I'm first! Now let's get serious.
by Romano Del Vecchio · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 11/05/2004 (3:15 am) · 5 replies
I'm not sure that this is wright place to ask, but after couple of days lurking and messing with TGE demo that comes with the book 3D Programming..., I dont like terrain textures I saw. I have some some skill and would like to create new. How it's done? Or I should look better in book?
#2
Would changing the terrain block size from 8 to 4 change the way they are applied, or would they be scaled accordingly. I wanted to avoid this as I'd read in a few threads that changing the block size to anything other than 8 can lead to problems down the road (AI etc).
My textures were cartoony, so maybe I just need to spend a bit more time playing with some photo-textures to see how they look. I've got cricket this afternoon so I'll try to remember to take some photos of the pitch etc :D
11/05/2004 (9:02 am)
Mine seem to appear stretched (256 x 256), its something I've been meaning to get around to looking into.Would changing the terrain block size from 8 to 4 change the way they are applied, or would they be scaled accordingly. I wanted to avoid this as I'd read in a few threads that changing the block size to anything other than 8 can lead to problems down the road (AI etc).
My textures were cartoony, so maybe I just need to spend a bit more time playing with some photo-textures to see how they look. I've got cricket this afternoon so I'll try to remember to take some photos of the pitch etc :D
#3
This is where detail textures come into play, as even a perfectly realistic texture at 256x looks like crap up close. Unfortunately, multiple detail textures for terrain is not stock code, and would require a bit of effort on your part to get working.
Best and easiest thing to do, would be to purchase TSE, and let Ben Garney do all the really hard work for you :)
11/05/2004 (9:13 am)
Changing block size would help, but yes, it does cause other issues which may or may not affect your game.This is where detail textures come into play, as even a perfectly realistic texture at 256x looks like crap up close. Unfortunately, multiple detail textures for terrain is not stock code, and would require a bit of effort on your part to get working.
Best and easiest thing to do, would be to purchase TSE, and let Ben Garney do all the really hard work for you :)
#4
11/12/2004 (3:51 am)
Its a shame you can't do 1-1 on the terrain, that has caused me loads of headaches and I've finaly given up :( It just looks stupid having realistic character and building textures and having the ground look like a cartoon :( 
#5
to get a really realistic effect is to use the fxfoliage placement tool,with
photorealistic textures.
Of course you just cant throw grass around willy nilly,placing it,sizing it
and getting it right is another artistic skill required for a game dev who
is looking for the reality virtual.
The engine will only render what it sees,the terrain,buildings,objects will
occlude,so there is the possibility of vegetational saturation in large open
air scenes and Torque is excellent at it and excels.
www.jojimbo.com/torque/gui.jpg
It will even allow the grass to wave in the wind,and has the ability for
direct alpha channel adjustment instantaneously.Perfect.
So therfore the underlying ground texture should be a colour similar to
the vegetation that is to be placed so it blends ie: will represent the same
colour from afar unrendered so as the grass renders (shows) the neared
you get it should be a relative blend.
some examples of grass render with different ground textures can be viewed
at my site,the yellower grass has a yellowish texture below,the greener
a green texture (default) i think.
The grass in these pics are pre-editing,so there is some alpha clipping,
but it can easily be rectified.
www.jojimbo.com/oasis.htm
11/15/2004 (8:35 am)
I always tend to think of the terrain as a background to model placement.to get a really realistic effect is to use the fxfoliage placement tool,with
photorealistic textures.
Of course you just cant throw grass around willy nilly,placing it,sizing it
and getting it right is another artistic skill required for a game dev who
is looking for the reality virtual.
The engine will only render what it sees,the terrain,buildings,objects will
occlude,so there is the possibility of vegetational saturation in large open
air scenes and Torque is excellent at it and excels.
www.jojimbo.com/torque/gui.jpg
It will even allow the grass to wave in the wind,and has the ability for
direct alpha channel adjustment instantaneously.Perfect.
So therfore the underlying ground texture should be a colour similar to
the vegetation that is to be placed so it blends ie: will represent the same
colour from afar unrendered so as the grass renders (shows) the neared
you get it should be a relative blend.
some examples of grass render with different ground textures can be viewed
at my site,the yellower grass has a yellowish texture below,the greener
a green texture (default) i think.
The grass in these pics are pre-editing,so there is some alpha clipping,
but it can easily be rectified.
www.jojimbo.com/oasis.htm
Associate Logan Foster
perPixel Studios