Any cheap and easy to use apps out there to assist in creating detail splat maps? I’m currently using FractScape + GIMP + Unity’s editor, but I’m finding my results don’t look all that “natural”. Any suggestions? Also, any tutorials on how to create realistic splat maps?
And are there any tools that exist for using vertex colors as an RGBA splat map?
I don’t know that it qualifies as cheap since the indie version seems to have become a discounted pro, and I think it’s Windows only. But I would recommend GROME.
It has good tools for sculpting the terrain and texturing it. It will export a heightmap, and ARGB splat maps which import straight into Unity. It can also export the terrain in collada format, in case you need it for example to make a lightmap (which it can also do internally but no better than Unity, and you probably won’t want to build your scene in it).
I found the interface a bit frustrating at first, but there are some reasonable video tutorials available.
Many procedural terrain generators have support for exporting splatmaps to some extent.
Personally, I’m not interested in anything like the Unity terrain engine, i.e. heightmap-based, , in this case. I want a general-purpose tool that will lay down various textures, all mixed to a final value of R+G+B+A = 1. Onto arbitrary geometry, and using a choice of vertex colors or RGB/RGBA textures to get the job done.
I know this thread specifically mentions terrain, but I figure it’s possible that I don’t know of something that isn’t limited to that scope. If it works in the general case, it would work for terrain.
I found none of the tools I tried do the R+G+B+A = 1 style that Unity requires. However, it is fairly simple to scale the values at import. My Terrain Tools script does it that way, and I’ve been a happy camper ever since and don’t have to worry about whether or not my input satisfies that condition anymore.
I also recommend Terragen 2 for splatmap generation, my process is outlined on my website.
Tom I checked out your tools. Seems pretty close to what I am looking for. Does the “Automagic” feature actually generate a splatmap image?
After the splatmap is assigned can you go in an tweak the texture placement and have it update the splatmap?
Does it work with other tools such as…http://blog.sixtimesnothing.com/2010/10/bump-mapping-for-built-in-unity-terrain/