Umm... My texture looked fine in photoshop.
by Pectabyte · in Artist Corner · 10/07/2008 (11:22 pm) · 19 replies
So I made a few JPGs in photo shop for terrain textures and when I start painting them in Torque they look like this:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/Pectabyte/3D%20Imagery/TorqueWTF.jpg
Whats causing this?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/Pectabyte/3D%20Imagery/TorqueWTF.jpg
Whats causing this?
#2
I'm not knocking legacy terrain. You can do amazing things with it once you wrap your head around what it can and cannot do, then you can start maximizing its strengths while minimizing the weaknesses.
10/08/2008 (6:10 am)
Actually, it looks like you might be using 512x512 textures on a legacy terrain block that only supports 256x256. Try downsizing your image in Photoshop to 256X256 and then fire up the engine again. That should fix the problem. Of course it raises a few questions about visual quality, engine limitations and getting nice landscapes, etc.I'm not knocking legacy terrain. You can do amazing things with it once you wrap your head around what it can and cannot do, then you can start maximizing its strengths while minimizing the weaknesses.
#3
In TGEA 1.7x (or higher) the Legacy terrain was updated with a new clip mapping system. You are limited to 4 terrain textures only, but the terrains can support bitmaps of 512x512 or 1024x1024. While this is good, you also need to deal with your detail map and increasing the clipmap size to the proper values (ie. clipMapSizeLog2 = "10";).
Also, JPG or PNG really shouldnt make a difference if you are using TGEA 1.7x.
With all that said IMHO Legacy Terrain is vastly superior to what you will get for usability, tweaking and performance out of Atlas. We used Legacy only while making Lore Aftermath for InstantAction and it did not let us down one bit.
Logan
10/08/2008 (8:32 am)
No your terrain should definately not look like that, not if you are running TGEA 1.7x.In TGEA 1.7x (or higher) the Legacy terrain was updated with a new clip mapping system. You are limited to 4 terrain textures only, but the terrains can support bitmaps of 512x512 or 1024x1024. While this is good, you also need to deal with your detail map and increasing the clipmap size to the proper values (ie. clipMapSizeLog2 = "10";).
Also, JPG or PNG really shouldnt make a difference if you are using TGEA 1.7x.
With all that said IMHO Legacy Terrain is vastly superior to what you will get for usability, tweaking and performance out of Atlas. We used Legacy only while making Lore Aftermath for InstantAction and it did not let us down one bit.
Logan
#4
Maybe I should have asked this earlier, but . . . which Torque product are you running? If you are running TGE 1.x and using terrain textures larger than 256x256, you will see artifacts like the ones in your screenshot.
10/08/2008 (8:52 am)
@PectabyteMaybe I should have asked this earlier, but . . . which Torque product are you running? If you are running TGE 1.x and using terrain textures larger than 256x256, you will see artifacts like the ones in your screenshot.
#5
10/08/2008 (9:35 am)
That's because you are using larger than 256x textures on legacy terrain. I assume you are running TGE 1.4 or 1.5. 
#7
10/08/2008 (11:52 am)
Use PNG instead. But actually, I suggest getting the SUPERPNG plug-in for photoshop.
#8
10/08/2008 (12:29 pm)
You guys talk about 1.5 like its a bad thing. What else is there? 
#9
Reduce your textures to 256x256 and you should be fine.
10/08/2008 (12:30 pm)
The terrain system in TGEA 1.7 underwent some major improvements, so that is what people are referencing.Reduce your textures to 256x256 and you should be fine.
#10
I'm sorry you got the impression that TGE wasn't a good engine. TGE 1.5.1 is what I use for most of my stuff and I absolutely love it. Yes, I use TGEA 1.7.x for some projects, but always keep coming back to TGE. I may eventually settle on TGEA permanently, but not anytime soon.
Yes TGE does have some limitations, but those are very minor compared to the benefits of using the engine.
10/08/2008 (1:36 pm)
@PectabyteI'm sorry you got the impression that TGE wasn't a good engine. TGE 1.5.1 is what I use for most of my stuff and I absolutely love it. Yes, I use TGEA 1.7.x for some projects, but always keep coming back to TGE. I may eventually settle on TGEA permanently, but not anytime soon.
Yes TGE does have some limitations, but those are very minor compared to the benefits of using the engine.
#12
edit: oh, and it has polysoup already implemented. Think of that as mesh level collision detection instead of "blocky" collision boxes.
10/08/2008 (8:50 pm)
It's the so called "advanced" Torque Game Engine. It has support for shaders, more massive terrain through Atlas terrains or Mega-terrain (multiple legacy terrains), numerous improvements in rendering speed and graphics capabilties, and the beginnings of a better organized and simplified source code layout. Some features from regular TGE have been removed or just do not work however, and it's not multiplatform - though that should be changing shortly.edit: oh, and it has polysoup already implemented. Think of that as mesh level collision detection instead of "blocky" collision boxes.
#14
I would strongly recommend that you dive in and read everything you can about the engine -- the code/script resources, the art pipelines for models, textures, terrains, etc. TGE is a big engine with full source code, so there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with it -- if you are willing to put the time and energy into it.
10/08/2008 (9:41 pm)
TGEA is the next step in Torque evolution. It's cooler and better looking than the old TGE, but don't worry, there's still plenty of life left in the engine you already have. I would strongly recommend that you dive in and read everything you can about the engine -- the code/script resources, the art pipelines for models, textures, terrains, etc. TGE is a big engine with full source code, so there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with it -- if you are willing to put the time and energy into it.
#16
10/09/2008 (1:04 am)
So TGEA is just an Advanced version of Torque? Other than a uniform lighting renderer and, hopefully, better collision how is it different? Please don't spare the technical details. I've been working in Game Design for 10 years.
#17
10/09/2008 (1:52 am)
So TGEA is just an Advanced version of Torque? Other than a uniform lighting renderer and, hopefully, better collision how is it different? Please don't spare the technical details. I've been working in Game Design for 10 years.
#18
www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/
www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/features/
www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/featurecomp/
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14177
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14469
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14520
www.garagegames.com/blogs/57073/14560
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14879
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14931
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/15436
tgeaenhanced.blogspot.com/
As for better collision between TGE and TGEA, I can't say that there has been any change on that, but there might be. Of course there are tons of code resource additions that are available to the community (for both engines) that provide instructions and guidance for getting all kinds of commonly requested extra features into the engines.
Have fun reading. I hope this helps.
P.S. Again, the engine that you have, TGE 1.5.1 is an excellent development platform (one that I still use). Not only is it a great place to learn how Torque works but is also a very nice starting point to build almost any type of game.
10/09/2008 (7:02 am)
Hmm. Don't spare the details? SilentMike gave a pretty good overview above, but for a comprehensive comparison and historical changelog or feature list, I'm not sure where to direct you. However, I would suggest checking out the following pages and exploring their links. Yeah, some of it is marketing info, but all of it is insightful . . .www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/
www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/features/
www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgea/featurecomp/
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14177
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14469
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14520
www.garagegames.com/blogs/57073/14560
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14879
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/14931
www.garagegames.com/blogs/985/15436
tgeaenhanced.blogspot.com/
As for better collision between TGE and TGEA, I can't say that there has been any change on that, but there might be. Of course there are tons of code resource additions that are available to the community (for both engines) that provide instructions and guidance for getting all kinds of commonly requested extra features into the engines.
Have fun reading. I hope this helps.
P.S. Again, the engine that you have, TGE 1.5.1 is an excellent development platform (one that I still use). Not only is it a great place to learn how Torque works but is also a very nice starting point to build almost any type of game.
#19
Also make sure it is 256 x 256
And when in photoshop after you are completely done with everything and ready to export, hit Filter - Other - Offset, then put horizontal on 128 and vertical to 0, a line should appear on your texture, using the clone tool blend that line where the whole texture looks solid, go back to offset and switch horizontal to 0 and vertical to 128 and do the same with clone tool, then export it.
What that did was make a seamless texture getting rid of that tiling look you have in the engine.
10/24/2008 (9:59 pm)
Pectabyte, I had the same issue as you did, on the same engine as well. I used .png when making textures in photoshop instead, upon saving it will ask you to do Interlace or None, CLICK interlace it will resolve the issue, my textures appear fine now!Also make sure it is 256 x 256
And when in photoshop after you are completely done with everything and ready to export, hit Filter - Other - Offset, then put horizontal on 128 and vertical to 0, a line should appear on your texture, using the clone tool blend that line where the whole texture looks solid, go back to offset and switch horizontal to 0 and vertical to 128 and do the same with clone tool, then export it.
What that did was make a seamless texture getting rid of that tiling look you have in the engine.
Torque 3D Owner Henri Aalto
Braincoolant
I recall seeing similar "output" on an earlier version of TGEA. I resolved it by using PNG-format for the texture (I'm going to use .dds for final versions, though) but didn't bother to dig into it further.
The color setups seems quite nice though :)