Yeah, early morning brainfart, sorry corrected my previous post
One other thing to note is that since DXT compression doesn't handle large, smooth gradients very well, you might want to consider using an uncompressed format for the flowmap (otherwise you'll start noticing compression artifacts; this is especially noticeable if you're flowing normal maps in addition to the diffuse).
All the examples from Flow Mapper use TC_NormalmapUncompressed. The one that looks blocky is from the Portal 2 flow map pdf. Uncompressing it makes it not swirl though. I have no clue how to reproduce valves tiny flow maps so well like they did.
Use VectorDisplacement compression, it will quad-ruble the file size, but since UDK already has a hard time reading above 512/1024 UV coordinates in texture form, it shouldn't matter too much.
Hmm, TC_NormalmapUncompressed works fine for me. VectorDisplacement totally killed the file size, though! Went from 10.67mb for a 2k texture, to 85.33mb, lol.
@16bit: Hey I may be ignorant to all of the new updates for UDK but is Compression_BC5 the best option for all your normal map needs when running DX10? Seems to me it's the best result with the least cost, I read how it renders doesn't make much sense to me, I kind of understand. I guess what I'm asking are there any disadvantages to BC5? Right now I only see it on a flat plane but it looks pretty good to me.
Well BC5, like NormalUncompressed can't use a normals blue channel. For the purposes of a flow map, which doesn't use the blue channel this is fine. I don't think it makes the normal map smaller like NormalUncompressed does. Atleast that's what the UDN leads me to believe.
I have no clue how to reproduce valves tiny flow maps so well like they did.
I got curious and just did a bit of testing, and up to a certain point, I'm actually getting more visually-pleasing results with smaller flowmap textures. Try changing the lodbias with the material instance loaded to have a go of it. Go too small, and you can notice that you get large areas of flow in the same direction (as expected), but down to a mid-sized texture (in my case, lodbias 4 on a 2k texture) and you get much more pleasing results (I get a bit of shimmering with more "accurate" flow maps).
Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on the scale of the textures and tiling, as well as the scale they'll be viewed at.
Hmm, TC_NormalmapUncompressed works fine for me. VectorDisplacement totally killed the file size, though! Went from 10.67mb for a 2k texture, to 85.33mb, lol.
My 4096 normalmap (BC5) is 21.33 MB, but my 4096 grayscale AO map is 85.33 MB... Explain that :S
But yeah, BC5 is usually the best option unless you are really concerned about file sizes. Although in my opinion a normalmap with half the resolution but BC5 compression still looks better than the default DXT1.
There's a changelist on that page, but I'll sum up the big ones:
-Now you can load flowmap textures (tweak existing ones, or continue working where you left off last)
-toggles for flipping R and G channels, or swizzling RG -> RB
-optional wrapping mode, with tiling preview
I have a suggestion. Can you do flow strength by a value instead how fast you move the mouse? If part of the river needs to move fast, I have to move my mouse fast, but its easy to to mess up other parts of the flow map by overshooting where I need to go.
16bit: That's a good suggestion, I'll see about adding that into the next update, thanks!
btw, I realised that I'd zipped up the build after I'd done a test run, and forgotten to get rid of the generated defaults.ini file (which keeps track of your last-used paths). I've since uploaded a corrected zip, but if you've already downloaded, navigate to FlowMapPainter_Data in the installed directory, and delete defaults.ini. It'll regenerate it, so it defaults to the FlowMapPainter_Data directory.
This is awesome, really user friendly ... don't suppose there's any chance getting the unity shader you've used? I can't seem to find any and my shader making skills are less than none unfortunately
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but for anyone interested in flowmap painting, Mari 1.6 has just been shipped that has 3D flowmap painting and visualisation.
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but for anyone interested in flowmap painting, Mari 1.6 has just been shipped that has 3D flowmap painting and visualisation.
thanks for that awesome tool. Working on 2d/spritesheet based animated games,
would be interesting to render the viewport outcome in many separated images.
Maybe with a saving path and a "type in" a field for the number of "frames/images" - to keep it simple
LoTekK any chance you can just release the source code for this ( open source it ? )
Main issue I'm having is that I would love to be able to control the strength of the flow using a slider instead of the speed at which you draw the stroke... it gets kind of hard to get a fast flowing and detailed map ... Or am I missing something I have strength set to 100% all the time
Replies
corrected my previous post
One other thing to note is that since DXT compression doesn't handle large, smooth gradients very well, you might want to consider using an uncompressed format for the flowmap (otherwise you'll start noticing compression artifacts; this is especially noticeable if you're flowing normal maps in addition to the diffuse).
This is your standard normal compression. It's very blocky and pretty unconvincing.
It clocks out at 2.00 Mb of memory.
This is normal uncompressed. It looks pretty convincing and checks out at 8.00 Mb of memory
Here is Compression_BC5 for our DX10 users. It looks nice as well. It only uses 4.00 Mb of memory.
Here is the Vector Displacement Compression. It looks exactly like the normalmap uncompressed option. It uses a whopping 16.00 Mb of memory.
If it came down to it I would probably use BC5 if more users used DX10, if not, then NormalUncompressed.
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NormalMapFormats.html
Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on the scale of the textures and tiling, as well as the scale they'll be viewed at.
My 4096 normalmap (BC5) is 21.33 MB, but my 4096 grayscale AO map is 85.33 MB... Explain that :S
But yeah, BC5 is usually the best option unless you are really concerned about file sizes. Although in my opinion a normalmap with half the resolution but BC5 compression still looks better than the default DXT1.
Also LoTekk I love your face! OMG this tool is so flipping fantastic.
http://teckartist.com/?page_id=107
There's a changelist on that page, but I'll sum up the big ones:
-Now you can load flowmap textures (tweak existing ones, or continue working where you left off last)
-toggles for flipping R and G channels, or swizzling RG -> RB
-optional wrapping mode, with tiling preview
Get it while it's hot
*downloads*
16bit: That's a good suggestion, I'll see about adding that into the next update, thanks!
btw, I realised that I'd zipped up the build after I'd done a test run, and forgotten to get rid of the generated defaults.ini file (which keeps track of your last-used paths). I've since uploaded a corrected zip, but if you've already downloaded, navigate to FlowMapPainter_Data in the installed directory, and delete defaults.ini. It'll regenerate it, so it defaults to the FlowMapPainter_Data directory.
[vv]55865390[/vv]
More information here
amazing, you blow me away with every release.
thanks for that awesome tool. Working on 2d/spritesheet based animated games,
would be interesting to render the viewport outcome in many separated images.
Maybe with a saving path and a "type in" a field for the number of "frames/images" - to keep it simple
Main issue I'm having is that I would love to be able to control the strength of the flow using a slider instead of the speed at which you draw the stroke... it gets kind of hard to get a fast flowing and detailed map ... Or am I missing something I have strength set to 100% all the time
I sent you a private message with more details.