Atlas2 Unique Terrain Detail
by Dennis Trevillyan · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 01/13/2007 (3:21 pm) · 15 replies
I ran a quick experiment to see what level of texture detail could be generated in a unique terrain using L3DT as the terrain source. The heightfield is 1024 x 1024 px with a vertex spacing of 10 meters. Nothing special here, just the normal random designmap created by L3DT without any editing. This was used to create three finished tiled textures as described below.
Terrain #1: Texture map sized same as heightmap (1024 x 1024). Each texture pixel covers 10 meters. Atlas size: 42,585kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548.jpg
Terrain #2: Texture map created at 16k x 16k. Each texture pixel covers 0.625 meters or about 2 feet. Attributes map, Lightmap and texture are all 16k x 16k. Atlas size: 77,417kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548x16.jpg
Terrain #3: Texture map created at 32k x 32k. Each texture pixel covers 0.31 meters or about 1 foot. The attributes and lightmap were not regenerated at 32k and were left at 16k. You'll notice a black grid on this terrain. It is probably from the mismatch in map sizes. Image size: 171,420kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548x32.jpg
I plan to try 4x and 8x textures also. I'll post these results when they are done.
Terrain #1: Texture map sized same as heightmap (1024 x 1024). Each texture pixel covers 10 meters. Atlas size: 42,585kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548.jpg
Terrain #2: Texture map created at 16k x 16k. Each texture pixel covers 0.625 meters or about 2 feet. Attributes map, Lightmap and texture are all 16k x 16k. Atlas size: 77,417kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548x16.jpg
Terrain #3: Texture map created at 32k x 32k. Each texture pixel covers 0.31 meters or about 1 foot. The attributes and lightmap were not regenerated at 32k and were left at 16k. You'll notice a black grid on this terrain. It is probably from the mismatch in map sizes. Image size: 171,420kb. Image is here: i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/StewartE1T4VPC2548x32.jpg
I plan to try 4x and 8x textures also. I'll post these results when they are done.
#2
01/14/2007 (7:14 am)
Addiktive, That seems to make sense. The texture resolution on your terrain is 2m/4 = 0.5 meter vs. 0.31 to 0.62 in the tests that I posted. One thing that we haven't done at this point is to develop improved textures although that should be coming shortly. 
#3
The point of the unique map, is that it allows creation of satellite image mapped terrains. It's not really intended for game use I dont think.
01/15/2007 (2:12 am)
The better option, is to use a blend map. That way, you can up your resolution a lot and still have a tiny download size (in comparison). The point of the unique map, is that it allows creation of satellite image mapped terrains. It's not really intended for game use I dont think.
#4
Maybe MS 4.2+ will fix any performance issues there might be
01/15/2007 (2:50 am)
Unfortunately blend map performance is subpar compared to Unique terrains, right now. We had terrains using blended and have of our team just couldn't run them without serious fps issues, so we went back to unique and its all smooth again..Maybe MS 4.2+ will fix any performance issues there might be
#5
01/15/2007 (9:55 am)
I think it's safe to say everyone is eagerly awaiting further improvements to the whole atlas system. Blended isn't really an option for us, due to the large variation in landscape and associated textures. We have around 15 textures being used in our climate scheme, possibly more!
#6
If anyone can explain how to get better texture detail with a blended terrain I'll definitely check that out again.
01/15/2007 (2:15 pm)
The first terrains that I generated in atlas were blended terrains. I couldn't get a decent level of detail in the texture while maintaining a decent geometry detail. In other words when I had a good number of verts per chunk then the terrain detail was lousy, when I had good terrain detail the verts per chunk was low and the terrain moved and shifted as you crossed it. Also, as addiktive points out, 4 textures is pretty basic.If anyone can explain how to get better texture detail with a blended terrain I'll definitely check that out again.
#7
01/15/2007 (2:37 pm)
Speaking of Atlas, I read a post from Brian or Ben last week stating that we might see an update on TGEA within a couple days. Well, a couple days passed and I don't see the post anymore (I think it was deleted). Anyone know a status?
#8
01/15/2007 (3:06 pm)
garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=54771Quote:Thanks for your patience with this everybody. I was hoping to get 4.2 out before Christmas, but I couldn't get all the memory leaks fixed in time. It's looking pretty good right now. We're testing, should be ready in a few days unless we hit another snag.I think you're referring to that - Why would they delete it?
#9
01/15/2007 (3:09 pm)
Yup, that's the one. I couldn't find it, so I thought it was deleted. Anyway, doesn't look like 4.2 is coming out.
#10
i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/Maui3316xT4E6.jpg
01/18/2007 (4:27 pm)
Here is the latest. This terrain was generated in L3DT using the provided textures. Size is 4096 x 4096 and it is a unique terrain. Texture size is 64k x 64k (16x resolution). Honestly I was disappointed in the result. I don't think it was as good as the smaller terrains shown in the first post. Tree depth is 4 and error is 6. I tried to get a tree depth of 5 but received either >64K verts or the dreaded empty bin error. i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/Maui3316xT4E6.jpg
#11
i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/Maui3316xT4E6.jpg
01/18/2007 (4:32 pm)
Here is the latest. This terrain was generated in L3DT using the provided textures. Size is 4096 x 4096 and it is a unique terrain. Texture size is 64k x 64k (16x resolution). Honestly I was disappointed in the result. I don't think it was as good as the smaller terrains shown in the first post. Tree depth is 4 and error is 6. I tried to get a tree depth of 5 but received either >64K verts or the dreaded empty bin error. i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/zedd10/Maui3316xT4E6.jpg
#12
What was the final filesize of that one?
01/19/2007 (11:50 am)
Does look poor, but better texture settings and textures in L3DT might solve that.What was the final filesize of that one?
#13
01/19/2007 (2:01 pm)
The final atlas was 396 meg.
#14
01/19/2007 (2:18 pm)
396 MEGS? Wow.
#15
I'm hoping the dynamic terrain shadows in 4.2 will fix the mesa in the lower right corner.
Edit: This terrain is 4kx4k @ 2m ... the texture was 16kx16k and the final size is 192MB.
01/23/2007 (8:11 pm)
I'm hoping the dynamic terrain shadows in 4.2 will fix the mesa in the lower right corner.
Edit: This terrain is 4kx4k @ 2m ... the texture was 16kx16k and the final size is 192MB.
addiktive
We have a 1024 map, and a 4096 texture and using grid size 2, the atlas file is 42 meg.
But it proves that at the moment, it's a lotta disc space to get anything half decent.
Here's some examples from our project.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/piratelordx/NewTex4.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/piratelordx/NewTex3.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/piratelordx/NewTex2.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r75/piratelordx/NewTex1.jpg
We are using a more complex coastal scheme from L3DT, along with lots of improved textures.