Log in

Textures and Decals: Giving the users more visual creativity. Part II

by 0xDEADCODE 6. December 2011 09:29

Back in October I posted a blog about the work I was doing on implementing a system to paint and apply decals to surfaces. At the time I had not included any images as I felt that the project was not yet at a point where I wanted to show anything. This is no longer the case! Below I have whipped together a few images of a little demo application I put together to show some of the more basic features of the framework. You will have to forgive my programmer art! Please also note that some of the decal images are simply images I pulled off of Google for testing purposes. 

Tags: ,

Articles

Textures and Decals: Giving the users more visual creativity

by 0xDEADCODE 28. October 2011 06:33

In many existing virtual world platforms, users are given the ability to decorate their regions to make their personal or business space that much more unique. In our legacy software we added to it the World Texture Editor, which was an exciting project for me because of the increased flexibility and creativity it gave the users as well as increasing the program's overall performance now that people would no longer have to "wallpaper" their regions through the prop editor to change the look and feel. You may be wondering why I bought up all that old stuff when this is a blog on the new system. Well here's why:

With the amount of time and effort many of you have spent on your regions, it was must  that all your hard work would be directly transferable to the new client with no additional work on your side. (This is where that converter from the earlier blog came into play.) So now you are in your Zaby and everything looks just as it did in the old client. Wouldn't it be nice though to make your region even more unique? Why does your couch have to look exactly like everybody else's couch? Why does that concrete have to be in pristine condition? These are two basic examples of the features I am currently working on; Texture layering, material manipulation and decals.

With these new features you will be able to customize your props by replacing and/or layering textures, painting, as well as changing material properties, like making the prop look smooth and shiny. Decals will allow you to add details like cracks in that oh so perfect concrete wall, or add oil stains to a road to give it a more weathered look. Decals help hide the repetitive look of the base textures on objects as well as make those objects look less like they are straight off the factory line.

Anyhow, that's my sneak peak of the things that I am working on. As these systems become more fleshed out I'll put up images of some possible uses. Until then, enjoy the blogs!

Tags: ,

Articles