Badlands part two

The second and final part of this tutorial takes the completed 3ds Max scene from the first part and adds a series of final details to produce a fantastic, photorealistic render. We’ll begin by designing and constructing a procedural material tree with 3ds Max’s own native procedural maps to create weathered and crumbling rock surfaces, then automatically assign them to relevant surfaces by using nested materials.

Next, we will light the scene and render out a top view, from which we will paint a distribution map in Photoshop (or another image-editing application of your choice). This will be a guide for scattering particle-based debris over the surface of a cloned non-renderable version of the terrain, so that the debris is broadly confined to areas of interest, such as crevices, and locations that would contain rockfall. Finally, we will set up volumetric fogging camera effects before final rendering, to suggest depth.

Bear in mind that this tutorial only goes so far due to space: there is so much more that you could do to this scene to make it even more realistic. The key to creating something authentic is to study how a real version of this type of environment might look. Have a look at your reference images, or comb through some images online using your favourite search engine: note where plant life lives on the terrain (mainly on raised lower ground surfaces) and paint distribution maps to scatter particle- or hair-based plant life over the surface geometry. Try adding some subtle wind effects to the landscape by introducing volumetric or particle fogging blowing across the scene, plus the odd tumbleweed or rockfall. Try using Reactor dynamics to enhance rockfalls by taking snapshots of any dynamics simulation preview, to reposition the rock objects or set up some cool simulations.

Finally, try flying the scene’s camera through the environment and adding a touch of subtle camera shake, using List and rotation noise controllers to give the impression of the camera being mounted on a helicopter. See the final scene included in the support files for an example of this in action.

Click here to download the support files (35.8MB)