Demo Terrain Level
by Dan Webb · in Artist Corner · 07/24/2013 (4:49 pm) · 42 replies
I've promised a terrain to a couple of people a while ago, but for one reason or another never actually followed through with that. To make amends until I do get around to that I made a very basic terrain to be used for whatever purpose, mostly just to showcase people's work. I then thought it'd be a good idea to make it available for anyone to use for this, and so I packaged it up and uploaded it to Box.
If you'd like a terrain to build on, or just to see what you can do with terrains in Torque 3D, you can download it from here.
I have tested it in both T3D 3.0 (MIT) and T3D 1.2 and it works just fine. On the off chance it doesn't however, don't hesitate to email me (address is in my profile) describing your issue/s. I've included a readme to help newcomers with installation, as well as a separate postfx preset in case you want to use that also. If I get any emails that show the readme wasn't followed, I'll trash them without replying.
I hope someone finds this useful.
By request, you can see what it looks like (without the sky, but with the included postfx preset which is optional) here or below.
If you'd like a terrain to build on, or just to see what you can do with terrains in Torque 3D, you can download it from here.
I have tested it in both T3D 3.0 (MIT) and T3D 1.2 and it works just fine. On the off chance it doesn't however, don't hesitate to email me (address is in my profile) describing your issue/s. I've included a readme to help newcomers with installation, as well as a separate postfx preset in case you want to use that also. If I get any emails that show the readme wasn't followed, I'll trash them without replying.
I hope someone finds this useful.
By request, you can see what it looks like (without the sky, but with the included postfx preset which is optional) here or below.
About the author
I do terrains. Lots of other stuff too, but mostly terrains. I die in games more often than not because I'm admiring the view.
#2
Oh, and while I think of it, there's a heightmap included within the ~game/art/terrains/Demo folder. That can be imported as a new heightmap (for a new level) with different settings. For example; bring it in with a 2 meters per pixel scale to make a 4096px terrain, (and make the height 1024px) and a 2048px height will produce a huge, mountainous terrain. Should go well with Ron's Conifer pack.
07/24/2013 (7:08 pm)
I actually thought it'd be Steve Acaster who'd mention screenshots. :POh, and while I think of it, there's a heightmap included within the ~game/art/terrains/Demo folder. That can be imported as a new heightmap (for a new level) with different settings. For example; bring it in with a 2 meters per pixel scale to make a 4096px terrain, (and make the height 1024px) and a 2048px height will produce a huge, mountainous terrain. Should go well with Ron's Conifer pack.
#3
07/24/2013 (7:30 pm)
Beat him to it :P. That looks really, really nice! Thanks for this :).
#4
07/24/2013 (7:35 pm)
It's the least I can do mate, as I've never contributed to the community and it's been overdue for ages. 
#5
The improvement of a good base texture is pretty impressive, we should have a basemap editor in Torque, at least a function that does not override the basemap all the time if you paint some things.
07/25/2013 (12:43 am)
You can try to set up a materials.cs in art/terrains/demo, so the textures appear instantly when people copy your pack over.The improvement of a good base texture is pretty impressive, we should have a basemap editor in Torque, at least a function that does not override the basemap all the time if you paint some things.
#6
07/25/2013 (1:12 am)
@Duion - I could do that, but that wouldn't teach anyone anything. I'm 100% happy with everything here (so long as everything works as it does for me), and that means my job is done. But I appreciate the suggestion. 
#7
Did any of the fractal data help with erosion? I was curious if you got around to messing with that.
07/26/2013 (1:17 am)
@Dan,Did any of the fractal data help with erosion? I was curious if you got around to messing with that.
#8
@Duion - my next goal is to work out how to get the most out of the channel function in Torque's heightmap import. World Machine makes use of channel splitting and blending, and I'm hopeful that the two can produce some nice effects on the diffuse map. We'll see.
07/26/2013 (2:11 am)
I tried it out Frank. It worked, but I was actually using it as a hardness mask for the erosion and the result wasn't much different than a regular old perlin noise mask. I still have those fractal images, so I'll probably play around with it again before too long.@Duion - my next goal is to work out how to get the most out of the channel function in Torque's heightmap import. World Machine makes use of channel splitting and blending, and I'm hopeful that the two can produce some nice effects on the diffuse map. We'll see.
#9
In this case you only have one material, the one grass texture, but normally you have many of them.
Also you cannot edit the basemap, because it stays static, so if you want to change something in Torque it gets messed up.
Best solution I found so far is, build your terrain the old way and when you are done open the mylevel_basetex.dds with an image editor and put over your custom basemap from your application and then set the file to write protected.
PS: Even better would be a function to paint the basemap in Torque.
07/26/2013 (3:19 am)
I see you put the base map into the base map of the terrain material, that is a bad solution, since you would have to recreate all materials for each terrain, leaving you with probably a lot of terrain material entries.In this case you only have one material, the one grass texture, but normally you have many of them.
Also you cannot edit the basemap, because it stays static, so if you want to change something in Torque it gets messed up.
Best solution I found so far is, build your terrain the old way and when you are done open the mylevel_basetex.dds with an image editor and put over your custom basemap from your application and then set the file to write protected.
PS: Even better would be a function to paint the basemap in Torque.
#10
Frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of your know-it-all attitude, and I'm very concerned (and amazed) that you're on the bloody steering committee.
This Demo Terrain is as it is by design. Just leave it alone, would you?
07/26/2013 (3:28 am)
Duion, I'm sorry if this sounds cruel, but you have no idea what you're talking about. That "base map" (and I'm assuming you mean that you think I'm using the _basetex.dds as a diffuse map) was generated within World Machine and exported in .png format. This is how I always do it. It's how Andy Wright does it. It's how most terrain specialists do it. That's because it's the best way to do it.Frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of your know-it-all attitude, and I'm very concerned (and amazed) that you're on the bloody steering committee.
This Demo Terrain is as it is by design. Just leave it alone, would you?
#11
Some programs (havent used world machine but have seen its fancy outputs) like world machine, l3dt and geosomethingorother have the ability to create a very good basetex file that needs little or no work.
I did experiment at one point with changing the size of the basetex file with varying results, however if you do any terrain painting it kinda messes up again.
I also experimented with massive terains and massively detailed terrains using 8k files, the results were very nice, the performance... not so much, using the terrain tools is almost out of the question because the engine rewrites all of the terrain files in real time as you are working on them. I have neither the skill or the know how to even fiddle with that stuff to improve the performance, but if all you want is some super fancy screenies it works :)
07/26/2013 (4:40 am)
I'm pretty sure the _basetex.dds file gets modified by the engine when you paint your own terrains and uses that as the diffuse texture when the detail isnt on show.Some programs (havent used world machine but have seen its fancy outputs) like world machine, l3dt and geosomethingorother have the ability to create a very good basetex file that needs little or no work.
I did experiment at one point with changing the size of the basetex file with varying results, however if you do any terrain painting it kinda messes up again.
I also experimented with massive terains and massively detailed terrains using 8k files, the results were very nice, the performance... not so much, using the terrain tools is almost out of the question because the engine rewrites all of the terrain files in real time as you are working on them. I have neither the skill or the know how to even fiddle with that stuff to improve the performance, but if all you want is some super fancy screenies it works :)
#12
08/02/2013 (10:26 pm)
Thank You. :D
#13
08/02/2013 (11:13 pm)
You're welcome, JR. :)
#14
08/03/2013 (1:46 am)
Quote:using the terrain tools is almost out of the question because the engine rewrites all of the terrain files in real time as you are working on them.Interesting insight on the terrain system. This begs for working with slices of data on the terrain to reduce this. I am going to file that away as something to remember. I wonder if the issue is because it creates one huge allocation of memory?
#15
First picture is default Torque basetex resulting of painting, the next 3 are more customized versions, like blending and such and the next 4 screens are playing around with creating moods and presentation screens.
Conclusion: The default system is not that bad, but you can add some extra with customizing the overall basetexture.
The default Torque terrain tools are totally NOT out of question, you can do good things with that and to prevent him rewriting the basetexture you can set the basetex.dds to write protected in windows, so no more rewriting for Torque with this hack.
08/03/2013 (3:04 am)
The custom base texture made this quite interesting, so I had to try a little more custom basetexture, too, the result was this: xn--bergame-m2a.blogspot.de/2013/08/terrains-reloaded.htmlFirst picture is default Torque basetex resulting of painting, the next 3 are more customized versions, like blending and such and the next 4 screens are playing around with creating moods and presentation screens.
Conclusion: The default system is not that bad, but you can add some extra with customizing the overall basetexture.
The default Torque terrain tools are totally NOT out of question, you can do good things with that and to prevent him rewriting the basetexture you can set the basetex.dds to write protected in windows, so no more rewriting for Torque with this hack.
#16
You're never going to replicate the details in that diffuse texture because the erosion flows I used to create them simply aren't doable in Torque.
08/03/2013 (4:38 am)
@Duion - those terrains are looking quite good. I think you're creating a lot of work for yourself though, as there is a much simpler method of getting the differences into that _basetex.dds file. Simply change the hue/saturation of the diffuse map to more closely match what you want to achieve.You're never going to replicate the details in that diffuse texture because the erosion flows I used to create them simply aren't doable in Torque.
#17
08/03/2013 (4:48 am)
For the record, I do agree that the best approach for someone lacking the tools to make similar diffuse textures is to just paint with the default Torque materials system of Blurry Diffuse (hue)+Desaturated Detail and then simply opening the resulting _basetex.dds and renaming that *whatever*diffuseMap to be used as the diffuse map I included was used. If that makes sense?
#18
I get what you mean, but you cannot just change the color of the diffuse map like you want, you have to take a little into account the different layers, for example you cannot just paint the grass blue or the rocks green for example, well you can, but that is not very realistic.
08/03/2013 (4:53 am)
But you can export the terrain heightmap in Torque and load it to another program and calculate it in there, then bring it back into Torque. If you get used to the workflow it is not that hard.I get what you mean, but you cannot just change the color of the diffuse map like you want, you have to take a little into account the different layers, for example you cannot just paint the grass blue or the rocks green for example, well you can, but that is not very realistic.
#19
08/03/2013 (4:58 am)
That's 100% correct. But this assumes you have a program available which can do this, and the knowledge of how to use it. I seriously recommend that anyone wanting to get as much out of their terrains in Torque to invest in such a program; be it World Machine, L3DT or GeoSomethingorother (GeoControl).
#20
08/03/2013 (5:03 am)
Or just pay Dan to do it...just sayin'... 
Torque Owner Daniel Buckmaster
T3D Steering Committee
(Read: I'll check it out when I get home!)
Sounds like an awesome idea. The basic terrain level is a bit lacklustre at the moment.