Texture by terrain slope and elevation.

[SuicidalManiac]

I made an Island in OFP, and there was a wonderful utility in Visitor for autotexturing the terrain based on the elevation and the "SLOPE" of the terrain.

So I would never have sand on a piece of terrain that was very steep, etc.

I see they were kinda left in for legacy purposes in V3, though the terrain is now textured based on the layers and mask files.

When I click on surfaces to try the old tools it is blank and I do not see a way to add textures this way.

Is there anyway to use the old system or any way to dictate terrain texture based on elevation and slope in the layers.cfg?

This new system almost seems a step backwards if you have to manually color every bit of terrain for texturing, I was able to texture a whole island with a click of a button the old way after setting a few params, and my low sloped regions close to sea level were sand, and the high slope regions close to sea level were eroded rock, etc.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.


Archangel

[ceeeb]

If Visitor isn't able to do this, you should be able to achieve the same result directly from the height map. Wilbur can create a slope map from a height map, which could be used in photoshop or similar to create layer masks. It's not going to be single click, but it shouldn't take too long.

[SuicidalManiac]

I guess I will have to check out Wilbur.

I am actually using SimCity4 to build my terrain and exporting it to SC4Terraformer for tweeking before saving the heightmap. (Plus you get the cool music and sound effects while doing it in SimCity, and laying roads and placing buildings, automatically smooths the terrain in those areas.)

The tool is easy to use, hope wilbur is as cool.

If it saves a decent slopemap I could open it in conjunction with the heightmap in photoshop and remove the steep areas from my beach layer easily with color range selection sets.

I will update this thread with the results if they are good, for others who are looking for more automated ways of getting these things textured.


I'm working on a Graphic Novel and this project will double as background for scenery. Assuming I can get my Poser character models to import into the environment.


Thanks Again

Archangel

[SuicidalManiac]

I got wilbur and played with it. Love the erosion tools.

Anyway, I see where you can display the map in terms of slope, but when I save it just saves the normal heightmap, the exports have 3 options but I don't see anything for a png or other format, they are formats I am unfamiliar with and don't see how I could import them into photoshop.

So how would I export the slopemap, I captured the screen, hope that is not the only way.

Archangel

[ceeeb]

Wilbur's save as dialog can save the terrain as it is rendered, look for "PNG texture" (saves the terrain as it is currently being rendered) rather than "PNG surface" (saves height map).

[SuicidalManiac]

A thousand Thanks, overlooked that little pulldown in my hast.


Archangel

[ZeroG]

Another good tool here to be mentioned is L3DT...just awesome!

[[APS]Gnat]

Another good tool here to be mentioned is L3DT...just awesome!

Yes, Best people check our L3DT
Can be a little hard to work out at first, but it does all the "slope textures" for you.
It also generates the Sat Masks for you ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
If there is 1 tool that that gets you a LONG way quickly towards a releasable terrain, its L3DT.
....... unfortunately I haven't worked out how to get it or any other tool to do the boring bit of laying buildings etc

To see an example: Download out my "Sands" terrain. It was 95% made using L3DT

[SuicidalManiac]

You guys ROCK!! You save me Eons!

L3DT ROCKS!!! For those not using it, kick yourself in the head.

Wish I was not laid off and I would purchase it so I can generate high res maps!



Archangel