Alpha Map export question for Aaron

[DeathTwister]

Hay Aron,
medium sized problem with the alpha map exporter and I am wondering if there is a work around?

My problem is this. I need to export my Alpha Maps out as .png's at 16 bits. But all I have to choose from is 8, 24, and 32 bit .png's to choose from.
Now the way they break there files up as 16 bit is very important to getting my splat files into MV, so any thoughts to getting a good export out as a 16 bit .png Boss?

I am not sure going into photoshop will help here as it is the way it bundles the textures for the splatting. I think.

DT

[lmaceleighton]

I don’t blame you for not wanting to go into Photoshop as it "Out of the Box" anyway has terrible .png formatting and great at the same time. The png they use is really up to date but has horrible compatibility issues with older programs that save as .png, or for game engines that have a specific data type they are inputting(like terrains).
I got a copy of the Gimp just for this type of situation, but I believe paint.net works well for this too and has .DDS support also, which I use for shaders because I can count on their file size every time...hope this helps you some, but I am willing to bet, that knowing that Aaron is awesome, that he just might add in 16 bit support for those .png, but in case he doesnt that is the workaround I use until then;)

[Aaron]

Hi Guys,

Can you send me an example 16-bit PNG file that definitely works as an alpha map with MV? (to aaron@bundysoft.com) I'll need one to work out the finer points of the PNG flags and data plane settings.

Best regards,
Aaron.

[demi]

Hay Aron,
medium sized problem with the alpha map exporter and I am wondering if there is a work around?

My problem is this. I need to export my Alpha Maps out as .png's at 16 bits. But all I have to choose from is 8, 24, and 32 bit .png's to choose from.
Now the way they break there files up as 16 bit is very important to getting my splat files into MV, so any thoughts to getting a good export out as a 16 bit .png Boss?

I am not sure going into photoshop will help here as it is the way it bundles the textures for the splatting. I think.

DT

Sorry but I have to ask this.

Why do the alphas not work straight out of L3DT? Was there a change made somewhere?

I used the entire exported alphas for a 2 gbit map. The pictures are of a test but the entire map was 2 gbit. Maybe the old box has a copy. I'll fire it up and look at the stuff

http://www.bundysoft.com/coppermine/dis ... m=21&pos=1


Oh and IIRC the alphas were 24 bit. Look at the old release 5 (I think that is the version that built the map)

OK I looked it up on the old box and the png is 32 bit

[demi]

I don’t blame you for not wanting to go into Photoshop as it "Out of the Box" anyway has terrible .png formatting and great at the same time. The png they use is really up to date but has horrible compatibility issues with older programs that save as .png, or for game engines that have a specific data type they are inputting(like terrains).
I got a copy of the Gimp just for this type of situation, but I believe paint.net works well for this too and has .DDS support also, which I use for shaders because I can count on their file size every time...hope this helps you some, but I am willing to bet, that knowing that Aaron is awesome, that he just might add in 16 bit support for those .png, but in case he doesnt that is the workaround I use until then;)

IIRC Neither of them perserver the alpha channel though. Correct me if I am wrong on this.

[DeathTwister]

Hay doing catch up here and will post more but:

IIRC Neither of them perserver the alpha channel though. Correct me if I am wrong on this.

It will if you re-save as interlaced when saving as.

As for the 16 bit .png's it looked like to get just 2 .mmf files out and not more or less we need to export out as a 16 bit scale, but you guys may be right and I am wrong as after looking at the files in the alpha channels they were 32 bits. but they do not seem to be working right somehow as they ain't working for me on this.

Haha been up all night so going for a bike ride and then this again with all the new info I have and see if I can get it this time. If not maybe I can share my files with Demi? and have him look at them to see what I am doing wrong? anyway one more time into the breach and then I will post the .png files. Since we cannot export out a 16 bit png in the alpha map, I am at least wondering why when all the other pngs are there, 8bit, 24bit, and 32bit, what happened to 16bit? ROTFL.

So I was thinking that that was my problem. But Demi has texture on his terrain, so it has to be me doing something wrong, dam back to the drawing board. Dang, but once I get it I will never forget it hahahahahahaha.

So one more time into the breach I go, then post again.

DT

[DeathTwister]

Morning,

OK here is my main trouble I think.

Exporting the Alpha Maps

To export the alpha map mosaics, you can use the following process:

1. From the Operations menu, select Alpha maps and then Generate maps...
2. You will see the Combine alpha layers dialog. You should note the texture names and their associated Alpha IDs. The Alpha ID is the layer number used by the Alpha Splatting algorithm. You will need the texture names and layer numbers later on when you load the alpha maps into the World Editor.
3. You don't need to change anything on this dialog, so click the Next>> button to continue.
4. You will now see the Alpha map file output dialog.
5. Use the text input box or the Browse... button to select an output folder and filename.
6. Use the default values for Image file format (PNG) and Layers per image (4).
7. Check the checkbox labeled Split alpha images into tiles (mosaic maps), and leave the Tile size at the default value of 512.
8. Click the OK button to generate the alpha maps.
9. This process will produce two sub-folders called filename_Alpha1 and filename_Alpha2, where filename is the export filename you entered. Each sub-folder will contain a mosaic file with a .mmf extension, and the associated PNG image tile files

The trouble I am having is if I follow these directions I get 5 folders with 5 .mmf files, not 2 like it says in the Tutorial or what you get. Now I have tried to change the number of Images to 2 instead of the base 5 it has by default, not 2 so for the main part here in lies my trouble as far as I can see on the L3DT end. So how exactly do I just get 2 folders out of this, when it only gives me 5?

Oh by the way I am using the 22.6.0.5 Pro dev version atm, not sure if that would matter, but a FYI none the less /smiles....

It sure would be sweet to be able to set the number of Images, I.E> the texture folders with the .mmf files.

Humm as for Textures I am using is 16 all together and the .mmf folders are having 16 images in each folder. I have 3 climate systems in the map so you can go to different areas like desert, forest, and rolling hills for cities and housing. Why is that to many? Just use one Climate like the default? that would suck, but doable.

Anyway it seems this is where I am stuck in L3DT with all this atm to answer Demi's question.

So what you guys think?

DT

[Aaron]

Hi DeathTwister,

MV doesn't support 16 texture layers. You have to use the 'combine alpha layers' wizard pane to combine some of those 16 layers down to 8 layers. Once you've done this, L3DT will give you the two alpha map MMFs you desire (assuming you use 4 layers per image).

The userguide for this is here.

Cheerio,
Aaron.

[DeathTwister]

Oh sweet sweet sweet Boss,

something new I have not used before. Sounds like fun and now maybe I can get this to do what I want after wards rotfl, as I love what I have if I can get it that way. Cool will look at the guide and figure out how to do that one then next hahaha lolol Ain't life a hoot? wry grins.

PS: Really cool though on how many new cool tools are in the box now on L3DT, Way to go Boss.

DT

[demi]

Hi DeathTwister,

MV doesn't support 16 texture layers. You have to use the 'combine alpha layers' wizard pane to combine some of those 16 layers down to 8 layers. Once you've done this, L3DT will give you the two alpha map MMFs you desire (assuming you use 4 layers per image).

The userguide for this is here.

Cheerio,
Aaron.

I saw that too. He has way to many alpha images for the MV engine to handle. It only supports 8 max. Needs to combine the alpha maps to get just 8

[DeathTwister]

Yep yep, I knew I was doing stuff wrong, but did not know where or how to fix, now I have a direction to head into so later today I should have something I hope after I get back from town. Cool thanks for all this info, it is helping me very much.

DT

[DeathTwister]

Hi guys OK I back for a few to post this.

I have finally got the 2 .mmf files I needed to make and thank you so very much Aaron for making that little utility for us, wow does it work great. The only thing I am not sure about now in L3DT is weather I should have sent the alpha's out at Hi-rez detail set at 4, but I can always re-run it if I goofed, but I did not see anywhere where it would be a no no, so hopefully it don't matter?

Now after I used there new Tutorial and tried to get the alpha's into MV with the terrain it says it does not see the .MMF file, even though I have done it all right according to the tut, at least I think I have lolol.

Here is the .mmf file so maybe Demi could take a look at it and maybe tell me if it is wrong somehow? Also I renamed the asset from alpha1 to HomeWorldalpha1 and not alpha1 like the file says it is, so maybe a naming problem? in how I named them? Anyway I am going to post this as well on MV and see if I can get this finished up. I know I am close, and think it is a MV tool thing now and not me in L3DT, but we see /winks.

Here is the .mmf file code to look at:

L3DT Mosaic master file
#MosaicName: Alpha1
#MosaicType: RGBA
#FileExt: png
#nPxlsX: 8192
#nPxlsY: 8192
#nMapsX: 16
#nMapsY: 16
#SubMapSize: 512
#HorizScale: 16.000000
#WrapFlag: TRUE
#TileState: 0 OK
#TileState: 1 OK
#TileState: 2 OK
#TileState: 3 OK
#TileState: 4 OK
#TileState: 5 OK
#TileState: 6 OK
#TileState: 7 OK
#TileState: 8 OK
#TileState: 9 OK
#TileState: 10 OK
#TileState: 11 OK
#TileState: 12 OK
#TileState: 13 OK
#TileState: 14 OK
#TileState: 15 OK
#TileState: 16 OK
#TileState: 17 OK
#TileState: 18 OK
#TileState: 19 OK
#TileState: 20 OK
#TileState: 21 OK
#TileState: 22 OK
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#TileState: 24 OK
#TileState: 25 OK
#TileState: 26 OK
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#TileState: 255 OK
#EOF

Any help here would be wonderful as I know I am close now, as I can taste the terrain dirt ROTFL.

DT

[DeathTwister]

Hay All,

OK I have finally figured most of this out. I still have textures not showing up yet and it needs a ton of tweaking, but I have terrain and it is working so far other then not all the textures are in the terrain like they should, but at least I have made huge headway so I am happy going into Turkey Day /smiles.....The rest has to get done on MV now. Thank you very much all and Aaron for helping me get this worked out. when done this world should be awesome if all my goodies go in right I have made, and all the Atmo and other things that need doing /winks.

Here is a screen or 2 of the World Editor of MV, one of many editors that they have. Hell they have 3 just for terrains, so still lots of fun with those yet to be done ROTFL.


A good start anyway.

Here you can see where the rock textures are not coming through yet, not sure why.

This one show where the sand is not showing up yet, but I get it soon /winks. But looks like all the grasses are there so I am not unhappy ATM with this.

But I am still having issues with the alpha textures, but it is them not L3DT, so taking that over to them after Friday, I taking a break tomorrow ROTFL.

OK I guess that pretty much finishes up this post for me, unless someone has a clue on how to make sure all the textures show, I am sure I will tweak them into place over the next week or so. So everyone have a killer Turkey day and please all be safe and don't fracking drink to much and run into anything or anyone, in fact, just stay home and party ROTFL /hugs to all.

DT

[demi]

What is he name of the alpha maps? IS it Alpha1? These need to be the actual name of the mmf.

Second is the Objecttype. I think there is another setting for imported maps. I may be wrong on this beeen over a year since I played with it.


From Mv website.

http://update.multiverse.net/wiki/index ... rld_Editor
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This section assumes that you have created alpha maps with L3DT, have exported them as mosaics, and have imported them into your asset repository using the Multiverse Asset Importer.

Select the Terrain item in the tree view.
In the Property View, change the Display Type property to Alpha Splat.
In the Tree View, expand the Terrain item, so that you can see the Terrain Display item under it. Select the Terrain Display item.
You will notice that your terrain has turned black in the World View. This is normal, and will be corrected soon.
In the Property View, enter the names of your two Alpha map mosaics, without the .mmf filename extension, as the values for the properties Alpha0MosaicName and Alpha1MosaicName. If the alpha maps were generated with L3DT Pro, then these you will want to enter the value of Alpha1 for value of Alpha0MosaicName and Alpha2 as the value of Alpha1MosaicName.
Enter the value l3dt-detailmap.jpg for the DetailTextureName property.
It is now time to refer back to the Texture Names and Layer numbers that you recorded when you exported the alpha maps from L3DT. Find the texture name for layer 1. The value to enter for the Layer1TextureName property is l3dt- followed by the texture name from L3DT, followed by .jpg. So for example, if the texture name listed in L3DT was grass1, you would enter the value of l3dt-grass1.jpg.
Repeat the last set for all the terrain textures that were listed by L3DT at the time that you exported the alpha maps. As you enter the texture names, you should see those parts of your terrain that use those texture become visible in the World View.
Retrieved from "http://update.multiverse.net/wiki/index.php/Importing_Heightmap_Terrain_into_World_Editor"