what program is the best to make bmp textures with ???.
and is there any tuts on making good hieght mps also ??
what program ??
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[K.B.] Napalm Cobra
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SwiftSpear
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thank you for wanting to hlep me hehe.
ok my main questions are this.
i see a map like.
suken out post.
and i wonder how in the hell did he make a hieght map for it like that. such a perfect hieght map. how do you do that.
and the texture did he use terregen ??
2. i use photoshop cs2 and im a graphics designer its a hobby so im very good in it.
i have terregen but need some good up todate tuts on it =/
dose it make good looking maps and hieght maps ??.
whats this tiles thing where can i read to use it effectly
thnx guys =D.
ok my main questions are this.
i see a map like.
suken out post.
and i wonder how in the hell did he make a hieght map for it like that. such a perfect hieght map. how do you do that.
and the texture did he use terregen ??
2. i use photoshop cs2 and im a graphics designer its a hobby so im very good in it.
i have terregen but need some good up todate tuts on it =/
dose it make good looking maps and hieght maps ??.
whats this tiles thing where can i read to use it effectly
thnx guys =D.
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[K.B.] Napalm Cobra
- Posts: 1222
- Joined: 16 Aug 2004, 06:15
Tiles are basically repeating images. They are exactly the same. The map compiler, by comparing peices to the texture to each other, sees which little square tiles in your texture are exactly alike. If they are the same, instead of wasting precious harddrive and bandwidth space, the compiler sets a reference from on tile to the next. If your map is made out of only one small tile, repeating for the whole texture, the map will compress extreemly well. Down to only a few kilobytes. But this would look very boring. So most map makers use a variety of tiles to make their map more interesting. A good map maker will find a balance between looks and size.
To make a tile:
Open up your image editing program.
Create a new image.
As the Spring engine uses a 32 pixel tile engine, you have to set your image size to 32 pixels, or a multiple of 32 pixels. Therefore, tile sizes should be one of the following:
32x32 pixels,
64x64 pixels,
96x96 pixels,
128x128 pixels
etc.
Tiles also do not have to be square, it is perfectly possible to make rectangular tiles. Tiles should also be seamless, so that when repeated do not seem to have an obvious edge.
Once you have created your tile, do a Fill operation with a texture. The texture of course is our tile that we have made in the previous step. If you do not know how to do this, ask around. Make sure to state which image editing software you use, so we can help you easier.
Now, once you have your basic tile down, add in different features on your map, such as mountains, rivers, seas, deserts, grasslands, or whatever your map has. Remeber, for smaler file sizes make these different features out of tiles as well. If you do all of this properly, you can get your file size down very small, and this will keep everyone happy.
Someone add this to the wiki in a good spot, if you think its good enough. I dont know where it should go.
Hope this helps wired.
To make a tile:
Open up your image editing program.
Create a new image.
As the Spring engine uses a 32 pixel tile engine, you have to set your image size to 32 pixels, or a multiple of 32 pixels. Therefore, tile sizes should be one of the following:
32x32 pixels,
64x64 pixels,
96x96 pixels,
128x128 pixels
etc.
Tiles also do not have to be square, it is perfectly possible to make rectangular tiles. Tiles should also be seamless, so that when repeated do not seem to have an obvious edge.
Once you have created your tile, do a Fill operation with a texture. The texture of course is our tile that we have made in the previous step. If you do not know how to do this, ask around. Make sure to state which image editing software you use, so we can help you easier.
Now, once you have your basic tile down, add in different features on your map, such as mountains, rivers, seas, deserts, grasslands, or whatever your map has. Remeber, for smaler file sizes make these different features out of tiles as well. If you do all of this properly, you can get your file size down very small, and this will keep everyone happy.
Someone add this to the wiki in a good spot, if you think its good enough. I dont know where it should go.
Hope this helps wired.
yes very much thank you.
this is what i did from my other map lol, it was a ota map and i converted it.
I exported it from ann as a bmp and the hieght map. blah blah blah.
and it looked shitty cause of the blue water tiles.
so your telling me i could of just exported the hieght map. used the 512x512 city tile and made my map with out the blue ?? water tiles X_X.
also if i have more then 1 tiels how do i know were they are gunna be placed ??
this is what i did from my other map lol, it was a ota map and i converted it.
I exported it from ann as a bmp and the hieght map. blah blah blah.
and it looked shitty cause of the blue water tiles.
so your telling me i could of just exported the hieght map. used the 512x512 city tile and made my map with out the blue ?? water tiles X_X.
also if i have more then 1 tiels how do i know were they are gunna be placed ??
Last edited by wired on 13 Oct 2005, 09:39, edited 1 time in total.
You getting a biut confused with teh whole tiles thing.
Your map texture is ONE big picture, that can look liek whatever you want.
The actully map compiler generates hundreds of different tiles to fit you map.
However you can help it out by useing repeting tile patterns in you map texture, that are of the 512x512, 256 x 256 etc... type. the game will then obviosly pick them out as a possible tile and use them.
Take a look at core pyramid... the metal texture in the middle is a repeting texture, and i just made a cool transition onto the grass of the rest of the map. the game uses the metal texture as a tile, but also generates a load of tiles for teh fadding into grass texture... You dont have to set up the tiles your self.
The tut I made is very out of date, bucause recently I've been way top busy. I may re-write the whole thing, as time is freeing up now...
Any quires just dump them in here I'm bound to get back.
aGorm
Your map texture is ONE big picture, that can look liek whatever you want.
The actully map compiler generates hundreds of different tiles to fit you map.
However you can help it out by useing repeting tile patterns in you map texture, that are of the 512x512, 256 x 256 etc... type. the game will then obviosly pick them out as a possible tile and use them.
Take a look at core pyramid... the metal texture in the middle is a repeting texture, and i just made a cool transition onto the grass of the rest of the map. the game uses the metal texture as a tile, but also generates a load of tiles for teh fadding into grass texture... You dont have to set up the tiles your self.
The tut I made is very out of date, bucause recently I've been way top busy. I may re-write the whole thing, as time is freeing up now...
Any quires just dump them in here I'm bound to get back.
aGorm
OK revision of my last post to clear up some confusion. The tiles are placed into the Texture.bmp . You make the texture as normal, but just use the repeating 32*32 or whatever tile for the majority of your map. So:
Say you have a maily grass map. You make a tile that is 128*128 pixels big for the grass. You open up your image editor, make a huge picture for the texture map, and then place the basic grass tile all over the whole texture. So now you have a huge picture that is entirley composed of one small repeating tile. This is still in the image editor. Then, if you want to add in a river, mountain or other feature, you just draw that in over your repeating texture. Still in the image editor. Then, when you are happy with your texture, you save it as a BMP and run the compiler on it. The compiler looks through and works out what to make into a new tile, and where/how to tile the texture.
Basic steps written over again:
1) Make a repeating texture, that has a size that is a multiple of 32.
2) Fill your whole texture BMP with this repeating texture. Most advanced image editing programs have a fill texture button.
3) Add in features like rivers and mountains.
4) Save as a BMP and compile.
5) Show off your cool map with an even cooler file size.
Say you have a maily grass map. You make a tile that is 128*128 pixels big for the grass. You open up your image editor, make a huge picture for the texture map, and then place the basic grass tile all over the whole texture. So now you have a huge picture that is entirley composed of one small repeating tile. This is still in the image editor. Then, if you want to add in a river, mountain or other feature, you just draw that in over your repeating texture. Still in the image editor. Then, when you are happy with your texture, you save it as a BMP and run the compiler on it. The compiler looks through and works out what to make into a new tile, and where/how to tile the texture.
Basic steps written over again:
1) Make a repeating texture, that has a size that is a multiple of 32.
2) Fill your whole texture BMP with this repeating texture. Most advanced image editing programs have a fill texture button.
3) Add in features like rivers and mountains.
4) Save as a BMP and compile.
5) Show off your cool map with an even cooler file size.
SinbadEV is right... It would work anyway.
as for an example...
Is that any help??
Area one is a repeting metal texture.
Area 2 is some grass, fractule sort of area that you may want to replace with a repeting grass texture...
Area 3 is so bland that the map conv will not make much fuss when creating a tile for it.
Bare in mind thats not actully size i had to shrink teh image to about 20 percent the actull size. Plus its just a small portion of the map. (core pyramid)
Any good??
as for an example...
Is that any help??
Area one is a repeting metal texture.
Area 2 is some grass, fractule sort of area that you may want to replace with a repeting grass texture...
Area 3 is so bland that the map conv will not make much fuss when creating a tile for it.
Bare in mind thats not actully size i had to shrink teh image to about 20 percent the actull size. Plus its just a small portion of the map. (core pyramid)
Any good??
Myself? I use Terregen to do the basic textures... then I do work on it to make some bits tiled ect... (IE replace vast areas of similer texture with just one texture to reduce file size when compressed) and add in metal and stuff liek that afterwards. No specil brushes needed... just a good knowledge of layers and how they blend and stuff.
aGorm
aGorm