Texture Maps

By now you should have your displacement map fully tweaked and just the way you want it. If you complete this section then decide you want to edit the terrain (move a jump, ect) then you will have to make the texture map all over again. I use the  dillo auto generate action to see which textures I like/dislike while working on the disp. map. So at this point you know what your on and off track texture samples will be, and have put a copy of each texture in all 3 texture folders. .

1:  Open up your project in Dillo.  Uncheck "show spline" . Go to the texture tab and set it up like below.  Here we have "tan1" in On Track, Off Track, Edge Track and number of ruts set to 0. Leave the other settings alone. Click the Apply button, then export it to your project folder. I named this one  tantex#1.tga  ( you have to put .tga in the filename)

2:  Now do the same thing again but with your Off track texture. I named this  greentex#1.tga.

3: Open your displacement map in Photoshop. Resize it to 512x512.

4:  Open your On Track texture you exported from Dillo. Resize it to 512x512.

5: Press Ctrl/A on your keyboard, this selects all. Now Ctrl/C, this copy's the selection.  Go back to your disp. map and hit Ctrl/V, this pastes the texture map on top of your disp map. Your Layers should look like below.

6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 but with the Off track textures (greentex#1.tga)  With Layer 1 selected, paste your Off track selection. Your layers should look like below.

7: This is the cool part. Select your eraser tool to 100% opacity and 30 pixel with a soft edge. Now "paint" your track path. Your erasing the green textures showing the dirt underneath. Take your time and carefully paint your path.

7a: You can check your accuracy by hiding the texture layers to see your displacement map underneath.

8: Here is the result.

9: Not bad eh? But we're not done. To make the surrounding area more interesting, we'll paint some other textures on it. Do this with the pattern stamp tool. There's not much for patterns standard with photoshop, so we need to define one. I found a rock texture sample off 3dcafe.com ....Open, then select all, go to edit/define pattern. With the pattern stamp tool in hand (not that tool, lol) go up to your patterns pallete to select what you just defined. Set the opacity to 20%, be careful going any higher.....it will paint right over the shadows and hide the terrain . Below is the result.

9a: Experiment and practice to get the results your after. You can make several texture maps in dillo of different colors and paste multi layers over your disp. map. Then erase as much or little of each to your farts desire. Same with the pattern stamp tool. At this time you might want to try this texture map without going any further. Tis' up to you.

10. Next we will burn in some tire marks (some call them ruts) Before that you'll have to resize the texture map (above) to 960x960 and save. I named it texmap#1.tga (24bit) Open it again and select your pencil at 2 pixels, hard edge. Pick a tan color from the pallete. Make a new layer, and start drawing tire marks.

11. When done,  change your layer properties to 30% opacity, and multiply. Going above 30% is a bit too much for the above textures. Results may vary.

12. Here's  shot of what it looks like after.

13:  The next part is optional. Flatten the layer. Select your burn tool, set it to 30% and size 35/soft edge. Burn the path near the previously made tire marks. This darkens the center area of the track path, like below.

TIPS.

Make lots of exported colored texture maps. You'll have lots of choices when erasing different textures over your displacement map.

Make a copy of your displacement map before doing all the above. I always make backups of project files as I work on a track.

Those of you who have 3D Studio Max can still render the texture map if Dillo generated shadows are not enough.

Take notes on what works and what doesn't. Saves unwanted hassles later.

Zoom in on your map to erase/paint with detail.

I find it best to work on 1 texture layer at a time, going back and forth erasing different layers makes a mess!

Optional; when your finished with a layer, merge down onto the next. (Ctrl/E)   

Again, experiment and practice. Its all trial and error and your own judgment. Now you see why we want to have the disp. map DONE. Why do all this work making a texture map only to have to change a jump/berm/hill ..whatever. Hopefully the above will help you and give good results. Let me know your thoughts on the message board. Thanks.

[created by WWW_wfo on Sept 2 2001]