Dunes

Dunes is a patch of sand dunes you place in a scene like any other object: rows of wind-shaped ridges with a long gentle side and a short steep face, easing down to its base at the edges. The object's scale is the footprint, so the same patch works as a little sand garden or a stretch of desert.

How it works

The patch uses the same landscape model as the scene's endless terrain, cut to a footprint you control. Dunes form across the wind, so the crests line up at right angles to a wind direction you set. Like real dunes they are lopsided: a long ramp on the side the wind comes from and a short slip face on the side it blows toward. The sand is paler on the crests and has a soft sheen when the sun is low.

Settings

• Shape and Ground: pick a landform such as Erg, Barchan field, Coastal dunes, Red desert or Salt flat, and a ground such as Desert sand, Red rock or Salt flat.
• Size, Height, Ruggedness and Rock & snow: the quick sliders.
• Bearing: the wind direction, which turns the whole row of crests.
• Dune Wavelength and Dune Asymmetry: crest-to-crest spacing, and how steep the slip faces are.
• Edge fade: how softly the patch meets its base.

Use it for

Desert spots, beaches, Mars scenes, travel and fragrance campaigns. Add a Sandstorm over it, or see Canyon.