Protips on diplacements.

YOYOYO

41 crashes and counting
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Jul 10, 2017
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Does anybody have any good tips on displacements? any kind. Or point me to a good tutorial. I think I saw a displacements library, but don't know where it is anymore. Anyone know where that is?

Remember, this forums is for protips
 

DrSquishy

we've all had better times to die
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Feb 10, 2017
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Does anybody have any good tips on displacements? any kind. Or point me to a good tutorial. I think I saw a displacements library, but don't know where it is anymore. Anyone know where that is?

Remember, this forums is for protips
Do not be dodgy edge wise. They MUST line up with the same power and edge length when you have multiple displacements next to each other. Apart from being able to not sew them together if they aren't aligned, you get numerous lighting and texture issues as well later on in the compile
 

Skittelz

L6: Sharp Member
Mar 17, 2016
399
281
- always make displacements lined up or else you cant sew 'em

- i recommend use power of 2?

- don't stretch the displacement to where the white lines are stretched out. this will make things somewhat harder.
(ex. a 1024 x 16 displacement)

It is okay to stretch.

- never turn a displacement into any brush entity, that won't compile it correctly therefore not compiling the map and instead loading the previous version
(I did this once)

- don't stretch the geometry to an insane amount. if you are trying to make a mountain, instead make a huge 2-sided displacement and subdivide it and make some minor tweaks (trees, acorns, other)
You should already know this.

- watch tutorials

- or you could always just never use displacements, they're a hazard
they're a hazard if you set the power to 4
 
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Necrσ

aa
Nov 16, 2015
198
488
By far the most useful thing tip on displacements I've ever learned was from this thread. Specifically, creating helper brushes to allow you to push/pull/smooth etc the geometry at different angles.

upload_2017-11-17_9-0-30.png
 

YOYOYO

41 crashes and counting
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Jul 10, 2017
588
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ok, thanks. I've been getting better in a testing map I use.
 

Tuaam

L6: Sharp Member
Jun 26, 2015
376
248
Don't focus on terrain formations / shapes that are too complex / too massive to begin with. Most play spaces in tf2 consist of walled in courtyards with tunnels connecting them, so use gradual slopes and simple formations for displacments. Never use displaced steep cliffs, always use seperate brushes for that.

And make sure your displacement brushes are uniform, and of the same power. As someone said before, make sure your powers are consistent and of 2 for terrain faces. 3 is recommended for precise texture painting, and use 4 only sparingly (never create dense formations or else).

EDIT: Corrections (courtesy of Freyja)
 
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Freyja

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Jul 31, 2009
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And make sure your displacement brushes are uniform, and of the same power. As someone said before, make sure your powers are consistent and of 2 (or even 1) for terrain faces. 3 is recommended for precise texture painting, but never use 4 because 4 breaks certain things iirc (like stickies)

Power 1 doesn't exist...It's 2, 3, and 4.

4 breaks mainly when it's dense, crashing the server when it has to do a physics calculation.