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Archives (read only) => Glest Advanced Engine => Feature requests => Topic started by: Psychedelic_hands on 24 December 2010, 16:01:46

Title: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Psychedelic_hands on 24 December 2010, 16:01:46
Inspired by this thread: https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=6330.0

If we could change the texture underneath and around buildings to dirt form grass, we might get a much better effect.

A game I can think of that uses this is Age of Empires II (Man, I miss that game):
(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)

I think this should be a tag in the xml. Though I'm not too familiar with it (Zoy does it for me) We would need a way of turning it off, in case of circular buildings, or ones smaller than a tile etc.
Of course another thing to consider is stone/road textures. They shouldn't apply to this, Because it may look strange.

(p.s MERRY CHRISTMAS! <3 Hands)  :P
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Omega on 25 December 2010, 04:58:52
Agreed. AoE2 looked great for its time, and that minor detail certainly helps. Though, I propose you can choose the texture number (from 1-5). Even though tilesets differ a lot, they still share at least some similarities, such as one being dirt-like, one being stone-road-like, etc, and then we can choose the texture most appropriate to our building.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Zoythrus on 25 December 2010, 15:54:33
Quote from: Omega on 25 December 2010, 04:58:52
Agreed. AoE2 looked great for its time, and that minor detail certainly helps. Though, I propose you can choose the texture number (from 1-5). Even though tilesets differ a lot, they still share at least some similarities, such as one being dirt-like, one being stone-road-like, etc, and then we can choose the texture most appropriate to our building.

this^
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Psychedelic_hands on 26 December 2010, 09:20:50
Quote from: Omega on 25 December 2010, 04:58:52
Agreed. AoE2 looked great for its time, and that minor detail certainly helps. Though, I propose you can choose the texture number (from 1-5). Even though tilesets differ a lot, they still share at least some similarities, such as one being dirt-like, one being stone-road-like, etc, and then we can choose the texture most appropriate to our building.

From my understanding, all tilesets have the numbers the same types of textures put under each number. So, unless a tileset goes against this, we should be sweet :).  I think it's texture 3? That is the one we want? I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: ChupaReaper on 6 January 2011, 04:00:29
Or each faction could optionally have their own dirt textures, this way it adds to their impact on the map (a nice ice faction would freeze the place up for example).
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: will on 6 January 2011, 08:43:59
to what extent could some of this be built into the buildings using semi-transparent textures on the baes of them?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: ChupaReaper on 6 January 2011, 12:42:59
If you use a flat texture on the base of a building it would work, but what if this is built by a ramp or water, etc, having the texture attached to the model wouldn't be the best way to do this.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: will on 6 January 2011, 13:19:55
I think a multipronged solution might be a good compromise:

1) newer engines support a 'building' tile and use that for land under buildings

2) modellers should avoid sharp edges at the base of buildings by using transparency in textures and blending in a bit of dirt in the texture

This seems less impact to going for a gl shader solution?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: John.d.h on 6 January 2011, 19:04:02
Quote from: ChupaReaper on  6 January 2011, 12:42:59
If you use a flat texture on the base of a building it would work, but what if this is built by a ramp or water, etc, having the texture attached to the model wouldn't be the best way to do this.
Any rough/uneven terrain would screw it up, really.

Quote from: will on  6 January 2011, 13:19:55
2) modellers should avoid sharp edges at the base of buildings by using transparency in textures and blending in a bit of dirt in the texture
It's kinda hard to do that if you don't know what kind of dirt will be in the tileset.  Clay?  Sand?  Rich black silt?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: hailstone on 7 January 2011, 00:15:56
The alpha in unit textures is used for team colour. My suggestion is to detect if the tile has a building on it and blend in a texture with the terrain based on the unit, faction and/or tileset.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: will on 7 January 2011, 00:35:34
the alpha being used for team colour blending or otherwise is based on flags per mesh in the g3d?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: John.d.h on 7 January 2011, 00:56:04
Quote from: will on  7 January 2011, 00:35:34
the alpha being used for team colour blending or otherwise is based on flags per mesh in the g3d?
Meshes that are double-sided in Blender/3DS use alpha as team color in Glest, while meshes that are single-sided use alpha as transparency.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Mr War on 31 January 2011, 07:54:19
Using johns advice I was able to add some blending to the base of my building models. I used a shallow low-poly cone (4 faces) set to single sided mesh

It's limited by my drawing skills but proves the approach in glest

(http://i55.tinypic.com/2hxxaa1.jpg)
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: will on 31 January 2011, 08:09:49
so after and before, side by side:

(http://i55.tinypic.com/2hxxaa1.jpg)(http://i53.tinypic.com/2u8h1kp.jpg)

The bottom of the tower is especially pleasing!

Absolutely gorgeous, great!

Hopefully everybody retrofits their existing models.

In those pictures, the floatingness of the gold and stone is so jarring now!

Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Gabbe on 31 January 2011, 15:41:32
more shadows.
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: ChupaReaper on 1 February 2011, 16:26:09
I'd  still prefer blending done separate from the model, for example, what if the model is built next to water?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: ElimiNator on 1 February 2011, 16:54:49
Quote from: ChupaReaper on  1 February 2011, 16:26:09
I'd  still prefer blending done separate from the model, for example, what if the model is built next to water?
Or right on a hill?
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: Gabbe on 1 February 2011, 16:59:09
Quote from: ElimiNator on  1 February 2011, 16:54:49
Quote from: ChupaReaper on  1 February 2011, 16:26:09
I'd  still prefer blending done separate from the model, for example, what if the model is built next to water?
Or right on a hill?
can those appear in glest?

(http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/bjh/depart/curric/landforms/images/hill.gif)

me not think so..
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: will on 1 February 2011, 17:35:09
The ideas touted to somehow adjust the terrain under the building rather than have dirty splatter on the building itself seems unrefined at this point; I can't see a concrete way this might be easily done.

The approach of putting mud splatter on buildings and giving the a fringe - they can't be built so tightly together, but still - will work, even when built near water.  Think about it.

Its a big improvement, an easy win, I hope everyone adopts it whilst we're pondering the terrain modification approach.

(And I can't see the problem with a model that includes a hill if that hill starts within the bounds of the model and there is a fringe around it.  Someone will build one, and everyone will suddenly see the light.)
Title: Re: Blending the terrain underneath Buildings.
Post by: John.d.h on 1 February 2011, 19:26:20
Quote from: will on  1 February 2011, 17:35:09
(And I can't see the problem with a model that includes a hill if that hill starts within the bounds of the model and there is a fringe around it.  Someone will build one, and everyone will suddenly see the light.)
How would we get the hill to match the terrain of the tileset, though?  A big mound of brown dirt would stick out like a sore thumb in Hell or Desert.