Torque Terrain Procedural Texturing Tutorial

Ok, here is the re-write since the original tutorial was lost. This was written using the latest release build of TGE (1.3) but as far as I can recall it shouldn't be any different for older versions. Depending on how the terrain blender evolves this may become useless.

Getting Started:
Before we start you'll need to have TGE installed and the original TGE mission editing tools available. I suggest using the demo as released and running the starter.fps mod as that is what I did.

The terrain textures used in the tutorial are available here (~600kb). These are optional and any suitable textures will work just as well for the tutorial.

Getting into the editor:
First step is to fire up the mission editor (F11) and switch to the terrain texturing mode (F8). I also prefer to be in "free camera" before starting the editor but it isn't required. If you're suing starter.fps and in the stronghold mission you should be looking at something like this.

1. Removing the old textures
First we're going to select our new textures. On the right side of the screen you should see a list of materials (textures) available for the blender to use. Select each of those, one at a time, and delete them. We're going to add four of our own textures instead.

2. Selecting your new textures
Now we're going to add in our new textures. Please note, the first texture you select will be applied to the entire terrain surface and all other textures will be applied on top of it. So make sure you select a texture that will work well anywhere on the map. In our case we're going to add gl_grass1 first since it is a basic grass texture, the remaining textures (gl_grass2, gl_dirt1 and gl_rock2) can be added in any order.

First, click on the Add Material button. Now add gl_grass1.jpg, followed by gl_grass2.jpg, gl_dirt1.jpg and gl_rock2.jpg. I'm not going to cover editing the materials.cs file here but you do not need it for this tutorial.

3. Configuring the terrain masks
3a. Grass 1
For the first texture, gl_grass1.jpg, we want to use a slope mask only. Highlight gl_grass1 in the material list, click on "Placement Operations" and select "Place by Slope" from the list. Do not delete fractal distortion from the list of operations. Highlight the "Place by Slope" operation in the list and you should see the mask settings in the upper right corner of the editor screen. With the slope mask the points to the left are for level surfaces and the right points are for increasing degrees of slope. For now follow my example and move the first two points all the way up and the remaining points all the way down. This means our grass texture will be most prominent when the slope is lowest and non-existent on steeper surfaces.

3b. Grass 2
Next we want to select gl_grass2 from the material list. Click on "Placement Operations" and select "Place by Height" and "Place by Slope." Highlight place by height and adjust the control points so the two leftmost points are all the way up and the remaining points are all the way down. You should also un-check "Fractal Distortion" for this mask since we are using multiple masks. Setting up the points this way will make gl_grass2 most prominent at higher altitudes and non-existent in the lower areas on the map. Now, highlight place by slope and adjust the control points so the first three are all the way up and the last three are all the way down and leave fractal distortion checked in this mask. This will cause gl_grass2 to only be use on flat and gently sloped surfaces and the fractal distortion will have the effect of mixing it up randomly with the other textures. In our tutorial this means you will have most gl_grass1 with gl_grass2 on higher ground but some patches of gl_grass1 (which has no height mask) will be present at all altitudes for some variety.

3c. Dirt 1
Now we can add some dirt to the mix, select gl_dirt1 from the list and click on "Placement Options" and select "place by height." Now, highlight place by height and move the first three point to the top, the last three points to the bottom and un-check fractal distortion. This will make dirt the most prominent texture at low altitude and ensure that it fills in every space not occupied by gl_grass1 or the rock we're going to add next.

3d. Rock 2
Now for the rock texture, we have gl_rock2 because my gl_rock1 texture is more of a gravel texture and wouldn't work well here. So, select gl_rock2 from the material list, click on "Placement Options" and select Place by Slope. Highlight place by slope and move the first three points all the way down, the last two points all the way up and the fourth point slightly down from the top. This will make the rock texture most prominent on steep slopes, non-existent on level surfaces and gentle slopes and somewhat visible on medium slopes. Make sure you un-check fractal distortion as well so our rock slopes are very rocky looking.

If you haven't done so already click on the "Apply" button to see the end result.

Now that you have the procedural textures in place you can go through and manually touch-up spots such as the dirt patch around the huts as seen in the original screen shot.

Hope this helps,

Keith