Blend layer question

tehrobster2

Hey guys this is my first time posting on the crydev forums, So I was wondering if anyone knows if it possible to use the blend layer to have bricks show on a concrete mesh, kinda like in the picture. I thought about trying to do it with decals, but I dont know if I would be able to fake the depth better if I used a blend layer. Thank you.

ParoXum

If you want such a sharp stop beween materials and depth it may be better to model the transition directly.

tehrobster2

Hey thanks for the comment, Yeah I thought about that to, But I am currently working on a scene and I am trying to do it modular, and some one recommend using a blend shader, http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95121&highlight=bridge.

tehrobster2

So I have been reading the documentation on the blend layer, and I just have trouble wrapping my head around a few things. So I have a tiling texture that I want to break up by using the blend layer, and I have multiple meshes that I want to use it on. So from what I read on it you use an opacity map to show where you want your second mesh to show, so does that I mean that I have to create a new mat for each mesh since each one uses a separate opacity map ?

P

Im in the midst of wrapping my head around the Blend layer my self and as far as i can tell your suppose to use the same opacity map on all your meshes and control the variation between them by adding different alpha color values to the vertices. That's at least the more efficient way of doing it as opposed to the meshes having individual materials.

Relevant:http://eat3d.com/blog/eat-3d/3-new-dvd-releases-cryengine-3-materials-vol-1-3-introduction-and-application

iniside

tehrobster2 wrote: »

So I have been reading the documentation on the blend layer, and I just have trouble wrapping my head around a few things. So I have a tiling texture that I want to break up by using the blend layer, and I have multiple meshes that I want to use it on. So from what I read on it you use an opacity map to show where you want your second mesh to show, so does that I mean that I have to create a new mat for each mesh since each one uses a separate opacity map ?

Yes... And no.
Yes if you want accurate details you need heightmap of you main texture (for example bricks). Fortunetly the heightmap do not have to be super accurate (of better hm will yield better results), but one genrated from let say CrazyBump will be enough. Remember to Vertex Paint your meshes, or Blend Shader results will look very bad. So for each unique texture you need unique material.
Of course you can reuse same material on every mesh if it fits.
And no. You can use generic Perlin Noise map. It will work fine for more flat surfaces, like plasters, tight bricks and so on. You can reuse it as much as you want.

Regadless of above Blend Shader loose a lot of it power because we can't paint vertex alpha directly in snadbox for more unique look.