Height maps

[metik]

Looking at the E3 video in the tech demo, the man said you can alter terrain dynamically using height maps.

When modeling large outside areas,
instead of u having to model poly by poly the whole place.

Has valve said anything about modeling an outside area with a height map in hammer rather than those other third party plugin things that always seam to leave glitches in the map?

I tried emailing them but they havent replied. Im wondering if u guys have read something i havent.

 

[trepid_jon]

They've said something about setting up the displacement map in hammer. Displacment mapping and height mapping are pretty similar. I imagine hammer will let you do all the stuff they keep mentioning.

 

[derby]

Yeah I think in thsi case hieght maps and displacement maps are the same thing. Just get a regualr brush, and apply a hieght map, as well as a texture. The height maps will just be bitmaps.

 

[dawdler]

Yeah, displacement mapping is the height map... It would be quite some work to do it by hand
Saw a pic showing how you could set how many triangles (per meter or whatever) and intersections in the editor, so my guess is that this along with a huge mesh and a displacement map is all that is needed to make big terrain...

 

[metik]

hehe, that will make it a hell of alot easier as long as u can apply a "material" to all the surfaces of the height map easily :-p.

 

[smilez]

I'm planning to make a small mod all by myself (coding, models, textures, sounds) set on a tropical island where you can surf and dynamic meshes would be perfect for making waves which break and form pipes. I just hope the engine can handle it

 

[dawdler]

You cant form a pipe using displacement mapping... The water type animation only moves the vertices up or down (or if its a shader, all over the place, but that's not the actual vertice that move ). Its impossible to form a complex wave out of it, as it would mean stretching the faces to the extreme. And thus create a very jagged wave. Small waves work though. And even relativly high (take TRAOD, the water was HIGH SEA for gods sake, in a 4x4x4m pool ), but there is an obvious limit for stretching it.

 

[smilez]

Damn oh well. What if the wave was a moving entity with a dynamic alpha texture? Most likely a cylinder where the texture rolls up the side while the other side remains transparent?

 

[ferd]

what do you mean with hightmapping? making high maps? ?

 

[smilez]

You know in the tech demo how the ground changed dynamically? That was using a hight map.

I just though of other idea for my mod. In the tech demo there was gordon made out of water. What if I made a few wave models and just made them out of water and put them on the water surface moving towards the shore? Then all my problems would be solved