Edge of infestation

ChromeAngel

<div class="IPBDescription">How to cope...</div>I've been having problems where my infested floor & ceiling meet uninfested areas, namely a sharp cutoff line in the goo.

Here's an experiment i've been doing in NS_Next's readyroom to try and hide the edges.  Tell me what you think.

ChromeAngel

That effect is done using some custom textures and rendermode solid.  It's full bright so I could get a quick look at the effect in-game.

Would Cory or Relic mind if I posted some infested textures up here, based on some of theirs from the NS WAD?

Comprox

That would be a great idea Chrome, love how it blends into the metal, and not just infested|normal look. Reminds me of the idea to make infestation slowly fade in during a level.

I'm sure they will allow you to modify the textures, as long as you give proper permission and all that. Those look good enough to be included in official wad <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

Biomechanoid

I like. one comment on your use thou; because it is organic, it should have a realatively random look to it, and I'm noticing some of the "pink" areas of the infestation are lining up when the texture tiles, even in your edited "fade"... perhaps if you did a 5-10 degree rotation on the blended parts it would make it look more natural. good work thou

Squeal_Like_A_Pig

Nice work.  Go for it.   <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

Yamazaki

My infested textures stop at doors, bulkheads, and other transitional areas, so that I don't need a fade-in texture. Then after that I use patches of slime to represent the stuff before it's had a chance to spread. I've been thinking of finding a way to make it pulsate, maybe use an animation of some sort.

Freestyler

Looks good.  What do you mean when you use rendermode solid?  Are the '{' textures layed on top?

Spooge

IMHO, the transition point isn't all that critical.  I'm guessing that during play, you won't find anyone thinking "Hey, that transition really sucked".  Unfortunately, we haven't had the opportunity to playtest any of these maps.  Because of the style of play that NS will convey, any minor mapping problems will probably never get noticed.

If you're still worried about how it will look, I would suggest trying some lighting tricks (shadows, lighting the surrounding area, etc.) to smooth the transition.

BTW, I think your pic looks great.  Maybe a bit too light though.

ChromeAngel

It was noted during the first beta of NS_NEXT where my joins showed in a couple of places that's why i'm doing this.

Yes, Freestyler my graduation textures are { type textures layered over the join with 4 sided pyramid brusghes turned into func_wall.

Spooge read the 2nd post.

I have a plan to make it pulsate like Yama but it's a bit involed.  I'd like to know if Flayra and Cory imagines that gunk pulsing or not.

realityisdead

I made some alien infestation pulsing by turing it into a func_water, and setting the wave height really high.

F_R_E_A_K_Y (it was quite funny, actually... <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo--> )

Your blending looks great. Original idea... I just hide my seams with shadows.

Relic25

Oops.  Sorry it took so long before I read this.

As far as my textures go, I don't mind one bit. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

ChromeAngel

Thanks Relic.  Whose made the wall_green set?  I did some infested versions on that too.

ChromeAngel

a metalic variation on relic's suit store

ChromeAngel

a different coloured spacesuit

ChromeAngel

and another...

ChromeAngel

back to the infestation...

ChromeAngel

overlaping bit one...

ChromeAngel

and two, that's it for now.

realityisdead

Wow, those look great Chrome!

Hand_Me_The_Gun_And_Ask_Me_Again

Looking pretty good.

Just a thought - full colour decals are possible as standard map thingies, not just as decals in multiplayer.

They do need to be in decals.wad, but it could be handy to have some of those 'infested' Solid-255 style textures available to mess up existing textures in random locations. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->

Freestyler

Wouldn' it just be easier to put them all up in a zip file or something?  Maybe a zipped wad so that way everyone will have them named the same.

ChromeAngel

My initial thought was a zip file, but that was too big for the attachment limitation.

Greedo

Well, multiple zips would have worked, but I guess I need to say something here, now.  Those edge textures seem a bit sharp in comparison to the rest of the infestation.  Again, I think that it kind of stands out.  The whole concept of a blend is something that needs addressing, and I think that this is a good start.  

Someone said that people probably won't notice.  Well, maybe, but then again they might.  If you want a professional looking map, you need to account for just about everything.

liquidscript

I really like those textures you used to cover the sharp edge.  You could even use a few of them out on the uninfected parts of the ship that are close to the infested parts.  This would give it the look that it is spreading slightly, and has began budding.

ChromeAngel

The original join, properly lit.

pielemuis

nice work chrome, you' ve done a good job, btw this forum looks ###### if you' re on a unix-treminal and using netscape <!--emo&:(--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('><!--endemo-->

Unknown

I cant see any lines, what are you talking about, it looks great.

ChromeAngel

hiding the lines is the whole point of this exercise Guest.

Does anyone rememeber the Star Trek episode with the giant flying braincells (one of the original series)?  My join covering sort of reminds me of those...

pielemuis

they remind of the artwork they used in that racing game vangers, don't know if you guys know it, wasn't really a hit. In vangers you can find some nice organic art.(ps not saying you copied it or something, it just reminds me of that)

Blahman

Since there are only 2 blobs, it might look repetitive like that... I propose you make at least 2 more, so that the repetition/pattern isn't so obvious.

Black_Dog

Uhm...using the tecnique explained by yamazaki(i think) u can have for sure good results...and also...i think if u use also a lower illumination,maybe u don't need transitions textures(also if is a good things to have them! <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo--> )