Blending 2 tileble maps in 3ds max

SunSetter

Hello everyone,
I've decided to make this test, abandoned military base.
I've modeled, mapped, but now, at texturing part(applying maps), I'm having problems.
So, the texture should be at max of 256*256. and for the terrain(which is not mapped in 0,1, because I want to use tiles) I thought it would be better to tile 2 textures and blend them with the vertex paint. which works, but only when I'm rendering. The scene should be viewed in viewport.
I tried some standard material and mix maps, again with the vertex paint as mask, and this time its showing in viewport, but everything is washed out or just darker.
And I'm having trouble figuring out how I should combine different textures, shaders and uv channel with a full scene generated light map.(I see that are some post around here with lightmap and I will read them now).
My question is : How do I texture the terrain, how do I blend 2 maps(I don't want to use an 256*256 mask for the hole terrain, its bigger, and it will look bad, right?)
Thanks

kdm3d

Max viewports... ugh.

They're not very good at showing such things. Sounds like you'r doing it right for export into an engine.

Make sure you're displaying the material as a direct-x material, other than that...

Justin Meisse

Check out Crazybutcher's vertex blend shader: here

Rhinokey and I used it at Mythic because we did a ridiculous amount of vertex blending

SunSetter

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

Check out Crazybutcher's vertex blend shader: here

Rhinokey and I used it at Mythic because we did a ridiculous amount of vertex blending

thanks justin,
now I have a very stupid question . I'm to deliver this test for a company who's looking artists to hire. And they said to deliver the scene in 3ds max 9 format. Can this shader work with that version of max and if yes, how can I export/save the files so they can be opened in their max 9(I feel that's the stupid question ever)?
thanks

Eric Chadwick

Unfortunately you need to use Max 9 (or earlier) to save a .MAX file in Max 9 format. If you're not running Max 9, you won't be able to export to a format that will work "out of the box" in Max 9. They'll probably have to edit the material to get it to show up, and it might not work as intended. If you use FBX, make sure they're using the same FBX version. Etc.

Also you should test your final deliverable archive on a "virgin" computer, to see if it loads, whether some texture files are missing, etc.

SunSetter

thanks Eric for the advice.

I still can't use the vcolorblend.fx shader because it cannot tile textures and I don't have any idea how I can modify it.
Anyway, I just thought I will texture the big bad rock on an 2k texture, then clone it, brake it into ~ 12 parts re-uv the parts, for each part a new uv in 0,1 and then scan the diffuse ) . crazy, I know.
it will be easier to apply lighmaps too.

Justin Meisse

can't tile? huh? Just stretch the uvs past the 0,1 range.

SunSetter

yeah, this method works but somehow on my hardware the second map doesn't show, or it shows weird, like the uvs are at the border. and its working only if I'm scaling the hole uvs down to the 0,1 and moving them down, -1 .this way I can see the both textures.
thanks, anyway

SunSetter

I had to say this. After several beers I understood how I can use tileble textures and lightmap .
Its a shame, but it worth it )...

thanks again Justin Meisse

Mark Dygert

ShaderFX does viewport blending of tiles, I'm pretty sure they have a movie tutorial documenting the process.