totally random texture thread

    Nah 1024 is cool, it is for source.

    It is a singleplayer level, so I will put pretty many highres textures into it.

    Look nice minos, like the dirty version.

    Quote from Minotauro

    Yeah its large but if you use only a few textures like that it won't lag I think (HL2)

    All decent engines can handle 1024^2, most also above this. Think of the gman you see when you boot up the HL2SP campaign, he got a 2048^2 skin.

    It's not so much about what an engine can handle. It's more about what the computer can handle that is supposed to run it. A 1024x1024 texture takes up 3 MB of memory. Add to that specular and normal map and you have 9 MB for one material.

    Just because you technically CAN use 1024s doesn't mean you should. At least not all over the place.

    HL2 uses some very high-res skins for their characters and some of their big static meshes because most of their level textures are 512s, so its a good tradeoff.

    Quote from kleinluka

    It's not so much about what an engine can handle. It's more about what the computer can handle that is supposed to run it. A 1024x1024 texture takes up 3 MB of memory.

    Does a 1024^2 texture always take up 3 MB of memory? What about stuff like compressionlevel(Dx3,5, etc.)? Is 3MB just the average or what?

    Quote from kleinluka

    It's not so much about what an engine can handle. It's more about what the computer can handle that is supposed to run it. A 1024x1024 texture takes up 3 MB of memory. Add to that specular and normal map and you have 9 MB for one material.Just because you technically CAN use 1024s doesn't mean you should. At least not all over the place.

    HL2 uses some very high-res skins for their characters and some of their big static meshes because most of their level textures are 512s, so its a good tradeoff.

    What the? I was under the impression that the skins were no bigger than 512x512 ! Then again I only ran HL2 medium so it's not like I'd actually notice such high-res details even if it does still look really nice.

    Speaking of 1024 textures, I remember trying to run SOF2 on the highest settings, most of the textures are that big and running it was a nightmare! I don't think you need to go any bigger than 512, because that size is a perfect balance between high-res detail and memory management. But hey I still map for HL1, what do I know?

    Quote from von*ferret

    very nice mate. Maybe too much bump and shinyness though?

    Quote from Evert

    not sure, the bump looks fine, I only thinks that it has got a little too much specular.

    Quote from kleinluka

    Why is that? As long as you don't go overboard with the bumpyness and use it with a not so hysterically bright specular map you can get awesome results.

    Quote from Zacker

    Bricks should for sure be bump mapped, as Klein says you just need to be very careful if you also want to apply a spec map.

    Quote from ginsengavenger

    to be perfectly honest I don't feel the bump&spec improves the bricks or the archway, it just makes the whole scene feel plastic. in most situations the lighting on bricks will be pretty predictable and might as well be done directly in the texture. the concrete on the other hand looks good, though it could be subtler with less depth.h2 i like your textures a lot. maybe some shading under the broken plaster in the first one and some less aggressive darkening at the bottom of the next two?

    Quote from kleinluka

    OK look guys, you are getting some things mixed up here.Normal maps have nothing to do with shinyness. All they do is draw X Y and Z vector information from a texture (the normal map) to a flat surface which then reacts to specularity on the texture. As long as you don't overkill your specular and you make your normal map subtle enough to avoid having too much bumpyness but strong enough to show that it has depth, then there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't use normal maps. I do this every day and I know that my work wouldn't look half as nice if I wasn't using normal maps. So before you say normal mapping sucks and makes everything look like shiny crap.... learn to use it right.

    Quote from st0lve

    normal maps are ok, but all that glossy shit makes me wanna puke (like HL2).

    There has been no such thing as a specualar or gloss map added to those textures. This is pure bumpmapping.

    The reason why the brick shines so much is cause I happend to set the sun in a very sharp angle and also set the value to like 1500 in strenght, brightness.

    Normal maps sure can make things look wet and shiny, just look at my example, it has to do with the light level, as you all know, everything comes down to shadows and light.

    A bricktexture, should always have a bumpmap, of course not as sharp as this, it was more to illustrate the difference of the pictures. If you have a strong and sharp shadow engine/lightmap, a bumpmap will make a slight difference, epsec if you have dynamic lights cast from eg. a flashlight. Parallax won't do the shadows, only the height difference.

    Sorry for me not answering before. Forgott...

    Quote from Hipshot

    A bricktexture, should always have a bumpmap,

    You've already stated that, and I think you've found a point of contention

    Perhaps you should post a more reasonable use because this is rather unrestrained and looks pretty bad IMHO. I've only looked at a few but none of the HL2 brick textures I've seen have used normal maps.

    Quote from ginsengavenger

    You've already stated that, and I think you've found a point of contention

    Perhaps you should post a more reasonable use because this is rather unrestrained and looks pretty bad IMHO. I've only looked at a few but none of the HL2 brick textures I've seen have used normal maps.

    You don't agree with this part?

    "If you have a strong and sharp shadow engine/lightmap, a bumpmap will make a slight difference, epsec if you have dynamic lights cast from eg. a flashlight. Parallax won't do the shadows, only the height difference. "

    That is a factual statement, I can't and won't dispute it

    The question is whether that "slight difference" is worth the time spent building the normal map or the rendering overhead involved. If you're making a horror game that is close quartered and very dark and moody and heavy on lighting effects, fine it may be worth the investment. But I don't think most applications warrant it and I certainly don't think that every brick texture needs to be bumpmapped.

    Quote from ginsengavenger

    That is a factual statement, I can't and won't dispute it The question is whether that "slight difference" is worth the time spent building the normal map or the rendering overhead involved. If you're making a horror game that is close quartered and very dark and moody and heavy on lighting effects, fine it may be worth the investment. But I don't think most applications warrant it and I certainly don't think that every brick texture needs to be bumpmapped.

    Of course not, since there are 'flat' brickwalls. But saying that a normal map isn't needed at all, and would not make any use is also wrong.

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