Jdude is a big Noob

[jdude]

Hello,

I'm trying to make some tree textures so I thought I'd make a thread for helping me because I'm completely new when it comes to making textures which aren't just an image.

 

I'm trying to make 3 textures:

 

1) Simple tree texture to make far distant patches to simulate trees. I've made one picture so far here:

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/1548/treeu.jpg

 

2) I want to make a tree line texture to simulate a bunch of tree-tops. I still have to work on this I have to make it from scratch.

edit:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4739/trees2.jpg

 

3) I want to make a snowy looking pine tree skin, does anyone know where the skin for the pinetree is located?

 

 

So firstly with number 1: What should the background be? Right now the background I want to be transparent is white, so what would the material file look like?

[Baddcog]

Hello,

I'm trying to make some tree textures so I thought I'd make a thread for helping me because I'm completely new when it comes to making textures which aren't just an image.

 

I'm trying to make 3 textures:

 

1) Simple tree texture to make far distant patches to simulate trees. I've made one picture so far here:

http://img705.images.../1548/treeu.jpg

 

2) I want to make a tree line texture to simulate a bunch of tree-tops. I still have to work on this I have to make it from scratch.

edit:

http://img195.images...4739/trees2.jpg

 

3) I want to make a snowy looking pine tree skin, does anyone know where the skin for the pinetree is located?

 

 

So firstly with number 1: What should the background be? Right now the background I want to be transparent is white, so what would the material file look like?

 

The tree is under nature/ trees probably.

 

I'd make that white part the alpha (actually invert it so the trees are white - not alpha), then just make the diffuse all black, then you won't end up with white pixel edges.

[jdude]

Okay. Done. What do you mean make the diffuse all black?

 

What should the material file look like for this texture as well?

[Renzatic]

What do you mean make the diffuse all black?

 

Exactly what it sounds like. Your trees are just silhouettes, no color. You can drown the color channels in all black to keep from getting white bleeding in on the edges of the alpha. The inverted version of your texture above placed in the alpha channel with the rest being all black will achieve the exact look you're trying to go for without any nasty artifacts showing up.

 

Your material file should look something like this...

 

textures/blah/tree_drop
{
qer_editorimage	textures/blah/tree_drop.tga
noShadows
nonSolid
{
	blend diffuseMap
	map textures/blah/tree_drop.tga
	alphaTest 0.5
}
}

 

edit: though not necessary for distant objects, you can also add twoSided if you want the texture to appear on both sides of a polygon.

[jdude]

Using the material file you provided and the inverted tree with diffuse the texture shows up as solid black and white in game

[Renzatic]

Sounds like it doesn't have a proper alpha. Did you place the inverted texture in the alpha channel? Did you remember to save it as a 32-bit TGA?

 

Also, what editor are you using? Photoshop or GIMP?

[jdude]

Ohhh I didn't know I was to place the inverted texture in the alpha channel. I'm using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. I found this about alpha channels for it: ( http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PhotoshopElements/6.0_Mac/help.html?content=WSa285fff53dea4f865ba1171040d4ce2d4-7ff0.html ) However I'm still pretty confused.

 

I save the alpha channel as alpha_channel which is the inverted image.

Do I copy and paste the old image as a new layer or something since the alpha channel doesn't create a new layer?

Or maybe I just create the alpha channel of the inverted image and save it as 32 bit tga?

[Renzatic]

I've never used Elements before, but the way it's described on that help site doesn't sound like the normal process. If anything, it sounds like it's loading a second B&W image, and using it as a mask.

 

See if you have a channels tab buried somewhere in there. When you open it up, you'll see RGB, Red, Green, and Blue channels. What you want to do is make a new channel, which is always Alpha 1, and paste your black and white image into that (FYI white being totally opaque, black being completely transparent, and shades of grey being differing levels of transparency). Once you do that, hit the RGB channel and fill it in total black. Afterwards, click-select all the channels, and the end result will look something like this...

 

Alpha Texture. With the red being the see-thru bit, and the black being totally opaque. This is a good way to preview what your texture will look like ingame. Save the result as a 32-bit TGA, and do your thing from there to get it in TDM.

 

Now if worse comes to worst, you might have to get a trial version of PS or Gimp to do this. Elements, as far as I know, is aimed more at adjusting colors in photos, and doesn't normally deal with the deep level texturing stuff.

 

edit: here. The finished alpha texture. Test it out and see how it works.

[jdude]

Okay, I'm going to download a CS2 trial because I don't think PSE has the channel options.

[Renzatic]

I would recommend CS3 over CS2. There are a few very handy options in it you'll find yourself using quite a bit that are lacking in the previous revs.

 

And avoid CS4 like the damn plague.

[jdude]

Nice I got it to work Thank you so much Renzatic!

How do you add this two-sided note on the material?

[Renzatic]

see the noShadows and nonSolid modifiers? Just add twoSided right underneath them.

[jdude]

Thanks!