How do I make tall grass?

Kazagin

L3: Member
Aug 4, 2009
130
9
I'm making an Arena map that takes place on a tropic island.
Anyway, I'm trying to make the jungle part of it really dense and have low visibility.
I downloaded Spike's Jungle Pack, and I tried using his props to make it like a dense jungle, but that isn't working.

Anyway, I need to know how to make tall grass. I looked through all the props Hammer gives me and none of them are good.

I want grass high enough, you can hide in it!

Also, is there a way to blend textures without using actual "blend" textures?
Kind of like just painting with one texture instead of applying it the whole face?
 

Earl

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 21, 2007
284
38
The most practical way I've seen this done is with a model that is a section of dense foliage. The model is rather simple in geometry, and just has a semi-transparent texture that makes up the blades of grass. The model has no collision mesh.
 

Kazagin

L3: Member
Aug 4, 2009
130
9
Can someone assist me in finding such models?
The grasses in Hammer and Spike's Jungle Pack aren't tall enough.
 

Terr

Cranky Coder
aa
Jul 31, 2009
1,590
410
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Detail_Props

It's really just a clustered series of sprites. You might be able to use an image editor to make your own and package it with your map.

I know they work as part of blended displacements, but I haven't tried setting them manually. (Indeed, you might not want to if you can get the automatic route working.)

I dread the day someone makes cp_cornfield and it ends up infested with short invisible level-1 turrets that can see everybody else just fine.
 

Kazagin

L3: Member
Aug 4, 2009
130
9
Thanks, Terr.
Everything in that link went totally over my head, so it looks like I have to learn stuff...
Oh well, it sounds like it'll make some nice Jungle Thickets. :)
I don't think the models I'll be using, Spike's Jungle Plants, will cause that problem.
I sure hope the fact that the majority of my map is a sphere, and a vertex edited cylinder won't give me any problems...
 

Terr

Cranky Coder
aa
Jul 31, 2009
1,590
410
I mainly mention the detail-props since they have the ability to "sway" near a player like tall grass would.

I sure hope the fact that the majority of my map is a sphere, and a vertex edited cylinder won't give me any problems...

Wait, sphere?

Just remember to func_detail if it doesn't truly block people from seeing through it, and doubly so if it's not a simple block.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
In response to your query about blending textures without alpha blending via displacements, is to transition between several textures using appropriate overlays. The advantage here is being able to transition between several textures at once, rather than just the two you would have access too in your alpha blending option.

There's a dirtpath overlay that Valve have kinda abused all through dustbowl and goldrush that has been used in a similar manner. It was a technique employed a lot in DoDS to blend rubble with the ground and the Half-Life 2 single player campaigns.

I've not seen it used a lot in TF2 and either as a result or in part due to the lack of overlays to utilise this technique. But it is an option if you are willing to make the textures necassery (or just abuse the dirtpath track just like Valve have).
 

Kazagin

L3: Member
Aug 4, 2009
130
9
So, Overlays are the only way to blend textures without Alpha Blending, huh?
I guess I'll have to make a bush-wall surrounding the entire transition from sand to grass.
Overlays royally screw up my sphere, which is the base of my map.
Or maybe I'm not doing it right.
Is there a tutorial on how to use overlays properly?
 

Terr

Cranky Coder
aa
Jul 31, 2009
1,590
410
I find overlays get a little buggy sometimes... If you copy-paste them, all of a sudden you have two overlays grouped or something weird like that.

Think of them as a one-slide projector.

  • You put it somehere near what you want to change
  • You load it with a picture/texture of your choice.
  • You select the brush-faces it will affect (defaults to the one you clicked on while placing, but you can choose more than one)
  • Drag the green-dashed projection box to get it angled (or not angled) as you would like.
  • Finally I often have to go back to the object properties page and set the U/V start/end to 0 through 1, which is controlling whether it will crop an image vertically/horizontally or (at the other extreme) tile the image vert/horiz.

Often overlays are used for those posters and RED/BLU logos on floors and walls. The "blending" capability they offer is really just using a similar "poster" of texture to cover up sharp transitions.
 

Kazagin

L3: Member
Aug 4, 2009
130
9
*facepalm*
I tried using the overlay as if it were a material.
Are they supposed to change between black and white and normal randomly?
Is that just in Hammer or will it spaz out like that in the game?
 

Smetzle

L3: Member
May 20, 2009
112
51
Kazagin said:
Are they supposed to change between black and white and normal randomly?

That happens if you're using the 'textured shaded polygons' mode in Hammer's 3d view. Switch it to 'textured' and it should display properly in Hammer.