Smooth Grass Texture Transitions?
by Michael Stoll · in Torque 3D Professional · 12/30/2012 (1:00 am) · 24 replies
Hey all,
Progress on our game has been going well but we've run into a slight visual hiccup. We have separate textures for 'plains', 'forest', 'town', and 'mountain' so as to distinguish foliage types in addition to just making the map look nice. Unfortunately, our map is very large, and so we can't be very precise with the texturing brush. This is a problem because in the 'plains' texture, grass is plentiful and very thickly placed.
In the towns, however, there is no grass so as to prevent it from showing through the floors of buildings. This creates a very clear-cut line between the two textures, and I was wondering if anyone had any input for ways to solve or alleviate this issue.
Thanks!
Mike
Progress on our game has been going well but we've run into a slight visual hiccup. We have separate textures for 'plains', 'forest', 'town', and 'mountain' so as to distinguish foliage types in addition to just making the map look nice. Unfortunately, our map is very large, and so we can't be very precise with the texturing brush. This is a problem because in the 'plains' texture, grass is plentiful and very thickly placed.
In the towns, however, there is no grass so as to prevent it from showing through the floors of buildings. This creates a very clear-cut line between the two textures, and I was wondering if anyone had any input for ways to solve or alleviate this issue.
Thanks!
Mike
#22
The actual issue is that the groundcover that we're using does not transition smoothly between two textures. If I use the layer feature, we get a rough cutoff on the groundcover. We're on a map with a squaresize of 16.
02/03/2013 (8:56 am)
I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but the issue isn't the ground texture quality. That's just one cause. The actual issue is that the groundcover that we're using does not transition smoothly between two textures. If I use the layer feature, we get a rough cutoff on the groundcover. We're on a map with a squaresize of 16.
#23
02/03/2013 (8:47 pm)
Here's what you might want to try if you haven't already. Create a TSSTatic that is a replica of your groundcover foliage. Maybe a billboard, 2 or 4 polygons, and then place these around the edges of your town, to create a smooth transition. You should be able to use the same texture that you're using for your groundcover. I would use 2 planes intersecting like a cross with double-sided texture enabled. This way, they would look more 3D when your player is near them in the towns. Such a simple TSStatic shouldn't be much of a hit frame-wise.
#24
We were considering doing something like this, so that's definitely a viable idea. What we were thinking of doing was basically creating intersecting planes, then using the forest tool to paint them around the town.
The reason we haven't gone ahead with that yet is because it would be very time-intensive due to the size of the map, and we were hoping for an automated solution. If there isn't one found by the time we need to move the map forward, though, obviously we'll take that route.
Thank you,
Mike
02/04/2013 (4:11 am)
Hey Joseph,We were considering doing something like this, so that's definitely a viable idea. What we were thinking of doing was basically creating intersecting planes, then using the forest tool to paint them around the town.
The reason we haven't gone ahead with that yet is because it would be very time-intensive due to the size of the map, and we were hoping for an automated solution. If there isn't one found by the time we need to move the map forward, though, obviously we'll take that route.
Thank you,
Mike
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