Photoshop and Mapping

[Synth]

I've had a lot of free time lately, spending some of it on sig making.

I've also always had a lot of respect for mappers and modelers alike, so a question has developed from all this...

Is it possible to make terrains/skins in photoshop and use them on maps?

 

[Cold Steel]

Yep it is. Create one big texture for the entire map. Then divide it to 8 pieces or 16, whatever you like best. And you're done. I take it you know how to work with wally ?

 

[Synth]

What format is recommended then, I guess?

I take it you know how to work with wally ?

I have no clue what you mean by that.

 

[Cold Steel]

Use bmp's to keep the quality at best. (or png)

Wally is a program to create textures with. It's pretty easy. Create a hl wad file in wally. Then just copy paste them from the program you used into the new wadfile in wally. Save the wadfile, and it to your textures in VHE.

 

[Optional]

You could, also, make individual textures for each thing you want. A grass textures, a grass on rock texture, and a rock texture. Put them next to each other and you have an area that goes from grass to rock.

 

[Cold Steel]

But it will not look as pretty as when you use the seamless technique i just named. You'd have to rotate some textures, wich gives you ugly lines.

 

[Optional]

True but not everyone can just start out using the seemless texture method. You have to have a firm understanding of the other, simpler, possibilities. Besides, there are quite a few tricks that can help get rid of those nasty lines.

 

[Cold Steel]

Would it not be best, to start seamless mapping right away ? It saves you a lot of time, once you get the hang of it.

 

[Optional]

True again but would it not be wise to learn the texture application tool so throughly by using non-seemless textures? Besides, seemless texturing can cause nasty texture stretching and over-enlarged textures. Both sides have advantages, I am simply suggesting that he start with the simplest method that helps you learn Hammer more throughly.

 

[Cold Steel]

Heh, there's no argueing with you

 

[niobe]

you can also try to make an cellshade map, it's pretty easy.
just make cellshade textures and make the map you want, i made an sonic level ones with that tecnic.

 

[Cold Steel]

You might want to explain how to make cell shaded textures ;/ In the hl engine, cell shaded maps is not possible.

 

[DJ-Ready]

its not cell shading though. you just use textures with black outlines

 

[niobe]

no black outlines, just make the textures cartoony and put an little dark line on 2 sites.
something like this:

or like this:

good luck

 

[Optional]

You mean a few simple colors with shades of them. I have seen it done before in a Snarkpit mapping contest. The only other way to make a black outline around the box is by using null brushes in a certain way. It is fairly hard to explain. The problem is, if you use it too much, WPoly and EPoly jump through the roof.

 

[niobe]

this is what i mean with making an cellshade map, it's for ut2k4 but it still gives you the cellshade fealing.

 

[Cold Steel]

That's UT2k4. Not hl "1" wich we are discussing in this thread.

 

[Raven Blade]

That isnt cell shading, its just flat colours with some basic detail.