17 replies to this topic

[NeonsStyle]

Hey,

 

I'm looking for a texture with normals and material file for this circular cobblestone. Anyone have anything like it? It's 

a central part of the level and sort of a feature piece so I really need it. Nothing we have really works as a circle. 

 

I'm also looking for a delapidated alpha jetty/wharf as well which will go around this, and extend out into different areas. 

 

[LDAsh]

This came to mind, if 1024 is enough texels for you:-

https://www.textures...ance0045/127923

[teh_saccade]

No, but the spoilers contain how to make one.

Spoiler

I do know that DR's texturing can be a pain - this carpet looks too square, is too fiddly to align as it runs up the stairs - so I've got to make a mesh to make it look more natural and make aligning the run more simple:

 needspatchcarpet.gif   167.96KB   0 downloads

Because I don't want to use anything but the stock assets in the TDM FM, because I cba with the process, making and defining mtrs, having them all left lying around, never used again - plus the player isn't going to be spending much time looking at a wall, but they will be awed by lighting, particle effects, audio, scripted events, an immersive story, challenges and plush and well-constructed level-design, more than they will by fancy decals that they see once - or have seen before because they've been ripped from the internet and don't quite match what you're after.

(that's only my opinion, so... you know...)

Aka "Every tomb in Skyrim is the same" - they all look the same, but what makes them different is what's in them and the level of tension and immersion that's created, plus the odd surprise. For every Skyrim tomb, you just stick to the right wall and you can get through all of them without missing anything - same with new Fallout games interior locations... Why they limit some things with keys, skill-levels and harder enemies and traps in places a player who's bored of the same tomb every time, will just rush through without looking and end up being more cautious in case there's a mine under that or a tripwire or pressure plate in a section that's "safe".

If you want to know how to make one yourself - I've outlined the process of how to make something such as in your image (plus the other replies will demonstrate how to get the wharf, plus the value of going outside and taking photos, rather than relying on the internet) in the spoilers and other replies.

Spoiler

There's a garden in the town I'm currently sequestered that has a centrepiece mosaic like this.
But it's surrounded by gravel, not flagstones.

I could simply photo this and mess with it to make my own texture maps for a dds - if you don't have the software to do that, there's plenty available to buy or, if you drop me a message: I'll lend you my copy of Bitmap2Material to use.

It also looks like a decorative manhole, of which there are many examples.

- One good way to capture texture relief for things like manholes or carvings, is to get some washable ink and use a roller to coat the thing.
- Then use some paper to lift the texture from it, washing the ink away so you're not vandalising anything, like lifting fingerprints using dust and tape,
- This will give you some solid outlines that can be simply auto-traced into vector after scanning, or scanned and, using a threshold filter to remove all the white for transparency, saved as a .png (or .gif, jpg's don't have transparency).

This is the same process as isolating tyre/shoe treads/splatter-patterns from a photo for forensics.

- Then make a rubbing (put paper over it and go over it with pencil, like at primary school), so you capture some details or if you want a negative relief to overlay on your positive relief, using a layer-style such as exclusion or screen (if you invert the colours at around 30% opacity and 30-50% fill).

It looks like something from Cthulhu: https://www.ebay.com...r-/292473425139
Or from Ancient Greece: https://ferrebeekeep...greek-ceramics/
Or find a free-to-use octopus-like mosaic from the internet: https://png2.kisspng...28655949891.png

What I would do is either buy that patch (or nick the image - or draw it) or trawl ceramic squids and octopus mosaics, photograph/scan it a few angles / run the image(s) through Photoshop / GIMP - probably the old "sponge/mosaic" art filter to make the "pebble" and another layer with "find edges" overlayed to distinguish them

Perhaps I'd use Adobe Illustrator / Inkscape to draw extra stones because it's easier than drawing paths in PS, as it's a pretty simple bunch of shapes, and then chuck that into PS (vector paths only) to give each shape a different part of a stone texture (if I didn't have one already, or didn't want to go outside to photo some, I'd get some from a place such as https://www.textures.com/ and use them, overlaying this layer on the central motif and creating my basic image.

Then, I'd put it through Bitmap2Material, that will allow me to tweak and create all the different maps I need in order to output a 512x512 dds for use on a primative mesh, flat plane.

If it wasn't quite right - I'd use the B2M outputs to tweak the texture in PS/GIMP again, before giving it another shot.

This way - even if I can't draw - my theft is disguised because no-one will recognise the original image (unless I drew it myself with some pens, perhaps using my monitor as a lightbox so I can trace it, and scanned it).


Einstein said, "genius is nothing more than hiding your inspiriation", or something.


Would probably take an hour or so on the machine to get it how you like. Maybe an outing to find the source material to use, if you don't already have it stashed away some place.

I use black and white 35mm film, with a digital colour secondary, for my textures, because I can develop the negatives and scan them at a very high dpi, it adds a unique touch to everything and I can colour it how I like - but a camera phone does the job equally as well by itself.


Every photograph has some value to it, whether it be for textures or for reference for any level design/puzzle ideas - or for futhering another piece of work. This is why I have a few TB of images that I've organised and have forgotten about, so everything's in folders according to what's in the image. Might have a bunch of duplicates, but I know that I have at least something suitable that no-one else has ever seen before and I don't have to pay for or ask someone to get for me.

I'm sure you could do this, as you've managed to follow a tutorial to do the synthwave 80s' chroming thing on your picture - I've made them a lot for FCR and some indie bands, but rather than use the computer to make the chrome, I've developed a method using a thick stencil, a warm water bath and some Gallium metal to form the words, so that no-one will recognise the typeface (because I made it) and it's outstanding from the rest because it's not the same tutorial piled on top of all the other free fonts with levels/gradient overlays and highlights, that we learned to draw in workshop class at the age of 14.

Since it's unlikely that someone's going to say, "yes, here's a texture for you" - there's a method to make one, plus I'll post a few pictures to demonstrate how taking photographs of anything interesting is very useful and making day-trips to gather reference images and textures is not only fun but an important part of the job.

 

Edited by teh_saccade, 30 November 2018 - 12:43 AM.

[teh_saccade]

This photo contains shapes I can use for the flagstone surrounds, that I can lift and texture as part of my main input:

Spoiler

 flagshapes.jpg   234.13KB   0 downloads

Using threshold in PS to grab the shapes (10 seconds) - I can auto-trace the paths (20 seconds) and then simply copy-rotate it around my main motif in AI (2 seconds) before subtly altering each shape so that the surround appears less recursive (2 minutes).

Edited by teh_saccade, 30 November 2018 - 12:42 AM.

[teh_saccade]

Those dumb selfies that girls want to take can also contain useful stuff that might be cut-n-paste into a blended pattern.

Spoiler

 cutnpaste.jpg   181.7KB   0 downloads

Texturing software will make it tesselate / tile and it can then used as a repeating texture.

Everyone's got a bunch of dumb selfies that some girl took at one point.

Edited by teh_saccade, 30 November 2018 - 12:43 AM.

[teh_saccade]

If a texture is going to be applied to a warped mesh or some primative that isn't flat - it can have the dodgy bits covered up by other textures or objects, which is a handy trick for if looks a bit naff.

Spoiler

 deerohdeer1.jpg   408.25KB   0 downloads

To break the recursion, different trees and grass textures have been used. The borders of the rocks have been overlayed with a simple grass-transition texture, to hide the fact that it looks crap at the edges and no-one wants to make a special rock texture for every type of rock to transition to every type of grass.

[teh_saccade]

Being obsessive about taking photos wherever you find something interesting is a good habit - count the textures, possible to be cut and skewed, and modelling ideas in this photo (but also the textures and features have been photographed flat):

Spoiler

 aphotoofaplace.jpg   128.61KB   0 downloads

For example, the texture of the wall:

Spoiler

 wall_pebbledashed_005.jpg   213.13KB   0 downloads

or some chopped-up wood, for a wood pile in a shed or something:

Spoiler

 somewood.jpg   115.69KB   0 downloads

That one might be more difficult to tile, and would require additional textures for the sides and top - which means making a mesh and having to mess around aligning it - which is gonna be a pain to do.

So a woodpile like this would more likely be made up of the main texture on a plane, surrounded by individual cylinders, that have a front and back face, plus a wrap for the sides.

Doing this means that the object appears to be a big stack of wood, but it isn't a bunch of individual pieces - it's probably only a few dozen instead of hundreds of objects and different textures.

[teh_saccade]

Say you need a particular texture, as you are looking for.

Getting away from the desk can mean a nice day out and ice-cream for everyone while exploring some ruins, old building and chatting up the intern.

These kind of photos will be useful for your wharf, because you not only snag the textures from the area, but also have a reference from which to construct the area:

Spoiler

 img250.jpg   188.67KB   0 downloads

This is a decent ruin to base some geometry or a prefab, plus the textures are going to be spot on (if the light is good)

 img255.jpg   136.81KB   0 downloads

This might be blurry - think it was teaching someone how to use the camera - but the brickwork, sides, windows, doorways, internal walls, ground, grasses, roof tiles, etc... are all captured to reconstruct the building.

 img336.jpg   143.87KB   0 downloads

This one isn't flat, because sometimes it's good to take a few different angles of something, so it can be repurposed - this could be a lot of things, cutting parts of the photo to patch over shapes.

That one was photo number 336 from the day trip - that's a decent library.

[teh_saccade]

Pretty much everyone carries a camera phone, so there's no reason to not take interesting pictures for level design ideas.

Spoiler

In addition to the main scene - all relevant textures and features are captured, same as before, which might end up being a few hundred photos. But you'll then be able to reference some nice stuff and the job's half done before you start.

 geometry.jpg   472.05KB   0 downloads

Not only does a scene like this satisfy a whole bunch of design rules, such as the golden ratio - what's around that corner? There's a light, so it's a bit tense. There's a whole bunch of houses and stuff around.

 

There's also a slight optical illusion at this angle, based upon constructivist design theory, that means - even though it's just a boring row of houses going up a slight hill (there aren't many inclines in TDM missions, but going up a hill is a great way to suggest to a player that they are progressing forwards in the game, same as using water to indicate a divide or let a player know they have just escaped or are entering a dangerous area, based upon the music, lighting, etc... on entry/exit/if they lose breath, etc... and forcing a save or a checkpoint without needing to explicity imply that this is necessary).

[teh_saccade]

If you can't find the exact thing you are looking for - there might be an alternative.

Spoiler

While the centrepiece motif is an octopus - you might never draw, find a carving or download an image that's right - so it pays to be flexible and think outside the box for similar replacements.

Rather than use an octopus / chtulhu motif - I might find what I'm looking for on the back of a playing card, or beermat, or tattoo shop, wherever, and make something from parts of this, giving it stone textures and then building the texture using the techniques as described.

 aplayingcard.jpg   52.15KB   0 downloads

There's a whole bunch of patterns right there that I can use for a variety of things.

[teh_saccade]

The techniques are not only limited to texturing

Spoiler

It's possible to make some concept art or a splash screen or something from your stock, or patch together your own reference images for further design ideas / textures / personal insight, eg, how a player might feel as they step through the window from the graveyard, into the ruins.

 prelim004.jpg   293.74KB   0 downloads

even though that's a bit "oil filtery" and the shadow's a bit crap - it would do as a .tga in a briefing, maybe, to illustrate and suggest a mood to the player before they've even entered the game.

It's a Bullshot, but it's based upon what the player will actually see and experience in the game.

I don't think the armour suits a thief (but that's a rogue/assassin PC and not a thief), but that doesn't matter 'cos it's not my decision or responsibility.

----

So - by doing all this stuff - you've learned how to do a bunch of other things, seeking your own answers rather than asking questions.

 Peter.png   138.04KB   0 downloads

[teh_saccade]

There's a bunch of stuff and that's about that.

Spoiler

You ought to be armed with everything in order to make your own textures and build a wharf that no-one has ever seen before in TDM, because you've put in some effort and spent some time putting in the legwork and learning to do it yourself.

Secret's out.

 batman.jpg   89.69KB   0 downloads

and if you don't bother reading it - cos tl;dr, then you just missed out on a brief masterclass in how to get a job in a studio's art deparment, be a crimescene photographer and analyist (anal...), plus a bunch of other things, and also do better than copy other people's ideas from other games, by stealing from places they've never been in real life than a game which everyone knows.

Either way:

 kid.jpg   159.72KB   0 downloads

That's my good deed for the day and I'm going home to play Shogun 2.

[teh_saccade]

ps, idk if that's supposed to be water in the cracks of that image or not, but it looks naff cos it's way bright and looks like artefacting.

[teh_saccade]

This came to mind, if 1024 is enough texels for you:-

https://www.textures...ance0045/127923

They want me to pay for this, but then let me preview it and download it by right-clicking, save image?

 

Even the hi-res versions are over-sharped.

 oversharp.jpg   358KB   1 downloads

Edited by teh_saccade, 29 November 2018 - 05:04 PM.

[Springheel]

That looks like some helpful info, but can you edit your posts rather than add a new one every time?  Twelve posts in a row is a bit much.

[stumpy]

the thing in the image looks like some sort of octopus, due to its legs looking like tentacles, and not straight legs of a spider or crab.

[LDAsh]

They want me to pay for this, but then let me preview it and download it by right-clicking, save image?

 

Even the hi-res versions are over-sharped.

oversharp.jpg

 

Up to 1024 resolution version is free to download if you login and you will have 15 free credits each day.

[teh_saccade]

That looks like some helpful info, but can you edit your posts rather than add a new one every time?  Twelve posts in a row is a bit much.

  
Image upload limitations of 500kb per post - couldn't find a way around it without making them all too small to see...

sorry about that.

// (also it's using outdated flash plugin and enabling it each time means the post is blanked in FF my end).

----

// (It's impossible to edit the posts into one with all the pictures, due to aforementioned 500kb limit.)

In retrospect - It would've been better to make a page on a public blog and put it all there with a link.
I'll do that if ever there's a long answer that no-one will read, next time, rather than steamroll.

It's a bad habit of mine to try and make every conversation as interesting as possible for myself, when there's no-one listening or to interject or ask questions like at the uni or on a job. Thin line between passionate and painful, I guess...

 

Please feel free to remove the posts (and my old mapping thread in editor's guild) if you would like.
 

Edited by teh_saccade, 30 November 2018 - 12:46 AM.