ugly creek ???

[Open Blade]

No, that's not the name of the map. But it would be if I stuck with it how it looks. I actually am chaning name from crusade to Sycamore Creek. I tried my best to get a good looking creek but it just looks sad to me. I used the paint alpha to help darken the creek bed but what I am most unpleased with is how angled the edges of the water is. I tried using power of 4 on the displacement to get more detail but it still very angular looking. This is the first time I have done displacement. Do I smooth or something? Any secret to that? Anybody done creeks before that look good to give me something to shoot for? I don't like the creek in Shock, it too has angles.

Thanks.

Larger pic: http://zona.nikegames.net/Misc/Hammer/Map%20Screen%20Shots/crusade/sc01.jpg

 

[MangyCarface]

Divide your displaced brushes into smaller brushes. This will increase the effect of the power 4 and allow more detail/more rounded edges.

 

[bob+M|M+]

Have you tried using radius 1 with small distance displacement to manually adjust all the curves?

Also, once you do full HDR compile, the water will look A LOT better. you can do a cordon test to check it out

 

[grazr]

Also remember that most aesthetics are overlooked in the heat of a game, especially generic aesthetics like this (as apposed to prop placement or a skybox). So don't look too critically over this amount of detail. Take a look at the alignment of the rail tracks infront of cp2/area1 of cp_dustbowl. The tracks may be covered by rubble but they misalign by a good 32+ units. Infact most of them misalign and yet nobody seems to care/notice.

Just get used to manipulating the vertices of a displacement at the water egdes to get a feel for what is the best you can do, it wont be perfect unless you have terribly tiny displacements which are impractical for multiplayer maps. The one problem with displacements is paying them too much attention. Your map is not that bad, and i know i said don't pay extreme amounts of attention to your displacements but do not be afraid to give a few vertices a prod in the unit ranges of 1/2/3 or 4.

 

[Ewok]

It doesnt look too bad to me, but it seems everyone else has used all the sugestions, so I have a question. What texture did you use on the wood for the bidge

 

[grazr]

Looks like wood/wood_brigde001 with wood/wood_beam03

 

[Sgt Frag]

I think it looks pretty deccent. The one spot that bothers me is on the right of the pic, next to the gun. There's a VERY straight line there. Either that's the waters edge or you just need to bump up the displacement a bit for shape.

It's a nice screeny. I think you should use metal for the roof though, it's add quite a bit of flava.

 

[Open Blade]

Okay, one question solved, another one still need help with. I did remove large displacement and replaced with 4 smaller ones and sewed them. This did give me more control. Now..........I am still not sure how this smooth works. I tried playing with it and it seems to smooth way too much. Any tips for this?

EDIT: I seem to be a little closer on getting the smooth to work well but it seems there are some points that don't smooth at all, no matter which axis (Z, Y, X) I choose. This cliff I am working on is small so I have to use 1 setting or it smooths way too flat.

I will say this - I thought I would be able to just jump right in and make great looking cliffs from the get go but it really is a developed skill. It takes some real practice to get something good looking.

 

[YM]

Yeah my advice for smoothing is don't use the automated tools and do it manually, it allows the most flexibility and least headaches.