Spring RTS Engine

Posted: **21 Aug 2006, 23:01**

Hi, i m currently working on something Desert & Dune inspred...

Here is the Heightmap

I am thinking about placing a Sandtexture on the Water and use it as Quicksand...

Well, off to do evil things to poor MapConv

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 14:04**

How do you make these hieghtmaps?

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 14:20**

I was gonna ask the same question... Making ramps and walls like that by hand is HARD.

aGorm

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 16:15**

NOiZE wrote:How do you make these hieghtmaps?

3DsMax Spline Modelling- It allows easy drawing of curves and lines, and after that overlay of a surface.
Makes Creation of Curves and organic looking stuff very easy. After that Gradient overlay (UV-Mapping, Waterlevel Check (i add blue colour at the center) - selfilumination to 100 - and finnish

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 18:50**

For the heightmap you just apply a black to white gradient to the whole object and then render from top down? (Cool process btw) Map looks spacey and organic at the same time, nice!

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 19:45**

Thx

I for testing purposes a Blue and a Grey Maker in the Middle of the Gradient, to see were the Water remains - and don`t forget to render without perspective.

I am currently thinking about desert.... and such. Not a easy theme.. i slowly begin to understand why all the Veterans battle with desert maps. The Desert Varnish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_varnish

And the Rock Korrosion make it quite hard to archieve something good-looking and playable- and then the Dunes... Horror.

Can you place a Feature (A Stone for example) on a very thin, but high Mountain, so that you have in the End something like this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _Uyuni.jpg
Or do you need flat ground to place features upon ?

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 20:21**

Can be put on top of a mountain easy peasy... might take a bit of guessing to get it right though...

Also, that method is shear genios!!! I shall be loooking into using it! I cant draw curved ramps in photoshop, (or atleast not wioth ease) with this method it would be easy!!

aGorm

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 21:00**

someone make a tutorial or something

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 21:03**

Be warned, for there is one negative Thing with Splines.. if you get it to big, and to many lines, human Sence for 3 D is overcharged and you loose the overview. I once modelled a Creature(Splinemodelling was mainly made for such purpose) - drawed to many curves and - connected the noose with the Ears in the Mess. Hope you enjoy the Method...

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 21:09**

i don't have 3dmax

is there some kind of heightmap editing program or something :)

Posted: **22 Aug 2006, 21:37**

THe Gradient thing should work with nearly every Renderprog, that can UVWMap Texture... the Curves thing, well it is a bonus. You could modell those curves out of blockx and spheres..

Another Prob with such Complex Landscapes i noticed is that the Pathfinding sometimes waves the White Flag.

PS: Wouldn`t it be cool if you coul paint small caves into the Heightmap ? They could use Standard Textures- This way it would be possible to creat even abstracter Landscape.

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 00:11**

Preiview of the NOt Photoshoped Minimap

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 22:57**

I have another Question - how do i get a nearly intransparent water, only showing the Texture ? Current result is this, which is not really convincing Quicksand

z9.th.jpg][/url]

Another Natural Look Map, that i fail... damn

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 22:59**

PicassoCT wrote:I have another Question - how do i get a nearly intransparent water, only showing the Texture ? Current result is this, which is not really convincing Quicksand
[img=http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8997 ... bz9.th.jpg]

You can't AFAIK, someone make us a better "water" system

we can't even force a texture ...
we can't make in non-transparant ...
we can't make it glowing ...

SOMEONE HELP!

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 23:02**

Till the Tears make the Sever howl...

I somehow have the Feel that Noize is laughing ... over me

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 23:27**

PicassoCT wrote:Till the Tears make the Sever howl...

I somehow have the Feel that Noize is laughing ... over me

nah i'm crying about our not good enough watersystem

Posted: **25 Aug 2006, 23:42**

Try,

Code: Select all

	[WATER]
	{
		WaterBaseColor=0.6 0.6 0.4;  //color at water surface
		WaterAbsorb=1 1 1;  //how fast different colors are absorbed by the water
		WaterMinColor=0.6 0.6 0.4;  //the min value the water colors will go down to
	}

Posted: **26 Aug 2006, 00:43**

Thx... trying

Posted: **26 Aug 2006, 00:52**

A first, not improved Version, just for Gameplaytest... ( i am still thinking about adding a Skybox...

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=3723

Well forget about this Version- i think about a complete change of Plans for this Map. And about two other Things.

First. How about a Gradient Rendering for the Type Map - that way you could enter diffrent softness settings for terrains, so that a once Plane Valley, becomes under a intense Artillery Fire a "Typemaped" Canyon. I going to test this.

Spring RTS Engine

New Map i am Working on - Heightmap

New Map i am Working on - Heightmap