Surface Types - Revision history

MoP: /* Surface Type Maps */ fixed links to surfacetree

2007-11-06T14:06:45Z

‎Surface Type Maps: fixed links to surfacetree

MoP: /* Surface Type Maps */ fixed editsheets link

2007-11-06T13:59:26Z

‎Surface Type Maps: fixed editsheets link

MoP at 09:39, 17 October 2007

2007-10-17T09:39:33Z

New page

Surface types are used to specify unique material properties for interaction with collision detection and the game code.<includeonly>

{{main|Surface Types}}</includeonly><noinclude>

= Surface Type Declaration =
A surface type is defined by a declaration. These are stored in ''.stp'' files in the ''base/surfacetypes'' directory.

== Keywords ==
{| style="border: 1px solid #AAAAAA;" width="100%"
| valign="top" style="background: #F0F0F0;" | type <string:surface type>
| valign="top" | Surface type name, defaults to the name of the declaration
|}

= Valid Surface Types in ETQW =
For reference, here is a list of surface types that can be used in [[materials]], [[texturesheets]] and terrain STMs.

'''carpet'''
'''concrete'''
'''dirt'''
'''dusty_road'''
'''flesh'''
'''forcefield'''
'''glass'''
'''grass'''
'''gravel'''
'''ice'''
'''leaves'''
'''liquid'''
'''metal'''
'''metal_thick'''
'''moss'''
'''mud'''
'''paper'''
'''pavement'''
'''pine'''
'''plastic'''
'''sand'''
'''snow'''
'''stone'''
'''water'''
'''water_interior''' ''(basically the same as water, but has smaller splash effects so they don't look weird in small areas)''
'''wood'''
'''wood_thick'''

= Surface Type Maps =
A surface type map can be compared to a special texture format with each texel pointing at a certain surface type. They can be generated for regular textures using [[editSheets]], or for terrains by using [[megaGen]].

== Material Integration ==
A material by default has only one surface type, defined by the ''surfaceType'' global keyword. This can be overridden by using the global keyword ''surfaceTypeMap'' and pointing it at a ''.stm'' file. Whenever a trace is made from the code to a surface using the stm value, the impact point gets looked up in the surface type map, and the local surface type gets returned.

== Terrain Editor Integration ==
In [[editWorld]], each node of the [[surface tree]] has a 'surface type' and a 'surface type threshold' property. The type is a string value which should point to a valid surface type declaration. The threshold is used in combination with the distribution mask of the node to determine where this node defines its surface type. The surface type of a node will be written to the surface type map when the grayscale value of the distribution map is greater or equal to the threshold value (in a 0 to 1 range).

For roads, each road template stages has a 'surfaceType', 'surfaceTypeThreshold' and a 'surfaceTypeBlend' key, which define the behaviour of surface type distribution on a per-stage basis.

== MegaGen Integration ==
To generate a .stm file, you have to run [[megaGen]] on your [[surface tree]] template with the ''-stm'' commandline parameter. The -notex parameter can be used to skip the actual rendering of the normal terrain texture, as shown here:

'''megagen -notex -stm <mapname.sft>'''

[[Category:Art]]
[[Category:Level Design]]
[[Category:Textures]]
</noinclude>

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 == Terrain Editor Integration ==
-In [[editWorld]], each node of the [[surface tree]] has a 'surface type' and a 'surface type threshold' property. The type is a string value which should point to a valid surface type declaration. The threshold is used in combination with the distribution mask of the node to determine where this node defines its surface type. The surface type of a node will be written to the surface type map when the grayscale value of the distribution map is greater or equal to the threshold value (in a 0 to 1 range).
+In [[editWorld]], each node of the [[Surface Tree]] has a 'surface type' and a 'surface type threshold' property. The type is a string value which should point to a valid surface type declaration. The threshold is used in combination with the distribution mask of the node to determine where this node defines its surface type. The surface type of a node will be written to the surface type map when the grayscale value of the distribution map is greater or equal to the threshold value (in a 0 to 1 range).
 For roads, each road template stages has a 'surfaceType', 'surfaceTypeThreshold' and a 'surfaceTypeBlend' key, which define the behaviour of surface type distribution on a per-stage basis.
 == MegaGen Integration ==
-To generate a .stm file, you have to run [[megaGen]] on your [[surface tree]] template with the ''-stm'' commandline parameter. The -notex parameter can be used to skip the actual rendering of the normal terrain texture, as shown here:
+To generate a .stm file, you have to run [[megaGen]] on your [[Surface Tree]] template with the ''-stm'' commandline parameter. The -notex parameter can be used to skip the actual rendering of the normal terrain texture, as shown here:
   '''megagen -notex -stm <mapname.sft>'''

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 = Surface Type Maps =
-A surface type map can be compared to a special texture format with each texel pointing at a certain surface type. They can be generated for regular textures using [[editSheets]], or for terrains by using [[megaGen]].
+A surface type map can be compared to a special texture format with each texel pointing at a certain surface type. They can be generated for regular textures using [[The Atlas Editor|editSheets]], or for terrains by using [[megaGen]].
 == Material Integration ==