Texture Transitions/Blends

Mr-Brett · 16-12-2011, 05:52 AM

I'm working on an environment scene at the moment but I've come to a point where I need to sort out how textures transition. Blends are ok but not very natural, in my scene I have textures that can't be blended either so I need a different solution.

I can only really think of 3 possible solutions:

1. Rough edges on the texture, which would be simple but not very effective and impossible for tiling textures.

2. Alternative versions of textures with different transitions, effective but very expensive.

3. A separate texture sheet with different transition on it, mapped to joining polys between textures.

Any other ideas or opinions?

Mist · 16-12-2011, 06:47 AM

Blends can work ok for things like grass to patchy grass, mud to gravel etc, remember Driver.

I'd probably do number 3, have a separate T page dedicated to trasitional textures. It would mean another loop of polys, but it means the transitions would look good, and polys are pretty cheap anyway.

But, for your chicane I don't see why the chicane fading to mud wouldnt work, as you'd imaging alot of dust and mud getting pushed around.

Mr-Brett · 16-12-2011, 07:22 AM

Hey Mist, long time no see

Yeah I think blends are fine for most natural terrain transitions. The chicane doesn't really meet the dirt/grass, I was trying to see if I could use a default dirt texture to avoid the transition problem but it doesn't really work so please ignore that.

I was trying to not make this question too specific to my current scene but I guess it was unavoidable

Mist · 16-12-2011, 11:39 AM

Hi Brett

I guess the main question is if you want the transition to be gradual (ie blending) or a very clear distinction.

The only other way I can think of that you didn't mention in your opening post is alphas. For a wii game I worked on, all the grassy areas had a grass alpha row of pollys. It pretty much gave the same result as a dedicated transition texture. It certainly worked well for our game, which was cartoony, so I'm not sure how it would work for realistic textures.

Tak and the Guardians of Gross (Wii) Playthrough #35 - YouTube

About 28 to 35 seconds in, the path to grass is blended with a line of grass polies that overlap the path with an alpha.

16-12-2011, 05:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
Mr-Brett Senior Member 198 - 26	Texture Transitions/Blends I'm working on an environment scene at the moment but I've come to a point where I need to sort out how textures transition. Blends are ok but not very natural, in my scene I have textures that can't be blended either so I need a different solution. I can only really think of 3 possible solutions: 1. Rough edges on the texture, which would be simple but not very effective and impossible for tiling textures. 2. Alternative versions of textures with different transitions, effective but very expensive. 3. A separate texture sheet with different transition on it, mapped to joining polys between textures. Any other ideas or opinions? __________________ Portfolio

16-12-2011, 07:22 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mr-Brett Senior Member 198 - 26	Hey Mist, long time no see Yeah I think blends are fine for most natural terrain transitions. The chicane doesn't really meet the dirt/grass, I was trying to see if I could use a default dirt texture to avoid the transition problem but it doesn't really work so please ignore that. I was trying to not make this question too specific to my current scene but I guess it was unavoidable __________________ Portfolio

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16-12-2011, 06:47 AM	#2 (permalink)
Mist Senior Member 356 - 64	Blends can work ok for things like grass to patchy grass, mud to gravel etc, remember Driver. I'd probably do number 3, have a separate T page dedicated to trasitional textures. It would mean another loop of polys, but it means the transitions would look good, and polys are pretty cheap anyway. But, for your chicane I don't see why the chicane fading to mud wouldnt work, as you'd imaging alot of dust and mud getting pushed around.

16-12-2011, 11:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
Mist Senior Member 356 - 64	Hi Brett I guess the main question is if you want the transition to be gradual (ie blending) or a very clear distinction. The only other way I can think of that you didn't mention in your opening post is alphas. For a wii game I worked on, all the grassy areas had a grass alpha row of pollys. It pretty much gave the same result as a dedicated transition texture. It certainly worked well for our game, which was cartoony, so I'm not sure how it would work for realistic textures. Tak and the Guardians of Gross (Wii) Playthrough #35 - YouTube About 28 to 35 seconds in, the path to grass is blended with a line of grass polies that overlap the path with an alpha.