Torque 3D Environment Pack 1.05 Update is here at last!

Click here to purchase, or read on if you still aren't quite sure!


Finally, at long last, the material update is here. And this is only the beginning of the stuff on the way! But what a beginning it is. So let's get down to it! :)

The biggest thing in the 1.05 update is the materials. ALL of the materials have been completely trashed and remade. Some of them returned with an improved look, some of them have been removed for good. Oh, and also there are now OVER SEVEN TIMES as many materials, can't forget to mention that... So you are getting 355 complete materials. The base and detail maps come in .TGA format, with the normal/parallax maps coming in .DDS format, all of which are 1024x1024 in size. Both of them are uncompressed for maximum quality and runtime performance. Any adjustments to the formatting and/or size are very easily done on your level and I want to deliver the maximum possible quality to you, and you can throw out what you don't need later.

For those of you who already own the Environment Pack, you'll notice a massive change in how things work. Including, unfortunately, the fact that this WILL break compatability with your old environments. However the fix for this situation is a very easy one, simply open the terrain and replace the materials that will be listed as warnings with the new materials of your choosing.

However the huge difference you will notice is in the names. The nomenclature has been restructed since "grass<x>" and names like that simply don't work when you get 355 of them. "Grass34" doesn't tell you enough to really categorize your needs. The naming system is in the readme, but I'll also post it here.

You'll notice immediately that the texture files are named as <landtype>_g<value>_c<value>_w<value>_s<value>_RF<value>. The land type part is pretty obvious, but the next few need some explanation. You'll also notice sometimes there is an N before the value, this is for negative. An example of one is "grass_gN3_c0_w2_sN5_RF3".

• G stands for Gradient. This is a scoring of how likely this material would show up on a slope. So a material of g5 would be highly likely to go on a steep Cliffside, while gN5 would be a negative 5 store for gradient and so would very strongly avoid any and all slopes.


• C stands for curvature. This relates to the overall roughness of the land. Land roughness often won't actually show in the mesh itself, with most vertices being up to a meter away from eachother anyhow, and so it's an implied attribute. So a c5 score would be for something that would greatly like a very rough, jagged, uneven ground such as extremely rough ground scattered with stones. A score of cN5 would be like something ultra-smooth like a well maintained golf course green.


• W stands for water. The more likely your material will show up in a wet area, the higher the score. There's no definite number that means above or below water. So a w1 may work just fine for an underwater material while a w5 may not, but just in an area that has significant ground water.


• S is for salinity. If you have an area of salt water, this may be more important to consider. Naturally something that favors salt should be in areas nearer a body of salt water, and areas of freshwater usually will not have materials with a positive S value.


• The RF value stands for "random factor". This is a number that represents a suggestive use for the material in terms of either a base texture, or something to just scatter around. So for example, a material of RF0 would be something that would probably work better in large quantities while something of RF4 would do better if just randomly, lightly sprayed around to help break up patterning and adding some diversity.


• There is also another value that is reserved for the Leaves materials, that is the "SC" parameter. SC stands for "special case". These materials don't have a definite place, nor will they be programmed into the L3DT climate files since tree placement isn't effectively automated. Application of the "SC" materials needs to be done manually on a case-by-case basis.

As mentioned in the readme though, these scores are only guides! Use what you think works best in the end, the numbers are just meant to help you make an initial search.

To show the improvements btw, I have here some screenshots. These will compare the Temperate sample terrain with the updated Temperate terrain, in which I simply replaced the materials with updated ones that fit the environment. The difference speaks for itself, truly. These maps use the exact same settings (well, almost. Looks like I accidentally had a shorter view distance on the original one, so a teeny tiny bit gets cut off) and there's no extra pettying or anything involved. Both are using the exact same texture count, in the exact same layout and resolution.

To explain in advance, you may wonder just how such a difference happens. It's a multitude of reasons. First is my new process for setting up materials. It gives much more precise and sharp details, while at the same time being much more tileable with less patterning. Also with the HUGE increase in the amount of materials, it is way, WAY easier to find a material that fits the setting more precisely. With the 50 materials before, having a grass that was in a high-salinity environment was hard, you need something that's not exactly lively but still pretty good. Having those options but for 50 materials is hard, but with 355, there's plenty of room for extra variation. So you can use materials that color-match eachother better and also fit the given atmosphere.

Before:





And After!:



This should pretty much sum it all up for you right there! And even then, this is only getting started with the possibilities.

And most importantly is the fact that this is only the beginning, phase one of the updates! The others will be coming very soon, they've actually been developed in parallel with most of these materials. This massive jump up in quality is only the start and it will continue much from here. And best of all, ALL of these future improvements are FREE for owners of the pack! So buy now and get your materials ready now, particles are coming soon! ;)


Now that you know that the Torque 3D Environment Pack is the best setup around, click here to buy!