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Alpha Maps and Textures

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Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:41 am

I'm using Unity 3D as my game engine.

I have a terrain shader that requires a normal map, height map, color map, and splat map.

After I put these in, I put in my textures.

My questions are:

Is the color map I need called the Attribute Map in L3DT?
The splat map is the alpha maps, but how do I make a singular splat map (I can only use one with the shader)?

If I make a texture map in L3DT, how do I make the texture tile so a single texture (say, from CGTextures) is repeatedly tiled instead of stretched across the whole map?
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Wed Jan 22, 2014 3:38 am

Alright, I read how to combine the splat maps from http://www.bundysoft.com/docs/doku.php?id=l3dt:userguide:ops:alpha.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby Aaron » Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:46 pm

Hi Tomspom,

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your questions.

tomspom wrote:Is the color map I need called the Attribute Map in L3DT?


Sorry, I don't know Unity well enough to answer. My guess is 'no', however, as the information in the attributes map is unlikely to be directly useful to another program. The 'color map' might be the texture map in L3DT.

tomspom wrote:The splat map is the alpha maps, but how do I make a singular splat map (I can only use one with the shader)?


If I understand your question correctly, your shader supports only a single RGBA splat map, which means a maximum of 4 alpha layers. To combine alpha layers, see the 'combine alpha layers' wizard (see here).

tomspom wrote:If I make a texture map in L3DT, how do I make the texture tile so a single texture (say, from CGTextures) is repeatedly tiled instead of stretched across the whole map?


The individual textures for each land type are always tiled when making texture maps in L3DT. Have you found otherwise, or are you asking how to use your own custom textures to L3DT?

Best regards,
Aaron.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:51 pm

When I tried doing the Alpha maps, either they 1. came out as several different files or 2. (when combined into the same layer) came out as a solid color. I know I'm not doing something right here, but I don't know what.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:23 pm

The individual textures for each land type are always tiled when making texture maps in L3DT. Have you found otherwise, or are you asking how to use your own custom textures to L3DT?


the following is 1024 map with a 700x700 texture of sand that i want to appear (detail wise) as a 4096. i've retiled the original 700x700 and thats what you see in the right. when i add it to the material in l3dt it says

CMaterial::GetTexCol error:
- material 'Sand' doesn't have a sufficiently low-res texture

zeofunc_calc_TX_GenTile error:
- Cannot retrieve texture map pixel

threadman_RunTiles error:
- call to inline tile function failed (non-threaded case)

threadman_RunTiles error:
- calculation aborted following errors

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- call to calcman failed

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- Operation failed or was aborted by user

calc_TX_GenMapAA error
- call to GenMapArea failed

CMapGroup::AutoComplete error:
- TX_GenMap failed

The map size of 4096x4096 exceeds the maximum map size in L3DT Standard (2049x2049)

L3DTio_FI::LoadMapFile error
- cannot initialise map

CTexLayer::LoadTextures warning:
- texture file not found

CMaterial::LoadTextures warning:
- cannot load texture; disabling

CMaterial::GetTexCol error:
- material 'Sand' doesn't have a sufficiently low-res texture

zeofunc_calc_TX_GenTile error:
- Cannot retrieve texture map pixel

threadman_RunTiles error:
- call to inline tile function failed (non-threaded case)

threadman_RunTiles error:
- calculation aborted following errors

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- call to calcman failed

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- Operation failed or was aborted by user

calc_TX_GenMapAA error
- call to GenMapArea failed

The map size of 4096x4096 exceeds the maximum map size in L3DT Standard (2049x2049)

L3DTio_FI::LoadMapFile error
- cannot initialise map

CTexLayer::LoadTextures warning:
- texture file not found

CMaterial::LoadTextures warning:
- cannot load texture; disabling

CMaterial::GetTexCol error:
- material 'Sand' doesn't have a sufficiently low-res texture

zeofunc_calc_TX_GenTile error:
- Cannot retrieve texture map pixel

threadman_RunTiles error:
- call to inline tile function failed (non-threaded case)

threadman_RunTiles error:
- calculation aborted following errors

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- call to calcman failed

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- Operation failed or was aborted by user

calc_TX_GenMapAA error
- call to GenMapArea failed

The map size of 4096x4096 exceeds the maximum map size in L3DT Standard (2049x2049)

L3DTio_FI::LoadMapFile error
- cannot initialise map

CTexLayer::LoadTextures warning:
- texture file not found

CMaterial::LoadTextures warning:
- cannot load texture; disabling

CMaterial::GetTexCol error:
- material 'Sand' doesn't have a sufficiently low-res texture

zeofunc_calc_TX_GenTile error:
- Cannot retrieve texture map pixel

threadman_RunTiles error:
- call to inline tile function failed (non-threaded case)

threadman_RunTiles error:
- calculation aborted following errors

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- call to calcman failed

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- Operation failed or was aborted by user

calc_TX_GenMapAA error
- call to GenMapArea failed

CMapGroup::AutoComplete error:
- TX_GenMap failed

The map size of 4096x4096 exceeds the maximum map size in L3DT Standard (2049x2049)

L3DTio_FI::LoadMapFile error
- cannot initialise map

CTexLayer::LoadTextures warning:
- texture file not found

CMaterial::LoadTextures warning:
- cannot load texture; disabling

CMaterial::GetTexCol error:
- material 'Sand' doesn't have a sufficiently low-res texture

zeofunc_calc_TX_GenTile error:
- Cannot retrieve texture map pixel

threadman_RunTiles error:
- call to inline tile function failed (non-threaded case)

threadman_RunTiles error:
- calculation aborted following errors

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- call to calcman failed

calc_TX_GenMapArea error
- Operation failed or was aborted by user

calc_TX_GenMapAA error
- call to GenMapArea failed

CMapGroup::AutoComplete error:
- TX_GenMap failed



Image

I'm just really confused how to get fine detail in my textures on the texture maps. I've read and followed the guides, and it's just not happening.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:26 pm

So, I clearly did not know what I was doing here with L3DT and perhaps not even using the hf settings in Unity the correct way. I THINK I have it now after looking at the Megaterrain tutorial you posted (I think it was actually on rendering a blade of grass?). I'll be sure to post again on here if it turns out I am wrong in my thinking, yet again.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby tomspom » Sun Jan 26, 2014 12:33 pm

Nevermind, no clue. I'm done trying to figure it out.
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Re: Alpha Maps and Textures

Postby Aaron » Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:55 am

Hi Tomspom,

I'm sorry for my slow reply, and for L3DT's material system driving you to apparent despair.

The problem seems to be that you're trying to load a large texture image (4096x4096) in L3DT Standard Edition, which only supports textures up to 2049x2049 pixels. The error message was a little indirect and unhelpful, but this is the first time this particular course of events have been attempted/reported. To use large texture images, you need to use L3DT Professional. You can download the free 90 day trial from here:

http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/pro-trial.php

That said, having a large material image doesn't get you a more detailed output texture. You get a more detailed output texture by setting a higher TX/HF resolution number in the 'texture settings' wizard.

Even so, to render a texture map with a level of detail high enough to see grass will require a staggering pixel density, as explained in the megatexture page. You'd be much better off using a detail map and/or texture splatting instead of just using a single huge texture for that level of detail.

As for why you couldn't combine alpha multiple alpha layers into the one image; L3DT Standard only supports one layer per alpha image. RGB/RGBA alpha maps are supported by L3DT Professional only. Again, please feel free to make use of the 90 day trial.

Best regards,
Aaron.
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