Tiling part of texture creation

[Baddcog]

Why wouldn't it be just as easy to see them in the editor?

 

You copy/paste a similar material, rename it, paste your names in. make a test map in editor (cube/hollow/apply texture and light, add spawn) go in game... Would take 20 minutes to make a test map you can reuse over and over. And it's ready to go, you learn how to do it.

 

no offence Nosslak but have you even put one model in the game yet? After all this time? And it's so easy to do, once you do it once you are set.

 

I see no reason to lead other people into the same path of testing in a different enviro than where it will be used, then finding someone else to put it in game.

[Nosslak]

Why wouldn't it be just as easy to see them in the editor?

 

You copy/paste a similar material, rename it, paste your names in. make a test map in editor (cube/hollow/apply texture and light, add spawn) go in game... Would take 20 minutes to make a test map you can reuse over and over. And it's ready to go, you learn how to do it.

 

no offence Nosslak but have you even put one model in the game yet? After all this time? And it's so easy to do, once you do it once you are set.

 

I see no reason to lead other people into the same path of testing in a different enviro than where it will be used, then finding someone else to put it in game.

I don't do any initial testing in-game as it is much quicker to just run a script for Photoshop that saves my textures and then have Marmoset (Blender is pretty good as a model-viewer too) auto-reload them so that I can easily see if my change was for the better or for the worse. I don't know what kind of computer you have but for me it'd take a couple minutes to save all textures in the right locations, then launching TDM and starting the right mission. The first approach is almost instantaneous (maybe 5 seconds wait) while the other would take at least a minute every single time you want to see how it looks. I'm not sure how you like to work with your textures, but I for one like to see them in action all the time under the building process to verify that they still look as good as I want.

 

Also, yeah, I have put a model in the game. I think I were the one who put both the privacy screen and the spyglass (I weren't the one who made it moveable though). I realize it's not a lot but I have done it.

 

I've attached the test-scene below (you'll need to change the extension from .txt to .rar), use it if you want to. All you need to do is select the textures for the right slot, tick the check-boxes for every texture you want and hit F12 to render (escape to go back).

Test-scene.txt

[Springheel]

A texture is never going to look the same in a modeling program as it will in game. It's better to test in the environment that the texture is actually going to be used in.

 

You can easily test changes in real-time by using the reloadimages console command.

[STiFU]

Sweet. I didn't know about that command... You never stop learning!

[Renzatic Temp]

I wrote a big series of tutorials[/url] for the TTLG editor folks a few months back. It runs the gamut from basic photoshop tips, to using alpha masks to make a tileable texture, to sharping them up and bringing out the colors, to making a whole brick wall from scratch. It even has a bit about making a normalmap out of it at the end. Basically I go from this...

 

 

to this...

 

 

to this...

 

 

I should clean it up and add it to the wiki sometime.

 

edit: urls ain't posting right around here. Click this: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136864&page=1

Edited March 16, 2012 by Renzatic Temp

[Nosslak]

You can easily test changes in real-time by using the reloadimages console command.

I wasn't aware of that. Oh well, I can't tab out of TDM anyway so it doesn't matter much to me.

[Springheel]

Sweet. I didn't know about that command... You never stop learning!

 

There's also a reloaddecls command which will reload modified material files (though that's not always dependable).

[Baddcog]

I wasn't aware of that. Oh well, I can't tab out of TDM anyway so it doesn't matter much to me.

windowed

[simplen00b]

Hi guys – RL's been pushing in recently but I've managed to do a bit of work on this and (good news) I finally got one of my textures showing in DR. I applied it to a wall, where it seemed to show up fine, but (bad news) when I hit F3 I got a 'Shader not found' message showing. Also (more bad news) when I try to dmap the map in TDM, I get a bundle of error messages. Nooby q - is there a way of copying and pasting console messages so I can look at them outside of TDM and see where I'm going wrong?

[RPGista]

Sorry simple, just realised Renzatic's tutorial and wanted to congratulate on the awesome job he did, I'll be sure to take a closer look once this contest is finished, and I'm particularly pleased about him taking the time to also writte about Modo, awesome tutorials for sure.

[simplen00b]

Those tutorials look amazing - I've gottem bookmarked for when I've got time to go through them.

[Serpentine]

Oh, if you're doing texture work - there are some situations regarding cached images which can become stuck if using reloadimages/decls. I've often found reloadsurface to be better for refreshing both the material and texture. r_showSurfaceInfo is also handy for finding material names or to aim the reload (tho it does get annoying with the lightgem material/player in the way, I will fix that in the future).

 

Just some info.

[STiFU]

is there a way of copying and pasting console messages so I can look at them outside of TDM and see where I'm going wrong?

The command condump will issue the whole console output to a file of your choice. Use it like this for example:

condump myOutputFile.txt

 

The file should then be located in your darkmod directory or in the directory of the FM, that you have currently instsalled. Post the console dump and your material definition and we'll see what's what.

[simplen00b]

Many thanks, STiFU - just done that, but I'll have a look at it myself first to try and eliminate any 100%totalnoob errors first. Then I'll post it so all the rest of my actuallythatisstill100%totalnoob mistakes can get fixed .

 

[irony] Easy-peasy this 3D-modelling lark innit? [/irony]

[simplen00b]

Ok - quick share to say that I've finally GOT ONE OF MY TEXTURES SHOWING IN TDM!!!!!!

Here is my Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: -

Eidos!! I'm waiting for your call!!!

 

etc etc

 

 

*collapses from hugging himself too hard

[STiFU]

Congrats!

 

The material looks well, although you can perceive some structures that don't tile well. (Scratches etc.)

[SiyahParsomen]

it looks absolutely perfect to me

[simplen00b]

Thanks guys. I'm mostly pleased with the fact that at least I now know where to put (basic) stuff so it works; the fact that the texture looks not bad is a bonus (can't see many missions needing walls lined with beaten scratched gold but you never know).

 

I'm sure I'll get over it - I'm guessing this is just the first step of what may be a very long journey - but at the moment my brain's still doing this .

[STiFU]

I want to see your brain's dance, once you have imported a texture from a photograph you took yourself into TDM with crazy good normalmaps and so on... My gf's stone-tiles are in the mod, too...

[simplen00b]

There's something so cool about clicking 'PRESS ATTACK TO START MISSION' and seeing stuff you've done yourself. (Even when it's just a bare room from page 1 of Fidcal's beginner's A - Z.)

 

Normalmaps, here I come! Bend before my mighty will!! Yield!!

 

*goes and clicks nvidia photoshop plug-in settings like a half-trained baboon

 

[PPoe]

Tell me about that feeling.. More than a half time of editing is just flying around in 3D wiew in Dark radiant and walking around in Dark mod..

[RPGista]

Nice work! Yeah, seeing something you just created is a nice feeling... Its also nice seeing something novel for the mod (I quite like the texture!), Im sure your going to come up with some more cool materials in no time. And please, more grungy materials for sure, ease the pain of your fellow modder, noone wants to be putting decals over every single surface, specially in complicated buildings hehe.

Edited March 23, 2012 by RPGista

[Springheel]

There's something so cool about clicking 'PRESS ATTACK TO START MISSION' and seeing stuff you've done yourself. (Even when it's just a bare room from page 1 of Fidcal's beginner's A - Z.)

 

Yes, I remember the same thing when making my first room with Fidcal's guide. Trust me, once you start feeling that way, it's just a matter of time before you want to create an entire mission.

[simplen00b]

(I quite like the texture!)

Me too - just not sure what to use it for yet...

And please, more grungy materials for sure,

I just need a day in a derelict building with a camera and tripod.

noone wants to be putting decals over every single surface, specially in complicated buildings

I have a sneaking suspicion that in the not-too-distant future I'll actually know what that means

Trust me, once you start feeling that way, it's just a matter of time before you want to create an entire mission.

Well, I started off offering help with tiling and in less than two weeks I'm learning about normalmaps so who knows? (Really wouldn't hold your breath though. )

[RPGista]

I have a sneaking suspicion that in the not-too-distant future I'll actually know what that means

 

Decals are semi-transparent textures you apply to surfaces on layers, generally to add dirt or stains to it. Its an artificial way of making it unique (you add a grime decal to a wall that is in contact with a mud floor, for example). They are cool, but become really tiring to make after a while, plus they are basicly semitransparent planes almost "glued" to your brushes (walls), so they can be really annoying to manage or tile sometimes.