Natural Rivers

by: Tomasz "Millennium" Jachimczak

tomasz@planetunreal.com

unrealed.exe

Natural looking water is tricky to do, but there are ways that it can be done if you follow a few simply steps and have a little patience. This tutorial will be somewhat vague at times, but that is becuase I am trying to get across a method, which will change with each river that is being done. If you have read the "Landscapes: tutorial, then you will find that it is very similar to that one, but if you have not done so, then read these notes carefully.
Rivers are certinly not "straight" and to make them look irregular and natural, you will need to take quite a bit of time and effort, but the reward will be worth the effort that you put into a level. When you have worked out the main section of the map where your river will be, make another room of that size somewhere off to the side of you level, and then start work there. The first thing you will want to do is to cut out the basic shape of the river, but when you are doing this, please make sure that you leave a fair amount of room off to the sides, as you will be cutting more out later with different brushes. You should make a basic "river" out of simple cubes and brushes. When you are cutting this basic shape out, make the cubes or brushes that you are using here about 1/3 the actual width and about 1/2 the depth of the river that you want when you finish. When you have the basic shape cut out of your river, make a "wedge" shape froma brush and add it to the level somewhere near the river. Then create another brush that is wedge shaped but a little rounder. Place this somewhere off to the side as well. Create another brush that is "rough" and look like it is full of bumps and keep this for later use. When you have made these brushes, you will be able to move on, as they will now become your basic brushes to create a water way with.
Using the "rough" brush cut further into the river bottom, to give it a rough and "real" feel to it. Don"t go too far over board here, as if you create too many polygons, the level will play somewhat slowly, but keep in mind that the more you use, the better it will look. It will be up to you to decide how many polygons you are going to use depending on the complexity of you level in general. If you have the river as only an addition to the level then you will want to try to keep it as simple as you can, but if you are creating a river as the main section of your map (Possible if you are doing a boat ride or something like that) then you will most likely want to go into some really high poly counts to make the level simply breath-taking.
When you have cut the bottom from your river, change to one of the wedge brushes, and start to create a river edge for it. By putting the narrow end of the wedge, you will be able to make the edge of your river very shallow, and have it getting deeper as you get further in towards the middle. The wedge brush should be scaled so that it will meet the rough bottom and be just sharp enough to get to the surface of the river and not appear either too deep or shallow. As you are cutting away, with the brushes here, make sure that you are constantly intersecting, otherwise you will end up with horrible BSP holes and also your river will not look quite as natural. When you have made some of the river edges, use the rounded brush to add in a few little "pools" ow water with the brush near the sides and the river should be just about complete. The only thing that you will no have to do is to do an intersection of everything where the river is, and then place it into where you will have the river in the "real" map. When that is done, add in the actual water itself by intersecting a sheet of water. If you can do this with one brush, but if that is not possible then you will have to match them up VERY closely, otherwise you will not be able to put water below the surface due to a hole somewhere.
Like I said, this is most likely somewhat vague if you have not tried to do something that looks very natural before, but with a little practise, you will be able to make very realistic and natural looking water-ways and your levels will have that little extra added to them