SPREADscape Object

 The SPREADscape object is more than just a landscape primitive with a few settings. It is in fact a complete landscape creation tool. The SPREADscape object uses a layer system where you build the terrain be stacking on or more layers and mixing them with each other.

The SPREADscape object give´s you a base layer and up to 6 detail layers. Each of these detail layers can receive its contents from one of several fractal functions, or a spline, or a material. Mixing the layers with each other is done using different mix modes, which can be separately selected for each layer. This way you can for example combine the mountains from the base layer with smaller hills from the detail layers, add a river bed or a road with another detail layer (type Spline) and add other details. It takes a bit of getting used to how things work with the SPREADscape object but like most things the more you use it the easier things becomes.

The image below shows most of the settings.

There are far too many options to go through but what I´ll do is show a couple of examples of what can be achieved. Like other primitive objects the SPREADscape object has size and number of segments options. When you increase the size of the SPREADscape object you end up getting a lot more hills and valleys. If all you want to do is just scale the terrain up you have adjust the scale on the base layer. So to double the size of the SPREADscape object and maintain the same profile you have to halve the scale. I mention this because it caught me out to start with.

Just an aside. By animating some of the SPREADscape object settings you quite easily have animated sea water. Change the base layer type to Ridged Multifractal and animate the offset. The result is instant sea water. Here´s a quickie animation doing this. The material is one of Cafe member matt´s excellent and free sea shader´s available here.

One of the options I mentioned above was using a spline. Let´s say that you want a winding river to flow through your SPREADscape terrain. Easy, just draw a spline from a top view where you want the river to be. Add it to Layer 1 and lower the height setting. Conversely you can increase the height option and make a ridge. Further control can be had by adjusting some spline curves in the settings then adjusting the spline itself.

The following example shows how easy this is to do where I created a canyon type river gorge. To get the canyon look I adjusted the spline curves in the SPREADscape object´s settings. For the water I copied the spline that I created and swept it using a SweepNURBS object and a rectangle profile spline.

What was quite slick was using XPresso to have the spline shape curve on the SPREADscape object control the scale on the SweepNURBS object so that where I made the canyon narrower the width of water / SweepNURBS object also narrowed. I tossed in a ground cover preset and cloned it about 11,000 times using a SurfaceSPREAD object. I also added a few trees again using the SurfaceSPREAD object to make clones. I restricted the clones using the slope and altitude options. The rock material is rock shader from Cafe member maat´s Shader Website here. These shaders by the way are high recommended.