texture blending - help?

[Clueless Newbie]

After I released Woden's Pit, I was advised to try texture blending to make the nature parts of my maps look a little more realistic. Arboria was given as en example of how to do this. Here's the shader used in Arboria for texture blending:

Code: Select all

textures/arboria/rockmod
{
   qer_editorimage textures/arboria/rockmod.tga
   q3map_lightmapSampleOffset 8
   q3map_globalTexture
   q3map_nonplanar
   q3map_shadeangle 110
   q3map_alphaMod dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.95 )
   q3map_tcmod scale 1.7 1.7
   q3map_tcMod rotate 30

   {
      map textures/arboria/rockwall.tga   // Primary
   }

   {
      map textures/arboria/mossfloor.tga   // Secondary
      blendFunc GL_SRC_ALPHA GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA     
      alphaGen vertex
   }

   {
      map $lightmap
      blendFunc GL_DST_COLOR GL_ZERO
   }
}

I did a cut and paste into my shader, renamed the textures, and ended up with this:

Code: Select all

textures/rockyhills/dirtmod
{
   qer_editorimage textures/rockyhills/dirtmod.tga
   q3map_lightmapSampleOffset 8
   q3map_globalTexture
   q3map_nonplanar
   q3map_shadeangle 110
   q3map_alphaMod dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.45 )
   q3map_tcmod scale 1.7 1.7
   q3map_tcMod rotate 30

   {
      map textures/rockyhills/dirtground.tga   // Primary
   }

   {
      map textures/rockyhills/leafground.tga   // Secondary
      blendFunc GL_SRC_ALPHA GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA     
      alphaGen vertex
   }

   {
      map $lightmap
      blendFunc GL_DST_COLOR GL_ZERO
   }
}

I applied the dirtmod.tga texture to the meshes (and a test-brush). But what I get after compilation is just the leafground.tga texture. Is there something wrong with my shader? Or is the problem in the textures?

[torus]

OpenGL 2 shaders have to be enabled -- are they?

[SavageX]

On Macs OpenGL 2 shaders are disabled due to unreliable drivers.

[torus]

Um, they are? I thought that wasn't the case since... 2.3? OpenGL 2 works just fine on my Mac.

[Clueless Newbie]

OpenGL 2 shaders have to be enabled -- are they?

According to my Nexuiz settings, yes. And the blending in arboria works.

[tZork]

Code: Select all

textures/rockyhills/dirtmod
{
   qer_editorimage textures/rockyhills/dirtmod.tga
   q3map_lightmapSampleOffset 8
   q3map_globalTexture
   q3map_nonplanar
   q3map_shadeangle 110
   q3map_alphaMod dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.45 )


You could try a sharper falloff here, I usually go with ~ 0 0 0.95.

Code: Select all

   q3map_tcmod scale 1.7 1.7
   q3map_tcMod rotate 30

   {
      map textures/rockyhills/dirtground.tga   // Primary
   }

   {
      map textures/rockyhills/leafground.tga   // Secondary
      blendFunc GL_SRC_ALPHA GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA     
      alphaGen vertex
   }

   {
      map $lightmap
      blendFunc GL_DST_COLOR GL_ZERO
   }
}

The rest looks fine, did you add the .shader's file name to shaderlist.txt? You can also use alpfa fade brushes to see if blending is working at all.

[divVerent]

dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.45 )

Indeed, that is wrong. This vector should really always be a unit vector (like 0 0 1), or you may get very unusual results (namely, one of the textures never being completely used).

In your case, one of the textures gets at most 20% used, as you are using dotProduct2 which squares the result.

[Clueless Newbie]

You could try a sharper falloff here, I usually go with ~ 0 0 0.95.

I started with 0.95, but tried other values when it didn't work. 0.45 was the value I happened to have when I copied and pasted into the OP.

The rest looks fine, did you add the .shader's file name to shaderlist.txt?

Yep.

You can also use alpfa fade brushes to see if blending is working at all.

How do I do that?

[Clueless Newbie]

dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.45 )

Indeed, that is wrong. This vector should really always be a unit vector (like 0 0 1), or you may get very unusual results (namely, one of the textures never being completely used).

I tried 0 0 1 after reading your post. Made no difference.

Could the problem be that I'm using MacRadiant?

[tZork]

dotproduct2 ( 0 0 0.45 )

Indeed, that is wrong. This vector should really always be a unit vector (like 0 0 1), or you may get very unusual results (namely, one of the textures never being completely used).

I tried 0 0 1 after reading your post. Made no difference.

Could the problem be that I'm using MacRadiant?

Maybe. Are you using the q3map2 that came with it? in that case its possible its hopelessly outdated.

Have a look here: http://www.simonoc.com/pages/articles/terrain1_1.htm for more info in terrain blends and alpha fade brushwork.