Cryengine 3 blending textures
I can't believe I forgot about polycount forums for so long. I am so frustrated with my CE3 texturing issue, remains unanswered on crydev and moddb, and i just happened to come by here and see some amazing CE3 mapping going on.
I'm following this doc to a t. I tried copying 2 default materials and simply replacing them with my files. I also tried using different levels of opacity and hardness, and everything else mentioned in the doc.
Basically, I use the CryTif exporter to create a TerrainDiffuse and a TerrainDiffuse_HighQuality. I use the low quality .dds for the layer texture, and the high quality .tif for the layer diffuse.
What am I doing wrong? Also, sometimes I have issues where from far away the texture looks like its scaling to one huge 256x256 image of that texture.
Thanks!
I'm following this doc to a t. I tried copying 2 default materials and simply replacing them with my files. I also tried using different levels of opacity and hardness, and everything else mentioned in the doc.
Basically, I use the CryTif exporter to create a TerrainDiffuse and a TerrainDiffuse_HighQuality. I use the low quality .dds for the layer texture, and the high quality .tif for the layer diffuse.
What am I doing wrong? Also, sometimes I have issues where from far away the texture looks like its scaling to one huge 256x256 image of that texture.
Thanks!
Replies
To get more resolution in the terrain, go to Layer Painter in the rollup bar, scroll down and click Tiles Resolution, click change and change all the clusters to 2048*2048; then go to File -> Generate Surface Texture, select 4096*4096, high quality and hit OK; now restart the editor.
And yes, when you get far away from it, for obvious reasons (performance and LODing) it stops rendering the detail texture (your difuse texture in the material) and swaps to your layer texture map, you can define one in the "terrain texture layers" window, these are typically very low res textures like (64*64).
Here is with the exact settings you specified:
I am so close to making a youtube video of the process I have gone over 5 times so someone can point out what I am doing wrong, but here is a summary:
I have a 512x512 tiling sand and grass jpg. I save both using CryTif TerrainDiffuseHighPass. I places these textures in Game/Textures/Custom, and they create sand.dds and grass.dds.
I create a new cryengine map 512x512, delete the terrain layer, and create a new two new ones, Grass and Sand. I apply the texture layer of grass.dds and sand.dds to each. I then create two new materials, sandmat and grassmat, apply sand.dds and grass.dds to each, ensure diffuse color is 255,255,255. I apply the materials to the texture layers.
I generate surface texture at 16348x16348 high quality, and change tiles resolution to 2048x2048...
and VOILA! Crappy textures :poly127:
Btw, check your PM box.
And I don't even know where to continue about my problem... Could it have something to do with the fact that I'm only using diffuse maps? No Specular, no Bumpmap, no Environment, etc? I usually set Diffuse color to 255 and specular to 0. I've actually had improved results adjusting the diffuse color to darker, but I think only because the default material included with the editor had a diffuse less than white. Could it be that the textures I'm using are just plain crappy to begin with?
Only the sand and grass are my custom materials.
-Did you export your close range diffuse map as Crytiff Terrain? (not terrain high passed unless you highpassed it yourself before saving it)
This compression mode should highpass your color texture to shades of grey at export and be ready for use. Plus you keep the full color texture when you re-open it later on for edits.
When HP said highpass my terrain, I thought that meant to select TerrainDiffuseHighPassed.but Now I see that is for high passed textures, otherwise I need to high pass manually. The SDKDOC briefly explains a few key CryTif exports, but is not specific enough for some noobs (wouldn't expect it to be, but for anyone making tutorials, consider this).
I finally noticed: every texture layer in Forest is using the same EMPTY grey bmp for the Layer Texture! I was using my 512x512 fully colored diffuse texture for that.
Changing my Layer Texture to a gray bmp, and changing my diffuse to a high passed (greyish) dds has MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD! I will update all my threads and make sure this info gets passed on as well as I can.
Hard to tell, but there is some SUPREMELY MAGNIFICENT texture blending going on here going on here. Now the fun starts! No more problems from here on out, right... right?
Glad we could help.
Tip: Remember a level doesn't only use terrain, it's a combination of various terrain layers, brushes like rocks or vegetation, decals, etc that bring it to life.
Haha, best advice ever dude :P
[ame]
Perhaps, but it is definitely good advice, especially for a beginner wanting fast results.
I am still a beginner, but I can already tell it will take quite some time, multiple layers, touch ups, and vegetation to actually achieve a realistic effect, where as before I assumed the work should be done for me :poly136:
Creating this tutorial was NO fun, but I could not stand to imagine someone else going through my frustration, so here is a short series in case anyone else has my problem:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1415867#post1415867
Part 2:
[ame]
That's one of the hardest and longest way around to make your terrain. Not really good neither because when you swap layers you loose your previous color and you can't pick it from terrain again I think. Definitely not the best way 'round.
Normally you shouldn't change your brush color, unless you want very specific color fixes at some places, the background layer texture should set the underlying color for you. Here's an example how it works on my current map terrain:
So I thought the background layer should be a low res (64x64) version of the diffuse texture. Yours does not look low res, and it doesn't even look like it came from the diffuse texture. Looks like you have some graininess on there as well, sharpening? Should this be a .bmp?
This technique already looks better than what I was doing, but unless the background texture is REALLY blurred, I see the low res image from far away, that looks cheesy. Your map doesn't look to have any of that going on.
The reason for doing this in photoshop and not applying custom textures to the terrain ala your tutorial is to get greater detail.
However, no matter what size pixel file i change the texture bmp to, it either is blurry or never shows the detail in game that i see in photoshop.
I presumed that was because in order to import my entire surface texture into SB I had to select a single texture to apply my bmp file to. So I select grass and this doesnt work for roads, sandy areas, bottom of rivers etc.
My question is how do I retain the precise image i see in Photoshop into my map? And is there a way to change textures after the skin has been applied ie. go back fill the texture manually for roads...
I know it must be possible because peeps import actual terrains from google earth etc. and there is a separate skin for the terrain that does show the detail and correct textures.
EDIT:
After changing the resolution of the tiles, I was able to get much more precise textures, however I am still stuck with allocating one material to the entire map. When I import the texture tiles into SB the ground color changes, but not until i give it a material ie. wet grass does the surface in the SB look more like my tiles I made in photoshop. So that texture obviously looks silly on an airport runway or a road.
Question is it possible once the initial material is assigned to the texture can the material be changed manually i guess by painting it?
In addition, I believe there is some relationship between the size the surface terrain texture file an the precision of the image once applied to the terrain height map. I used a 512 heightmap with an 8192 bit texture file and saw tremendous improvement in resolution of the texture on the map once applied.
I have tire tracks on the roads and due to using the wet grass material, those tire tracks become spread out over the ground and lose all definition - how do i keep that definition?
EDIT #2: THe following shows the texture tiles imported into the SBE:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Youll notice from this next screeny the detailed tire tracks on the airport:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Youll notice the map up close is very bright - and also note the detailed tire tracks.
KEY POINTS:
- Height map is 512 X 512
- Height map is divided into 64 tiles
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
- Each tile resolution in photoshop and each of the 64 tiles in SBE are 1024 X 1024 bits
- Putting the texture in as import provided the above image.
I save the map and it doesnt save the texture as i see it in the first map. When i reload the map it appears white as follows:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
If I generate surface maps, I lose the detail you see above and the image appears as follows:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
To the left side the dirt on the hill is blotchy and the airport lost definition on the airport. The following is one of the 64 tiles showing the level of detail the airport tire tracks should have:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I presume the texture needs to have a material value put to it.
Most peeps start a map with already made material textures or they custom import them. I have the texture tiles for this map i have made - but they have no assigned materials. But what good would this do for me given the image is already on the height map?
Its pretty anoying to get the crisp quality of the surface map in photoshop but when its generated as a surface map i lose all the detail and it becomes blocky.
Im hoping you guys may be able to assist me....thanks
stick to the doc out there and how it's supposed to be made, aka use a background texture AND a close range material for each type of surface and you'll be fine.
The height map is actually only 512 but the texture slides each being 1024 and 64 of them make up a texture file 8192 in size. Reducing that down isnt a problem.
I did not make this surface texture image - this is straight from photoshop. In order to use a close range material I would need to go back and retexture this image right? And therefore I would do this the conventional way by including the material with each surface.
Is there no other way around this? In effect your saying I cannot use this rendered image because i cannot assign materials to it, right?