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Howto:Regional texturing: Difference between revisions
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* The color of both coastal areas and (in ALS) inland waters is determined at high shader quality by the global water depth map <b>/Textures/Globe/ocean_depth_1.png</b>. In coastal areas, the color encodes the seafloor color and the alpha channel depth, for inland waters the color directly affects water color. Do any modification to the depth map with care! | * The color of both coastal areas and (in ALS) inland waters is determined at high shader quality by the global water depth map <b>/Textures/Globe/ocean_depth_1.png</b>. In coastal areas, the color encodes the seafloor color and the alpha channel depth, for inland waters the color directly affects water color. Do any modification to the depth map with care! | ||
== Guidelines == | |||
To create a good regional texture definition set, make sure you take care of and test the following issues: | |||
* All texture sheets need to be GPL compatible - really. Google Earth, no matter how easy, is not acceptable as a source. Be prepared to bring proof of origin before anything is committed. | |||
* Do not assume everyone uses FG like you do. For instance, in some regions of the world, it would look most compelling to assign a sand color to forest landclasses and represent the forest only explicitly via random vegetation. This is a big no, because a user who does not run random vegetation then never recognizes the forest. Any user, no matter how he uses FG, should have the chance to use a VFR map, and that means he has to recognize a forest as forest and a dry lake as a dry lake no matter his rendering settings. | |||
* Test your texture scheme at different altitudes and visibility ranges - what looks very compelling 1500 ft from the ground does not necessarily from 36.000 ft. Usually tiling is much more of a problem from high altitude than from low altitude. Under ALS procedural texturing, tiling should be near absent in a well-done texturing scheme. Under the other renderers it cannot really be avoided, but aim to give compelling visuals to Rembrandt and classic renderer users nevertheless. | |||
* Test your scheme for autumn coloring (if applicable) and snow cover, see whether you get consistent results under all conditions, adapt where applicable. | |||
* If you modify an existing region, or make a sub-region of an existing region, find the maintainer of the region and discuss your proposed changes <i>beforehand</i> and again after you have made them. If someone worked before you, chances are he had a plan, try to work within that plan. Any subregion you define should blend smoothly into the larger region, not create a sudden jarring change in visuals. | |||
* Test your scheme in at least five different locations within the defined area. Often changes which look well in one spot don't at all some 300 km distant. The scheme should work across the whole area - if it can't be made to work, the area is probably too large and sub-dividing it would be the better option. | |||
* Have patience and persistence - creating a good regional texture scheme means balancing many different pros and cons against each other. Having a single stunningly textured landclass is pointless if the blend of the whole region doesn't work. | |||
* Conserve server bandwidth and harddisk space - try re-using existing textures where feasible, add your own only when needed. Often hue and contrast changes to existing textures work surprisingly well. | |||
== Troubleshooting == | == Troubleshooting == | ||