Terrain Textures only allows 4 colors.

[jimmybulmer 21]

Hey, so I am helping with a terrain being made and we are trying to set up our floor textures. However, when we try to set up a 4th texture it seems like the engine just doesn't know what to do. It will just do a mix of the 4 originally defined textures, and in the center will be just a solid random texture of one of the 4 already existing textures.

 

class Colors

    {

        Grass_Green[] = {{0,255,0}};

        Sand[] = {{0,0,255}};

        Rocks[] = {{0,0,0}};

        Forest[] = {{255,255,0}};

    };

 

those are the colors defined in our mask, however when we tried to add a coral texture for under water and define it as red, we get the issue I stated above in which it just doesn't choose the correct texture for some reason. It's been checked over and everything looks correct however we are still receiving the issue.

 

http://prnt.sc/d845agthis is the mask from terrain builder, and if we were to add the red which is defined to be the coral it just chooses say grass instead for instance.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated thanks! 

[hoverguy 177]

Hi,

Seems that, based on your screenshot, there's a blend between two different colors which results in having more colors that are not defined in you layers.cfg. Then the engine takes the color in the layers.cfg that is close to the one that is not defined and applies corresponding texture. Thats why you get mixed textures where two colors meet.

So either use indexed mode to limit colors to what you have in your cfg or use another brush that doesn't blend colors.

[Auss 208]

dont use black 0,0,0 for rocks choose another color, also looks like you have a blur around the yellow, it must only be 4 those 4 colors nothing else.

[pooface 4]

Is this a limit of Terrain Builder or Arma3?

 

In a3/map_data, you find textures defined as gdt_*terrain*.rvmat

There are 30(?) of these .rvmats in this location so I am skeptical to believe you would be limited to 4 terrains only.

[Auss 208]

you can  have many textures, I have over 30 in australia. The rule is never exceed 6 colors per cell. if you do then it goes all manky, thats the technical term,

 

my point in saying above 4 colors and nothing else was simply to emphasize that you must not blur the mask, if you have 4 colors in your mask and layers.cfg then 4 it is and no more. he must learn to to walk before he can run 

[cring0 138]

Convert to RGB and limit your pallet to only the colors you're using. When you run colors into one another you're introducing more colors that are not defined in your config.

[pooface 4]

On 11/16/2016 at 2:06 PM, Auss said:

dont use black 0,0,0 for rocks choose another color, also looks like you have a blur around the yellow, it must only be 4 those 4 colors nothing else.

Why should one not use black in the mask image?  What about white?

[tazmania720 16]

In the Mapframe properties, under Processing, there is a spot that says 6 materials.   I went from 4 to 6 when I was having a problem with my mask looking correct on my terrain and it fixed it. 

[pooface 4]

Bump to revisit my earlier question: are there any 'bad' colors to use in mask?  Such as pure white, black, red.  Those seem to mess up my terrain - by displaying the wrong terrain .paa, and by drawing odd lines and sharp corners in seemingly random places in my map.

[Auss 208]

0,0,0 and 255,255,255 

[lappihuan 178]

i successfully use black and white on my mask, according to bushlurker shades of gray should be avoided tho.

[spookygnu 563]

On 11/17/2016 at 6:24 AM, Auss said:

you can  have many textures, I have over 30 in australia. The rule is never exceed 6 colors per cell. if you do then it goes all manky, thats the technical term,

 

my point in saying above 4 colors and nothing else was simply to emphasize that you must not blur the mask, if you have 4 colors in your mask and layers.cfg then 4 it is and no more. he must learn to to walk before he can run 

 

 

I think maybe explaining how big a cell is might help. I'm still struggling to find out how to do this. I thought I had done it a while back but never succeeded due to me not knowing how to work out how big a cell actually is. 

[lappihuan 178]

to get rid of any confusion with namings, the "cell" is usually used for the heightmap cell size which is the space between each vert.

i think what you guys are talking about is the Sat/Mask Tiles which are as big as you choose them in the samplers tab, as example 2048x2048px or 1024x1024px

[spookygnu 563]

SO the tile is the size of what you set in TB properties for your map. 

 

I think I understandd this right. 

 

My current map is 40960x40960 The tile size of that is reduced by 10 making it 4096, correct? 

 

So I then make a template in photoshop of squares that consist of 4096x4096px. this then houses a maximum of 6 colors within that tile. I also have to take into account  how much I have stated for overlap, 16px, 32px, etc etc. 

 

I have been thinking about this for quite a while and if I get this right, my maps will look sooo much better with detail on the ground. 

 

If I am right the best way to think about doing this guys is to have a generic colour you use all the time on your map, like grass, or dirt. Dirt is  probably best you can find this everywhere. Then all you need to think about is having five other colours to fill the tile.

 

I'm thinking of doing a full layer in photoshop of dirt to cover the whole map, then with an added layer, using the template of tiles to fill in each tile with a maximum of five other colours. This way you can eventually fill your map with up to 30 or more textures, like Auss did on Australia.

 

This is just me thinking about it theoretically, not  actually applied this yet, but if anyone knows of a better way to apply the process, please chime in. I'd certainly like to know more. 

[lappihuan 178]

you literally select the tile size in your samplers tab, iirc its called Sat/Mask Tile: with a drop down menu

[Uro 220]

5 hours ago, lappihuan said:

you literally select the tile size in your samplers tab, iirc its called Sat/Mask Tile: with a drop down menu

 

Don't forget to factor in the tile overlap,.

 

e.g. 16px overlap  makes your 1024x1024 tile into a 1056x1056 tile / 2048x2048 tile into a 2080x2080 tile.

 

The overlap affects all edges of your tiles.

[spookygnu 563]

oh right! I thought it was actually within the params of the "xxxx X xxxx" px. Maybe that was where I was going wrong then.