Creating
Rivers in WorldBuilder 4: Getting Started
In
this tutorial, we will be working with the River feature in WorldBuilder
4.
Note:
If you are using WorldBuilder Pro or WorldBuilder Genesis, you will
be able to save project files and rendered images, and you will
also be able to create animations. If you are using the downloadable
demo of WorldBuilder 4 you will not be able to save files, but you
can download the sample files that accompany this tutorial.
Let’s
begin our tutorial.
| Add
a Landscape. Draw at least one skeleton Line. You’ll
need four eventually. You could draw four individually, one
right after the other, right next to one another. Or,
as an alternative, you can copy the first Skeleton Line three
times, and then move, scale, rotate and Node-edit the copies
so that you have two riverbanks and two river bottoms. Note
that the Skeleton Lines used in the example files have been
renamed to reflect the way in which they are being used.
Note:
Some of the elements in the scene shown were hidden for clarity;
your scene (or the sample scene file) will probably appear
differently.
|
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Now
drop the two riverbottom Skeleton Lines down below the Landscape.
Make their Z-placement about… -4.5
Don’t
add a river object yet.
|
 |
Render
the landscape with its new Skeleton Lines, so we can see
the riverbed without the water in it, first.
The
scene incorporates an Area with Scattered vegetation. While
it might be cool to have trees half-submerged in this torrent,
it’s beyond the purpose of this tutorial.
|
| Use
the Placement Conditions property to limit the Height
Range in which our forest will appear. Disable
Ignore All, and change the following parameters: Max
Height = 40, Min Height = -0.5.
Render
the scene again. Notice how the trees have vacated their place
in the riverbed. By using Placement Conditions we specified
the vertical range in which they would be allowed to ‘grow’.
Below –0.5 meters (the lowest point on the ground above
the river bank, the trees simply will not be placed.
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