UE3/UDK - Texture/material in a particle system producing hard edges on intersections

Shnayke

Hey all,
So I'm trying to teach myself how to make my own waterfall by stumbling through the material editor and the particle system editor. Here's something I have for the mist:



As you can see, where those particles intersect the BSP, obvious hard edges can be seen.

I followed hournces' tutorial here to the letter:
http://www.hourences.com/tutorials-ue3-cascade/

Meaning the texture in question is this:


Any pointers greatly appreciated!

Also I took a peek through UE3's particle systems for pre-made waterfalls, and it seems that they have static mesh waterfalls and waterfall textures you can apply to sheets. The particle systems are by default used solely for the misting effect at the base of the waterfall. Do you guys know how to get some good textures to create a particle system for the waterfall itself? I've seen some great examples online.

NoisyMonk

I believe this is commonly known as alpha clipping or edge clipping. It's likely Hournces would have had this issue as well with the material in his tutorial, he simply just doesn't show that scenario.

I can't say for certain, but this tutorial may have some solutions for you.

imbueFX

Try adjusting the bias value to something much higher (like 50) in your DBA expression.

imbueFX

Also here's a good video on an alternate method that is much cheaper on instruction count:

http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/912699-Soft-Edge-material-for-particles-(material-nodes-overview-included)?highlight=cascade

Shnayke

Thanks for the tips guys! I'll try those out

imbueFX

Sorry I think I gave you backwards advice (I always mix the #s up!)

The bias multiplier on the DBA expression should have the higher #, the bias should be between 0-1 space.