50 replies to this topic

[jt83]

I have a related question - say I modify existing textures and come across a combo I'm happy with.  Is there a way to dump the elements into Photoshop and combine them to then use as a texture?  As in an exact match?  In your video you mentioned something about the Mutiply command...

 

I ask because a course I'm working on looks basically the same once you get outside the fairway.  K11 seems to think it can be done but I don't want to test his patience any more than I have 

[axe360]

Awesome!! Please can this be pinned for everyone to use?

Thanks a million Matt! I gots my popcorn, a huge cup of java an am looking forward to finally being able to save a darned lib.

Larry

[DPRoberts]

jt83,

You can do that. The hardest issue there is getting the size of the textures just right. There is an advantage to the CF LL over the terrain paint swatches in that you can independently control tiling of the textures without a loss in resolution.

If your texture in slot 1 is tiling at 60m and your slot 2 is tiling at 3.5m, you have to shrink the slot 2 for the overlay in Photoshop. You will inevitably lose detail and not carry the same LL appearance as a texture paint swatch. Not to mention the lighting interplay of normals are involved as well.

I would rather offer you an alternative. You will see that the detail of that texture is not really important because it's far off in a less played area. Often the texture resolution is also down graded by the program in game depending on your build settings, graphics card settings, and distance from that texture.

I would use PebDeep2048 and tweak the value, hue and saturation in Photoshop to match your CF deep rough.

The reason I say this is possible is because PebDeep already carries the detail in the texture and at a decent resolution.

I can add this in a video here to show you if needed. Altering textures in a non destructive way in Photoshop is a good skill to have anyway. So is being able to see hues and values in your textures to figure out how to get a close match.

[axe360]

Welp, I don't feel so bad anymore. Who in their right mind would have thought, DON'T use the Save As feature. Lol.

Genius Matt, thank you so much for sharing that with us..

 

L

[DPRoberts]

Cool Larry. Hoping this helps you get over the hurdle. Same for worrybirdie, had you guys in mind putting this together.

Not sure if others have success with that button but I have only known it to cause misery.

I would also suggest in each project to only create a custom library at the start and never worry about "load" or "save as" for the remainder of the project. You can always keep importing images/textures into your Unity project libraries folder and won't see errors.

If others have a way to use those buttons without eventual crashes, it would be nice to hear but I would be cautious.

[axe360]

Hey Matt, your mess. is full?

[Acrilix]

I would also suggest in each project to only create a custom library at the start and never worry about "load" or "save as" for the remainder of the project.

 

This is interesting and probably a very valid point.

During my work on my Abbotsley course I tried to save the layers library half way through the course development and nothing I tried would get it to work. When I finished the course I tried creating a new project and once again tried saving the layers library. That time there was no problem at all. I think that something in the course building process must be corrupting the ability to save the layers library.

[axe360]

Just follow the tuts, they work gr8! I've had a million problems with it, now, I love it..

[DPRoberts]

Acrilix,

I wish I understood it well enough to tell you how to properly save. I know some that have used it without issue. Like you said, it worked for some time.

Regardless, I know that enough here have struggled with it and this seems to be a process that works fine. I've successfully used this method for 3 courses and I've got no data loss and no more errors. Knock on wood...

There is also no issue adding to and changing settings in the loaded library. It will automatically save with the scene.

[worrybirdie]

So, save the scene, not the library. Got it...and will try it, thanks DP for the tutes.

[pingzing]

Perfect timing with Layers Tutorial,after looking further into it, realised  where the library was saved to, this problem should have come to  light  by devs long time ago. think they want us to suffer and work it out ourselves.

When saving i  save the scene and folder, and then i click on scene in assets, right click /export and include all dependencies- copies everything , and make 2 extra copies, this has saved me big time as plenty more things that can go wrong when working in unity/cf .

 

More confident now on the layers Library after videos -was doing my head in, if you look deeper and analyse whats happening

its fairly clear now, but is confusing when your green and rusty or watching mikes video on libararies

Great tips in the ps tutorial along with k11 as well, i missed the overlay option in ps, looks like a key feature

Clouds,colour, etc excellent tips in  there, will be writing down some notes and head over to youtube for some homework

when i get time .

 

Cheers Dp - everyone else too that contributes - like you said and k11,  go out and learn to hunt and gather for yourself, but a little guidance here and there is very helpful 

[worrybirdie]

Ironic that before when I lost info in the LL I thought "I must have forgotten to save it" when actually I remembered to save it.

BTW...is there a way to replace a painted on texture with another one? I suspect the answer is no, but now if I come up with a really cool custom texture to use instead of the default one I've been using I'd have to go in and repaint every instance.

[DPRoberts]

WB, you can definitely change your painted textures without worry as often as you like. It will update all the areas you have painted with a new texture. Nothing should be erased.

The painted textures operate in increments of 4. As you paint, Unity is storing that information in RGBA channels of varying opacities on something called a splatmap. This is why I usually suggest using 4,8, or 12 terrain textures. You can use 16 but the performance issues decrease is probably not worth it.

When we head toward Unity 2017, some of these issues are less of a concern and are better optimized.

[jt83]

jt83,

You can do that. The hardest issue there is getting the size of the textures just right. There is an advantage to the CF LL over the terrain paint swatches in that you can independently control tiling of the textures without a loss in resolution.

If your texture in slot 1 is tiling at 60m and your slot 2 is tiling at 3.5m, you have to shrink the slot 2 for the overlay in Photoshop. You will inevitably lose detail and not carry the same LL appearance as a texture paint swatch. Not to mention the lighting interplay of normals are involved as well.

I would rather offer you an alternative. You will see that the detail of that texture is not really important because it's far off in a less played area. Often the texture resolution is also down graded by the program in game depending on your build settings, graphics card settings, and distance from that texture.

I would use PebDeep2048 and tweak the value, hue and saturation in Photoshop to match your CF deep rough.

The reason I say this is possible is because PebDeep already carries the detail in the texture and at a decent resolution.

I can add this in a video here to show you if needed. Altering textures in a non destructive way in Photoshop is a good skill to have anyway. So is being able to see hues and values in your textures to figure out how to get a close match.

 

Just to be clear DPR I'm trying to get something close to the rough layer I've created (not deep rough), so the texture will definitely be in played areas.  At the moment I have o_greenfringe as texture 1, skygrassfair as texture 2, and grass_normal1 as normal 2.  The colour code is the same as the default for the Green Fringe layer.  I don't mind the resulting look...it's not artwork but it suits the project better than the defaults which is all I want.

 

I get what you mean when you say it would be easier to adjust an existing texture jpeg to suit, but when the layer has those three elements blended I'm not sure how close it's possible to get working with just one element.  Maybe a video if you get time would be useful for me and others.

[DPRoberts]

Can you show me your settings in the Layers Library for the rough layer so I can see tiling and normal strengths? I'll see if I can replicate your setup. Give me the hex number for the color as well just to make sure we are on the same page.

[jt83]

Sure.  Texture 1 is 100, Texture 2 is 2, Normal 2 is 20.  Hex is 9D9EA5FF.  All other settings are the same as default rough.

Things might change as I experiment, so hopefully there's a way to repeat the process...if there is a process.

[DPRoberts]

Sure.  Texture 1 is 100, Texture 2 is 2, Normal 2 is 20.  Hex is 9D9EA5FF.  All other settings are the same as default rough.

Things might change as I experiment, so hopefully there's a way to repeat the process...if there is a process.

 

Ok, I think I've got something close to what you would want. There are some compromises as always. Hopefully, the process below will be usable for others as well trying to tweak a texture. 

 

I am supplying the .PSD file I used and .PNG of that file. You already have the normal map so rather than me provide it, follow the instructions in the video to duplicate and tone it down. I settled on 0.01 after I stopped the recording for the strength of the normal. All appropriate settings used for the result below are provided.

 

CREATING A TERRAIN PAINT TEXTURE TO MIMIC CF LAYERS LIBRARY RESULT

 

Terrain Texture files -  https://www.dropbox....ainTEX.zip?dl=0

 

My in game view

 

My Layers Library settings

 

My normal map settings for the Terrain Texture Swatch

 

Terrain Texture tiling setting

[NoPutt]

Great job as usual DP, Thanks

[pingzing]

I just saw this latest video, just perfect timing and what i needed right now as not happy with what i have so this will be extremely helpful.

Have the same problems  as  jt and others, good stuff DP , was using old textures and cant get the painted textures to blend in with layers

so will go and study and see how i go

 

Thanks very much Dp 

[jt83]

Muchos gracias Mr Roberts!  I think I had the right idea but didn't know how to put it all together, which you've made easy for me and everyone else.

A couple of things I noticed that others who aren't so quick on the uptake (like me) might appreciate - 

 

• I'd forgotten that having a texture open in a photo editing program and then saving it results in Unity updating it immediately.  So much easier than saving a texture, exporting it, and importing into Unity every time there's a minor brightness change
• I already had grass normal 2 and grass normal 3 in my course textures folder...I guess that's normal
• Rather than use an existing paint swatch (a term I'll have to start using) I followed the video to create the psd, which I then imported as a new swatch...keeps the first swatch available for use

The end result isn't perfect but it's much better for my project, and anyone else doing a course that is pretty uniform in its look.