Thank you for this video. Imagine my disappointment reading about the Draw node and then finding out it's been retired. But fear not, you've got it sorted. Thanks again.
The Draw tool was the first thing I was looking for when I downloaded this software. Too bad it was removed. Before I saw this video I was adding new mountain primitives and placing them next to each other with transform. In your video, the mask you draw creates long mountain ridgeline. Is there a way to break it up into individual conical mountains? The breaker node maybe?
It isn't creating the mountains per-se. It is revealing them. So it's not quite meant for single mountain creation. You could alter their height and use a clip function (clamp node) to cut the base down which would separate them.
@@cowsmanaut Oh okay thanks for the clarification. Is there anything I can do to make the "mountain noise" more mound-like or prominent (like the alps)? And could I use a second mask to prevent the mountain from creating valleys or other modifications? Sorry for the large question. It seems like the results from this technique are a bit different than this other video EjpBFzP7enw.
@@MileHiGuy95 sure, it will be different as it's an approximation of what the node did and just shows one possible method. More recently I made an example file which was posted to the discord which shows other possible combinations to get even other variations on the idea of a draw node. A variation perhaps more similar to the video you show would be to create a "mask" node, plug it into an "apex" node (you will need to press T to put it back to terrain mode), then add a "voronoi" to the scene. set it's scale to 100%. Take a "combine" node, Set it to multiply and 95%. Connect the "apex" to the top input, and the "voronoi" to the bottom. now connect a "warp" to the end and set it's size to 15%, lastly place a clamp to the end to reduce the height by setting the max to somewhere around 16% This should look closer to what you see in the video. Again, it's not precise, but it's again an example of getting similar results since I don't know the exact settings they used in the original node. As for masks, there are hundreds of ways to do all sorts of things.. best thing to do is just try and evaluate the results.. play with the settings to confirm if you don't get the result you like at first.. you always want to be sure the idea is truly wrong and why.. sometimes you may discover a slight (or major) setting change can make all the difference.
@@cowsmanaut oh oops haha. makes sense why you have such an intuitive understanding for the tool. in that case thank you so much for sharing your insights which would've taken years to develop :)
@@StarCourtesan The intuition for Gaea 1 came from using it daily for a long time and just playing to understand how things worked. It was due to this work I was invited to help more with Gaea 2. I'm saying this so you understand you don't have to be on the inside to get it. Take a node, push it to the limits, use it in unusual ways (on purpose) it's through this kind of usage a tool really reveals its strengths and weaknesses. Many people only open software to make something, they miss the chance to just use it to learn it, really learn it.
yes, you can use that instead of the Mask. Since it's already drawn info. Though you may need to use a blur node (part of the mask node internally) to make sure the falloff is smooth unless you used a soft brush to make your drawing.
I just tested it again to see if there was something.. (recent version) but I got the expected result. You plugged the mask into the correct port on the displace, and then the output to the voronoi? Then if you paint into the mask, you would need to click the voronoi to see the result. if you have update locked to a specific node, be sure it's the correct one (voronoi in this case). You could disconnect the voronoi to see if it is working correctly, perhaps there was a low zone where you were painting? Really, without seeing it, it's hard to diagnose. I'm just trying to guess what might have happened.
@@cowsmanaut Hi, thanks for the reply. I have the nodes connected all right. I'm not sure what you mean by paint into the mask. I'm very new to Gaea so I didn't know you could paint anything. Also, I don't know what update locked means. Like stop it from auto-updating? Not sure how to even do that. Yeah for sure, I know it's not easy when you don't see it. I can send you screenshots somewhere if you want. Thanks a ton for the help.
@@dangerousmindgames So when you have the mask node selected, you have an option to "Edit mask" when you click this the 2D window appears with some settings and with your mouse you can "paint/draw" on the mask in that 2D window. this will produce the result you would see in the final node (voronoi) unless you paint in the Mask node, you won't get anything and it will stay flat. Re: Update locked. This is "Pinning" a node.. you can tell a viewport to be locked to a specific node, so that when you click on others the preview doesn't change to that other node but remains locked to the "Pinned" node. You can Pin/Unpin a node by having it selected and pressing "F" on the keyboard, or right click it and pin/unpin. hope that helps. Keep in mind the official Quadspinner discord can help.. there is also a facebook group if you're not into discord.
@@cowsmanaut OK so I showed both the first 2 nodes as default, but on the displace node my "mountains" look like they're sticking up but they're actually flat. And if I change the scale even slightly they shoot up into the air. Also the tops look like they've been sanded. I'm gonna check out the discord but this is a pretty specific question to this video. Thanks
Thank you for this video. Imagine my disappointment reading about the Draw node and then finding out it's been retired. But fear not, you've got it sorted. Thanks again.
yeah, I'm not sure why it was removed honestly.
The Draw tool was the first thing I was looking for when I downloaded this software. Too bad it was removed. Before I saw this video I was adding new mountain primitives and placing them next to each other with transform. In your video, the mask you draw creates long mountain ridgeline. Is there a way to break it up into individual conical mountains? The breaker node maybe?
It isn't creating the mountains per-se. It is revealing them. So it's not quite meant for single mountain creation. You could alter their height and use a clip function (clamp node) to cut the base down which would separate them.
@@cowsmanaut Oh okay thanks for the clarification. Is there anything I can do to make the "mountain noise" more mound-like or prominent (like the alps)? And could I use a second mask to prevent the mountain from creating valleys or other modifications? Sorry for the large question. It seems like the results from this technique are a bit different than this other video EjpBFzP7enw.
@@MileHiGuy95 sure, it will be different as it's an approximation of what the node did and just shows one possible method. More recently I made an example file which was posted to the discord which shows other possible combinations to get even other variations on the idea of a draw node. A variation perhaps more similar to the video you show would be to create a "mask" node, plug it into an "apex" node (you will need to press T to put it back to terrain mode), then add a "voronoi" to the scene. set it's scale to 100%. Take a "combine" node, Set it to multiply and 95%. Connect the "apex" to the top input, and the "voronoi" to the bottom. now connect a "warp" to the end and set it's size to 15%, lastly place a clamp to the end to reduce the height by setting the max to somewhere around 16% This should look closer to what you see in the video. Again, it's not precise, but it's again an example of getting similar results since I don't know the exact settings they used in the original node.
As for masks, there are hundreds of ways to do all sorts of things.. best thing to do is just try and evaluate the results.. play with the settings to confirm if you don't get the result you like at first.. you always want to be sure the idea is truly wrong and why.. sometimes you may discover a slight (or major) setting change can make all the difference.
Thanks so much!
When i make a mask node it shows just a flat square with the mask ive drawn, nothing raises up :( please help!
Mask nodes don't provide height on their own. You would need to connect it to a "constant" or, you can right click the mask and say "showa as>terrain"
How.. did you now the draw node works like this
observation on behaviour. It's an interpretation.. there are a few other ways of getting similar results..
@@cowsmanaut I see, very cool. I JUST got Gaea 2.0 and they have sculping and some cool stuff. You should totally check it out!
@@StarCourtesan I've been working with them already for a long while.. my name is in the developers credits ;) I'm glad you are excited though.. :)
@@cowsmanaut oh oops haha. makes sense why you have such an intuitive understanding for the tool. in that case thank you so much for sharing your insights which would've taken years to develop :)
@@StarCourtesan The intuition for Gaea 1 came from using it daily for a long time and just playing to understand how things worked. It was due to this work I was invited to help more with Gaea 2. I'm saying this so you understand you don't have to be on the inside to get it. Take a node, push it to the limits, use it in unusual ways (on purpose) it's through this kind of usage a tool really reveals its strengths and weaknesses. Many people only open software to make something, they miss the chance to just use it to learn it, really learn it.
How’d you get the custom node? ( the one that says drawnoderemake)
it's just a constant node renamed. I use them for notes sometimes.
@@cowsmanaut oh ok
Can i use this in conjunction with a file node? Id like to draw over a basic shape ive drawn in Photoshop for example...
yes, you can use that instead of the Mask. Since it's already drawn info. Though you may need to use a blur node (part of the mask node internally) to make sure the falloff is smooth unless you used a soft brush to make your drawing.
@@cowsmanaut Thanks for the reply. Ill have a good go. Do you have a discord that id be able to chat to you about a few things on this?
Super interesting, thanks for this
I did the exact 3 nodes you did and my surface is completely flat. Any ideas why? I set the displace node to rugged as well.
I just tested it again to see if there was something.. (recent version) but I got the expected result. You plugged the mask into the correct port on the displace, and then the output to the voronoi? Then if you paint into the mask, you would need to click the voronoi to see the result. if you have update locked to a specific node, be sure it's the correct one (voronoi in this case). You could disconnect the voronoi to see if it is working correctly, perhaps there was a low zone where you were painting? Really, without seeing it, it's hard to diagnose. I'm just trying to guess what might have happened.
@@cowsmanaut Hi, thanks for the reply. I have the nodes connected all right. I'm not sure what you mean by paint into the mask. I'm very new to Gaea so I didn't know you could paint anything. Also, I don't know what update locked means. Like stop it from auto-updating? Not sure how to even do that. Yeah for sure, I know it's not easy when you don't see it. I can send you screenshots somewhere if you want. Thanks a ton for the help.
@@dangerousmindgames So when you have the mask node selected, you have an option to "Edit mask" when you click this the 2D window appears with some settings and with your mouse you can "paint/draw" on the mask in that 2D window. this will produce the result you would see in the final node (voronoi) unless you paint in the Mask node, you won't get anything and it will stay flat.
Re: Update locked. This is "Pinning" a node.. you can tell a viewport to be locked to a specific node, so that when you click on others the preview doesn't change to that other node but remains locked to the "Pinned" node. You can Pin/Unpin a node by having it selected and pressing "F" on the keyboard, or right click it and pin/unpin. hope that helps.
Keep in mind the official Quadspinner discord can help.. there is also a facebook group if you're not into discord.
@@cowsmanaut OK this helps a lot. Thanks for the explanation!
@@cowsmanaut OK so I showed both the first 2 nodes as default, but on the displace node my "mountains" look like they're sticking up but they're actually flat. And if I change the scale even slightly they shoot up into the air. Also the tops look like they've been sanded. I'm gonna check out the discord but this is a pretty specific question to this video. Thanks
Thank you very much.
very welcome
Thanks a lot