Finally making my first content pack.
by Jacob Dankovchik · 08/25/2009 (5:24 am) · 18 comments
Well, some of you may know who I am, some of you may not. In any case, I decided to post a new blog after so long. Ahh, I remember back when it used to be a .plan... *sad*
Anyhow, I've decided to start putting together an environment pack for Torque 3D and have already made very significant progress and thought I'd just share about it, get some input, suggestions, etc.
It will consist of several textures, not sure how many yet, at 1024 resolution, along with detail map and normal map with displacement alpha channel for parallax. I'll also have a good few, exact number undecided, of starter environments. Basically sets of scenes that put the other artwork to use, the terrains themselves available for you to use as you see fit, or to just use to learn from. All artwork such as the heightmap image, alpha maps, and labeling of the textures to alpha maps will be included.
Also one I'm sure will make some people somewhat excited is I also will be included my water shader with instructions on installation of it. An early warning though, the shader IS 3.0 and I don't have a toggle feature made for it at the moment. However frankly, if you don't have a 3.0 SM card by now, I'm not even sure you should have T3D, as you certainly aren't getting nearly the full potential...
I'd also like to do free updates to the pack, if that'll be possible. I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my own work and I'm never able to call something truly "done" so I'm constantly improving it. As such I think anyone who would purchase my pack should be allowed to benefit from my own improvements.
I may end up sticking some more stuff in there too, like another shader or two, depending on what I can come up with. I'll also have to toss in some environmental effects such specific particle effects. If anyone has suggestions of what they'd like, by all means, let me know!
Anyhow, I've decided to start putting together an environment pack for Torque 3D and have already made very significant progress and thought I'd just share about it, get some input, suggestions, etc.
It will consist of several textures, not sure how many yet, at 1024 resolution, along with detail map and normal map with displacement alpha channel for parallax. I'll also have a good few, exact number undecided, of starter environments. Basically sets of scenes that put the other artwork to use, the terrains themselves available for you to use as you see fit, or to just use to learn from. All artwork such as the heightmap image, alpha maps, and labeling of the textures to alpha maps will be included.
Also one I'm sure will make some people somewhat excited is I also will be included my water shader with instructions on installation of it. An early warning though, the shader IS 3.0 and I don't have a toggle feature made for it at the moment. However frankly, if you don't have a 3.0 SM card by now, I'm not even sure you should have T3D, as you certainly aren't getting nearly the full potential...
I'd also like to do free updates to the pack, if that'll be possible. I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my own work and I'm never able to call something truly "done" so I'm constantly improving it. As such I think anyone who would purchase my pack should be allowed to benefit from my own improvements.
I may end up sticking some more stuff in there too, like another shader or two, depending on what I can come up with. I'll also have to toss in some environmental effects such specific particle effects. If anyone has suggestions of what they'd like, by all means, let me know!
#2
As for 5 of those together... Well.. That'd probably be bigger than anything you'd really need.
08/25/2009 (8:40 am)
Oh, framerate is quite low, 20. And just for a reference, I'm running 2 ATI HD4870's in crossfire. However don't let that at ALL scare you as that map was by NO means made to even be played, just an example piece. The terrain itself runs just fine, but I have tons and TONS of light models placed which weren't in any way made to be efficient and they up the poly count retardedly. To show what I mean, here's a pic of a crystal in wireframe, and then a small shot of the terrain itself. There's an awful lot of triangles there...As for 5 of those together... Well.. That'd probably be bigger than anything you'd really need.
#5
Yes, it's made in L3DT, but no it isn't Atlas, it's the Torque 3D terrain.
Not of this terrain, this won't be one included. It's just a showpiece, I put it up mostly to just show the water effect. It's totally unoptimized, old, and the artwork on it is all outdated.
08/25/2009 (7:11 pm)
Quote:It's make in L3dt model? is ATLAS?
Yes, it's made in L3DT, but no it isn't Atlas, it's the Torque 3D terrain.
Quote:Any closeup pix of the terrain ?
Not of this terrain, this won't be one included. It's just a showpiece, I put it up mostly to just show the water effect. It's totally unoptimized, old, and the artwork on it is all outdated.
#6
08/25/2009 (11:51 pm)
Really interested in a similar pack... Especially if you will include detailed instruction on how to get things done... like how you made your terrain in L3DT and loaded as T3D terrain... :-) 
#7
08/25/2009 (11:59 pm)
as its not an atlas terrain i would presume its from an exported heightmap then thats used within t3d... then manually textured
#8
08/26/2009 (1:29 am)
/agree with JoZ. Interested in the pack but also interested in detailed, technical instructions on how to make better terrains on my own. Not sure this is what you have in mind, though.
#9
Can promise you lots of feedback!! :)
08/26/2009 (2:20 am)
Any early adopter edition soon to buy and get a "beta" pack ?Can promise you lots of feedback!! :)
#10
Ew, no. Lol. L3DT, my tool of choice, can export texture masks and you load those into T3D and assign materials for them. Manually painting textures for an entire level would be very long, very painful, and probably not look all that great.
And since it seems several people mention a guide as well for terrain creation, I may as well include something for you. After all, typing up some instructions is hardly a difficult task.
And no alienforce, sorry, no EA version. :P In all honesty I'll probably have it done before long anyhow. Just throw any suggestions this way! Remember, I'm aiming to make something with lots of different materials for making a scenery, both basic and advanced.
08/26/2009 (7:52 am)
Quote: 08/25/2009 (7:59 pm)
as its not an atlas terrain i would presume its from an exported heightmap then thats used within t3d... then manually textured
Ew, no. Lol. L3DT, my tool of choice, can export texture masks and you load those into T3D and assign materials for them. Manually painting textures for an entire level would be very long, very painful, and probably not look all that great.
And since it seems several people mention a guide as well for terrain creation, I may as well include something for you. After all, typing up some instructions is hardly a difficult task.
And no alienforce, sorry, no EA version. :P In all honesty I'll probably have it done before long anyhow. Just throw any suggestions this way! Remember, I'm aiming to make something with lots of different materials for making a scenery, both basic and advanced.
#12
08/26/2009 (8:06 pm)
Yes, as I said in the description, the primary focus here is textures. NOT terrains. I'll include a few sample starter terrains but the biggest focus is textures with high-res base maps, detail maps, and normal maps with alpha channel for parallax. 
#13
08/27/2009 (12:10 am)
Cool! I expect this to be very impressive.
#14
If you mean something like this, then yes, I do have such plans. :)
(yes, I was imitating the style of the shot. haha )
08/27/2009 (6:46 am)
Quote:I was wondering do you have plans on making making a terrain like Sickhead with Terrain Detail + Normal Map + Parallax etc. But great job on the terrain.
If you mean something like this, then yes, I do have such plans. :)
(yes, I was imitating the style of the shot. haha )
#15
great Job
08/27/2009 (7:28 am)
Amazing this is a most buy, are you going to have one with grass.great Job
#16
08/27/2009 (1:29 pm)
Looking good!
#18
09/18/2009 (5:50 am)
Funny you should ask, I was just starting to write an update blog. ;) Standby.
Associate Matt Motsinger
?'s
- What's the frame rate of the above scene
- Ever tried 5 of these kind of terrains in one mission (spread out of course like a flight sim)
Looking forward to the pack!