Making a good picture for flowing water?

Armadillo of Doom

Group Founder, Lover of Pie
aa
Oct 25, 2007
949
1,228
Following the excellent guide by Snipergen a prefab that I picked up somewhere, I easily added a moving texture. Problem is however, both of the pictures I used look really crappy :(
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg204/Immortal-D/Best of TF2/waterproblem1.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg204/Immortal-D/Best of TF2/waterproblem2.jpg
The first is the default water from Hydro, and the second is a random picture I found. I can post the vmf if it will help. How the heck do you create a water picture/texture that's actually light, see-through, foam, etc.?
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
Following the excellent guide by Snipergen a prefab that I picked up somewhere, I easily added a moving texture. Problem is however, both of the pictures I used look really crappy :(
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg204/Immortal-D/Best of TF2/waterproblem1.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg204/Immortal-D/Best of TF2/waterproblem2.jpg
The first is the default water from Hydro, and the second is a random picture I found. I can post the vmf if it will help. How the heck do you create a water picture/texture that's actually light, see-through, foam, etc.?

I can make you a nice model for a waterfall this weekend if you want to.
 

laghlagh

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 15, 2008
389
53
You want it to be seamless? and half transparent?
 

Armadillo of Doom

Group Founder, Lover of Pie
aa
Oct 25, 2007
949
1,228
You want it to be seamless? and half transparent?

That would probably help too. Here's what I've got so far, taken mostly from the aforementioned prefab;

"LightmappedGeneric"
{

<dx90
{
"$fallbackmaterial" "water/water_hydro_test_dx80"
}

"%tooltexture" "dev/tfwater_normal"
"%keywords" "tf"
"%compileKeepLight" 1
"$nocull" 1


"$basetexture" "water/water_hydro_base"
"$bumpmap" "water/tfwater001_normal"
"$normalmap" "water/tfwater001_normal"
"$translucent" "1"
"$surfaceprop" "water"
"$envmap" "env_cubemap"
"$envmaptint" "[.2 .2 .2]"
// "$envmapcontrast" ".5"

"$abovewater" "1"

"$fogenable" 1
"$fogcolor" "{51 43 13}"
"$fogstart" "-100"
"$fogend" "400"

"$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" "1"
"$bumpframe" "0"

"Proxies"
{
"AnimatedTexture"
{
"animatedtexturevar" "$bumpmap"
"animatedtextureframenumvar" "$bumpframe"
"animatedtextureframerate" 30.00
}
"TextureScroll"
{
"texturescrollvar" "$baseTextureTransform"
"texturescrollrate" "15"
"texturescrollangle" "270.00"
}
}
}
 

cornontheCoD

L420: High Member
Mar 25, 2008
437
70
There's a big tutorial on interlopers that describes how to make it semi-transparent, etc. if that helps
 

Zeewier

L9: Fashionable Member
Sep 20, 2008
619
262
I'm working on a cartoon style waterfall. But it isn't done yet.
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
Can you tell me the size of the waterfall?
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
I can give you a .vmt I made for the wave, you can adjust the scroll and normal texture and stuff. Copypaste it:

"Refract"
{
"$model" 0
"$scale" "[1 1]"
"$refractamount" "0.5"
// "$refractamount" "0.0"
"$refracttint" "{181 236 250}"
"$reflecttexture" "_rt_WaterReflection"
"$reflecttint" "[1 .95 .85]"
"$reflectamount" "0.75"
"$envmap" "env_cubemap"
"$envmaptint" "{57 132 162}"
"$bluramount" "0.3"
"$dudvmap" "dev/water_dudv"
"$normalmap" "dev/water_normal"

"$surfaceprop" "water"
"$bumpframe" "1"
"$nocull" "1"

"Proxies"
{
"AnimatedTexture"
{
"animatedtexturevar" "$normalmap"
"animatedtextureframenumvar" "$bumpframe"
"animatedtextureframerate" "25.00"
}

"TextureScroll"
{
"texturescrollvar" "$bumptransform"
"texturescrollrate" .3
"texturescrollangle" 120.00
}
}
}

EDIT: the texture is for the flowing river, if you want to use it for the waterfall (I'm making a model for it, but if you want it brush based you can take it) you should modify the scale line to:

"$scale" "[1 X]"

With X bigger than 6. This will make the texture to lengthen and will look more like a waterfall
 
Last edited:

cornontheCoD

L420: High Member
Mar 25, 2008
437
70
I can give you a .vmt I made for the wave, you can adjust the scroll and normal texture and stuff. Copypaste it:

"Refract"
{
"" 0
"" "[1 1]"
"" "0.5"
// "" "0.0"
"" "{181 236 250}"
"" "_rt_WaterReflection"
"" "[1 .95 .85]"
"" "0.75"
"" "env_cubemap"
"" "{57 132 162}"
"" "0.3"
"" "dev/water_dudv"
"" "dev/water_normal"

"" "water"
"" "1"
"" "1"

"Proxies"
{
"AnimatedTexture"
{
"animatedtexturevar" ""
"animatedtextureframenumvar" ""
"animatedtextureframerate" "25.00"
}

"TextureScroll"
{
"texturescrollvar" ""
"texturescrollrate" .3
"texturescrollangle" 120.00
}
}
}

EDIT: the texture is for the flowing river, if you want to use it for the waterfall (I'm making a model for it, but if you want it brush based you can take it) you should modify the scale line to:

"" "[1 X]"

With X bigger than 6. This will make the texture to lengthen and will look more like a waterfall


would this code work for normal flowing water if I modified it a bit? I am trying to get flowing water, but not a waterfall. and would I use my own texture or a copy of valve's with the new vmt?
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
would this code work for normal flowing water if I modified it a bit? I am trying to get flowing water, but not a waterfall. and would I use my own texture or a copy of valve's with the new vmt?

Of course it will work for normal flowing water.

And I don't understand your second question. The VMT I've posted uses valve bumpmaps
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I used that vmt in one of my maps (well, not exactly that one, there were probably some differences). It caused huge FPS drops whenever used in an "active" area, so take care.
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
Here you have the waterfall, need to reescale it, do you like it in that way?

testmodels0004an7.jpg


testmodels0009qu8.jpg
 

Master

L1: Registered
Nov 29, 2008
13
0
That waterfall definately look good. Is it a model or moving texture? I'm looking for a very good quality moving texture that doesn't interfere very much with the FPS but could be used in the skybox maybe, or in the map itself. Skybox would be my first choice as I would like to make very huge waterfalls surrounding the area.
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
That waterfall definately look good. Is it a model or moving texture? I'm looking for a very good quality moving texture that doesn't interfere very much with the FPS but could be used in the skybox maybe, or in the map itself. Skybox would be my first choice as I would like to make very huge waterfalls surrounding the area.

It's a model with a water-like texture. The texture is very expensive, it would eat some FPS.
 

Armadillo of Doom

Group Founder, Lover of Pie
aa
Oct 25, 2007
949
1,228
Spike my friend you are awesome, lol. Soon as finals are over I'll be testing out your vmt. As for the model, it certainly looks good, but more like a gentle stream coming down. I imagine a waterfall has having some white foam spray and visible lines b/c of the force that is moving it. Keep up the good work m8 :) Cuz that's certainly better than I could ever manage, lol.