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[Nid]

Texturing Tutorial - By nidmeister

Right, i'm guessing you all know how to make height on terrain by now, so I wont
go into much detail about it. The key thing we are looking for is realism, you need to
vary your map, make it hilly, difficult and just uneven, because how many areas of
the Earth have you seen that are naturaly flat? (Note, you are going to need a
large area of flat land for where the base locations will be.)
So, first things first, make your terrain. Its the first thing you need before any terrain.
basically, it's just dragging your height brush lightly across the area you want
uneven, so that it looks like the ripples in the sand under the sea, then smooth those out.
Example:



Anyway, enough talk about terrain. you should have the finished shape of your area
ready for texturing. This is where I specialise in, so I shouldn't let you down.
Pick your base textures, for this, they need to be easy to blend with other textures.
Start off with the cliff edge first. so see the impassable areas, go to "Veiw -> Show
impassable areas."
Example:



The impassable areas should become red. this should give you a general idea of where
your cliffs should go.


Fist thing to do is select your texturing tool. It is located here:



Now you need to pick a good texture that will serve well as a base texture. The
one I picked was CliffMediumType18 (as seen above)

After applying this to the impassabe areas (you dont have to be perfect with it,
just get the genral cliff edge) you may notice some glitchy areas of the texture.
To remove this, smooth out these areas untill it disappears.
Example:



Next thing to do is fill the grey areas on top of the mountain, use a grassy type
of tile that is pretty plain, to serve as your base texture, I chose GrassMediumType11
then you need something that is very similar but still appears different, this is your
upper tone. I chose 2, GrassMediumType10b and GrassMediumType16, Here are the Screen
Examples:



Next Is applying this to all the other cliffs in your map, and then adding a base
texture to all areas of the map, like you did to the top of the mountain, make it
simple, but not too plain this time. Also, make your base textures contrast easily
with the other base texture next to it.
Example:



The next step is blending, you dont want square looking textures all over your map.
The cliff is going to be blended first, because it makes the cliff look larger.
Remember, whatever you click to blend will reduce the size of the conflicting texture.
Example:

[img]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3774/blend2gg9.th.png

Now, you want to texture your battlefield, you should have applied a base texture to
the rest of your map. this doesnt have to be the same all over, because of the different
possiblities, so for other areas, such as asphalt, rocks, sand, desert, dirt, whaever
you are going to want, add a base texture for them. then you need some extra textures
otherwise you have a very plain map. Pick a few similar but easily distinguishable
from the other and the base texture. and then add them around the raised/ dipped areas
of the map, or randomly around, like lines, patches, anything. Just keep it random.
Example:

[img]http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/5905/fieldtextruringgq4.th.png

next you need to blend these, remember, the one you click to blend will reduce the
size of the conflicting texture, so if you want a thin line over the base texture
click the base texture to reduce the overlay texture size, and vice versa.
Example:

[img]http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6823/fieldtextruring2to0.th.png

Congratulations, you have sucesfully completed a basic texturing tutorial

Next are some options for you to try on your newly textured map if you want:

_______
Options
-------
____________
- Adding Paths
------------
You can make a simple path by adding in a rocky or dirt texture and blending it, but
to go further, you can indent the ground before adding the texture, with the dig tool.
this makes the path stand out more, as shown:

[img]http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/9807/pathaddingri2.th.png

_____
- Trees
-----
You can add Trees if you wish, by clicking the tree tool, and dragging the box over
the area where you want trees. Im not going to cover that here, but the tree tool
should be fairly easy to spot. after addidng them, you can move them around so that
you are happy with their placement:

[img]http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7774/treesyd0.th.png

____________
- last touches
------------
you could add some random buildings, like an oil derrick and also add some finishing
textures, or replace the ones you arent really happy with:

[img]http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8043/finishedbw5.th.png

Edited by Revantheemperor, 03 November 2007 - 13:54.