I was asked how to create Terrain Stamps. So I thought instead of replying individually I’d make this post so that everyone can have an answer in case the question arises. If you do know different ways, please do share your instructions.
You can create stamps/height maps with Zbrush, Substance Designer as well. I wouldn’t use terrain party… also you don’t have access to any of these other programs then fine go for it…
. ( you have more control.) also, use Tiff. or Super PNG, I wouldn’t be using PNG. in game engines…TGA if you need the alpha channel for some reason. but other wise your method is not bad. at all.
Hi.
The only thing you have to take into account though…
Is Zbrush, Substance Designer costs “big bucks.”
Whereas Unity, and Terrain Party are both free. As shown in the tutorial above.
And there are many- (The vast majority, I would imagine.) -Unity users, who are not professional devs.
Or even if they are, are 1 / 2 person indie devs on a very restricted budget. The same with most hobbyists.
This option allows everyone to be able to create quality stamps in Unity FOC.
I already asked about the file formats earlier, see this post . But let’s summon @wyatttt to be sure In short: Which image format is the preferred one for stamps?
Welcome to game development… and Substance does not cost big bucks/. But buying software cost money…also, you get what you pay for…and lastly there are tons of other software, :“free” that works really well too…
some hobbies can cost money. So, which is why I said, if you don’t want to buy, or can’t afford, go ahead and use it…( but there are better software … Blender is “Free” Gimp “Free” and plenty of other Affinty, I think is like 50$…( not big bucks, or you can sub to PS , I believe its 20 or 10 ( Dunno I own it. ) But my point plenty of better options…Also you can use World Composer…( Terrain Party,) not a fan of personally. but , hey if it works for you…Use it…but , need to offer people other options… ( Some users like to know they can use other software to handle this…
You can use PNG.(Never said you couldn’t)…but not the besy way to handle it for Stamps or any texture in game engines…( not just Unity, but any other game engine, which is why Super PNG exist and way, just about any company, will ONLY accept TGA, files and why most of us use TGA for a reason…but sure you can use PNG., if you like, or JPEG…but, the result may not be way you want… and if you are dealing with Alpha channel…that is where most of the issues are… …mainly. but yes, you can if you like too. ( no one is stopping you from using Jpeg, and PNG. …( I don’t advise it)
I recommend TGA, and your second option Tiff is fine too. Only two you really should use in Game engine anyways. ( if you really want PNG, use Super Png. ( your choice.)
The rest of your steps are good, and helpful to new users. ( those I agree with and have nothing to add for Unity anyways. .
TGA and BMP are lossless and without any real compression which makes them quite big on the hdd, but also faster to load than most compressed formats, as no additional processing of the data is required. They also have pretty much the same size as they will have in the vram. Also, they of course have the highest possible quality.
Well, fairly standard requirements. As far as I imagine preparing an image file for the subsequent construction of a map label, it is necessary: take a high-quality .png or .jpg file, and then bring it to mind. In this regard, several questions arise: is it advisable to use converters to fetch the data to the desired format? Which editors can be used: is Movavi Picverse (https://picverse.com/) suitable or something more powerful, for example, Photoshop (https://www.adobe.com)? Where else can I read about this?
I think that doesn’t get said ENOUGH, ty !!!
amen, we aren’ t all RICH, no matter who thinks so, but thx to unity/blender , so many other great tools, we get by with a little help from great projects
I am honestly not sure why you sound vexed,that was not in any way my intent.
When I replied to your post of the 5th… I was very polite, and just stared the fact that not everyone has "lots of money, and there are many on very meagre funds.
I am also not sure this part … “also you don’t have access to any of these other programs then fine go for it…”
Was even in your comments of the 5th.
Otherwise I would have included this fact in my reply. Unfortunately the “reply” to post option wasn’t working when I did comment on your post.
But if they were, Mea Culpa.
However, that aside.
“Welcome to game development.”
I am not, nor ever will be. (nor want to be) a “game developer.”
And not knowing the specific ratio. But would imagine the majority of Unity users, are not “game developers” either.
They are hobbyists, dabblers, many migrating from gaming, to play around with personal scenes, or projects of their own making.
Moving on from that.
I was also pointing out that Rowlan had created a brilliant thread, showing how “us small-folk” could create stamps, and brushes in completely free Unity. While using also completely free, and legit tools from the web.
As to Substance not being “big bucks.” 20 dollars U.S each month, might be peanuts to some. But to others its really not.
I love the look of “World creator” but sadly I could not afford to buy it, even the personal licence at $150.
But I will admit to not even knowing about “world composer” on Unity Store. at 20 Euros. (Or 18 pounds for those of us in the UK,) and then 20% VAT, so, circa £22. and then Paypal seems to have screwed up the conversion rate from Unity charging more, so about 24 quid.
But unless World Composer , is considerably better than Terrain Party, Id stick with TP for now.
But I do thank you Recon03, for the heads up on World Composer, ill keep my eye on that one.
As to Blender YES! 100% yes!
Absolutely love it, and unlike Unity. <–(Which I also love.) And Im not sure if its the management / marketing / Blender team who makes this rule.
But unlike this recent trend in Unity, that has seen “some devs”- (fortunately just a few) -applying some spurious (to say the least) “sales practices.”
Whereby they, either…
1- Have started a “charge every year” to upgrade to the latest FREE Unity release. For Assets you have already paid for, and own, just so they will work on the “new free Unity.”
2- In one case I have seen, when sales dropped, the “dev” depreciated the asset. And then re-released exactly the same asset, just with the “upcoming additions” from the previous now defunct asset added. And charged the whole price over again. Just with a different name. Even to existing owners of the first one.
3 - Launch an asset, get purchasers. And then a few months later launch the “pro version.” With “added options.” Which clearly should have been in the original, seeing as the timespan between the two is so short, its obvious it was being worked on all along.
Anyway, I have seen nothing like any of these practices on any of the addons in Blender. On those I have both purchased, and browsed.
Even when the MASSIVE 2.8 eevee upgrade was launched, all the addons I owned were just upgraded to 2.8, and continuing…FOC.
I absolutely love Unity! It is awesome, but these new “asset practices” should really be looked at, and moderated. As they are adding a bogus vibe, for what is otherwise a world class platform.
Sorry I veered off topic there Rowlan.
Ill keep it to Stamps from now on.
And while back on… and staying on… the subject of Stamps.
Does anyone know of a way to turn meshes, objects into stamps for terrain.
I am specifically thinking of a giant lying on his /her side that could be stamped as an island.
Thin moana, that type of thing.
Or in-fact any object, but made into “terrain” with all the functions of terrain, grass, trees, splat etc.
A stamp is nothing else than an alpha mask. There are several tutorials about how to create those with Blender. Usually involves creating a texture from an orthographically placed camera on top of a mesh, e. g. like this example. There are others which might fit your workflow better, but the principle is the same.
Actually, you might also create those inside Unity with Unity tools.
We have code for this in the TerrainTools Package. You can take a look at the Mesh Stamp Tool which I’m assuming does exactly what @Rowlan shared for Blender
It renders a topdown view of the mesh and uses the height/depth as the fragment output
