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Coldy's displacement mapping tutorial.
Welcome to the displacement mapping tutorial. As most of you have noticed, ESF uses this technique on all of their maps now.
Want to make maps like that to ?, then this is the place to learn it.
First of all. You need Paint shop Pro (latest version if possible 9.0).
Second. You need Wally to import the textures to Valve Hammer.
Third. You need Valve Hammer Editor to use the technique. (like it isn't obvious
We'll start off with paint shop pro.
A small warning before you start. The images you need in paint shop pro are very large. Low end systems might not be able to handle it or might crash during the process. So I recommend you to use a good computer, or save your image very often.
The first thing to do is find 3 textures you like. One for grass, one for rock and one for sand/dirt. Although these kind of textures are not always required. I recommend to use these as a starter. When you get the hang of it, you can use other textures to create different types of maps, like snow or desert maps.
When you have these textures. Copy/paste one of the textures in one image till you have a 2048x2048 image. Do this with all the other textures too. So you have 3 separate images of size: 2048x2048.
When you have done that we'll take the next step. Open Pain Shop Pro, and copy the grass image as a new image. Then promote it to a layer, this can be done in the right side of the screen. Right click on the file named background and promote it to a layer.
Then copy the rock image as a new layer. (right click on the image and paste as new layer) Do the same with the sand/dirt texture.
When you have done this, it's time to arrange the layers. From my experience I like the grass texture to be on top, then the rock texture and then sand/dirt texture.
Now we can start creating an environment. I recommend you create a sketch of how you want your map to look like before you begin.
The best thing to do is to create a grid line over the entire image. Use 128x128. You can create a gridline in the top of the screen. Click on the arrow pointing to the right and adjust the size to 128x128. The reason for using this gridline is to make sure it's fitting the gridline in Valve hammer. Otherwise it might result in stretched textures or textures that are misplaced.
Now that's said, select the eraser brush. In the left side of the screen. You can adjust it's settings in the top of the screen. I always use. | Size:40 Hardness:30 opacity:20/30|. You can leave the other options. Mess around with it to get the right type of eraser brush you like. Just make sure that it erases very smooth so you get a nice blending of different textures.
Left click on the your first layer to start. As you can see, the eraser smoothly removes parts of your first layer, thus revealing your second layer. Now, I always setup my cliffs first. So erase the grass at places where you do not want it to be Ex: cliffs, rocks or sandy parts.
When you have that done, you can start smoothing out the environment. I say that because it makes the map come to life if you do it the right way. As I said before you have removed the grass texture from places where you want cliffs, rocks or sandy parts. In the places where you want sand, erase the rock layer (default 2nd layer) Now you see the sand layer is revealed. Make sure the blending between the grass and sand is smooth.
Now you can outline every of your cliffs with sand as well. Make sure it's not on the cliffs (goes for the grass too) Cause that will make it look ugly. Too outline it in a pretty way, make sure the sand area around the cliffs differs in thickness. Also don't use the sand at the topside of the cliffs too much. This will make the map look very repetitive.
Just a reminder. The gridline isn't there for nothing. Make use of the lines, and make the erasing straight when you can.
When the environment is finished, save it as a .pspimage and as a .png file.
Open the .png file in Microsoft paint, and divide it in 16 parts that all the have the same size. 256x256. Give them easy names to make it easier for yourself. Ex: EG_01, EG_02, EG_03, EG_04 ,EG_05 etc. And save them as .png's!
Now when this is done. Make a folder in half-life\esf\textures. that has the exact same name as the map you will make. Then select all 16 .png images and copy them into the folder you just created. Ex: half-life\esf\texures\esf_namek_islands. This is for 24bit texture quality support.
Now that is explained, you should be able to create a nice environment. If you have any further questions about this, then go to the lower section of this tutorial.
Alrighty. By now, your environment should be done. The first thing we do now is open up wally. Create a new .wad file. Shouldn't be too hard just look in the list where you can select the file type in. It's name should be "half-life package wad3" or something like that. Now select all your 16 png images again and paste them as new in your new wadfile. Right click in your wadfile and then
paste as new. (note, this may take a while on slow computers, just be patient even when it seems to be stuck)
When all of the files are in your wadfile. Save it, and give it a random name.
Yes! We finally open Valve Hammer Editor. First go to your options and add the wadfile you created. (I'm not explaining Hammer in this since you need have plenty of experience with hammer to use this technique)
Now that is done. Create a new map. With quads of 128x128. Divide the quads in half to make the triangles. Then you can apply the texture to your brushes. When you have applied all of the textures, it should look the same as in Paint Shop Pro (only lower quality) Now use the triangle technique to lower raise cliffs, grassy plains or holes and rocks. The rest should be pretty obvious.
Will this be of use to you guys ?
Welcome to the displacement mapping tutorial. As most of you have noticed, ESF uses this technique on all of their maps now.
Want to make maps like that to ?, then this is the place to learn it.
First of all. You need Paint shop Pro (latest version if possible 9.0).
Second. You need Wally to import the textures to Valve Hammer.
Third. You need Valve Hammer Editor to use the technique. (like it isn't obvious
We'll start off with paint shop pro.
A small warning before you start. The images you need in paint shop pro are very large. Low end systems might not be able to handle it or might crash during the process. So I recommend you to use a good computer, or save your image very often.
The first thing to do is find 3 textures you like. One for grass, one for rock and one for sand/dirt. Although these kind of textures are not always required. I recommend to use these as a starter. When you get the hang of it, you can use other textures to create different types of maps, like snow or desert maps.
When you have these textures. Copy/paste one of the textures in one image till you have a 2048x2048 image. Do this with all the other textures too. So you have 3 separate images of size: 2048x2048.
When you have done that we'll take the next step. Open Pain Shop Pro, and copy the grass image as a new image. Then promote it to a layer, this can be done in the right side of the screen. Right click on the file named background and promote it to a layer.
Then copy the rock image as a new layer. (right click on the image and paste as new layer) Do the same with the sand/dirt texture.
When you have done this, it's time to arrange the layers. From my experience I like the grass texture to be on top, then the rock texture and then sand/dirt texture.
Now we can start creating an environment. I recommend you create a sketch of how you want your map to look like before you begin.
The best thing to do is to create a grid line over the entire image. Use 128x128. You can create a gridline in the top of the screen. Click on the arrow pointing to the right and adjust the size to 128x128. The reason for using this gridline is to make sure it's fitting the gridline in Valve hammer. Otherwise it might result in stretched textures or textures that are misplaced.
Now that's said, select the eraser brush. In the left side of the screen. You can adjust it's settings in the top of the screen. I always use. | Size:40 Hardness:30 opacity:20/30|. You can leave the other options. Mess around with it to get the right type of eraser brush you like. Just make sure that it erases very smooth so you get a nice blending of different textures.
Left click on the your first layer to start. As you can see, the eraser smoothly removes parts of your first layer, thus revealing your second layer. Now, I always setup my cliffs first. So erase the grass at places where you do not want it to be Ex: cliffs, rocks or sandy parts.
When you have that done, you can start smoothing out the environment. I say that because it makes the map come to life if you do it the right way. As I said before you have removed the grass texture from places where you want cliffs, rocks or sandy parts. In the places where you want sand, erase the rock layer (default 2nd layer) Now you see the sand layer is revealed. Make sure the blending between the grass and sand is smooth.
Now you can outline every of your cliffs with sand as well. Make sure it's not on the cliffs (goes for the grass too) Cause that will make it look ugly. Too outline it in a pretty way, make sure the sand area around the cliffs differs in thickness. Also don't use the sand at the topside of the cliffs too much. This will make the map look very repetitive.
Just a reminder. The gridline isn't there for nothing. Make use of the lines, and make the erasing straight when you can.
When the environment is finished, save it as a .pspimage and as a .png file.
Open the .png file in Microsoft paint, and divide it in 16 parts that all the have the same size. 256x256. Give them easy names to make it easier for yourself. Ex: EG_01, EG_02, EG_03, EG_04 ,EG_05 etc. And save them as .png's!
Now when this is done. Make a folder in half-life\esf\textures. that has the exact same name as the map you will make. Then select all 16 .png images and copy them into the folder you just created. Ex: half-life\esf\texures\esf_namek_islands. This is for 24bit texture quality support.
Now that is explained, you should be able to create a nice environment. If you have any further questions about this, then go to the lower section of this tutorial.
Alrighty. By now, your environment should be done. The first thing we do now is open up wally. Create a new .wad file. Shouldn't be too hard just look in the list where you can select the file type in. It's name should be "half-life package wad3" or something like that. Now select all your 16 png images again and paste them as new in your new wadfile. Right click in your wadfile and then
paste as new. (note, this may take a while on slow computers, just be patient even when it seems to be stuck)
When all of the files are in your wadfile. Save it, and give it a random name.
Yes! We finally open Valve Hammer Editor. First go to your options and add the wadfile you created. (I'm not explaining Hammer in this since you need have plenty of experience with hammer to use this technique)
Now that is done. Create a new map. With quads of 128x128. Divide the quads in half to make the triangles. Then you can apply the texture to your brushes. When you have applied all of the textures, it should look the same as in Paint Shop Pro (only lower quality) Now use the triangle technique to lower raise cliffs, grassy plains or holes and rocks. The rest should be pretty obvious.
Will this be of use to you guys ?
