Why are my textures so big and blurry?

#1 You can reduce basetexture size and add a better detail map.

#2 I'll try it out. The issue is not only on custom textures, its on default ones as well.

#3 The default ones are blurry by default

#4 Wasn't aware. I tried change the base texture size, but it did not work. Anything else? Are my settings correct?

#5 What you need to is use the 3 texture layers to create the impression of detail at the 3 major view distances.

Diffuse's job is just to lay down the base color, as well as provide the appearance of the terrain when viewed from very long distances. I suggest setting your terrain object's baseTextureSize to 2048, but you may have to play with that a bit depending on overall size of your terrain (higher baseTextureSize can actually look worse on really small terrain because the giant pixels get somewhat smaller and are easier to pick out at up close).

Next you need a texture for "Macro," which is basically the mid-range detail texture. You can do fairly well simply re-using one of the stock detail texture here at a larger scale than your actual "Detail" texture. Try scale 60 and range 500 here.

Finally your detail texture appears to be set up correctly in the shots (I might use a range of 100 but 50 should be okay) however it seems like your detail texture itself might be too close to just being a flat neutral gray. I'd see how it looks with one of the stock detail textures first.

#6 @Henry Todd

Thank you so much, I'll try it out and let you know what happens.

Also, what is Normal's job then?

#7 Oh, skipped that one. The normal map is specifically a normal (essentially bump) map for the Detail texture level. Unfortunately there are no terrain normal maps included in the T3D template.

The Pacific Demo contains a number of good terrain normal maps that can really improve the appearance of your terrain at close range, however I'm not certain what the usage rights for the content of that demo are at the moment.

#8 Thank you.
I took your advice and tried what you said, but still without luck...everything still looks washed out, whether it is a custom texture/map or a T3D default one.

Is it possible that it is my graphics card? The presets for mesh and textures and lighting are on high.

#9 Ozi, set the size of your detail texture to 1.

#10 @Dan thanks for the reply.

I tried it. But still no luck.

http://i.imgur.com/omciBm6.png

Does anyone have a texture pack for me to try out that works properly? If it still doesnt work then I can be almost positive that it is a software or hardware issue.

#11 @Ozi there are textures that come with T3D when you donwload it, you can find them in the full template.

Can you post a pic of your texture settings for the grass texture?

Edit: sorry missed that you had.

You set your diffuse texture size to 512. This is not the size in pixels but rather how far it should be stretched, 512 afaik means that it will be stretched 512 meters wide and broad.

Are your detail just a gray image? Then it won't have any impact. Your detail image should be a gray-scale image (or high-pass filtered image) of the texture you want.
Example:

#12 I'll try it out when I get home. And for my detail all I did was de saturate it. Maybe I need to add a high pass filter.

#13 Ah, a thought.. Is it possible that it is due to the MacroTexture?
It's new so don't know how it may override the other textures, so if it overrides the detail with the macrotexture that is empty you'd get that result.. Try loading something into the macro just for test, a smiley or something.

Btw desaturation should work fine (although high pass usually gives you a better result)

Edit:
Also try using another detail map, on the image you uploaded the detail map looks like it's just gray with no details in it.
Try using this just so we know you are using a working texture, and set detail size to 1 and distance to 150.

#14 @Lukas

Thanks for the reply. I just tried it and it still looks the same, blurry and washed out.

Is there a bug in my Torque 3D? Because if I do change the detail, no matter what it is, nothing changes, the texture preview and the actual texture when I paint stays the same.

Should I uninstall and reinstall Torque? Am I missing a file or something?

#15 I've uploaded a grass texture here to try.
www.yousendit.com/download/UVJqUWVnNDRrUm41SE1UQw

Here's what it should look like, with and without the detail texture added.

oi39.tinypic.com/34dhg0h.jpg

I haven't used the latest Torque so I've never used a macro texture. A normal map is included but it works fine without it really.

These are the values I used with it:

new TerrainMaterial()
{
diffuseMap = "art/terrains/SAS_MossGrass_01";
detailMap = "art/terrains/SAS_MossGrass_01a";
internalName = "DazGrass02";
diffuseSize = "50";
detailSize = "3";
detailStrength = "0.7";
parallaxScale = "0";
detailDistance = "50";
};

#16 @BigDaz Yes! The top picture is exactly what it looks like and I am not sure why! I'll download the grass textures and see if it works.

#17 Tried it with no luck.

This is really frustrating, I honestly don't know what I am doing wrong.

BTW - I tried this with and without the Macro map, same outcome.

http://i.imgur.com/MG9m0bL.png?1

#18 Hi. I wrote the macro texture feature, and I'd say ignore it for now until you get the detail texture itself working. By the way, the macro texture doesn't override anything else, it just works to provide more distant detail and reduce the appearance of tiling in the detail texture.

From that last image, I'm wondering why you have two terrain material layers with the same name. From the screen shot all I'm seeing is the diffuse texture, and it looks about how it ought to scale wise. Could it be that the settings in the screenshot are applied to the layer that isn't actually on the terrain?

You could try to make a brand new layer with a really obvious diffuse color like bright orange, and paint some of that on the terrain. Then you could be certain you are changing the settings on that particular patch of terrain.

I find that a good detail texture is greyscale or nearly so with a nice centered histogram without any overly bright or dark spots - too much contrast makes for splotches, especially for macro textures.

#19 No luck :/ http://i.imgur.com/AZFOGlK.jpg

It seems as if the detai map is showing up on when ever i have a birds eye view from away. But when I get close it pixelates and blurs up like crazy.

Also, sometimes, when I delete the detail map, nothing happens. The terrain stays the same.

#20 Distance is 50, the camera is way too far away, the detail map has faded out before it gets chance to become visible. Play with size, distance and strength.