I've needed to know this a long time, I've checked some tutorials on this site with no success, the only thing that makes somewhat good rockwalls is the subdivide tool, but that makes a lot of holes in the wall. So, can anyone point me in a direction for a good rockwall displacement tutorial? This is how bad it looks when I do it normal way (not subdivide):
I did it here, And found stuff I didn't understand. And doing it on google, I only found modelling programs.
I tried it but got stuck on "So now I've actually started the displacement and I start by making the corners neat, one axis only" "Now I repeat the process almost exactly for the other axis." He get's his cliff to look awesome while mine looks extremely ugly.
Calm down. Maybe you're trying too hard. Say to yourself, "how would such a cliff look in real life?" I found Youme's tutorial extremely helpful. Also, if you're just making one cliff wall like in that screenshot of yours, I don't think you need to round out the corners unless it's later going to meet with another displacement cliff that runs perpendicular to it. Just keep at it. Just to let you know, the cliffs may look a tad uglier in Hammer than they really are. Much of the "depth" these cliffs have are in the bumpmaps of their textures. If you look at the "Highway 17" map included by Valve in the HL2 SDK, you'll find the cliff walls surprisingly low-detail. Also, perhaps you can help me. Where did you get that Alpine rock-esque cliff texture? I've seen tons of maps using it but I can't find it. Is it custom? A prop texture? Thanks.
The single wall thing was just an example. And the rock texture is: nature/blendrockgroundwallforest Which blends to grass, if you use the displacement paint thing on it.
Don't forget that some of the most attractive rockwalls you see in maps are models. There's only so much you can do with displacements.
Try out a different texture and check if it still looks so ugly! Sometimes the texture (and especially the one you're using) can make your displacments look terrible... (imo)