Circular "ripple" type pattern instead of bump texture

[Trulsi]

Hello guys,

I am trying to make a backdrop planet for a test animation - using mostly 3d procedural nodes. I also use some sss just to fake a bit of lighting. I have a ridged multi fractal in there whose bump channel I connect to the bump input of the surface node. Instead of giving me a decent bump, it makes a real ugly circular ripple kind of pattern. Attached is a pic of the node tree and a shot of the planet from above. Anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong?

I am not very good with procedurals, so if someone has other tips for my tree they are very welcome:) A nice blueish planet with oceans or a gaseous look is what I am aiming for.

[Trulsi]

Okay guys, I am going through Ablans lw 9 signature courseware now, and I am working on the crate. For those of you who have it: first of all, I wasn't able to recreate the warm hotspot he made on the crate with the first area light. Not able at all, and I checked quite a few things...

Second, and this is the most bothersome thing - bump rendering is screwed. During rendering there is this extreme noise going on, and after antilaliasing there isn't that much noise left (look at the attached image) - but still enough to negate the effect of the bump map. Do any of you know what is going on? I have tried it on both an intel and an amd machine, and the problem is in both.

[SplineGod]

If youre taking someones courseware why not ask the instructor?
I believe Dan has a support forum somewhere. :)

[Trulsi]

Good point, Larry! I just didn't want to bother him when I didn't think it was his fault. But there's probably even less reason to bother you, so I'll send him a note. Beware, though, some of your DVDs are arriving here tomorrow;)

[Trulsi]

I was certain that I had the settings right, but I saw now that Dans bump amplitude for the sides was just 1. This helped a bit, but there is still heavy noise during rendering which doesn't show up in his video. I am mailing Dan now to get him to drop by:)

[SplineGod]

Im pretty sure Dans got a support forum over at LWG3d. Take advantage of the support. Its not a matter of whether its someones fault or not. Im sure Dan wouldnt take your questions as you blaming him. I have my own support forums for my students and KURV does too. Sometimes there are mistakes made by instructors that can be quickly clarified by posting on the support forums. Sometimes theres bugs in the software or the way a tool works has changed with new versions of LW.
When you get my DVDs (thanks btw) dont hesitate to go to the support forums first when you need help or clarification. :)

[Trulsi]

Thanks Larry! :) Looking forward to it - I ordered a bunch of DVD's from Kurv. Also, you are of course right. If support is offered, I will gladly accept. See you! I'll post here again if a solution for the courseware problem is found. But still, if someone has an idea about the planetary texture problem, please make a post:)

[SplineGod]

Post the object/scene file. :)

[Trulsi]

Coming up!

[Trulsi]

Ooops. Too late to edit. Sorry for all the posts! But here comes the file. This is of course very wip - I don't think the spacescene looks any good yet. The only things that does is the shuttle, but that was made from a tutorial:) I would just like to find out what my bump problem is before I move on.

[SplineGod]

One thing I see is your planet is HUGE! Its 990km across. The bigger the object the more difficult its going to be to get any procedurals to work for you easily.
Use much smaller scales. In the past LW has had issues when you use extremely large or small scales in layout. Treat your scenes as if you had only limited studio space to create them in. A 900km sphere at a million km looks the same as a 9m sphere at 10m. :)

[Trulsi]

Thanks, Larry:) It's probably some issue like that this time as well. I just wanted to try it out because there are some extra things to keep in mind when using objects of different scales in the same scene - like what if the planet suddenly threw a small shadow on the ship across just a few frames. But I am better off splitting it up and putting it together afterward rendering anyway, so I might just as well do that.

Still, if it is an issue with Lightwave, I am curious to know why.

I will try it some time this evening probably.

[SplineGod]

Thnk of it this way. You have a limited amount of decimal places. You can either use them for huge scalles or very small scales. Youre trying to do both in a way by having the very large planets but trying to get small details in the textures. I dont think its necessarily a bug. Remember this isnt an accurate simulation youre after but a rendered end result that youre after. :)

[Trulsi]

Thnk of it this way. You have a limited amount of decimal places. You can either use them for huge scalles or very small scales. Youre trying to do both in a way by having the very large planets but trying to get small details in the textures. I dont think its necessarily a bug.

Good point! I got time to stop by lightwave now, and did this:

1: Remove small shuttle object - didn't help
2: Remove extremly large starballs - didn't help
3: Scale planet down to about 170m radius and textures by about 1/10000 - no more strange artifacts! :)

Thanks, Splinegod!

Remember this isnt an accurate simulation youre after but a rendered end result that youre after. :)

I know, I know;)

[SplineGod]

Glad you got that working :)