line when passing values. choices comma
separated list of choices for choice type. this used for creating dropdown lists
with choices. min the minimum accepted value for this setting. only available
for int double and choice. max the maximum accepted value for this setting. only
available for int double and choice. default the default value for this setting.
useful for resetting controls.invoking gaea.build.exe when you wish to process
the heightfield save it to one of the formats specified above. also decide on
where you want gaea to save the output so you can read from those files once
finished. once the files are saved and the paths are prepared create command
line string you can pass as arguments. to modify any variables use the following
command line format variablenamevalue. all variables must be appended to the
command line after any switches such as open or savetor. here full command line
example for the above nodemap gaea.build.exe c erosion_automata.tor automata
resolution0512 fileinputz input.webp fileoutputz output.webp duration0.518
finedetailtrue verticality2000 unless using specific fixed workflows it
recommended the resolutionxxxx argument be passed so gaea forces the build at
the desired resolution. see build-swarm for the complete list of accepted
command line arguments and switches.reading stdout when gaea.build.exe executed
you can redirect its standard output to read status messages during the build
process. you can use these messages to display progress or messages to your
end-user. sample messages property [name] set to [value]. invalid value for
property [name]. property [name] not found. building [current] [total]... \u003e
building [node] [percent]... when single node requires long time to build the
progress of node will be sent with the \u003e prefix. you can use this to either
hide such messages from your end users or use it display specific progress
message. each individual message will be delimited by line break character. in
most windows environments this will ber n.maintain scale to ensure both input
and output data retains the same level of fidelity we strongly encourage using
32-bit format for heightmaps. see scale for details on how gaea handles
scale.raw data in most cases you will want to use raw data which the default
option in the build-manager. this will bring the data within the 0..1 as
exported from your application. the scale will be maintained through gaeas
processing and the output will preserve this range. any file nodes used should
not use the use full range option otherwise incoming data would become
normalized.normalized data if you prefer to receive normalized data select the
normalized option in the build-manager. any file node should also use the use
full range option to normalize the incoming data unless the data already
normalized. when you receive the data in your application after the build you
must process it as appropriate.mapped data if you wish to send and receive data
(heightfields and masks only) in specific range you can choose to use custom
range. this can be specified explicitly in buildmanager or can be passed
on-the-fly via the command line. to use range of -1000..1000 you would supply
the following arguments range-min-1000 range-max1000additional
informationlocating gaea to initiate command line build you must first find the
location of gaeas installation. query the following registry key for gaea
installation and configuration details hkey_current_user software quadspinner
gaea 1.0 value description example - - (default) installation location c program
files quadspinner gaea version installed version
1.2.0.0"},{"url":"/Guide/Appendix/Using-Watson.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Troubleshooting with Watson","text":"uid watson\r title
troubleshooting with watson watson diagnostics tool watson examines your gaea
installation and your general hardware configuration and allows you to create
diagnostics package you can submit to quadspinner technical support for
assistance.additionally you can run benchmarks or have watson assist in
administrative tasks.we highly recommend sending watson diagnostics log with any
support requeststarting watson watson can be started from the start menu as
quadspinner watson or from gaea itself from the help menu \u003e run
diagnosis.when you start from gaea it can gather additional information from the
running session of gaea. use this option when you encounter bug in your current
session.diagnostics the first option in watson creates diagnostic log package
contains recent crash logs execution logs settings and other relevant data for
diagnosing errors or misconfigurations. these logs help us understand your gaea
installation and your hardware drivers. this reduces the questions we need to
ask you and helps us resolve the issues at much quicker pace. to create log
select create diagnostics log and click continue.stress test the watson
benchmark test lets you measure the average performance of your gaea
installation.to start the stress test select run stress test and click continue.
next select desired resolution to run the benchmark against. the default value
of 2048 x 2048 recommended. higher resolutions may take longer to execute
depending on your hardware configuration. watson will execute 50 different
algorithms to test gaeas range of functions. once the test finished score will
be given. the score relative value signifying the time taken to run the full
range of algorithms. lower score better.to compare against other computers run
the watson stress test at the same resolution and match the scores.clean up when
this option selected logs and autosaves are older than 90 days. once finished
watson will mention how many files were erased and how much space was recovered.
reset settings this option removes all personalizations workspace settings
recent files paths and any settings generated by gaea. it effectively creates
the same situation as fresh installation without requiring you to uninstall and
reinstall gaea. as precaution the current settings package saved as zip file on
your desktop.submitting the ticket once the diagnostics package has been
compiled you can open new ticket and attach the package.your privacy any support
logs submitted are usually discarded within 4-6 weeks of closing the ticket. we
may retain some of the logs for longer period in certain situations. for example
if the issue relates to an ongoing bug hunt or development task. if you submit
.tor file we hold it in utmost confidence and discard it along with the log as
outlined above. if we retain the logs we will still permanently delete the .tor
files."},{"url":"/Guide/Appendix/Fix-Stairstep.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Fix Stairstepping","text":"uid fix-stairstepping\r title fix
stairstepping fix stairstepping in outputproblem sometimes when you export
terrains at 16-bit you may get stepping pattern. this because 16-bit data
limited to 65536 values. in terrain terms you can think of this as grade of the
slope. each shift between the angle of the slope no matter how small would
consume one of those 65k values.workaround use 32-bit formats the easiest
alternative to use 32-bit format. 32-bit formats can store ~16777216 values or
16-million grades of slope. this significantly higher than the 65k of the 16-bit
format. see save-formats for more information on 32-bit raw (.r32) openexr and
tiff formats. however many game engines still dont use 32-bit floats for storage
and use half or 16-bit floats.workaround normalize the output as explained in
scale your terrains may often use only portion of the 16-bit range. for example
if your terrains defined limit 2500m and the tallest point in your terrain just
800m then you are only using approximately 30% of the available range (in other
words youre using only 20k out of the 65k range). however before you change your
terrain definition to use lower limit it much easier to use the full range. when
building your terrain set your output range to normalized in buildmanager. when
importing into your target application you will need to scale down on the
vertical axis after importing. this will ensure the proportions can be preserved
while tricking the use of the full 16-bit range. for the vertical scaling ration
see important readouts in
scale."},{"url":"/Guide/Appendix/Nahimic.html","hive":"User
Guide","title":"Conflict with Nahimic","text":"uid nahimic\r title conflict with
nahimic the nahimic audio utility installed with software bundles from
manufacurers such as asus msi etc. this audio tweaking application can
aggressively interfere with non-game applications. with gaea it can prevent the
3d viewport from launching successfully and force gaea into 2d-only view. we
highly recommend either excluding gaea from this and other utilities may inject
code or interject themselves into gaeas functionality or disable uninstall it
completely. please look at the following resources for further information and
details on uninstalling. uninstalling nahimic microsoft community google
"},{"url":"/Guide/Appendix/Parallel.html","hive":"User Guide","title":"Parallel
Processing","text":"uid parallel\r title parallel processing parallel processing
some nodes use chunk-based parallel processing where small chunks of the image
are processed separately on different processor cores to speed up the process.
once processed they are blended with their neighbors and combined into single
terrain.configure nodes all nodes use parallel processing will have the
following parameters.enabletoggles parallel processing. chunk sizethe chunk size
into which the image divided for processing. edge blendingthe percentage of
blending between the edges of neighboring chunks. higher values require more
memory and processing time. deterministic output some nodes like wizard and
erosion will present parallel processing in the form deterministic checkbox
without chunk parameters. due to the nature of these algorithms and parallel
processing the erosion flow may differ slightly each time. to ensure 100% exact
results every time you can turn on the deterministic option. however this will
force gaea to use single processor core which will result in slower processing.
you can read more in erosions.troubleshooting grid artifacts if you see
grid-like artifacts in your output use higher values for edge blending. if does
not help try increasing chunk size. if neither helps you can disable parallel
processing. this may result in slower builds but the result will be accurate and
error free."},{"url":"/Reference/index.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Node Reference","text":"uid reference\r title node reference
the node reference gives you access to details about every node and sculpting
tool in gaea. use the top menu to navigate the different node type groups. in
individual node pages you will find detailed descriptions usage advice parameter
reference and usage examples. for more sophisticated explanations of concepts
see the user-guide "},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Constant.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Constant","text":"uid constant\r title constant the constant
node the most basic primitive available in gaea. it can create three outputs
flat terrain of specified height flat color output or noise pattern. constant
rarely used directly but rather as mask or second input blended using combine
with another node. modesheight the uniform height block terrain can be used with
combine in max mode to create flat area at the specified height in terrain.color
the uniform color output can be used for blending various textures or combining
flat color on top of an existing color map to modify the tint via various blend
modes.noise the noise output can be merged with other nodes output to add
jittery effects. in most situations you may want to use the noise node instead.
the noise mode was added to the constant node to reduce the need to create flat
constant and then apply the noise node on top of it to create flat noise map
could be used elsewhere in the graph.propertiesoutput the type of output to
create. heightcreate flat terrain of the specified height. colorcreate flat
color output of the specified color. noisecreate flat terrain with the specified
noise.height the height of the blank terrain. color the color to use for
creating flat color output. noiserandomrandom dots. gaussiansofter clustering.
impulsesharp strong spikes. laplaciansharp low density clusters.iterations the
number of noise iterations performed on the terrain. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Cracks.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Cracks","text":"uid cracks\r title cracks the cracks
primitive creates large cracked patterns on flat base. you can use it to mask
other nodes or subtract it from other primitives using the combine
node.usagebasic technique by using combine to subtract out the cracks output you
can cut out the pattern in the main terrain. nested patterns the default pattern
may seem to geometric and simplistic. this by design so you have broad room to
make modifications. create 3 different nodes one with large cracks one with
medium cracks and one with small and combine them for more believable effect. as
rule of thumb you can take the largest size right-click the scale slider and
select the halve button. duplicate the node and halve it again for the next
node.this may still look too simple for most usage scenarios. so you can add
distortions to the nodes by using the displace option in the postprocess. this
will create more natural-looking cracks. remember to modify the seed property
under the displacement post process slider to make each node randomized. when
subtracting this pattern out of another terrain you can get complex subtle
effects. if you need more elaborate distortions in your patterns you can add
warp node to each cracks node. propertiescracks style the style of the crack
pattern generated by the node. normalthe default style creates cracks gentle
slope inward. hardthe edges of the cracks are not refined and may show aliasing.
this may be useful if the softer edges create artifacts in other nodes.
classicthe default style from previous versions of gaea. this creates very thin
cracks without slope curve.octaves the number of crack pattern sets to generate.
scale the overall size of the cracked pattern. depth the depth of the cracks. it
also widens the cracks. jitter control the offset of the cracks between
symmetrical and chaotic. warp strength the strength of the warp distortion
applied to the cracks. warp size the size of the warp distortion applied to the
cracks. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. advanced
settings scale x the non-uniform scale on the x axis. scale y the non-uniform
scale on the y axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/DriftNoise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"DriftNoise","text":"title driftnoise\r uid driftnoise
driftnoise unique primitive can create overlapping shelves. it versatile
primitive noise can be used in various scenarios from cliffs to crack
production. propertieslarge structure scale size of the larger shelves. channels
amount of channeling in the shelves. direction direction of the larger shelves.
small structure scale size of the smaller shelves. undulation undulation gives
the wavy warp motion to shelves. direction direction of the smaller shelves.
process octaves complexity of the shelves. chaos gives uneveness to the
overlapping shelves. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/File.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"File","text":"uid file\r title file the file node loads any
supported image or data file as terrain. it supports all major file formats and
you can load either grayscale image as heightfield or rgb color image as color
map. note about scale in most cases you can use the raw scale setting. this will
interpret the data within normal 8 16 or 32 bit data range. if your uses
excessive scale values go below zero you may need to use the normalized or
mapped mode. if you wish to handle scale manually you should turn on clamp in
postprocess to ensure data does not go beyond anticipated ranges which may cause
other nodes to break. the mapped mode mainly used for communicating with other
applications in automation scenarios where the incoming and outgoing data must
retain specific number range. propertiesfile processing file the file to load.
save as relative path store the file path relative to the .tor file rather than
the full file path. this useful when you need to share or transport the file.
scale the scaling method to use. rawuse the height values the file provides.
normalizednormalize the height values to gaeas scale. mappedinterpret the
incoming data according to the custom range values in the build tab. high
quality scaling sacrifice speed to increase the quality of the scaling. this
very useful if you have lots of small details you need to preserve or if youre
upscaling from much lower resolution. treat as rgb treat the incoming file as
color image instead of grayscale heightfield. enforce linear gamma enforces
linear gamma in the loaded terrain.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Gabor.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Gabor","text":"uid gabor\r title gabor gabor noise one of
the lesser used noises but provides wonderful pattern-friendly noise can be used
to simulate various aspects of nature. gabor shapes are dramatically different
when compared to the common perlin and voronoi nodes. it can be used to create
sand-like patterns modulated hills and more. along with perlin and voronoi we
consider gabor to be one of the foundation nodes of gaea. propertiesgabor
sizeentropyanisotropyanisotropy azimuthseed the randomization pattern or seed
for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Gradient.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Gradient","text":"uid gradient\r title gradient the gradient
node very useful starting primitive especially when displaced or modified to
create randomness. it also very useful mask generator. this primitive creates
three distinct types of gradients linear radial and helix. several properties
shown below are unique to each gradient type. propertiestypelineara ramp going
from lowest to highest. radiala soft radial bump. helixa climbing spiral or
helix gradient.scale the scale of the gradient. direction the angle of the
linear gradient. edge behaviornoneedge pixels are left blank. mirroredge pixels
are mirrored. repeatedge pixels are repeated. edgex horizontal placement of the
gradient. y vertical placement of the gradient. start where the helix will
start. end where the helix will end.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/LineNoise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"LineNoise","text":"uid linenoise\r title linenoise linenoise
geometry generator creates sets of lines which can be distorted and used with
other noises and fractals to produce layered ridges.the auto level log and
equalize post-process options can be very useful for managing the noise values.
propertiestyperandomcreates equal variety of heights. gaussiancreates mostly
high noise with fewer dips. impulsealmost flat with few sharp dips. uniformvery
flat with lots of low dips.seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Mask.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Mask","text":"uid mask\r title mask the mask node lets you
draw mask. you create the mask by drawing it in the mask interface which
launched by the edit mask button in the properties panel. todo image for drawing
you have two options draw and erase. the brush size slider lets you change your
brush size for either operation. if the input port connected to another node 2d
representation of terrains shown in the background as guide. this optional as
the input port only provides drawing guide and does not affect the actual mask.
propertiesblur power the amount of blurring to apply.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/MultiFractal.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"MultiFractal","text":"uid multifractal\r title multifractal
multifractal creates multi-noise can have large level of variations. often
useful for texturing. propertiesfractal noise typefbmuse for varied noise.
billowyuse for lower more bulbous shapes. ridgeduse for sharp shapes.auto
octaves automatically sets the octaves. octaves number of octaves higher values
create more complexity. largescale size sets the scale of the shape. higher
value creates larger shapes lower value creates noisier shapes. feature
sizeroughness lower value creates smoother shapes higher value creates rough
shapes. edge smoothing smoothes the shape of the terrain. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process. variation variation
typevariationsmoothnessvariation contrastdampingbiaswarp perturbnoneno warping.
simplesimple soft warping. complexcomplex turbulence warping.relative warp
sizewarp strengthwarp complexitywarp roughnesswarp attenuationwarp
iterations"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Perlin.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Perlin","text":"uid perlin\r title perlin perlin the most
basic and essential noise. in gaea weve made geo-variant by modifying the base
perlin shape to fit the needs of terrain design from the beginning.
propertiesperlin scale the scale of the noise. higher values create larger less
detailed shapes. lower values create noisier highly detailed shapes. octaves the
number of noise octaves. higher values create more complexity. noisefbmuse for
varied noise. ridgeduse for sharp ridges. billowyuse for lower more bulbous
shapes.seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. warp
perturbnoneno warping. simplesimple soft warping. complexcomplex turbulence
warping.warp frequency frequency of the warp. higher numbers create stronger
warping. warp amplitude the strength of the warping applied to the base noise.
warp octaves the complexity of the warping shape. transform scale x the
non-uniform scale of the x axis. scale y the non-uniform scale of the y axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Resource.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Resource","text":"uid resource\r title resource the resource
node allows you to access any resource added to the projects resource manager.
if you are relying on an external library of files it may be useful to add them
to the resource-manager and access them through the resource node.adding too
large or too many resources to the project may slow down the project and create
large save size for the .tor.resources addon file. we recommend using it
sparingly and removing resources when they are no longer needed.
propertiesresource"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/SlopeNoise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"SlopeNoise","text":"uid slopenoise\r title slopenoise
slopenoise unique primitive specifically for creating expansive sloping
terrains. slopenoises internal noise distortions create shape very conducive to
strong flowing erosion. slopenoise fantastic for medium range or close-up scenes
where you want to dramatically show the scale and height of the slope.
propertiesscale the scale of shapes on the slope. displacement the amount of
displacement to perform on the slope shapes. direction the direction of the
slope gradient. stratified when enabled creates long stratified protrusions on
the slope. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Voronoi+.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Voronoi+","text":"uid voronoi+\r title voronoi+ more
flexible version of voronoi based on clustering can be useful for advanced
scenarios. while the voronoi node uses fixed set of points to generate the
pattern voronoi+ uses randomized points you can control. propertiesiterations
the number of generative passes. higher numbers create more complexity but may
take bit more time to generate. distributionpoissonseemingly random placement
with natural pattern. randomfully random placement. gridgrid placement in strict
columns and rows.noisy edges todo strength todo density todo seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Primitives/Voronoi.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Voronoi","text":"uid voronoi\r title voronoi voronoi staple
of procedural design. it creates sharp geometric patterns. the version in gaea
however geo-variant. we have modified the base voronoi shape to fit the needs of
terrain design from the beginning. propertiesvoronoi scale the perceptual scale
of the voronoi shapes. higher values create more shapes. jitter control the
offset of the voronoi points between symmetrical and chaotic. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. dual creates two
overlapping voronoi patterns. warp perturbnoneno warping. simplesimple soft
warping. complexcomplex turbulence warping.warp frequency frequency of the warp.
higher numbers create stronger warping. warp amplitude the strength of the
warping applied to the base noise. warp octaves the complexity of the warping
shape. advanced settings scale x the non-uniform scale of the x axis. scale y
the non-uniform scale of the y axis. functioneuclideaneuclidean function.
manhattanmanhattan function. naturalnatural geology-friendly version of
euclidean.formcvoronoi cells with height decided by the cells themselves.
nvoronoi cells with height decided by the nearest neighbor. r pthe default look
for this geo-variant suitable for creating mountains. aa mix between p and m.
sindividual mountains with fully separated boundaries. mfavors the strongest
cell; good for creating big mountain slope. dfavors ridges over cell
centers."},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Badlands.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Badlands","text":"uid badlands\r title badlands badlands
creates large variation rock formations often with river in between. you can
switch between large and small type of generation as shown in the images below.
you can further control the feature size through the scale slider. usagedesert
landscape badlands can be used to create quick desert landscape. by adding
lookdev nodes such as stacks and canyonizer you can quickly achieve this look.
using low sedimentation in erosion can help create nice drainage networks as
well. propertiestype overall style of the terrain. largegenerates large type
formations. smallgenerates small type formations.scale the scale of the overall
geological features of the terrain. seed the randomization pattern or seed for
the nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Canyon.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Canyon","text":"uid canyon\r title canyon canyon simple fast
and detailed canyon primitive. it creates drainage based river canyon.
propertiescanyon structurecanyoncreates canyon. collapsecreates collapsed
canyon. wallcreates wall of canyon.typesimplecreates simple canyon.
granularcreates detailed canyon.scale the scale of the canyon. width the width
of the canyon. slotvalleysurroundingdepth the depth of the canyon. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Crater.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Crater","text":"uid crater\r title crater the crater
primitive creates different types of crater shapes. like all primitives it not
meant to be the finished product but rather starting point from which to develop
your own detailed shape. craters can be either volcanic which start at the base
and go up in conical shape; or they can be impact where the inside of the crater
can be deeper than the base or the ground around the crater.impact crater the
base higher than the ground as the impact crater goes below the surface.
volcanic crater the base flat area and easier to combine with existing
terrains.propertiescrater profile the different types of crater styles.
craterfieldcreates craterfield which has combination of small and large craters.
cratercreates single crater.scale the scale of the volcano. depth depth of the
impact. lowering the depth also elevates the surrounding ground level. density
density of craters in the craterfield. floor the altitude of the crater floor.
depth depth of the impact. lowering the depth also elevates the surrounding
ground level. outer scale the scale of the outer elevated wall of the impact
zone. inner scale the scale of the inside of the impact zone. modulate modulate
the distribution between the ground walls and floor of the crater zone. lip
creates transition wall or lip between the inside and outside of the impact
zone. global x horizontal placement of craterfield. y vertical placement of
craterfield. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Dunes.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Dunes","text":"uid dunes\r title dunes the dunes node allows
you to create large sea of dunes in systematic undulation. or you can create
smaller cropped sections of large sand dune with lots of small variations and
details. sediment or alluvium nodes are great for adding further detail to the
dunes.dune sea uniform set of dunes covering large area. chaotic windswept
unruly portion of sand dune covering smaller area.propertiesstructure
methodsingle passsmalllargeundulationwind channelsdirection (large)direction
(small)scalewind directiondune typechaosundulationshape softness softness of the
dunes. sharpness sharpness of the dune edges. height the height of the dune.
seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Fault.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Fault","text":"uid fault\r title fault the fault primitive
creates fault in the terrain. the shape can be anything from crack to valley
based on the settings.the fault node has been superceded by the canyon node.
please use in all new projects. propertiesfault width width of the fault. depth
depth of the fault. shrink shrinks the fault from the edges. scale scale sets
the scale of the fault. chaos adds uneveness to the fault shape. location x
horizontal placement of the fault. y vertical placement of the fault. angle
places the fault at the selected angle. seed the randomization pattern or seed
for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Hill.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Hill","text":"uid hill\r title hill hill cousin to the
mountain node this primitive creates standalone hills with minor built-in
erosion to mimic the needs of smaller scale formation. propertiesscale scale of
the hill. height height of the hill. erosion amount of erosion to be applied on
hill. shape defines the shape of the hill. craggyrockyalternatedeterministic
(slow)seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Igneous.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Igneous","text":"uid igneous\r title igneous the igneous
node creates semi-complete sandstone terrain featuring multiple plates crashing
into each other to make large angled rock formations. this can be used for
large-scale desert scenes or even as floor for hero mountains when combined.
propertiesscale the size of the plates. power the power of the inter-plate
collisions. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Island.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Island","text":"uid island\r title island the island node
lets you draw basic shapes from which entire landmasses can be generated. to
draw an island open the editor from the properties panel and draw your basic
island shape. it best to create coarse less-defined shapes and let the algorithm
generate the details for you. once the general shape ready you can then use
smaller brush sizes in both add and subtract modes to refine the coastlines.when
refining the shape keep your eye on the underlying generated shape instead of on
your drawing. this will help you follow what changes. propertiesblur breakage
the amount of breakage along the island bodies. higher values create larger
number of coastal shifts and smaller islands. complexity the overall complexity
of the coastal shapes. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Mountain.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Mountain","text":"uid mountain\r title mountain mountain one
of the most versatile primitives in gaea. it uses modulated voronoi pattern and
distortions to create realistic mountain shapes ready for further modification
and erosion.for simple results such as distant mountains dont require much
detail you can create mountain primitive with scale of your choice and add the
erosion node. this the easiest way to create lot of simple assets.
propertiesmountain scale the perceptual scale of the mountain. edge the faded
edge sprawl of the mountain. bulky this bulks up the mountain shape. height
changes the height of the mountain. type four different generative algorithms
for the shape. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Plates.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Plates","text":"uid plates\r title plates plates new
primitive based on perlin core with flat plate-like formations created in
between larger perlin-esque shapes. the flat slanting areas can make great
slopes — especially when combined with displace nodes. propertiesscale the scale
of the overall field of shapes. steepness the steepness of the slopes. collision
amount of collision between plates. higher values create chaotic shapes. slant
when enabled adds second slope to the edges. inverse inverts all sloping
operations to 180 degrees. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Range.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Range","text":"uid range\r title range range does for
mountain ranges what mountain does for hero mountains. the range primitive
quickly sets up an entire mountain terrain with shapes highly optimized for
eroding large scale landscapes. range comes in two flavors high altitude which
generates taller mountains with little to no ground area; and with base which
creates more rugged but expansive areas nearly 4x the size of high altitude. the
latter very useful for heavy erosion to create vast mountainscapes. the former
better suited for being up in the mountains. the with base option may not look
much but it can produce beautiful results when processed with erosion. high
altitude closer crop of mountainous area at higher altitudes. this includes the
larger slopes and peaks but not the base of the mountain. with base wider crop
of mountain chain showing multiple peaks and the valleys and fields between
them.range (in both forms) best eroded with two erosion nodes. one erodes the
entire environment lightly with no downcutting and another applies erosion with
medium downcutting but biased to the top 20-30% of the altitude in the selective
processing options. propertiesmountain range stylehigh altitudecreates the
higher mountain range areas closer to the peaks. with basecreates vast
mountainscapes with more rugged features.scale the scale of the mountain range.
higher values create more peaks. height the height of the highest peak.
definition enhances the smaller details of the mountain shape. chaos creates
randomized shapes break up the monotony of the base shape. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. advanced settings scale x
the non-uniform scale on the x axis. scale y the non-uniform scale on the y
axis. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Ridge.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Ridge","text":"uid ridge\r title ridge ridge creates rugged
ridgeline with multiple fractures and rock shearing. propertiesmountain ridge
scale scale of the ridgeline. height sets the height of the ridge. definition
adds details on the ridgelines. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the
nodes process. advanced settings scale x the non-uniform scale of the x axis.
scale y the non-uniform scale of the y axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/RockNoise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"RockNoise","text":"uid rocknoise\r title rocknoise rocknoise
useful tool for generating fields of rocks with size variations and controllable
density. its flat generation makes it easy to apply the rocks to any surface
using the embed and insert modes in the combine node. rocknoise can be mixed
with other nodes like rocky and outcrops to create even more diverse rock
formations. in the example above rocknoise embedded into the output of an
erosion node using the wear output as mask. rocknoise has minimal interface lets
you control the density and number of octaves of the generated rocks. the size
parameter determines the overall size of the largest rocks while the octaves
work like in perlin noise where it add smaller rocks in between the larger ones
from previous octaves. this allows you to create realistic-looking fields of
rocks with high level of detail. propertiessize the relative size of the rocks
generated by the noise. density the relative density of the rocks generated by
the noise. octaves each octave adds smaller subdivided rocks in between the
larger ones from the previous octave.seed the randomization pattern or seed for
the nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Rocky.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Rocky","text":"title rocky\r uid rocky rocky primitive
creates shattered rock floors. it can be used to rocky details to other shapes
as well.rocks generated with this node are always on flat terrain. use the
insert node to place rocks on other terrains have height variations.
propertiesstyle choose from different rock styles aa surface with strong
protrusions and more chaos. ba surface with fewer protrusions and mild
chaos.size size of the cracks within the rock. small rocks the amount of smaller
rocks or debris should be exposed. breakage the granularity of the debris in the
broken portions of the rock surface. roughness warping of the smoother surface
shapes. jitter useful utility for shifting shapes for artistic decision making.
clusters the shape of rock clusters. offno clusters largecreate large clusters
smallcreate small clusters shatteredcreate shattered clusters.erosion if checked
it would run erosion pass on the rocky surface. seed the randomization pattern
or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Sand.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sand","text":"uid sand\r title sand sand creates medium and
small level sand patterns. it can also be used to simulate dunes. propertiessand
scale the scale of the sand pattern. uniformity gives uniformity to sand. wind
direction the direction of the sand pattern. height the height of the sand
pattern. shape softness softness of the sand pattern. sharpness changes the
sharpness of the sand. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Slump.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Slump","text":"title slump\r uid slump slump simple
primitive creates relative smooth hills with slumped (collapsed) areas. it very
useful for creating large landscapes. propertiesscale the scale of the slump.
noise style the type of noise style applied to the hill. slump style different
type of slump styles. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/GeoPrimitives/Worselands.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Worselands","text":"uid worselands\r title worselands
worselands creates rugged environment with sheared plates and often some hills.
propertiesstructures type of structure worseland will create. largecreates
larger structure.smallcreates smaller structure.scale the scale of the
structure. complexity defines the complexity of the terrain. height the height
of the terrain. chaos gives uneveness to the shape. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Warps/Displace.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Displace","text":"uid displace\r title displace the displace
node distorts the input terrain using either built-in noises or custom input you
can provide. displacement very useful way of adding perturbances and natural
looking imperfections to terrains.if you need bit of roughness on the terrain
without altering the general shape use vertical displacement with lower scale
and higher complexity. propertiesdisplacement methodstandarddisplacement on the
horizontal (x) and vertical (y) axes. verticalaltitude displacement on the
height (z) axis. ruggedstrong displacement on the horizontal (x) and vertical
(y) axes.uniform when enabled the strength sliders value applies to both the
horizontal (x) and vertical (y) axes. strength the strength of the displacement.
when uniform turned off this controls the displacement for the horizontal (x)
axis. strength vertical available when uniform turned offthis controls the
displacement for the vertical (y) axis. noise scale the scale of the internal
noise. complexity the complexity (octaves) of the internal noise. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. iterative iterations number
of times the displacement applied repeatedly. this can help create more
elaborate displacement effects. rotate the direction of the displacement. high
quality when enabled higher quality displacement used to prevent directional
stretching. this may take longer to process. transform x displacement on the x
axis. y displacement on the y axis. scale x the non-uniform scale on the x axis.
scale y the non-uniform scale on the y axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Warps/DWarp.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"DWarp","text":"uid dwarp\r title dwarp dwarp or directional
warp uses secondary input to warp the first input in uniform direction.
propertiesstrength the strength of the warp. direction the direction of the
warp. edge behaviouredge mirroredge pixels are
mirrored."},{"url":"/Reference/Warps/Warp.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Warp","text":"uid warp\r title warp warp more powerful
version of displace. it can take the terrain and warp the shape creating more
organic shapes. in terrains it can help create more believable shapes or alter
simple shapes into more complex formation. in masks it can help create breakups
can make linear mask more random and chaotic without losing its general
shape.comparison to displace unlike displace warp uses more complex algorithm
while being significantly faster. (up 60x in many situations) by using vector
fields the warping created by this node result in more comprehensive shapes
without creating directional tearing or over-stretching the original shape.warp
as post process warp also built into the postprocess for easy
access.propertiesnoise sizestrengthz-scalewarp sourceperlin fbmused for varied
noise. voronoi r voronoi pthe default look for this geo-variant suitable for
creating mountains. voronoi aa mix between p and m. voronoi sindividual
mountains with fully separated boundaries. voronoi mfavors the strongest cell;
good for creating big mountain slope. voronoi dfavors ridges over cell
centers.perturbationcomplexityroughnessnormalizededge behaviouredge mirroredge
pixels are mirrored.modulationmodulation directionseed the randomization pattern
or seed for the nodes process. iterative
iterationsmode"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Abs.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Abs","text":"uid abs\r title abs the abs node lets you
modify the terrain or mask by eliminating values are either higher or lower than
the exact value specified. propertiesthreshold the exact value to keep.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/AutoLevel.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"AutoLevel","text":"uid autolevel\r title autolevel autolevel
composite leveling node allows you to level your terrain using one or more
methods. this node can be useful when you want to stretch your terrain
vertically or emphasize certain types of heights. it can also be very useful
when working with masks; such as flow output from the erosion node or any other
2d mask may look too faint. by default autolevel automatically stretches the
heights of the terrain between 0 to 100% height while maintaing the proportions.
all leveling modes provide strength slider to manage the amount of
modification.autolevel recommended over equalize in most situations. the latter
may make terrains look too bulky and remove delicate features in some cases.
propertiesautolevel apply autolevel automatically levels the terrain where the
heights are proportionately distributed between the highest and lowest points.
strength the strength of the applied levels method. raise apply raisemultiplier
the strength of the applied raise. logarithmic apply log applies logarithmic
scaling to the terrain. it works similarly to autolevel but uses logarithmic
curve bulks up the terrain much more. inverse inverts the log curve. log the
strength of the log curve. equalize apply equalize equalizes the terrain where
the heights are linearly distributed between the highest and lowest points.
equalize the strength of the equalization. gamma apply gamma applies gamma-style
height adjustment to the terrain. auto-gamma applies auto-gamma. gamma the gamma
amount to be used. this only works when auto-gamma turned off.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Blur.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Blur","text":"uid blur\r title blur the blur node diffuses
sharp shapes and softens the terrain. ^alsopost propertiesblur power the
strength of the blur. for optimal speed use high power and low iterations.
although you may see square artifacts with too high values. iterations the
number of blur iterations to be repeated. for best quality use low power and at
least 4 iterations. sigma the sigma or radius of the gaussian blur. (only
available for gaussian blur) direction the direction of the motion blur. (only
available for motion blur) typefastapplies fast blur. gaussianapplies gaussian
blur. radialapplies radial blur. motionapplies motion blur. smoothapplies smooth
blur."},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Clamp.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Clamp","text":"uid clamp\r title clamp clamp allows you to
control the height of the terrain. you can use it to squash the terrain clip it
at certain heights or make it taller using the extend operation. ^alsopost
propertiesmin the minimum altitude. max the maximum altitude. operationclampthe
terrain proportionally reduced in height. clipthe terrain clipped beyond the
extents provided. extendthe terrain sharply extended beyond the extents
provided.drop to floor remove any excess height from the bottom of the terrain
droppin the terrain to the floor.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Combine.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Combine","text":"uid combine\r title combine the combine
node one of the most important nodes in gaea. it allows you to take two outputs
(terrains masks or color maps) and combine them using various mathematical
operations often known as blend modes. in addition the combine node also gives
you separation mask for texturing purposes when working with terrains and masks.
using combinecolor mixing with gaea 1.2 combine has replaced the mixer node.
combine can now handle color map blending to give you additional flexibility.
combine will switch to color blending mode when the first input color map. the
second should be color map too. if the second input mask or heightfield it will
be converted into an rgb color map. inversely if the first input heightmap or
mask and the second color map the second map will be converted into grayscale
mask.example this an example of equally blending (mode blend ratio 50%) perlin
and mountain nodes. if you switch the mode to max and ratio to 100% if you plug
in shape of any kind to the mask input of the combine node the brighter parts of
the mask will be replaced with the first input while darker areas will be
replaced with the second input. if your mask soft (ie - lots of grays instead of
just black and white) then the blending between the two will be soft. this
usually the preferred method.additional scenariosclamped output by default
combine will clamp the output between 0..1. this safety precaution for mixing
masks and other values where the value scale not readily apparent and can cause
issues in other nodes. if youre adding two terrains where the combined output
goes beyond 1.0 it will return flat portions in such areas. to prevent this you
can turn off clamp output. however to properly use this data you must bring it
within the acceptable range. to do this you should enable autolevel (lv) in the
postprocess and then clamp. this will bring the whole mask or terrain within the
safe range. alternatively you can add an fx node to the combine output or other
nodes like clamp and bring it down manually.propertiesmethodblendblends the
values of the two inputs. addadds input2 to input1. screenadds input2 to input1
without overexposing the output. subtractsubtracts input2 from input1.
multiplymultiplies input1 by input2. dividedivides input1 by input2. maxselects
the higher of the two inputs. minselects the lower of the two inputs. sqrtthe
square root of the two combined terrains. poweruses input2 to create exponents
of input1. differencecreates the difference of the two inputs. insertinsert
relatively flat and isolated shapes into an uneven surface such as sand dunes
while retaining the flatness of the rocks.. embedembed any shape into any other
terrain by performing height-preserving add function.ratio the ratio applied to
the selected method. swap inputs switches the two inputs. separation mask when
enabled creates separation mask separates the original elements from the
combined output. clamp output clamp the output between 0..1 values removing any
excess spikes or out-of-bound values. you can turn this off if you are sure your
values are already within the 0..1 range as this can result in minor speed
increase. abs when enabled any value above 0.0 forced to become 1.0. this useful
for creating hard boundaries out of masks. threshold when abs enabled it the
threshold for the abs operation. when insert mode active it responds to the
threshold to which insertion should take place. flatten the amount of flattening
the local terrain must go through to insert an uneven shape. only available in
insert mode. threshold the extent of insertion or embedding. use it to multiply
the ratio value. only available in insert ormode.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Curve.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Curve","text":"uid curve\r title curve
propertiesmodegentleapplies simple curve. intenseapplies complex
curve.curveflipflips the curve. randomrandomizes the curve point values.
evenevenly distributes the curve point values. resetresets the curve
points."},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Denoise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Denoise","text":"uid denoise\r title denoise\r special
parallel denoise general purpose noise removal filter. denoise systematically
cleans up random noise spikes and extremely sharp edges. single iteration
appropriate in most cases. for extremely noisy terrains require several passes
it recommended the desired area be masked to protect the rest of the terrain
from losing important details. propertiesstrength the strength of the denoise
operation. higher values can take very long time. use cautiously. despeckle
despeckle cleans areas in which noise noticeable while leaving complex areas
untouched. the noise reduced without severely affecting contours. apply
enhancement when enabled more aggressive denoising applied. target stray pixels
only when enabled it will only affect single pixel noise or residual artifacts
from previous processes. this node uses parallel processing. see this link if
you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Flip.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Flip","text":"uid flip\r title flip the flip node flips the
terrain horizontally vertically or both. it can also invert the x-y ordering of
the individual pixels. propertiesdirectionhorizontalflips the terrain
horizontally. verticalflips the terrain vertically. bothflips the terrain both
horizontally and
vertically."},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Fx.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Fx","text":"uid fx\r title fx the new fx node pretty much
the same as the postprocess but in node form. it often process of trial and
error where am adjustment node would need to be replaced with another. sometimes
the node would need to be chained with another. the fx node makes process easier
by combining all the common adjustments inside single node and allowing you to
toggle them on and off. additionally it has its own postprocess so you can apply
further adjustments. propertiespost process autolevel automatically levels the
terrain where the heights are proportionately distributed between the highest
and lowest points. equalize equalizes the terrain where the heights are linearly
distributed between the highest and lowest. log applies logarithmic scaling
bulks up the terrain. invert inverts the terrain. abs abs node modifies the
terrain by eliminating values are either higher or lower than the value. blur
applies blur to the terrain. clamp the terrain proportionally reduced in height.
clip the terrain clipped beyond the extents provided. raise raises the terrain
by the specified amount. multiplier multiplier the amount by which terrain
raised. shaper bulks up or bulks down the output.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Gamma.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Gamma","text":"uid gamma\r title gamma the gamma node
applies gamma adjustment to the heightfield. it works exactly as gamma works in
an image processing program. propertiesauto-gamma automatically choose gamma
value based on the input terrain or mask. gamma the gamma range 0.0 to 2.5 with
1.0 being neutral or the original incoming gamma.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Heal.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Heal","text":"uid heal\r title heal the heal node can
reconstruct damaged low res or 8-bit data with 16-bit high resolution fidelity.
the heal node can take quantized images with extreme banding of any shape and
clean up the terrain into naturalistic output. heal can consume 8-bit data
(visually) damaged images or low quality satellite data — even with bad jpeg
artifacts — and turn it into reasonably clean heightfield. it also useful for
upscaling lower resolution data such as google map extracts.obviously not all
data can be reconstructed but you can get fair bit of quality back. below an
example where we downsample 16-bit heightfield to 8-bit and then reconstruct it
using the heal node.todo image propertieslevel the level of healing to apply to
the data. advanced enables additional options. softness the softness of the
reconstruction features. iterations the number of times the reconstruction
process applied. use lower values for level and softness with higher iterations
for more refined results.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Insert.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Insert","text":"title insert\r uid insert insert utility
node lets you insert sparse heightfield into another heightfield while
preserving the target heightfields relative heights. common example creating
rocks on flat (clipped) surface and then inserting them onto terrain. unlike max
or add combines insert preserves the inserted heightfield and does not add
artifacts or shapes from the underlying heightfield.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Invert.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Invert","text":"uid invert\r title invert invert node
inverts the incoming heightmap.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/MultiCombine.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"MultiCombine","text":"uid multicombine\r title multicombine
multicombine similar to combine but more useful when mixing several inputs.
^hiddenports propertiesmethodblendblends the values of the two inputs. addadds
input2 to input1. screenadds input2 to input1 without overexposing the output.
subtractsubtracts input2 from input1. multiplymultiplies input1 by input2.
dividedivides input1 by input2. maxselects the higher of the two inputs.
minselects the lower of the two inputs. sqrtthe square root of the two combined
terrains. poweruses input2 to create exponents of input1. differencecreates the
difference of the two inputs.uniform treat all inputs equally. ratio the ratio
to be applied for all inputs if uniform option checked. ratio 1 the ratio
between input port and layer1 port ratio 2 the ratio between input port and
layer2 port ratio 3 the ratio between input port and layer3 port ratio 4 the
ratio between input port and layer4 port ratio 5 the ratio between input port
and layer5 port ratio 6 the ratio between input port and layer6 port ratio 7 the
ratio between input port and layer7 port ratio 8 the ratio between input port
and layer8 port ratio 9 the ratio between input port and layer9 port
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Sharpen.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sharpen","text":"uid sharpen\r title sharpen\r special
parallel sharpen enhances the edges and small structures of terrain by making
them more prominent.use sparingly. high values can create sharp artifacts on
your terrain which may cause issues on playable terrains in games as well as
artifacts in lod generation. propertiesamount the amount of sharpening to be
applied to the structures. this node uses parallel processing. see this link if
you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Sine.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sine","text":"uid sine\r title sine sine remodulates the
terrain noise in single sine or reflectance wave giving you fine control.sine
can be great for getting variations from perlin noises when you want slightly
unrecognizable or different noise. propertiesamount the amount of the ramp wave
on the terrain. "},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Threshold.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Threshold","text":"uid threshold\r title threshold the
threshold node lets you alter the terrain based on the height limit specified.
it can especially useful when converting soft mask to hard mask. propertiesscale
todo bias available when adaptive turned on adaptive todo invert todo
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/Transform.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Transform","text":"uid transform\r title transform transform
allows you to move rotate and scale any terrain. the transform node can be
implemented at any point in your graph as it post-process effect.if your terrain
has hard edge try using the zero borders node before applying the transform
node. propertiesscaleuniform this applies uniform scale. scale scale x the
non-uniform scale on the x axis. scale y the non-uniform scale on the y axis.
unfilteredfill edgesrotation angle the angle of rotation of the terrain. mirror
edges edge pixels are mirrored. position x the location of the terrain. y the
location of the terrain.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Adjustments/ZeroBorders.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Zero Borders","text":"uid zeroborders\r title zero borders
the zero borders node allows you to softly transition the edges of terrain into
nothing. it similar to vignette effect in paint applications. this node
particularly useful when using bomber or other effects where the tall edge would
be problematic.if you are using zero borders to repeat the terrain shape you may
want to try the seamless node instead. propertieszero borders moderoundcreate
round shaped borders. squarecreates square shaped borders. precisecreates
borders as per the terrain.margin the amount of margin for borders. falloff the
soft falloff at the edge. auto when auto checked falloff amount auto applied.
blur power the amount of blur applied at the edges. iterations the iterations of
blur to be processed. "},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/Distance.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Distance","text":"uid distance\r title distance distance
simple distance transform node allows you to create sloping shape from flat
shape. it similar to the distance mode in apex but far superior and efficient.
it works very well in conjunction with nodes such as mask island abs and
anything else produces hard flat shapes. propertiesfalloffthresholdinvert
inputinvert outputmultiply by
input"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/FractalTerraces.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"FractalTerraces","text":"uid fractalterraces\r title
fractalterraces fractalterraces creates terraces or stratification of the
terrain. the node fractal in nature and terracing performed in multiple octaves
giving you very high level of detail. you get detailed control over the edge
shape uniformity rock hardness and overall character of the terracing.
propertiesterracing modeclassicthe old method of generating fractal terraces. it
provides fewer options and mainly provided for backward compatibility with older
projects. improvedthe new default method. it provides detailed control over the
fractal shape.spacing the space between two terraces. octaves the number of
terraces to generate including subtle sub-terraces based on the space value
above. intensity the strength of the terracing process. higher intensities
flatten the terrace. shape the general shape of the terraces. lower values
create steeper terraces are closer to the terrains bulk while higher create
smoother terraces protrude outward. seed the randomization pattern or seed for
the nodes process. advanced shapes separationmacro octavesmicro
shapecharacterthickness uniformityhardness uniformitystrata
details"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/Recurve.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Recurve","text":"uid recurve\r title recurve recurve
curvature-based expander node. it can inflate and or deflate the terrain to
create stronger slopes and larger softer formations from given noise or
terrain.despite appearances recurves output very sensitive to subtle changes in
the source heightfield. for example if prior to recurve you apply microerosion
or breaker then recurve will create very specific flow pattern on those grooves
and valleys. propertiesmodepower the strength of the inflate deflate operation.
higher values cause drastic shifts in shape formation. scale the amount of
details to preserve. higher values cause more prominent shapes to form. duration
number of operations to repeat. degrees the angle of the recurve. inflate
whether to inflate the terrain. off deflates the terrain. preserve fidelity this
creates fixed recurve shape at any resolution.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/Shaper.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Shaper","text":"uid shaper\r title shaper the shaper node
can bulk up or bulk down terrain. shaper mainly created to add more body to
landscape before eroding to avoid 人 look after eroding. usually if you erode λ
shape you get 人 shape. if you apply shaper the pre-erosion shape becomes ∩ shape
and after eroding it will be λ retaining the bulk in higher altitudes. shaper
also lets you work in local areas so the effect applied non-uniformly to the
terrain. additionally you can also preserve fine details.shaper very useful tool
fast and effective. you can use it through the fx node as well as the
postprocess. however the shaper node the only way to use the advanced options.
propertiesshape negative values will bulk down the shape while positive values
will bulk up the shape. local effectlocal areamaintain fine details when enabled
finer detail preserved regardless of shape changes. detail
size"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/SoftClip.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"SoftClip","text":"uid softclip\r title softclip softclip
low-level utility lets you softly reduce the intensity of shapes above specified
threshold. it can be comparable to masking shape with height node and then
clamping portion. unlike such custom set up the softclip node gives better
results at tremendously faster speed and requires no setup. propertiesclip
modethresholdsoftnessclipping"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/Terrace.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Terrace","text":"uid terrace\r title terrace terrace adds
even stratification to the terrain.take look at the fractalterraces node which
provides fractal generation and additional features. the terrace node not
deprecated or considered obsolete however in most scenarios fractalterraces will
provide better results. propertiesterraces number of terraces to be added.
uniformity makes the terrace uniform. steepness amount of steepness to be added
to the terraces. intensitysoft
falloffreprocessprocessseed"},{"url":"/Reference/Profile/ThermalShaper.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"ThermalShaper","text":"uid thermalshaper\r title
thermalshaper thermalshaper fast and effective way of condensing and coalescing
shapes similar to what shaper does but in way where it in line with what thermal
erosion does to terrain. you can use it to create smoother ridges or even bulk
up terrain without creating bulbous shapes. thermalshaper works very well with
rivers. propertiesinfluence the influence of the shaping on the input terrain.
mid-values can give you good balance between the stark shape and the original
terrain. shape negative values will condense the terrain into concise sharp
ridges while positive values will bulk up the terrain by adding bulge.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Aperture.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Aperture","text":"uid aperture\r title aperture the aperture
node expands or compacts every single feature on the terrain similar to bokeh in
camera. ^parallel propertiesmethod choose whether to expand or compact the
visuals on the terrain. expandexpands the pixels. contractcontracts the pixels.
spread reduceiterations number of aperture passes to perform on the terrain.
higher number of passes creates pronounced effect at the expense of speed.
kernel kernel the shape of the aperture. changing the kernel can change how the
features on the terrain are modified. disklarge circular formation. diamondsmall
diagonal squares. crosssmall cross pattern. can create predictable shape. for
best results use with masking. octlarge octagonal formation. cornerlarge
diagonal squares. ringsmall circular formation with steps terraces.
sobelrectangular stretches which retain corner shapes.random when on each
iteration uses randomly selected kernel. seed the randomization pattern or seed
for the nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Apex.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Apex","text":"uid apex\r title apex apex uses euclidean
distancing (the same function used to create the voronoi pattern) to take any
heightfield and turn it into stark pyramid-like mountain chain. it requires
terrain with large difference between the highest and lowest points. applying
warp after apex - especially in slant mode - can create very interesting
effects. propertiesmode sets the processing method. the result can be
dramatically different. distancecreates an increasing slope from the outline of
the shape towards its centerline. slantcreates slopes like distance but creates
steep slant as defined by the parameters.steepness steepness of the slopes.
(distance only) slant of the left slope. (slant only) b slant of the right
slope. (slant only) angle angle of the overall slant. (slant only) mirror edges
mirror the edge pixels when there empty space.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Bomber.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Bomber","text":"uid bomber\r title bomber the bomber node
takes an input heightfield and stamps or bombs it across the entire surface of
the terrain using the randomization properties you set. if your terrain has hard
edge try using the zeroborders or clamp in clip mode before applying the bomber
node. propertiesbombing distribution the method of distribution randoma
randomized distribution results in pure chaotic patterns. poissona discrete
probability distribution function results in natural distribution. grida
normalized grid distribution function results in systematic pattern.clusters the
number of independent distribution clusters. density the density of the
independent clusters and the instances within each cluster. variations the
number of variations to create. these variations will then be randomly repeated
on the surface. higher numbers take longer to process but creates more varied
results. jitter the random offset applied to each instance while distributing.
blend mode how the base terrain and bombed instances are merged. addadds the two
values together. screenadds the two inputs without overexposing the output.
maxselects the higher of the two. difference creates the difference of the two
inputs.variations strength the minimum contribution level in overlapping
instances. strength max the maximum contribution level in overlapping instances.
proportional enforce proportional scaling or allow non-proportional
modifications. minimum scale the smallest randomized instance size. maximum
scale the largest randomized instance size. minimum rotation the minimum
randomized rotation angle. maximum rotation the maximum randomized rotation
angle. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Cells.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Cells","text":"uid cells\r title cells this node quantizes
the heightfield into discrete cells defined by the distance function. the
default euclidian function creates basalt pillar-like shapes. propertiesscale
the relative size of the cellular subdivision. chaos the general randomness of
the subdivision. low values create systematic cells; high values cause the cells
to widely differ both in shape and number of sides. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process. function the distance function used to
determine the cell shape. euclideaneuclidean creates sharp angular cells.
manhattanmanhattan creates slightly unnatural multi-angled shapes which can be
quite useful when processed further. shepardsshepards provides stark peaks and
sinkholes. hybrideuclidean-manhattan hybrid merges both distancing functions
equally."},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Noise.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Noise","text":"uid noise\r title noise applies controlled
single-pixel noise onto your terrain. this resolution-dependent node.
propertiesstrength amount of noise to be added. iterations number of iterations
of the noise to be applied. methodrandomrandom dots. gaussiansofter clustering.
impulsesharp strong spikes. laplaciansharp low density clusters.seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Origami.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Origami","text":"uid origami\r title origami the origami
node creates diagonal multi-fold pattern. it can be used to create highly
stylized terrain. when applied with specific masking and then processed further
with erosion the folded structure can produce beautiful naturalistic results.
propertiesamount the amount of re-folding to be applied to the terrain. low
values create large folds; high values create tiny folds.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Polar.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Polar","text":"uid polar\r title polar the polar node
creates kaleidoscope-like effect on terrain. it can be very useful for creating
distortion can be merged with the original terrain or used by itself for surreal
output. propertiesdegrees the amount of polar distortion to apply to the
terrain. ??? full single distortion. low values produce more repetitions; high
values produce fewer repetitions.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Repeat.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Repeat","text":"uid repeat\r title repeat this simple filter
repeats or tiles given terrain. you can choose the number of times it repeated.
in most cases you may want to use seamless before repeat to let the edges match
seamlessly. propertiestiles the number of repititions on either axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Repulse.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Repulse","text":"uid repulse\r title repulse the repulse
node can push or pull the center of the terrain creating an explosion or
implosion type outward distortion. propertiesamount the amount of repulse.
negative values create an outward push; positive values create an inward pull.
scale the size of the effect. x horizontal placement of distortion. y vertical
placement of distortion.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Seamless.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Seamless","text":"title seamless\r uid seamless seamless can
transform any input terrain or color map into tileable repeating pattern. it
requires very little effort. propertiesedge the amount of blending across the
opposite edges. shift x shift blending on the x axis. shift y shift blending on
the y axis. "},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/SlopeBlur.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"SlopeBlur","text":"title slopeblur\r uid slopeblur
propertiesslopeblur intensity lorem ipsum iterations lorem ipsum direction lorem
ipsum asymmetry lorem ipsum normalized lorem ipsum window lorem ipsum quality
quality lorem ipsum antialiasing lorem ipsum
"},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Swirl.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Swirl","text":"uid swirl\r title swirl swirl creates vortex
warp on the terrain. it can be very useful for adding fluid look to the terrain.
propertiesdegrees the strength of the vortex. negative values move the
distortion clockwise; positive values move the distortion counter-clockwise.
scale the size of the swirl. x horizontal placement of swirl. y vertical
placement of swirl. "},{"url":"/Reference/Filters/Whorl.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Whorl","text":"uid whorl\r title whorl whorl applies
multiple vortex-like distortions across the terrain to create large scale
warping. this can be very useful when creating massive landscapes and wanting to
avoid patterning in the noise or for creating slightly surreal or alien
landscapes.whorl can be overpowering if used by itself. an effective way to tone
down whorl to lower the influence value in postprocess or use one of the blend
modes. propertieswhorls the number of whorls to add to the terrain. power the
strength of the distortion applied with each whorl. typespinwhorls appear as
round independent formations. stretchwhorls appear as stretched interconnected
formations.seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Alluvium.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Alluvium","text":"uid alluvium\r title alluvium\r special
parallel the alluvium node creates soil deposits across the terrain either for
filling crevices or for creating large deposits could cover large geological
features. propertiesalluvium modeiterations number of iterations of alluivial
deposits. amount amount of soil deposits. settlinghardness hardness of the rock
material. power power of the erosion process. sediments amount of sediments to
be deposited. flow settling of sediments. chaos general randomness in sediments.
seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. this node uses
parallel processing. see this link if you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Breaker.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Breaker","text":"uid breaker\r title breaker breaker creates
large cracks in the terrain following the general rules of hydraulic erosion but
without creating soil deposits. propertiesbreaker duration the number of
breakage iterations to perform on the terrain. the default value should work in
most situations. river length the maximum length of each break or river. erosion
power the strength of the breakage process. high values may cause sharp drops
and spikes depending on the terrain. depth depth of the cracks. advanced seed
the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. hard cracks disables
antialiasing and smooth of the crack edges. modefastprocesses faster but may not
always result in the same pattern of cracks. accurateprocesses bit slower but
ensures the pattern remains the
same."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Buildup.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Buildup","text":"uid buildup\r title buildup\r special
parallel buildup an inverse form of erosion. instead of taking sediments away
like the drag of hydraulic erosion buildup adds crusting to convex edges of the
terrain. all erosion features found in terrain design software focus almost
exclusively on carving the terrain which eventually results in predictable
model. buildup conversely regenerates some of the lost mass filling up the
excessively carved and convex areas. this quite useful for simulating ancient
landscapes. propertiesbuildup amount the amount of sediment buildup to add to
the terrain. dispersion the distance up to which the sediment buildup should
expand. inversion invert the process of dispersion on slopes. this node uses
parallel processing. see this link if you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Convector.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Convector","text":"uid convector\r title convector convector
an exaggerated form of thermal erosion with few tweaks for stylized output.
convector creates strong slopes and terraces at the same time offering unique
flavor of erosion. the delicate terracing can be very useful as base for the
erosion node. as you can see in the second screenshot these terraces help mimic
big mountain — especially for snow accumulation purposes.todo image
propertiesconvection iterations number of iterations of the convection process.
steepness how much steepness to eradicate. low values create sharper drops. high
values create smooth flows. strength strength of convection where sediments are
bound together. cutoff altitude at which the effect cut off. options invert
invert slope angles. add add mass to rocks. remove remove mass from rocks.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Crumble.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Crumble","text":"title crumble\r uid crumble
propertiescrumble duration lorem ipsum strength lorem ipsum coverage lorem ipsum
anisotropy lorem ipsum erosion rock hardness lorem ipsum downcutting lorem ipsum
depth lorem ipsum "},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Deposits.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Deposits","text":"uid deposits\r title deposits\r special
parallel the deposits node an amped up version of alluvium. it works similarly
to alluviums deposits mode but processes faster and creates larger soil deposits
by sacrificing finer details. it useful when you need very heavy deposits
alluvium cant achieve. propertiesiterations number of iterations of deposits.
sediments amount of sediments to be deposited. flow settling of sediments. chaos
general randomness in sediments. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the
nodes process. this node uses parallel processing. see this link if you
encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Erosion.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Erosion","text":"uid erosion\r title erosion erosion the
cornerstone of all terrains. it simulates hydraulic erosion on the terrain to
turn any shape into realistic looking terrain.it provides sophisticated erosion
with very easy to use interface. the erosion node provides control over the
scale where you can choose the size of the largest erosion feature as well as
the overall scale of the terrain. the erosion nodes algorithm addresses one of
the biggest problems in digital erosion it preserves features across different
resolutions. this means 512 x 512 preview build will maintain essential parity
for all major erosion features with high resolution 4k or 8k build. you no
longer need to guess the output type. the algorithm also creates exquisite flows
with naturalistic curves never before been seen in digital erosion. using
erosionstrength and rock softness both strength and rock softness parameters
affect the aggressiveness of erosion and effect from increasing of one can be
similar to the effect of increasing other but there still the difference derived
from the definition of these parameters. lesser strength means dissolved soil
will be dropped earlier because of lower water transport capacity and lesser
softness means the rock will be eroded slower but dissolved sediment will be
dropped farther. this results in different distribution of deposits gullies and
shapes of erosion features. low strength with very high rock softness retains
the general shape. fewer cracks or fluvial grooves are created while some soft
sediment accumulated on slopes. high strength with very low rock softness
creates heavily eroded terrain with plenty of soft sediment.downcutting
downcutting effectively transports sediment far away from its origin. if shorter
transport distance desired for example for faster alternating between erosion
deposition set this parameter to 0.0 or set inhibition to higher values. high
downcutting with medium inhibition creates lots of deep fluvial grooves as well
as excess sediments flow downslope. high downcutting with very little or no
inhibition will create the same deep fluvial grooves but no excess
sediments.scale and feature size the size of the features created during the
erosion process - namely the width of largest valleys and ridges between them -
controlled by the feature scale option where you can achieve artistic control
over the erosion process. default feature size of 2000 (meters). reduced feature
size of 50 (meters). the real scale option automatically controls the general
scale (the extents of the terrain and the vertical scale) using the scale set in
the terrain definition. although it can be turned off to manually change the
physics of the erosion system although it not recommended for most
scenarios.when using parallel processing the erosion algorithm can become
non-deterministic. this means while most of the major flows will appear in the
same location smaller features may appear somewhat different every time the node
processed. to ensure fully deterministic processing disable parallel processing.
this will sacrifice processing speed to ensure your results are
consistent.sediment removal the new sediment removal feature lets you remove
sediment deposits generated by the erosion process. by default the property
applies uniformly across the entire terrain but it can be driven by heightfield
or mask. ^todoimageselective processing selective processing one of the most
powerful tools available in the erosion process. you can provide bias mask to
drive aspects of the erosion process namely rock softness erosion strength and
precipitation amount. ^todoimage it may sound like simple masking however there
significant difference between masking the erosion node and using selective
processing. with masking the effect tightly contained within the provided mask
using compositing method (the same as using combine at 100% blend while
providing mask). while with selective processing the mask provided will apply
modifier to area however processing will still occur outside the bias
mask.processing mask you can use two forms of masking for the selective
processing the built-in masks called bias types or custom mask provided via the
area input. custom masks can be any heightfield. the built-in bias masks are
slope and altitude. they are mainly provided for convenience so you can quickly
apply selective processing and be able to use it frequently without creating
several nodes. both aspects go from 0 to maximum in normalized scale. this means
0% the bottom while 100% the top. for example if you want to mask the last 10%
of mountain peak you would use 90% for the altitude bias. you can invert the
mask by enabling reverse. the bias mask modulates or drives the value of the
parameter across the terrain region. for example if you provide rock softness
mask while your rock softness parameter set to 35% it will map the black or 0
part to 0% while the white will map to 35%. similarly erosion strength maps to
the strength slider and precipitation amount maps to the duration slider.data
output the erosion and wizard nodes create three key data outputs data
description - wear the portions where erosion removes sediments. deposits the
resting position of those sediments. flow the path of the sediments from their
original location to the final resting position. these maps can be used for
texturing or for driving other nodes.like other data maps the output may not be
readily visible to the human eye. you can use fx to autolevel or equalize the
output. you can also use abs to create solid mask.in digital terrains
inexperienced artists will often try to use the flow output too prominently for
texturing. while this may work in some situations it tends to create unrealistic
textures and can make your terrain look fake and cg. see the misconceptions
section below.determinstic output it worth noting due to the nature of the
algorithm and parallel processing the erosion flow may differ slightly each
time. to ensure 100% exact results every time you can turn on the deterministic
option in the erosion node. this will force gaea to use single processor core
which will result in slower processing but will ensure your results are
completely predictable. this may not always be necessary. there are also
workarounds. for example if you wish to control certain major flow lines you can
create mask for the starting points of those flows and feed it to selective
processing. this usually best done in second erosion node while the first one
provides general erosion across the terrain.further reading see erosions for
general information on erosion how it applies to procedural terrains and
misconceptions about erosion. see these tutorials for examples of practical
usage tut-selective-erosion tut-multipass-erosionpropertieserosion duration
determines the duration of erosion simulation. this parameter can be set to
higher value than 1.0 but note even default 0.04 (4%) enough for most cases
resulting in prominent erosion effect. low duration values such as 0.02 and
lesser can be useful for adding erosion details while keeping the main original
landscape features unchanged. rock softness controls the softness of rock
material. the softer rock is the faster erosion process. strength sets the
strength of fluvial erosion. this parameter controls the sediment transport
capacity how much of dissolved minerals water can carry. this parameter can be
set to value higher than 1.0 this can speed up the erosion process but also can
result in lesser erosion quality especially if erosion softness value high too.
downcutting downcutting this parameter controls the amount of downcutting or
vertical erosion. this additional erosion mechanics allowing water to transport
sediments beyond the fluvial capacity by dragging and moving undissolved
materials. this results in deeper gullies and can be useful for getting mountain
ranges. inhibition this parameter controls special mechanics adding additional
restraints for downcutting. it determines how undissolved sediments are slowed
down by already dropped sediments causing downcutting to stop and drop its load.
this allows to combine both variants of erosion with and without downcutting
resulting at deep channels at some areas and alluvial fans in other areas. base
level controls the base level for the vertical erosion process this the lowest
elevation downcutting process can erode until it stops and begins to drop
sediment. this elevation different across the whole terrain and depends on the
terrain slopes relative altitudes stream velocity and other factors. this
parameter can be useful for filling the largest valleys with deposit material
forming valley floors. scale real scale automatically determine the scale from
the terrain definition. feature scale determines the lateral size of the largest
erosion features in meters width of largest valleys and ridges between them.
terrain scale the simulated scale of the entire width of the terrain. (available
when rivers turned on) verticality the simulated height of the entire terrain.
(available when rivers turned on) flow random sedimentation this parameter
controls randomization of sedimentation process. in the cases of usual uniform
erosion it rarely has effect because multiple flows dropping sediments randomly
results in uniform deposition field thus cancelling random sedimentation effect.
this parameter for some non-standard scenarios for example masked precipitation
where precipitation occurs at some areas only. volume this another special
parameter which alters erosion physics treating water flows as volumetric
objects affecting each other causing higher water levels during simulation which
results in wider channels filled with more deposits. this another way to get
valley floor and it works without downcutting. sediment removal removes the
sediment produced in the erosion process. this can be modulated using the
sedimental removal mask input. selective processing area effect this the effect
applied when an area input specified or if bias defined in the settings. erosion
strengththe input mask controls the erosion strength. rock softnessthe input
mask controls the rock softness. precipitation amountin this mode mask controls
rained areas allowing to rainfall to occur in the selected area only. the
brighter mask is the more water rained. this masking mode allows to avoid boring
look of uniformly eroded terrain. nonedo not apply selective processing.bias
type the type of automatic bias to apply when an area input not specified. bias
the strength of the bias. for slope it the steepness for altitude it the
position from bottom. reverse reverse the bias direction. other settings seed
the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. aggressive mode process
erosion faster at the risk of creating soft erosion artifacts in some minor
areas. deterministic (slow) parallel processing using all cpu cores can create
small variations every time the node built. you can enable deterministic
processing to ensure the exact same shape produced every time. however this will
force the algorithm to reduce its parallelism and use single cpu core.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Fluvial.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Fluvial","text":"uid fluvial\r title fluvial\r special
parallel fluvial erosion secondary erosion. it most useful when applied on top
of an already eroded surface or when you need light erosion where carving more
important than sedimentation. propertiesduration the number of erosion cycles to
simulate. usually 200 sufficient. power the strength of the erosion. granularity
whether debris should be fine like dust or coarse like rocks and even boulders.
baslen the sub-simulation length of each particle. radius the area affected by
each particle. random the randomness of each particles motion. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. this node uses parallel
processing. see this link if you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Hydro.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Hydro","text":"uid hydro\r title hydro\r special parallel
hydro creates waterflow erosion such as rivers and ancient seabeds. it can be
used in two forms lateral and ventral. lateral enhances the terrain by providing
different method of eroding rocky river banks and even underwater areas. lateral
follows the water flow creating patterns based on the flows over and around
obstacles. ventral uses partially randomized churning forces to erode the
terrain. it works with two sets of forces macro and micro which interweave to
use the shape of the terrain to drive the erosion. this erosion method uses
horizontal flow mechanics (unlike hydraulic erosion) resulting in look flowing
waters gently carved in the terrain over thousands of year. propertiespower
higher values cause larger smoother shapes and decay fine details. lower values
preserve details but create slightly rougher curves. multiplier higher values
cause the erosion to erase smaller features in the terrain by producing stronger
flows. preserve indentations preserves the indentation detail. this node uses
parallel processing. see this link if you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/HydroFix.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"HydroFix","text":"uid hydrofix\r title hydrofix hydrofix low
level utility can help create unbroken flows. it does not change the landscape
completely but rather creates small adjustments along flow zones to promote long
and better looking flows. in this example you can see simple perlin with flow
map. the first image shows the default perlin while the second shows the perlin
noise with hydrofix applied. you can see the flow map produces longer and more
coherent structures.you do not need to use hydrofix with rivers as it has
special version of it built into its algorithm.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/MicroErosion.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"MicroErosion","text":"uid microerosion\r title
microerosion\r special parallel microerosion performs very tiny amounts of
erosion in crevices and flow structures created by previous erosion passes. it
behaves similarly to sharpen pass but specifically for enhancing erosion
structures. propertiesiterations iterations of the erosion process. strength
strength of the erosion. this node uses parallel processing. see this link if
you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Sediment.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sediment","text":"uid sediment\r title sediment the sediment
node creates thick layer of sedimentation on top of the terrain. the sediment
very generic and based on your usage can make sand or snow.the drift mode
creates an extremely large buildup of sedimentation (snow sand etc) offset to
the main terrain. this can be great for creating snow buildup glaciers and
more.if the drift looks too detached from the main terrain try changing the seed
or lowering the strength. propertiespower the power of sedimentation layers.
amount the amount of sedimentation on each layer. drift add superficial
multi-directional drift or buildup to the sedimentation. strength the strength
or offset of the drift. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Stratify.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Stratify","text":"uid stratify\r title stratify\r special
parallel stratify allows you to create broken strata or rock layers on the
terrain in non-linear fashion. unlike terracing stratification involves
substrata subterraces created in confined local zones such as between two broken
plates. each stratified layer exists independent from the rest of the layer
creating robust realistic formation. propertiesstrength the amount of
stratification to be applied. low values produce more strata with fractured
delicate substrata; high values produce stronger larger strata. substrata at
non-zero values this setting creates secondary level of stratification between
the first level of stratification for added detail. filtered when on creates
smoother curvature for the plates. this node uses parallel processing. see this
link if you encounter grid-like artifacts in this
node."},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Thermal.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Thermal","text":"uid thermal\r title thermal thermal
simulates thermal erosion can create talus and debris. using thermal
erosionselective processing like with the erosion node you can modulate
howthermal stress anisotropy thermal stress anisotropy governs how erosion and
the resulting rocks deposits are shaped. it smooths the terrain while eroding.
low values keep the original terrain intact for the most part while high values
create stronger talus at the expense of eroding the original terrain. for
example sharp peaks get eroded heavily with high stress values. the image below
shows simplified version of how thermal stress anisotropy affects terrain.
combining with hydraulic erosion in the real world hydraulic and thermal erosion
occur together. you can mimic this behavior by chaining thermal and erosion (or
wizard) nodes as shown in the layering erosion section in erosions. chained
sequence of wizard erosion and thermal nodes selective processing can be very
powerful tool in such chain of nodes for both thermal and
erosion.propertiesthermal erosion duration duration of the thermal erosion
process. strength strength of the thermal erosion process. anisotropy thermal
erosions anisotropy affects how rock affected and deposits formed. see the
anisotropy section for details. talus angle angle of the talus (deposits). talus
settling settling of sediments in the talus. sediment removal amount of sediment
to be removed. fine detail enable rocky debris in the talus. debris size size of
the rocky debris in the talus. available when fine detail turned on scale real
scale use the scale defined in the terrain. disable to access addtional options
and modify erosions physics. terrain scale scale of the terrain. available when
real scale turned off feature scale scale of the largest feature in the terrain.
verticality height of the terrain.available when real scale turned off
"},{"url":"/Reference/Erosion/Wizard.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Wizard","text":"uid wizard\r title wizard wizard the erosion
wizard lightweight wrapper for the erosion node. it simplifies the settings
through curated presets and provides secondary passes for additional processing.
the wizard node meant to replace the erosion node - in fact it meant to augment
it. for many direct and basic uses wizard can help achieve results much faster
than with the erosion node.comparison to erosion gaea gives you two ways to use
our hydraulic erosion simulation process the erosion node which gives you
absolute control over every aspect or the wizard node which gives you easier
access to the major aspects. both use the same simulation underneath but provide
different interfaces. both have their pros and cons. erosion provides access to
all the simulation controls however it can take some time to find the sweet spot
for many different settings. wizard on the other hand provides fewer easier
choices and various recipes for creating different types of results however it
does not allow you to fine tune your results. for comparison between the two see
erosions.phases and recipes the goal of the wizard node to quickly create common
erosion features with minimal effort. for this purpose the erosion simulation
packed into two parts phases and recipes. the wizard node can perform the
simulation in two phases and you can define the recipes for each phase. recipes
are partially predefined erosion settings give specific results. phase 1 fully
customizable. you can choose recipe and define all the parameters for the
simulation such as channel depth sedimentary deposit amount and more. the first
phase can be repeated several times by changing the phase 1 recipe while
ensuring each recurrance uses the same parameters. phase 2 comprised of
lightweight recipes can be applied either on top of phase 1 or by itself. it can
create rivers low talus deep furrows and more.prevent over-erosion common
problem many users encounter strong erosion can destroy the precise shape they
have created. this because erosion by definition will remove material from the
terrain to create erosive results. the bulk parameter helps prevent this. by
bulking up the terrain even slightly sharper peaks and delicate areas are less
prone to become too eroded or spikey.propertieserosion phase 1nonedont apply
phase 1. phase 2 if selected will still be applied. fast erosion gaea
classicapply the classic gaea erosion simulation. craggy dessicated swept away
low sedimentsclassic erosion with lower sediment production. two passrepeat the
erosion 2 times to emphasize the erosion. four passrepeat the erosion 4 times.
use this sparingly as the effect can be quite pronounced.strength sets the
strength of fluvial erosion. this parameter controls the sediment transport
capacity how much of dissolved minerals water can carry. this parameter can be
set to value higher than 1.0 this can speed up the erosion process but also can
result in lesser erosion quality especially if erosion softness value high too.
density controls the density of rock material. the softer rock is the faster
erosion process but may produce bulbous deposits. material defines the general
material of the terrain ranging from fine sand to large rocks or mix of both.
channel depth this parameter controls the amount of downcutting or vertical
erosion. this results in deeper channels and can be useful for getting mountain
ranges. channel width this parameter controls the width of the channels by
creating sediment deposits in the base of the channels. deposits this controls
the amount of sedimentary deposits generated by the erosion process. removal
this parameter can reduce the amount of sediments generated during erosion
creating deeper channels.phase 2applies second phase from one of several
pre-defined recipes.nonedo not apply phase 2 recipe. mild erosion riverscreate
rivers from the steepest slopes. channelscreate multiple smaller scale channels.
low depositscreate powerful deposits and talus in the lower altitudes. pitted
surfacecreate rough pitted surface with thousands of tiny pits and crater-like
formations. hawaii furrowscreate deep furrows similar to the hawaiian islands.
collapsedcreate low collapses in deposition areas.other bulk increases the bulk
of the terrain before eroding. when using strong settings having some bulk can
help prevent the terrain from eroding too much and losing its shape. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. deterministic (slow)
parallel processing using all cpu cores can create small variations every time
the node built. you can enable deterministic processing to ensure the exact same
shape produced every time. however this will force the algorithm to reduce its
parallelism and use single cpu core.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Anastomosis.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Anastomosis","text":"uid anastomosis\r title anastomosis\r
related valley flow erosion anastomosis creates interconnected water flow based
downcutting ranging from small pits to large river channels. it can be used for
roughening up surface without losing the features of terrain and for deepening
existing flow structures. before and after anastomosis. using high impact and
influence values in destructive mode.using high impact value in rivers
mode.propertiesstructure impact the intensity of the process. higher values
create stronger physical impacts within the erosion process. flow width the
relative width of the areas impacted by the erosion. erosion depth the influence
or depth of the downcutting caused by the erosion. flow the style of the
downcutting in the erosion process. destructivetiny small scale roughening of
the entire surface with higher impact on steep slopes. pitslarger pit like
impacts overlap often biased slightly towards existing flow structures.
flowsdeepen existing flow structures and create new minor ones. riversdeepen
existing flow structure in major river flow zones only. rivers x2a powerful
version of the rivers mode. rivers x4an extreme version of the rivers mode.
floodingintense low-altitude low-slope destructive mode. use sparingly. flooding
x2a more powerful version of flooding. may not work with some terrains. flooding
x4an extreme version of flooding. may not work with some terrains.accuracy the
accuracy of the simulation. you can speed up the simulation by lowering the
accuracy.valley flow
erosion"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Arboreal.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Arboreal","text":"uid arboreal\r title arboreal
propertiesgrowth areas type the shape of the generic trees to grow.
coniferssharp tall spikes look like coniferous trees. broadleafa highly generic
shape looks like wide coverage of broadleaf plants like forests and jungles.
shrubsa simple sparse growth looks like shrubshealth the overall health of the
ecosystem. degrading health will create sparser populations tree stump-like
formations and general dead patches. when health goes below 0% growths will be
forced into small groves or sparse populations in only few random places on the
terrain. height the arbitrary height of the individual plants. style the style
of the generated tree shape. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the
nodes process. inhibitors growth the fertility of the ecosystem. flowing water
growth bias towards freshwater flows. avoidtrees will grow away from flowing
water or snow accumulation. useful for places with rivers snow accumulation etc.
seektrees will grow closer to where water flows often in shadowed places. useful
for arid environments canyons etc.flows the amount of flow to simulate.
consolidate flows consolidation of smaller flows. higher values merge smaller
flows into larger ones. simulation bias artificially bias the growth to lower or
higher areas. useful for artistic tweaking. altitude min max the altitude range
within which plants can grow. slope min max the slope range within which plants
can grow. patches the amount of empty patches in the vegetation growth areas.
chaos the distortion of the vegetation grove clump edges. smooth the amount of
edge smoothing where vegetation becomes sparse.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Canyonizer.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Canyonizer","text":"uid canyonizer\r title canyonizer
canyonizer can add deep or shallow fractal canyons to an existing terrain.
propertiescanyons formation amount of canyon formations in the terrain.
streamline the amount of streamlined canyon formation. octaves number of octaves
higher values create more complexity. maximum depth maximum depth of the canyons
created. narrow keeps the canyons narrow. generate masks generate optional
masks. disabling this when not using masks will give you small performance
benefit. fast use the fast mode to to sacrifice shape quality for speed. seed
the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Carver.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Carver","text":"uid carver\r title carver landform shortcut
to transform simple shape into complex landscape. propertiesiterations
iterations of carver to be applied erosion power amount of erosion. displacement
amount of distortion. degrees angle of distortion. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Fold.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Fold","text":"uid fold\r title fold the fold node simulates
terrain folding by introducing slants breaks and folds to the terrain. it will
change the shape of the terrain significantly and should be used early in the
graph. propertiesscale scale of the transformation. smaller scale creates more
detail. rift creates one or more rifts in the main rock body. folding how
strongly the terrain should fold upon itself. use sparingly midpoint placement
of the folding bias. range range of the folding bias. angle direction of the
folding forces. elevate increase vertical folding pressure. seed the
randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Outcrops.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Outcrops","text":"title outcrops\r uid outcrops
propertiescoverage lorem ipsum breakage lorem ipsum detail lorem ipsum
protrusion lorem ipsum blending lorem ipsum rugged lorem ipsum seed lorem ipsum
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Rugged.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Rugged","text":"uid rugged\r title rugged rugged very
powerful lookdev node creates strong rocky surface for any terrain while
preserving overall shape. this enables you to add tremendous amounts of details
to any surface. this node also useful for breaking up geometric or linear
terrains. one of the useful features of this node the depth parameter relative
value. identations created with the rugged node use different depths within the
range defined in the depth parameter. the resulting indentations are more
natural especially with the rock fusion occurs at the side opposite the main
edge of each broken plate. propertiesstrength the strength of the indentations
created by the node. scale the size of the geological features. octaves the
number of octaves or iterations of breakage. sweep the number of iterations of
for lateral erosion from flowing water. when the scale value high larger number
of sweep iterations may be required to smooth the rock strata. depth the average
depth of the indentations. density the density of the indentation structure.
negative values create deep and wide crevices while positive values fuse the
crevices together leaving small pockets. fragmentation the amount of breakage of
the rock strata in each iteration. high values require fewer octaves but create
more uniformity. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
warped add warping to each octaves to create slightly curved shapes. reverse
reverse the structure of the indentations. this creates sharper crevices and
edges. hard effect by default the indentations are softened based on altitude
and slope. for low surfaces or if deeper effect required turn this option on.
"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Shatter.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Shatter","text":"uid shatter\r title shatter ^wip
propertiesshatter strengthcollapsesfeature scaleseed the randomization pattern
or seed for the nodes process. disable parallel processing this option disables
parallel processing. "},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Shear.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Shear","text":"uid shear\r title shear ^wip shear creates
rock shearing and exposes strata. propertiesshear scale the scale of rock
shearing. folding the amount of folding to be applied. direction the angle of
rock shearing. self modulatedseed the randomization pattern or seed for the
nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Stacks.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Stacks","text":"uid stacks\r title stacks ^wip
propertiesstacking cascades the number of erosion passes. stacks the number of
stratification passes. exposed strata the amount of stratified plates to expose
from sediments. foldingsteepness the steepness of the stratified areas. talus
passpower the power of the talus. height the height of the talus from the
bottom. encourage strong flowsstylecascades durationrock softnessstrengthother
settings seeddisable parallel
processing"},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Surface.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Surface","text":"uid surface\r title surface
propertiesstyleroughadds localized sharpness and protrusions based on the local
shape of the terrain. rockycreates lots of tiny rocks based on the local shape
of the terrain.strength the strength of the effect. coverage coverage across
larger features. low values localize the effect while high values let it spread
across larger shapes. density density of rock protrusions created on the
surface. "},{"url":"/Reference/LookDev/Valley.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Valley","text":"uid valley\r title valley\r related erosion
wizard anastomosis valley specialized lookdev node for carving out valley
structures in bulky terrains with large slopes. propertiesridge styleroughthe
ridges are rough. smooththe ridges have smooth slopes. sharpthe ridges have
smooth slope with sharp edges.erosive strength the amount of erosion in the
valley structure. flow width the width of flow in the valley depth the depth of
the valley. base levelsediments amount of sediment deposited in the valley.
randomdeterministic (slow)seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes
process.erosion wizard
anastomosis"},{"url":"/Reference/Snow/IceFloe.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"IceFloe","text":"uid icefloe\r title icefloe ^wip
propertiesice generation scalecoveragecracksgapchurnseed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process. secondary breakage smaller chunkssmaller
coveragebreakagesurface
scaleheight"},{"url":"/Reference/Snow/Snowfall.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Snowfall","text":"uid snowfall\r title snowfall ^wip the
snowfall node simulates snowfall melting and settling like in the real world
using dedicated snow physics lets you also control how the snow sticks and flows
along the terrain. settle and melt advanced physics propertiessnowfall duration
duration of snowfall. intensity intensity of snowfall. settle-thaw rate of
settling and thawing. melt rate of melting. snow line altitude at which snowfall
stops. scale real scale use the scale defined in the terrain. disable to access
addtional options and modify the snows physics. terrain scale scale of the
terrain. verticality height of the terrain. advanced slip-off angle angle at
which snow will stick to the surface. adhered snow mass mass of snow sticks to
the surface. "},{"url":"/Reference/Water/Lakes.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Lakes","text":"uid lakes\r title lakes the lakes node
simulates rainfall on the terrain and creates physically accurate lakes. even
when overriding with custom masks for precipitation the physics simulation
ensures your lakes are as physically accurate as possible using gaeas erosion
engine. ^hiddenports outputs there are multiple outputs to help you with the
post-generation tasks such as colorization surface separation and more. the main
output heightfield with the lake surface embedded into the terrain.the lakes
mask gives you an exact hard mask of the water.the depth mask gives you the
depth of the water bodies. you may sometimes need to use autolevel to see the
depth as it can be quite subtle with smaller water bodies. however if you use
cluter to colorize it using the built in autolevel option should suffice.the
shore mask gives you the full coverage of the shore surrounding all water
bodies. to avoid mask overlap (which can create aliasing artifacts) the shore
mask contains the water bodies as well. when coloring you can layer the shore
first then the water. (see tut-color-water) or if you wish to get shore only
mask then you can subtract the lakes mask from the shore output.the surface
output not mask but heightfield. it hidden port only available by dropping
connection on the center of the node and selecting it from the ports menu pops
up. it gives you just the surfaces of the lakes at their exact altitude. this
can be used to create separate mesh or displacement map for further usage in
other applications. or advanced control (see tut-lake-control).if this the
normal outputthen this the surface output visualized as heightfield.flooding
flood control creates constant amount of water from the bottom up before running
the precipitation simulation. this can be used to add extra water to the terrain
more efficiently than simply increasing the rainfall. you can also use it
bolster the water level of lower lakes while preserving the size of lakes at
higher altitudes. you can flood control to create sea shore as well. for example
this our standard lakes output.by enabling flood control our terrain flooded
first then additional rainfall occurs adding to the existing water.if you set
precipitation to 0 and just use flood control you can create lakes in the lower
parts of the terrains.custom lake positions the optional rain input allows you
define where rainfall occurs. however since we are dealing with physics
simulation the mask position needs to be uphill of where you want the lakes to
form instead of simply painting mask of final destination itself. if you place
mask up on the tallest peak the rainfall simulation will occur only here.and the
water will flow downhill and automatically rest in position where lake could
naturally form with such precipitation.if you place mask up in the lowest area
with no major slopesthen the lake formed in low area only. you can see it still
goes downhill bit to natural resting spot dictated by gravity.remember you can
use flood control to bolster smaller lake bodies instead of modifying your mask
shape or increasing the precipitation simulation.propertieslake formation
precipitation the amount of rainfall should occur in the precipitation
simulation. small lakes favor or discourage smaller lake bodies. allowing
smaller lakes can be useful for creating swampy environments or puddles. flood
control flood the terrain with minimum amount of water in addition to the
precipitation. water floor the altitude to which water flooded with flood
control. you can enter precise height such as 500m by right-clicking. shore
formation shore size the size of the shore surrounding all water bodies created
by the node. altitude bias bias the altitude of the shoreline. size bias bias
the size of the shoreline. "},{"url":"/Reference/Water/Rivers.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Rivers","text":"title rivers\r uid rivers rivers can
instantly generate complex river networks on any terrain whether it can sustain
rivers or not. the node subtly transforms the terrain to provide unbroken
pathways for river to be generated. generating rivers does not require many
prequisites. the terrain should just have some slopes so rivers can flow
downslope. this makes rivers very versatile as you can use it with virtually any
terrain shape and at almost any stage of your terrains production. while the
rivers are generated for you using sophisticated algorithms closely mimic nature
you can still retain fair level of control over the rivers. by providing
headwaters mask you can confine all starting headwaters inside mask. all rivers
would then originate from those locations giving you artistic control over river
generation while leaving the minute details to the algorithm. you can even use
rivers early in your graph to help carve pathways and valleys for ancient rivers
have dried up or for river generation later in the graph. in the latter scenario
having river early in the graph helps the erosion and other effects take the
river pathway into account throughout the terrain production. see the quickstart
enclosed river for an example. rivers and lakes can work together to create
comprehensive water element for your terrains. see the quickstart rivers and
lakes on how to combine them and produce colors from the combined water depth.
propertiesheadwaters the number of headwaters from which rivers can start. not
all will become rivers but rather tributaries feed the main river. water the
amount of water in headwaters. higher values can create larger rivers. width the
width of the rivers. high values create wide rivers with somewhat wide
tributaries. low values create thin rivers with thin tributaries. depth the
depth of the rivers. this value independent of downcutting. downcutting like
with the erosion node downcutting decides how deeply the river should cut into
rock and soil while moving forward. render water surface create water surface
for the rivers. this can be used directly in the terrain especially when you
have wide rivers or export it as separate heightmap for further river production
in your cg application or game engine. seed the randomization pattern or seed
for the nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Water/Sea.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sea","text":"uid sea\r title sea sea multi-function water
surface generator and coastal erosion tool. its primary purpose to create water
surface while coastal erosion creates beaches and cliffs. the water surface can
be generated either as global surface or filled from the edges without affecting
inland features. in the latter mode you can have custom control over which edges
fill inward by using the edge input mask. ^hiddenports propertiessea
arragementglobalcreates sea even inside the terrain. surroundingcreate sea
surface from the edges of the terrain but not inside the terrain.level the water
level in the sea. coastal erosion perform erosion on the coastal areas. shore
size the size of the shore created with coastal erosion. shore height the height
of the shore created with coastal erosion. variation the amount of variation on
the coast. uniform variation morphingextra cliff details add extra details to
the cliff on the terrain. render water surface renders the water surface in the
sea area. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Angle.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Angle","text":"uid angle\r title angle angle creates
selection mask covering all areas of the heightfield facing the specified range.
propertiesazimuth the direction from which to start the selection. min the
minimum angle of the selection. max the maximum angle of the selection. falloff
the soft falloff at the maximum angle.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Curvature.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Curvature","text":"uid curvature\r title curvature the
curvature node creates mask where convex areas (such as sharp edges protrusions
etc.) are selected. it very useful layer in texture creation often as highlights
applied on top of an existing texture map. propertiesmin the minimum range of
the curvature. max the maximum range of the curvature. falloff the soft falloff
at the maximum edge. curvature typehorizontalfavor horizontal curvature.
verticalfavor vertical curvature. averageblend both horizontal and vertical
curvatures evenly.invert invert the map.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Details.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Details","text":"uid details\r title details the details
node allows you to extract higher frequency details to produce detail
displacement (for lower resolution meshes) or detail normals. just add the node
to your final height node(s) and set the target size to your downscaled size.
for example if you are building your world at 8192 x 8192 but your mesh 2048 x
2048 vertices then set the target size to 2048. to create detail normals just do
the above and attach normal map node to the details output.the details output
extremely microscopic and may not always be directly visible in the viewport.
you should temporarily turn on autolevel (lv) in the post process options or use
the eq mode in 2d view to look at the output. propertiesmethod the method
through which details are extracted from the terrain. high frequencyseparate
specific high frequencies so sharp and smaller protruding shapes are isolated.
synthetic detailsextract specific frequencies from the terrain and generate very
shape-specific details for each portion of the terrain based on local
attributes."},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Distribution.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Distribution","text":"uid distribution\r title distribution
the distribution node creates distribution map in the form of white pixels or
hits based on the shape of the terrain. the output can be used as distribution
source map in other applications; such as forestpack xgen vue blender etc.
propertiesoccurance the chance of hit occurring. higher values create more
distribution dots. density the cluster density of hits. seed the randomization
pattern or seed for the nodes process.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Dither.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Dither","text":"uid dither\r title dither dither one of the
few stylized output nodes in gaea. it takes any heightfield or mask and creates
dithering pattern. this can be useful for creating color maps for large terrain
maps. propertiesstyle dithering pattern.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Flow.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Flow","text":"uid flow\r title flow the flow map can be used
to create flow data at any point in the graph rather than relying on an erosion
node output. the flow map simulates rainfall and water accumulation on the
terrain.there are advantages to both constant rainfall options. average rainfall
can be used to highlight stronger flow areas while constant rainfall can be used
to highlight all flow areas. combining both can be useful for texture creation.
propertiesflows rainfall the number of rain cycles to calculate. smaller values
create small detailed flows. larger values create stronger wider flows. primary
adds primary flow to the output. secondary adds secondary flow to the output.
tertiary adds tertiary flow to the output. quaternary adds quaternary flow to
the output. 2x simulationenhancements uniform applies uniform enhancement to all
the flows. all the enhancement value for all the flows. primary the enhancement
value for the primary flow. secondary the enhancement value for the secondary
flow. tertiary the enhancement value for the tertiary flow. quaternary the
enhancment value for the quaternary flow. quality the quality of the flow.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Growth.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Growth","text":"uid growth\r title growth growth simulates
vegetation growth based on slope and flows. propertiesgrowth duration todo slope
todo spread todo wild growth todo fit rivers todo groves todo advanced settings
graininess todo cragginess todo seed the randomization pattern or seed for the
nodes process. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Height.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Height","text":"uid height\r title height the height node
creates selection mask within the height range specified. propertiesmin the
minimum altitude to select. max the maximum altitude to select. falloff the soft
falloff at the maximum edge. normalized by default the height selection happens
between the base and maximum height set in the terrain definition. this may
sometimes make it harder to select the exact height visually. when normalized
enabled the maximum height the maximum height of the tallest peak in the current
heightfield. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Occlusion.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Occlusion","text":"uid occlusion\r title occlusion\r related
texture light surftex the occlusion node behaves similarly to ambient occlusion
but favors sedimentary processes and rock crevices rather than lighting. you can
choose to focus on larger shapes such as gulleys and valleys over crevices by
using high power or smaller crevices by using low values. this provides many
opportunities to mask out areas for texturing separately.in gaea 1.3 the invert
and strong options have been removed. use the postprocess or an fx node.
propertiesocclusion number of occlusion passes. higher passes provide more
detail while being densely packed. try using higher power and multiplier before
increasing number of passes. scale the scale of the occlusion paases. linearthe
occlusion scale linear. logarithmicthe occlusion scale logarithmic. texture
light surftex"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Protrusion.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Protrusion","text":"uid protrusion\r title protrusion the
protrusion data map masks out sharper areas may be used as protruding rocks or
strata and be used as masking element for texturing purposes. the map can be
used with other data maps such as texture or soil for creating complex color
map. propertiespower the intensity and sprawl of the protrusions to be masked
out. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/RockMap.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"RockMap","text":"uid rockmap\r title rockmap rockmap traces
out the shapes of rock-like formations along the entire surface of the terrain
while allowing for granular control over the outlines. the resulting map can be
used to accentuate texture maps. propertiescoverage the amount of rock-like
formations on the terrain. density the density of the rock-like formations.
invert inverts the rockmap. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Slope.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Slope","text":"uid slope\r title slope the slope node
creates selection mask within the slope range specified. propertiesmin the
minimum range of the slope. max the maximum range of the slope. falloff the soft
falloff at the maximum edge. "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Soil.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Soil","text":"uid soil\r title soil soil map creates soil
mask with increased density in crevices or other areas where the slope allows
for soil to settle. by increasing the power value higher number of soil settling
cycles are simulated. low value provides fresh sprinkling of dust with very
little wind and other simulations to move the dust afterwards. high values
perform more simulation cycles to sprinkle dust but also move it around
(repeatedly).you can combine different soil maps using the combine node set to
max. you can even combine with other data maps such as flow or velocity to
create texture mask upon which color production can take place. propertiespower
the power of soil deposits. smaller values create detailed small deposits.
larger values create less detailed but stronger deposits. graded creates stacked
deposits with geometric progression which produce softer gradations.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Sunlight.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Sunlight","text":"uid sunlight\r title sunlight sunlight
data map gives you the sunlight integral (sun light shadow map) of any given
period (up to 365 days). it can be used to drive snow melt vegetation growth and
more. this node produces realistic results for any latitude in the world so you
can make it specific to any region your project relies on. propertiesnorth
directionday beginday
endlatitude"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/SurfTex.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"SurfTex","text":"uid surftex\r title surftex surfacer
provides several types of texturing primitives. it should not be used by itself.
instead multiple surfacers output should be combined to create sophisticated
texture mask and can also be combined with other complex texture masks such as
the data maps. propertiesmodesprinklingnoisy convexity mask. peaksslope deposits
mask. sliders splotchesrandom splotches on the terrain based on neighboring
terrain structures. tracetraces the most prominent shapes on the terrain. wind
streaksmasks areas where winds would swipe across structures. useful for
weathering.strength the strength of the mask.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Texture.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Texture","text":"uid texture\r title texture the texture
node composite node uses multiple factors such as chaos slopes flow zones and
other geological features to create texture mask can be fed to any color node to
create texture map. it can be used by itself or combined with other data maps
and selectors. propertiesconstruction scale the scale of the texture. mode
select from three modes of the texture. patches the amount of patches on the
texture. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process.
influences slope the amount of slope influence in the texture. soil the amount
of soil influence in the texture. chaos the amount of chaos in the output.
graded applies gradation to the output. classic version use the classic version
of texture "},{"url":"/Reference/Data/Velocity.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Velocity","text":"uid velocity\r title velocity the velocity
simulates wide flows by creating rainfall with specific velocity and angles.
propertiesduration the duration of rainfall. rain the amount of rainfall. reach
lowreach highvelocity lowvelocity highangle angle of the rainfall.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/CLUTer.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"CLUTer","text":"uid cluter\r title cluter cluter lets you
create color gradients which can be mapped to texture masks for creating color
maps. coloration in gaea based on cluts or color lookup tables. as 2d
heightfields are essentially grid of numbers ranging from 0.0 (lowest) to 1.0
(highest) cluts are represented as gradients which are mapped to those heights.
the lowest part of gradient corresponds to the lowest part of the terrain. the
highest part of gradient corresponds to the highest part of the terrain.
everything in between evenly distributed. the cluter nodes let you take any
grayscale input (such as curvature slope surftex flow) and map it onto gradient.
gradient editor click anywhere in the gradient to create new stop. drag the stop
to position it. select the stop and press del to delete the stop. cluteryou can
use input clarity instead of interjecting an autolevels node to the graph. in
this example flow mapped by cluter to create basic texture map. cluter
propertiespre-process input noise introduces noise to the incoming grayscale
map. input clarity applies localized contrast enhancements to the incoming map.
input auto level applies an autolevels filter to the incoming map. reverse
reverses the mapping of the gradient. sample density the number of samples to
use for interpolation between colors. higher values give smoother gradients
(within reason). 256 (fast) 256 samples 512 (slower) 512 samples1024 (very slow)
1024 samples2048 (overkill) 2048 samples post-process color noise introduces
minor color distortions to the map. output clarity applies localized contrast
enhancements to the output texture. output auto level applies an autolevels
filter to the output texture.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/ColorFX.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"ColorFX","text":"uid colorfx\r title colorfx colorfx
contains several color map adjustment tools such as brightness contrast hue
saturation lightness gamma clarity etc. propertiesbrightness + contrast apply
brightness + contrast applies brightness + contrast to the incoming color map.
brightness the brightness value. contrast the contrast value. hue + saturation +
lightness. apply hsl applies hsl to the incoming color map. h the hue value. s
the saturation value. l the lightness value. autolevel apply autolevel applies
autolevel to the incoming color map. autolevel the autolevel value. equalize
apply equalize applies equalize to the incoming color map. equalize the equalize
value. gamma apply gamma applies gamma to the incoming color map. auto gamma
automatically choose gamma value based on the input. gamma the gamma value.
clarity apply clarity applies localized contrast enhancements to the incoming
map. noise apply noise applies noise to the incoming map. noise the amount of
noise to be applied. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the process.
blur blur applies blur to the incoming map. power amount of blur to be applied.
iterations number of iterations of blur. flip direction direction of the flip.
nonedoes not flip the incoming map. horizontalflips the incoming map
horizontally. verticalflips the incoming map vertically. bothflips the incoming
map both horizonally and
vertically."},{"url":"/Reference/Color/Mixer.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Mixer","text":"uid mixer\r title mixer the mixer node has
been retired. use combine instead.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/NormalMap.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Normal Map","text":"uid normal map\r title normal map the
normal map node creates normal map from terrains. when used in conjunction with
the details node it can also create detail normals. propertiesmethod the method
used for calculating normals. 8-pointuse 8x8 matrix. uses more references to
calculate normals with higher accuracy. 4-pointuse 4x4 matrix. uses fewer
references to calculate normals with basic accuracy.weight the weight of the
normals. higher values create more intense normals. (only available in 8-point
method) height the height of the normals. higher values create more intense
taller normals. (only available in the 4-point method) flip y flip the normals
on the y axis. flip x flip the normals on the x axis.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/QuickColor.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"QuickColor","text":"uid quickcolor\r title quickcolor
quickcolor lets you quickly map 2-color gradient to any mask. this can be useful
for simple scenarios where cluter would be overkill. for example attaching
quickcolor to snowfalls snow output can create black and white mask can be
blended with your main color map. propertiesquickcolor color first color for the
gradient. color2 second color for the gradient. pre-process input noise
introduces noise to the incoming grayscale map. input clarity applies localized
contrast enhancements to the incoming map. input auto level applies an
autolevels filter to the incoming map. reverse reverses the mapping of the
gradient. post-process color noise introduces minor color distortions to the
map. output clarity applies localized contrast enhancements to the output
texture. output auto level applies an autolevels filter to the output texture.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/RGBMix.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"RGBMix","text":"uid rgbmix\r title rgbmix rgbmix can take 3
different heightfield inputs and encode them to the red green and blue channels
of bitmap. it the counterpart to the rgbsplit node. propertiesautolevel r
heightfield input r. autolevel g heightfield input g. autolevel b heightfield
input b. "},{"url":"/Reference/Color/RGBSplit.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"RGBSplit","text":"uid rgbsplit\r title rgbsplit rgbsplit can
take color node and split the red green and blue channels into heightfields. it
the counterpart to the rgbmix node.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/SatMaps.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"SatMaps","text":"uid satmaps\r title satmaps the satmap node
gives you access to hundreds of clut maps which were created from satellite data
collected from around the globe. satmap works exactly like cluter except you
pick from the built-in maps rather than make your own. propertiessatmaps
librarythe gaea satmap library consists of hundreds of real life color patterns
extracted from satellite data. you can choose from these different categories.
you can use the random button to select maps randomly within the current
library.the favorites button lets you filter the library to see only the ones
you have marked as favorites. map can be marked as favorite by right-clicking it
and select favorite. div class=param-spacer div rockythis consists of rocky
color patterns. sandythis consists of sandy color patterns. greenthis consists
of green color patterns. bluethis consists of blue color patterns. colorfulthis
consists of colorful color patterns. legacysatmap editor clip color map you can
clip off sides of the color map to remove unwanted portions or emphasize
specific part of the gradient. bias bias allows you to emphasize one side of the
gradient over the other. this can be very useful when you want to reduce some
color values or increase the influence of another. samples the number of samples
control the interpolation between gradient stops. higher values create smoother
output but slows down the process. 256 (fast)256 samples512 (slower)512
samples1024 (very slow)1024 samples2048 (overkill)2048 samples pre processing
reverse reverse the direction of the color map. jitter randomly shift color
values inside the color map for subtle randomization. input clarity emphaize the
clarity of the incoming map. input auto level apply auto level to the incoming
map. post processing output clarity emphasize the clarity of the colorized map.
output auto level apply auto level to the colorized map. noise the amount of
noise to add to the colorized map. apply brightness + contrast apply brightness
and contrast modification. brightness the brightness value. contrast the
contrast value. apply hsl apply hue saturation luminosity modification. h the
hue value. s the saturation value. l the luminosity value.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/Splat.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Splat","text":"uid splat\r title splat the splat node
similar to rgbmix. it can take heightfield nodes and encode them to the rgb
channels of color map. it provides properties for controlling the inputs.
propertiesinfluences r amount of r input channel. g amount of g input channel. b
amount of b input channel. amount of alpha input channel. options post
processnoneno post process to be applied. autolevelautolevel the output.
equalizeequalize the output.autolevel incoming autolevel the incoming data.
clamp rgb product to 1.0 this clamps the rgb product to 1.0
"},{"url":"/Reference/Color/Synth.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Synth","text":"uid synth\r title synth synth can take bitmap
image whether photo or artwork and convert it to clut map can be used with
texture mask of to colorize your terrain. propertiessynthesis bitmap the input
bitmap image. stops the number of gradient stops to be generated. fuzzy the
amount of fuzziness on bitmap image. rotate the amount of rotation on bitmap
image. seed the randomization pattern or seed for the nodes process. synth
reverse reverses the gradient. input noise the amount of input noise to be
added. color noise the amount of color noise to be added. input clarity applies
clarity to the input. input auto level applies autolevel to the input. output
clarity applies clarity to the output. output auto level applies autolevel to
the output. "},{"url":"/Reference/Color/Vegetation.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Vegetation","text":"uid vegetation\r title vegetation
vegetation takes any color map and grows vegetation on it. it allows you to
create believable vegetation on color map without requiring you to pick color
map has green in it. this gives you more flexibility with your coloring options.
propertiesvegetation maps use override map overrides the input map with the one
supplied through override port. scale the scale of the vegetation.
occurencedensity the density of the vegetation. seed the randomization pattern
or seed for the nodes process. influences chaosslope bottomslope topavoid
extremesjitter"},{"url":"/Reference/Render/Cartography.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Cartography","text":"uid cartography\r title cartography
propertiesmap simplify simplify the terrain contours. use this when the terrain
has lot of small detail and the contours start looking too complex and chaotic.
smooth land gradient smooth the land colors across contour levels. smooth water
gradient smooth the water colors across contour levels. land contours number of
contours for dividing the terrain. secondary contours will be generated between
these contours. primary contours intensity of the primary contours. use 0 to
hide. secondary contours intensity of the secondary contours. use 0 to hide.
contour color color of the contour lines. water process water when enabled the
water gradient processed. otherwise water left as flat shape. contours number of
contours for dividing the water. secondary contours will be generated between
these contours. primary contours intensity of the primary contours in the water.
use 0 to hide. secondary contours intensity of the secondary contours in the
water. use 0 to hide. water contour color color of the contour lines in the
water. grid grid lines number of grid lines on either axis. further subdivisions
would be created within those grid lines. primary grid intensity intensity of
primary grid lines. use 0 to hide. secondary grid intensity intensity of the
secondary grid lines. use 0 to hide. grid color color of the grid lines. pixels
contour pixel size size of contour lines in pixels. boundary pixel size size of
the contour dividing water and land in pixels. grid pixel size size of the grid
lines in pixels. colors
l1l2l3l4l5l6l7l8l9l10l11l12l13l14l15l16l17w1w2w3"},{"url":"/Reference/Render/Light.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Light","text":"uid light\r title light propertieslight sun
azimuth the direction of the sun. sun elevation the elevation of the sun. global
qualityultrathe highest quality ao. it takes quite long time to calculate but
produces very good results. this the recommended quality when baking lighting
for high resolution assets with small details. highhigher quality ao slower to
calculate. it useful when you have small intricate shapes. mediumthe default
value. good balance between quality and speed. lowlow quality ambient occlusion.
this quite sufficient in many situations.direct light direct light enable the
direct light pass. shadows enable the shadows pass. sun angular diameter this
property controls the softness of the shadows. ambient light ambient light
enable indirect ambient lighting. ambient occlusion enable the ambient occlusion
pass. advanced exposure the exposure for the render. use this just like the
exposure value in camera. sun intensity intensity of direct sunlight. ambient
intensity intensity of ambient light. air density density of the atmosphere.
haze the amount of haze in the atmosphere. this can make the sunlight whiter and
less saturated. ozone layer thickness thickness of the ozone in the atmosphere.
this adds slight blue tinge to the ambient light. automatic colors generate
colors automatically based on sun angle and other conditions. sun color the
color of the direct sunlight. only available when automatic colors disabled.
ambient color the color of the ambient light. only available when automatic
colors disabled. ground brightness brightness of the ground. this controls the
color of the terrain when no color map provided. soft clip convert hdr color
values to ldr values by soft clipping. this prevents over and under-exposure.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Output/Mesher.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Mesher","text":"uid mesher\r title mesher mesher allows you
to save specific nodes as meshes instead of heightfields. it can also generate
lods. propertiessave to build folder saves the output to build folder. will
igonore the above path if this option checked. file path where the output files
should be saved formatwavefront objwavefront obj output xyz point cloudxyz point
cloud output autodesk fbxautodesk fbx outputscale the scale for the model.
normalized (0.0 - 1.0)writes vertex values to the 0.0 to 1.0 range. this the
easiest for resizing to any scale or for easy interpretation in obj importers in
many dcc applications. 1 unit = 1 meterwrites vertex values in meters. note many
obj importers will fail to read large numeric values produced by this option. 1
unit = 1 kilometerwrites verte values in kilometers. unlike the above option
most obj importers are able to read the values as they tend to be double digit
at most.vertex count the number of vertices on either axis. structure the mesh
synthesis method to use for the model. tristhe terrain will be produced with
uniform triangles. quadsthe terrain will be produced with uniform quads. tris
(adaptive)the terrain will be produced using perpendicular triangles but with
automatic polygon density as required by different portions of the terrain. this
method produces the best outcome.create texture coords creates texture
coordinates in the output mesh. create walls creates wall in the output mesh.
lod number of lods to be generated along with main mesh. noneno lods lod 1one
lod lod 2two lods lod 3three lods lod 4four lods lod 5five lods lod 6six lods
lod 77 lods lod 88 lods"},{"url":"/Reference/Output/Output.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Output","text":"uid output\r title output the output node
gives you explicit options for saving nodes output to file. it an alternative to
the mark for export option available on all nodes. it specifically useful for
saving files to predefined path and overwriting the output every time.the output
file will be overwritten on each build. use the build-manager instead to
automatically stack and rename files.the output node for backward compatibility
only. we recommend using the build-manager instead unless you have specific
needs. propertiespath path where the output files should be saved save to build
folder saves the output to build folder. will igonore the above path if this
option checked save all ports outputs all the ports format format in which the
output file should be saved
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/Chokepoint.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Chokepoint","text":"uid chokepoint\r title chokepoint the
chokepoint node special node whose sole purpose to help avoid re-connecting many
nodes while adding no memory overhead. often graph ends up with natural
chokepoints - single node referenced by several other nodes. if at later point
you want to modify important node you would need to reconnect all the
connections. this can be awkward time consuming and dangerous in some
situations. in this example the second erosion node the chokepoint. it feeds
several other nodes while being critical junction in the terrains creation
process. it more or less the last node in the terrain creation. the easy
solution to interject chokepoint node onto the important node. you can hold
shift while drag-dropping chokepoint on to the erosion node to interject it and
have gaea reroute all connections. see conveniences for more information. now
everything routed through the chokepoint allowing you to experiment with the
erosion node later and only reroute single connection when needed. the
chokepoint can be further organized by making its output portal. you can select
all the outgoing connections and press ctrl + p to turn them into portal
connections. this especially useful when working with multiple graphs.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/LoopBegin.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"LoopBegin","text":"uid loopbegin\r title loopbegin
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/LoopEnd.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"LoopEnd","text":"uid loopend\r title loopend propertiesloops
number of loops to perform mutate seeds when enabled the seeds of all nodes
within the loop are mutated. seed the seed for mutation if enabled above.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/Route.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Route","text":"uid route\r title route route lets you choose
the flow of the graph based on the input and output ports chosen. this an
automation node relies on an integer input. propertiesin the input port to use.
out the output port to use.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/Switch.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"Switch","text":"uid switch\r title switch route lets you
choose between two different heightfield inputs. this an automation node relies
on boolean (true false) input. propertiesswitch when enabled switches the input
from the first port to the second port.
"},{"url":"/Reference/Utilities/TileGate.html","hive":"Node
Reference","title":"TileGate","text":"uid tilegate\r title tilegate
"},{"url":"/Learning/index.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Learning
Gaea","text":"uid tutorials\r title learning gaea welcome to the learning guide
select section to begin. the tutorials section contains complete tutorials show
you how to accomplish complete project. the quickstarts section has over 50
scenarios of different terrains. these short tutorials explain how to quickly
set up specific environment for production quality work. the techniques section
covers intermediate and advanced techniques for specific tasks or look
development. the third party section contains list of learning resources
available elsewhere from our friends.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Intro-Create.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Introduction
to Gaea","text":"uid tut-create\r title introduction to gaea
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Intro-Color.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Color
Production","text":"uid tut-color\r title color production
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Hero-Mountain.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Hero
Mountain","text":"uid tut-hero-mountain\r title hero mountain
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/WarpDunes.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Warped
Dunes","text":"uid tut-warped-dunes\r title warped dunes working on short
tutorial on how to have rock formations alter the shape of dunes. will publish
it next change i get. the basic idea to mix two separate terrains (dunes and
rock formation) with 100% max mode in combine then use the separation mask to
drive the displacement of the dunes. this tutorial will also cover an important
concept i like to call intentional orphans. this where nodes are used for
something other than their primary output.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Merging-Terrains.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Merging
Terrains","text":"uid tut-merge\r title merging terrains
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Arctic.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Arctic
Terrain Breakdown","text":"uid tut-arctic\r title arctic terrain breakdown
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Rugged-Outcrops.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Rugged
Rock Outcrops","text":"uid tut-rugged-outcrops\r title rugged rock outcrops this
handy trick can help you emphasize the sharper portions of your terrain to make
it look more rugged. this what an extra rugged terrain looks like. it created by
emphasizing portion of the rocks generated by the stacks node. to start with we
have helix gradient eroded by erosion. then we use the stacks node to create
stratified rock outcrops and strong talus. next we use combine node to merge
them using max mode at 100%. this gives us the higher values from both the
erosion and stacks nodes. an alternative to just use the max option in the
postprocess. we use separate combine node to merge the same two nodes but this
time us difference mode. this gives just the portions are different between the
two. because we max-merged the terrains there lot of overlap so we only get the
sharper outcrops stacks has created. now we use third combine node to combine
the max-merged output with the diff-merged output. this time we use screen at
100% so the sharp portions are intensified by the relative strength from the
difference product. the red mask here shows the areas being affected. and this
our final result.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Shattered-Mountain.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Shattered
Mountain Lake","text":"uid tut-shattered-mountain-lake\r title shattered
mountain lake this tutorial demonstrates how to set up rugged environment using
lookdev nodes water body using lakes and quickly create full color production
setup.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Weathered-Rock.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Weathering
+ Seamless Tiling","text":"uid tut-weathered-rock\r title weathering + seamless
tiling this tutorial shows how to quickly craft sophisticated textures for rock
surfaces by mixing various satmaps adding edge weathering and subtly enhancing
the shape. additionally it also shows how to turn it into seamless tiling
texture set (diffuse and displacement).
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Hyperreal-Snow-Mountain.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Hyperreal
Snowy Mountain","text":"uid tut-hyperreal-snowy-mountain\r title hyperreal snowy
mountain gaea makes it very easy to create hyperrealistic terrains for visual
effects shots. in this tutorial you will learn how to create sophisticated snowy
mountain peak in few easy steps then leverage gaeas snow physics to create
detailed believable snow accumulation.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Tutorials/Multiple-Biomes.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Multiple
Biome Breakdown","text":"uid tut-multiple-biomes\r title multiple biome
breakdown in this detailed breakdown explore how the new gaea hero animation was
conceived and executed. you will go through the process of core terrain creation
biome setup and biome texturing. then you get to take those biomes and mix them
either procedurally or through freehand painting.
"},{"url":"/Learning/QuickStarts/Introduction.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Introduction
to Quickstarts","text":"uid quickstarts\r title introduction to quickstarts gaea
comes with 50+ quickstart files illustrate how to quickly achieve specific
terrains and styles. each quickstart file comes with notes for each node
explaining the decision to use those specific nodes. in this section you can
browse through the quickstarts and refer to the notes and exact settings used in
the file.
"},{"url":"/Learning/QuickStarts/Collapsed-Crater.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Collapsed
Crater","text":"uid quickstart_collapsedcrater\r title collapsed crater\r type
quickstart collapsed crater crater profile = impact crater scale = 4.0 depth =
2.0 scale = 0.7 height = 19.14% floor = 0.4 depth = 0.5 inner scale = 18.21%
modulate = 0.3 lip = 95.36% the crater node the perfect way to create the base
structure for our crater. the impact crater profile with some modification
creates this almost volcanic looking crater. erosion duration = 6.02%
downcutting = 93.15% inhibition = 71.49% random sedimentation = 96.82% sediment
removal = 7.03% erosion with very heavy downcutting some random sedimentation
and sediment removal creates this highly eroded look. having strong flow lines
important for our intended look. clamp (post process) used to reduce the height
of the crater. wizard strength =material = rocky channel width = high phase 2 =
collapsed second erosion pass this time with the wizard node takes advantage of
the existing erosive structure of the previous node and adds lots of sediments
to the terrain. extreme strength and high channel width are the key driving
forces of this erosion.
"},{"url":"/Learning/QuickStarts/Crater-Coast.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Crater
Coast","text":"uid quickstart_cratercoast\r title crater coast\r type quickstart
crater coast crater scale = 4.0 we create very large craterfield where one large
crater dominates the landscape. erosion random sedimentation = 96.82% sediment
removal = 50.00% erosion with high random sedimentation and sediment removal
gives our craterfield an eroded look without creating too many soil deposits.
this helps preserve the shape while adding erosive details. shearshear adds
small structural collapses across all the crater walls. sea level = 3.65% shore
size = 100.00% shore height = 20.47% variation = 100.00% extra cliff details =
true finally we add coastal erosion with the sea node crates cliffs near the
large crater wall and large beaches near the water.
"},{"url":"/Learning/QuickStarts/Crater-Lakes.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Crater
Lakes","text":"uid quickstart_craterlakes\r title crater lakes\r type quickstart
crater lakes craterwe create vast craterfield full of small and medium craters.
erosion random sedimentation = 96.82% sediment removal = 50.00% erosion with
high random sedimentation and sediment removal help us create an erosive look
while avoiding soil deposits. shearshear helps us break up the uniforimity by
adding structural collapses everywhere. lakes precipitation = 2.0 small lakes
are added using low precipitation value.
"},{"url":"/Learning/QuickStarts/Volcano.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Volcano","text":"uid
quickstart_volcano\r title volcano\r type quickstart volcano crater profile =
impact crater scale = 4.0 depth = 2.0 scale = 0.7 height = 19.14% depth = 0.2
inner scale = 10.58% modulate = 0.4 tall volcanic shape created using the impact
crater profile. strong modulation and small inner scale the key to this look. in
post process autolevel used to make the shape as tall as possible. erosion
duration = 11.74% random sedimentation = 96.82% sediment removal = 7.03% erosion
with high duration used to refine the volcano. random sedimentation helps create
non-uniform fluvial lines. in post process clamp used to reduce the height. we
used autolevel in the previous step to make erosion stronger. now we can remove
extra height. erosion downcutting = 0.00% inhibition = 500.00% base level =
500.00% sediment removal = 22.01% area effect = precipitation amount bias =
94.91% second erosion pass with settings promote strong sedimentary flows used
to add the final touches.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Blending-SatMaps.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Blending
SatMaps","text":"uid tut-blending-satmaps\r title blending satmaps satmaps can
give you complex color map to colorize your terrains. however sometimes map may
look good but be just bit off. you may be tempted to force color change using
colorfx. brute force solution this option can be problematic. an organic method
which in many cases better to blend different satmaps. here an example. this
terrain has believable red hue which strong but not too strong. this the
original satmap. portion of the map rocky 207. by itself it too red. to make the
map look more believable we create second satmap node uses cooler hue. in this
case it the map blue 107. when blended using combine node at 100% max mode you
get bit of blue poking out through the red pixels. to make this even more
realistic the combine node masked with high noise perlin.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Coloring-Water.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Coloring
Water","text":"uid tut-color-water\r title coloring water coloring water bodies
generated by lakes node very easy and straightforward. the essential process to
take the depth output and colorize it using cluter. with few subtle enhancements
you can take it to the next level. lets first look at our setup. we use the
lakes node to create the water surface. however for creating the ground texture
we attached the texture node directly to the erosion node instead. the best way
to texture terrains with water to create the color maps for the terrain and
water surface separately and merge them afterwards. the depth output from the
lakes node goes to cluter node which then attached to combine with the satmaps
for the terrain using 100% blend mode. the lakes mask output used to mask the
blending process. next we edit the cluter node to change the black and white
gradient to something more appropriate for water. the bottom of the gradient
maps to the darker (closer to the surface) parts of the depth mask while the top
maps to the lighter (deeper) parts. it good idea to keep the color variations
closer to the shore and have only subtle color changes in the deeper areas. and
takes care of the main process. if you want to take it further we can modify the
graph bit by interjecting blur node and then warp node between the depth output
and the cluter. the blur set to very low 0.10 value. since water refracts light
having sharp features of the depth map visible in the colorization may not look
too realistic. the subtle blur helps mimic refraction. the second component of
refraction in water body the subtle turbulence in the refracted light because of
moving volumes. we simulate this with warp node set to low size and high
strength. you can play with the roughness and warp source options for different
variations. for most purposes the settings shown here should suffice.
additionally if your warp too powerful you can turn on min mode in the
postprocess so the warped bits dont spill over too much. and this how our water
looks after that if we stretch out the colors by moving the gradient stops
higher you can see more pronounced effect created by the blur and warp.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Control-Water.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Controlling
Water","text":"uid tut-lake-control\r title controlling water you can use
combination of clamp and combine (max mode) to control the water level created
by the lakes node. the core concept here to use the secondary outputs of the
lakes node instead of the primary output so we can modify them before merging it
with our terrain. the erosion node here the main terrain upon which lakes
simulates water. we use combine node in max mode (100%) and merge the erosion
output with the surface output. but we interject clamp node which helps us
control the height of the water level.surface hidden port and can only be
accessed by dropping connection on the lakes node and selecting the surface
option from the popup menu. then we enable the difference mask in the combine
node. this the new lakes mask the lakes node would have normally given us but
with the clamp influence taken into consideration. additionally just to show the
effect were also combining (50% blend) the autolevelled depth output with the
difference mask and then passing it to satmaps node. now we when we lower the
clamp nodes max amount the water level goes down while leaving drying shore.
clamp max at 100%. clamp max at 55%. clamp max at 32%. you can create more
elaborate texturing setup to show the drying shoreline and more. for example if
you set up 2 different clamps you can get wet area outside the water level. how
this terrain was created
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Crater-Cave-In.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Crater
Cave-in","text":"uid tut-crater-cavein\r title crater cave-in in this tutorial
im using the new shaper node to bulk up crater and then using slope biased
erosion to create gentle erosion just inside the crater. first i created crater
(default settings). then mixed it with random mountain node from the default
scene. this creates slab of slanted material embedded into the side of the
crater. look at the post processing settings too. i adjusted the height of the
combine output by leveling it up then clamping it down. (i also cheated i used
max right there instead of changing the main settings. both methods would do the
same thing in this case.) the shaper node bulks up the terrain. by disabling
detail preservation the outlying area looks nice and soft which can be
particularly useful for an alien looking environment. this can be suitable for
earth too. finally with the erosion node i used slope bias in selective
processing. this targets just steep slopes inside the crater. because of the
smooth bulk-up via shaper the outside area too shallow to be affected by such
steep settings. and there you have it. looks like something space worm crawled
out of and back into with the sand collapsing in. have fun with shaper.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Dirty-Snow.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Dirty
Snow","text":"uid tut-dirty-snow\r title dirty snow if you need complex snow
distribution it recommended to chain multiple snowfall nodes together. each node
contributes different type of distribution. lets try it out in practical
scenario. for our demo terrain we want slightly unkempt snow uneven and somewhat
dirty rather than large pristine mounds. in our first snowfall node we will
target general dirty distribution. to do this we use 100% settle-thaw and 8%
melt with high snow line of 48%. to make sure the snow collects in smaller
clumps and bit of rock exposed in between we use somewhat high slip-off angle
value of 60 and slightly high adhered snow mass value of 15. this creates
non-flowing distribution keeping the snow high up on the mountain and still
allowing the physics simulation to work long enough to force the snow into
crevices and expose sharp bits of the underlying terrain. for the second pass we
focus on the flowing snow. while overlap between the first and second passes
fine we want to minimize overlap so we dont lose the dirtiness of the snow. we
use low intensity of 6% low settle-thaw of 2.5% and melt value of 5%. the snow
line lot lower than the previous pass at 28%. to help the snow to flow more
effectively we use low slip-off angle of 14%. this snow now forced to the flow
areas (often defined by previous erosion passes) compared to the previous pass
which focused on resting snow. finally we take the 2 nodes secondary snow output
mask and use combine at 100% max mode to merge the masks for use in our texture
map creation.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Draw-Modify.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Draw
to Modify","text":"uid tut-draw-modify\r title draw to modify hidden gem in gaea
the mask node. on the surface it appears to be simple mask drawing tool. when
used in conjunction with specific node networks however it can give you powerful
creative advantage. in this example we will use the mask node to modify the
heights and even draw some detail into an existing terrain. to set up our mask
node we input the terrain for reference so we can see where we are drawing. then
combine node set up after it to take the mask output and blend it into the main
terrain in either add or screen mode. finally we pin the combine node to get
live preview of the result from the drawing. (see pinning). in the mask node
editor click edit mask to start drawing. adjust the blur and iterations until
you get the right level of softness. more softness means gentler transitions for
the main terrain. remember to use low strength setting in the mask editor. if
you need to both raise and lower capability you can set up 2 different masks -
one subtracts and one adds. or you can choose 50% strength and paint over the
entire mask surface. switch the combine nodes mode to multiply and in the
postprocess set the multiply option to 2.0 to compensate for the 50%
multiplication. then when you use positive or negative strokes they will raise
or lower respectively. for added shape randomness you can use warp before
combining the mask.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Fake-Water-Flows.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Fake
Water Flows","text":"uid tut-fake-flow\r title fake water flows if you want to
create water flows similar to what you might find at beach you can fake them
using erosion. first we set up slopenoise and erode it. the erosion settings of
high downcutting values (all 3 sliders) promote wider sandier flows. then we
create perlin with low octaves and clamp it down to flat-ish state. finally
subtract the wear map from the perlin.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Multipass-Erosion.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Multipass
Erosion","text":"uid tut-multipass-erosion\r title multipass erosion great way
to create sophisticated erosion to use multiple erosion nodes. single erosion
pass fine but will restrict you because of the settings you can use. in this
example we have selective processing set to altitude with high duration of 30%
for creating the initial pass. the strong grooves flow structure it creates will
guide the erosion in subsequent passes. for the second pass we have default
settings except for 100% downcutting and 100% base level. this makes strong flow
structures everywhere. the third pass fully default. it takes the general larger
variations produced in the previous passes and homogenizes the overall texture
while keeping the larger features. optionally higher inhibition can be used to
create more sediments at the bottom.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Selective-Erosion.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Selective
Erosion","text":"uid tut-selective-erosion\r title selective erosion sometimes
you may want an additional peak in scene or want to erode 2 portions
differently. this basic technique will show you how to do and leverage the
erosion nodes capabilities in creating new mountains out of simple shape. we
start with this basic mountain. we can take the main peak and turn it into much
larger slightly isolated peak - like something you might find in the alps. we
will use the erosion node to help create peak. erosion needs lot of bulk to
erode into mountainous shape and our peak right now too shallow. so we use
height node to mask out the top of the peak. then we use as mask for the clamp
node. by pushing up the clamps minimum we elongate peak while retaining
relatively clean boundary with the rest of the terrain. the shape not attractive
but wont matter. for creating the actual peak we send the same height mask to
the erosion node as an area input. by turning on selective processing and
setting it to precipitation amount we make sure rainfall occurs only in region.
we increase strength and duration as well as random sedimentation and
inhibition. the intense erosion on blocky shape carves it into natural peak
formation. (in an oversimplified way how peaks are eroded in real life) now we
use invert on the same mask. and send it to second erosion node in the same
chain. this has milder settings but still employs selective erosion. we use this
to erode the rest of the terrain ensuring the peak untouched. there will still
be enough overlap of the slopes to allowthe 2 different erosions to merge
nicely. and there you have it you just created realistic peak out of blocky
chunk
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Shattered-Floor.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Shattered
Floor","text":"uid tut-shatter-floor\r title shattered floor sometimes you may
require an overall flat terrain with lots of detail. shatter can help you create
in just 2 steps. create plates node and use the postprocess to clamp the output
to level of flatness you like. in this case we have it set to 33 and 24. next
add the shatter node. and thats it - youre done you can enhance this more with
other nodes or use texture and rockmap with satmaps to texture the terrain.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Slanted-Terraces.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Slanted
Terraces","text":"uid tut-slanted-terraces\r title slanted terraces take any
random shape like perlin and add an apex node. switch the apex node to slant
mode and adjust the a b settings until you have shape looks pleasing to you.
duplicate the node and attach it to the apex node. in the second node change the
angle to 90 degrees. add displace node to the end to warp the shape bit.
experiment with different a b settings and angles to get different permutations.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Super-Erosion.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Super
Erosion","text":"uid tut-super-erosion\r title super erosion with this technique
you can emphasize rocky erosion to very high degree. the key here to not use the
output directly. instead use the erosion output to modify the terrain. first we
start with an eroded mountain has been terraced. we use the terracing to create
obstacles for the erosion process. as it erodes the terraces specific sediment
shapes will be formed. next we erode the terrain using very high settings.
random sedimentation quite important. we use selective processing so only the
top gets eroded completely and ejecta from the top falls all the way down in
rocky lumps. then we turn on the diff blend mode in the postprocess. the output
will be the difference between the original terraced terrain and the erosion
output giving us terrain formed from just the rocky material and broken
terraces. finally we use combine to subtract the erosion output from the
terraced terrain. this leaves us with rocky craggy mountain exposes some
terraces yet also features lot of rocky deposits.
"},{"url":"/Learning/Techniques/Terrain-Folding.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Terrain
Folding without the Fold Node","text":"uid tut-folding\r title terrain folding
without the fold node this very simple yet effective method for creating terrain
folding without using the fold node. the basic concept to use highly warped
noise to cut grooves in voronoi. create highly warped perlin. use the perlin to
mask voronoi (form p no warp dual on if you prefer) displace with few iterations
for nice long stretches (high quality off) and then clamp it to get the height
down. erode with default settings. the main image with bit of snow added and
texture + satmaps (both using navajo sandstone presets).
"},{"url":"/Learning/ThirdParty/Gnomon-Workshop.html","hive":"Learning","title":"Gnomon
Workshop","text":"uid gnomon\r title gnomon workshop gaea at the gnomon workshop
"},{"url":"/KB/index.html","hive":"Knowledge Base","title":"Knowledge
Base","text":"uid kb\r title knowledge base welcome to the gaea knowledge base
you can find answers to the most common questions in the following categories
faq-purchasing faq-running faq-licensing
"},{"url":"/KB/FAQ/Purchasing.html","hive":"Knowledge
Base","title":"Purchasing","text":"uid faq-purchasing\r title purchasing gaea
subscription based? no gaea licenses are perpetual - no subscriptions or hidden
fees. support maintenance and minor updates are all free. only when upgrading to
major version - e.g. gaea 2.0 - it paid upgrade. do i need to pay maintenance
fee? no. support maintenance and minor updates are all free. only when upgrading
to major version - e.g. gaea 2.0 - it paid upgrade. how do i upgrade my gaea
license to professional or enterprise? you can upgrade to higher edition any
time by simply paying the price difference. there are no penalties. to upgrade
place new order while supplying your existing license key. can i get refund for
my purchase? all purchases are strictly non-refundable. please try the community
edition to ensure the product meets your needs. or contact us for information.
"},{"url":"/KB/FAQ/Running.html","hive":"Knowledge
Base","title":"Requirements","text":"uid faq-running\r title requirements what
are the requirements for running gaea? minimum windows 7 - service pack 1
(6.1.7601) intel core i5-2500k amd fx-6300 16gb ram nvidia geforce gtx 770 amd
radeon r9 280 10gb hdd space recommended windows 10 - april 2018 (1803) intel
core i7-4770k amd ryzen-5 1500x 32gb ram nvidia geforce gtx 1060 amd radeon rx
480 50gb hdd space do i need an internet connection to use gaea? yes for
community indie and professional editions you need an internet connection to
activate the license and at least once every 30 days to keep the license active.
the enterprise edition can be both activated offline and not require an internet
connection to stay activated. gaea gpu powered? gaea uses the gpu primarily for
visualizing data rather than processing it. our algorithms are primed for cpu
usage. while it may feel may be loss as modern gpus can process heavy data our
algorithms can create elaborate effects not possible with current methods of gpu
processing. gaeas nodes are heavily multi-threaded and can use your cpu cores to
the maximum as needed. can i use gaea on mac or linux? gaea currently runs on
windows 7.1 or higher. gaea will be available on linux in the future. we dont
have plans for mac version at this moment. gaea standalone or plugin? gaea
standalone windows application. it can optionally plug into houdini and other
applications via bridges. "},{"url":"/KB/FAQ/Licensing.html","hive":"Knowledge
Base","title":"Licensing","text":"uid faq-licensing\r title licensing how do i
activate my license? download and install the community edition. you can load
the license key on the start screen about dialog or the main menu in the primary
window. how many computers can i install my gaea license on? indie and
professional licenses can be used on two computers such as work pc and personal
laptop as long as the same person uses it. enterprise licenses can only be
installed on one machine. for personal use the user must acquire separate
license. are gaea licenses node-locked? yes indie and professional edition
licenses are node-locked. however you can deauthorize and move the license to
new machine without requiring intervention from our support team. there no cost
for reactivating license once you exhaust your included moves. enterprise
editions are not node-locked and may be moved from machine to machine by
deauthorizing an existing installation as frequently as needed. i lost my
license key. how can i recover it? contact our support team with your receipt of
purchase transaction id or license id and they will help you. can i share or
sell the content i create with gaea? yes you own the content you create. you are
welcome to use it however you wish. are floating licenses available for gaea?
floating licenses are not available at the moment. talk to the support team for
possible workarounds. can i transfer my license to someone else? we will
consider this on case-by-case basis. get in touch with the support team for
details. "},{"url":"/KB/Articles/Mass-Deployment.html","hive":"Knowledge
Base","title":"Mass Deployment on a Network","text":"uid article-deployment\r
title mass deployment on network there are two ways to install gaea on multiple
machines. below you will find detailed steps for both scenarios. if you require
further help or have specific situation license key for both methods the most
useful way to have single key encoded to run on multiple machines. please
contact us to acquire such key. all volume purchases are automatically issued
key like this. the below methods assume you have such key. if you dont and
instead have have multiple keys you will need to use different keys per
installation in both scenarios below. administrative install to run the
installer silently and install to the default path of c program files
quadspinner gaeause the followin command line. you will require administrative
privileges. gaea-1.2.1.1.exes to choose the install path specify it withd=path
argument. if your path not protected you will not need administrative
privileges. gaea-1.2.1.1.exesd=c gaea finally copy the license key to the
installation folder. manual mass deployment for mass deployment the following
may be an easier process as gaea now fully portable. install gaea to temporary
folder on any machine. copy the license key to the install folder. now you can
create zip of the folder or copy it however you prefer to as many computers as
you like.if you are going to use gaea with houdini or another application via
bridge please run gaea and close it. this will initiate local files repositories
and registry settings may be required by other applications to detect and
communicate with gaea. upgrading you can patch or upgrade installations in the
same was regardless of the option you choose. "}]
User Guide Node Reference Learning Knowledge Base Version History Download Gaea





GAEA DOCUMENTATION

GAEA DOCUMENTATION

Organization
The documentation is being updated for version 1.3. Some sections may be
incomplete.

The documentation is organized to help you get started with Gaea quickly and
easily regardless of your skill level.






ORGANIZATION

User Guide
Using Gaea
The User Guide has all the knowledge required to get started with Gaea,
understand all the features, learn advanced concepts, and even automate your
workflow.
Node Reference
Learn about individual nodes
The Node Reference delves into each node in the Gaea toolbox and details their
uses, best practices, and more.
Tutorials
Learn Terrain Design
Learn the art of procedural terrain creation with these comprehensive techniques
and tutorials.








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This documentation is licensed under the MIT License, a very permissive
open-source license.