Terrains with Wings 3D

[mtdana]

I was asked a question by the Attic Archaeologist (Aelin) and it got me thinking if you can use Wings 3D to create a simple terrain, it turns out the answer is yes and it is actually fun. I just learned how to do this so I won't go into all the options, but lets get started.


Create a grid and delete the sides and bottom:
1. Right click in workspace and highlight the grid menu item, then click on the little box. This will open the grip properties window, increase Rows/Cols to a larger number, I used 30. Click OK. I also changed the view so Z is coming at you, for the applications I use this will be the front of the mesh.   

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[mtdana]

Sculpture Mode:
On the top bar open the Tools menu and select Sculpt. To operate Sculpture mode you will need to open its Control Menu using Control-Right-Click. Do this now and click Push/Pull. The other thing you can do is control the size of the influence. Move the mouse somewhere on the grid, press the ALT key and you will see a blue ball, it can be sized by mousing left-right.

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[mtdana]

Creating Hills
Now the fun part :) Mouse over the grid while pressing the Left Mouse Button and you will see the grid start to rise. Change the influence size to make bigger hills or just have fun shaping the grid. When you are done be sure to exit Sculpture mode by opening the Sculpture Control Menu (Control-Right-Click) and clinking Exit.   


Smooth the grid
Select the whole mesh, Right-Click to open the menu and click smooth. I also moved the mesh back so the origin is closer to the front edge.

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[mtdana]

You will need to UV the mesh, I won't go over that this time but I used the Project Normal method.


Finally export it as an OBJ. On the top bar open File and Export, in the window I check triangulate and change the export size to 500 so I don't have to scale the mesh every time I load it.


That's it!, I hope this was informative and you will have fun sculpturing in Wings 3D!!!   



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[Aelin]

  Another kind of play in Wings 

I trying to end the UV map part in my project, and it's not always a piece of cake But with a terrain, the project map is probably the better way to work.

Terrain could be the next project 

 

[mtdana]

Thank you Aelin, I thought the UV would be a snap but the default unfold didn't make a nice map  :yeow: So but trying again and I found Normal Projection is the one to use :) I'll do another tut on UV and texturing.

[Aelin]

 

[Aelin]

I have only a question: why the triangulation?
I wonder if for Poser and/or DS it's not only the quadrangulation which is necessary; but I'm not totally sure.

Waiting, I'm going to try this

[mtdana]

Hi Aelin, I thought that would help smooth the terrain a little because it is a low ploy mesh, no other reason. You could also increase subdivisions to 2 or 4. Curious how you do - good luck!

[Aelin]