Texture Woes

[o_jinx]

I'm at the point where I want to do a bit of basic texturing, but I'm running into the same problem I had with HL1 - most of the default textures are really really ugly, grubby industrial stuff that I don't really like much. I can't even find much in the CS:S wads that I'm that crazy about.

There are some nice basic wads for FF I see here, but does anyone know a site with some decent custom vtf sets? It seems the bad thing about games that use higher-quality textures is that it's a lot harder to find them. Sadly there's nothing like Wadfather for HL2 yet that I've seen

[Jiggles]

A digital camera will get you texture maps of any size you need

Ok, I know that wasn't helpful :P

[o_jinx]

Think I'm going to start off with that texture pack from HourPitores. It's actually pretty close to what I was looking for, even though it will probably be overused in FF maps.

[o_jinx]

I'm still not totally sold, but it's definately a step in the right direction:

UGLY PIX0RZ REMOVED

[edit] on second thought, it may, in fact, look godawful

[o_ivaqual]

pretty much. you can always try to reduce the scaling of the upper level's wall texture (brick + red fringe) but i doubt it'll revolutionise how the map looks.

[o_jinx]

part of the problem is that the textures, while large and good quality, are "big" in terms of the size of the bricks etc... so to make them look to scale, you would almost have to scale them down lower than .25, which doesn't seem like a good idea...?

ah well, I'll keep working on it. now that I know how to use custom textures, I can start dumping CS:S stuff into Hammer to try out, too.

[o_ivaqual]

scaling less/more than 0.25, i do that all the time when experimenting with textures and never noticed any issue. never heard of anyone having problems doing that either. of course you can run into the problem of making the texture pattern too obvious but that's your problem really, afaik there's nothing preventing you from doing that.

[o_fisheye]

during the map compile, solid bruses get split along the line where a texture repeats. so by having a texture repeating more often by reducing its scale, your map would end up drawing more polys.

more of a technical reason not to scale textures too small, rather than the asthetic one of the repeat being too obvious.

[o_yohan1973]

are you going to make shaders/bumbmaps for those imported textures?

[Defrag]

Originally Posted by fisheye

during the map compile, solid bruses get split along the line where a texture repeats. so by having a texture repeating more often by reducing its scale, your map would end up drawing more polys.

more of a technical reason not to scale textures too small, rather than the asthetic one of the repeat being too obvious.

That was more of an issue in HL1 when you want to keep the patches down and the wpolies down. You really ought to use textures at .25 scale as much as possible with the HL2 textures -- that's the reason they look a lot better than older game textures, most of the textures are 512x512 or 1024x1024, so if you increase the scale, you're basically blurring them back to old style textures.

[o_fisheye]

aye, most hl2 textures have been made for use at .25 scale. but as world polys are still amongst the most expensive to render, i still wouldn't want to be splitting a face more that could be helped.

[o_jinx]

Think it's getting better. I broke up the brushwork some, to allow all textures to remain at .25 scale. In doing so, I made separate brush layers for trim etc. The regular textures are stock HL2 stuff, the trim is from HourPitores texture pack. I think the main thing is to get myself making the brushwork with texturing in mind. Even if I don't stick with the same ones, at the brushes will be in sizes condusive to easy texturing.

[o_yohan1973]

Jinx, I think you found your bottle of mojo finally! It's looking great!

Originally Posted by Jinx

I made separate brush layers for trim etc. The regular textures are stock HL2 stuff, the trim is from HourPitores texture pack.

What exactly do you mean by "separate brush layers"? Are the two different textures on the same brush somehow or do you just have two brushes, one on top of the other, with different textures on it. The way that I've been doing it is that if for example I have a wall that visually needs 3 textures. In Hammer I'll build it from 3 brushes each with their respective texture. I guess that now that overlays are available how dificult would it be to use team trim as an overlay????



P.S. oh yeah, on your second floor level you should use your team color texture as a trim band aound the floor area around your circular opening. That way, your square tile flooring dosen't look wierd terminating there.

[o_jinx]

Originally Posted by yohan1973

Are the two different textures on the same brush somehow or do you just have two brushes, one on top of the other, with different textures on it.

P.S. oh yeah, on your second floor level you should use your team color texture as a trim band aound the floor area around your circular opening. That way, your square tile flooring dosen't look wierd terminating there.

Multiple brushes, on top of each other. Kind like a layered cake lol. I also made sure the layers were logical increments, in this case 128 and 32 for wall textures and trim:



I am agonizing over the doing trim on the floor. I think I'll do it eventually, but right now it's more vertex manipulation than my little mind wants to deal with

[Mulchman MM]

Yeah, the whole "separate texture layer" is why you texture as you go and not use dev textures or textures as "place holders". You'll never finish a map that way (dev textures/placeholders) or make one that looks any good.

[o_yohan1973]

Originally Posted by Mulchman MM

Yeah, the whole "separate texture layer" is why you texture as you go and not use dev textures or textures as "place holders". You'll never finish a map that way (dev textures/placeholders) or make one that looks any good.

GOD I hate to say this....but you are RIGHT!!!!!!!!
I'm dealing with that VERY issue with 2 maps right now!!!!
But we gotta' do what we gotta' do since we have no FF textures yet other than the non MOD team ones (which by the way I'm hesitant to use)

I use the "layerd cake" method too. That's an excellent term to describe the style.

[o_jinx]

Originally Posted by yohan1973

P.S. oh yeah, on your second floor level you should use your team color texture as a trim band aound the floor area around your circular opening. That way, your square tile flooring dosen't look wierd terminating there.

I added trim to the top and the bottom. It's actually just a 1 unit thick brush (I cheated hehe). Look a bit better?



now I gotta start reworking the outside:
http://cryotank.net/remote/lj_ramparts01.jpg

arg?

[o_yohan1973]

Originally Posted by Jinx

Look a bit better?

Sure does bro...just need to align those textures to one-another. Well, I better get my own stuff together now...I should post more screenies soon too so I can get some constructive comments comming my way...

[o_nezumi]

It's looking mighty fine, Jinx.

I might suggest that you make the border like 4 units high instead of 1? That way it'll look intentional instead of a bit wierd. It's the same number of polies either way, obviously.

Unless of course you plan to make it flush with the floor eventually anyway.

I like the stairs in the middle there, by the way.

[o_jinx]

not a bad idea Nezumi, I'll try that.