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phobosdeimos1

Speed Texturing/ Quickly choosing Acceptable Textures for Dummies. HELP

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It's very important to me to keep my mapping speed as fast as possible,

However texturing slows me down immensly as I have no artistic skill.

If you read this, please take a minute to explain any ideas or methods you use for decent acceptable texturing as fast as possible.

I may edit this post to rephrase it if it's not clear what I'm asking

EDIT: A rephrased version:

If someone could only see in black and white, or couldn't distinguish what each textures were trying to potray, how would you suggest this person choose acceptable looking textures to use on each part of his map, as quick as possible, essentially without any creative thought?

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You could always try doing your texturing outside of the 3D editing mode by just selecting the linedefs, I do this fairly often and it can save time then go in to 3D editing mode to align and make sure it looks proper.

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Pottus said:

You could always try doing your texturing outside of the 3D editing mode by just selecting the linedefs, I do this fairly often and it can save time then go in to 3D editing mode to align and make sure it looks proper.


I meant being able to quickly choose what textures to use to make it look acceptable

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It sounds like you might be talking about creating custom textures?
If you are it always helps to create a library of images like photos of walls and earth etc. to help you create custom textures.

Edit: Oh I was wrong. Ignore that.

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Thanks essel, that's a really good idea, is that what you do? I'd love it if you couldsend me some before/after example images privately so I can get a good idea of how exactly you go about it

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I do it sometimes, not all the time. I've been trying to do it more lately because it makes it easier to focus on layout and interesting shapes first, without having to totally restructure already-detailed areas to make a layout/gameplay-related change to them.

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Yeah I can see how that'd definitely help, but when it comes to the after texturing bit, It could still take a while unless you automatically knew what textures look good

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Marnetmar said:

Why's mapping speed so important? Why do you think I'm so slow? >_>


It's not important that other people's is fast to me it's because the faster I map, the better 'roll' I have so I can get as close to mapping in real time as I can

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I suffer from the same exact problem. Essel's advice is probably the most sound suggestion you'll get.

Another thing that gets me in regards to DOOM is the way that a lot of the textures seem very abstract. It might just be me, but I've stared at them for hours and still couldn't tell you what a lot of them are. That's kinda cool in a way, because it allows them to be used for more than one thing, but it can also be confusing at times.

Honestly, one of the main reasons I switched to Heretic mapping is because it has less textures overall, but they are more focused and easier to understand, at least for me. That and I have zero imagination when it comes to techbases. I admire those people that do though, and I love a good techbase level anyday.

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I just go for colours that don't clash most of the time and work loosely within themes. The only time I give texture/flat combinations any proper thought or consideration is when I'm matching a floor to a lower texture, or a ceiling to an upper texture. Then I look at colours (find the closest match) and how busy the materials are to make a decision. If the flat wouldn't really match up to *any* texture, that's when a border sector comes in to make things easier.

Likewise, knowing when it'd be quicker to add a border rather than try and work in some sort of proper transition between themes is very handy for getting quick results.

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Interesting idea Phobus thanks for contributing, the border Idea seems like an efficient method, I'll use that and see how it goes, I can see how if i bordered all areas with a recurring border texture and a border flat, it would stop any clashing and give the appearance of a theme.

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Marnetmar said:

Why's mapping speed so important?


Sometimes communtity projects get all the mapslots filled right away and its annoying to wait on the project's release because a few people reserved the spaces but take forever to map.

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Yo, I was wondering if there was a program you could customize to place random textures in a map? So like, you made a map, now you run the program and it places random textures on the lines (perhaps from a list of textures you specify).

It would prolly look really ugly, but that's the point.

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I've had an idea that's working quite well for me,

It's similar to essels but doesnt require going back and texturing, as I found that too time consuming.

Think of a primary texture to cover the majority of midtextires and upper and lowers. For example STARG

Then think of a secondary texture that'll fit a certain line length and sector height for example a Computer terminal

Then think of a border texture to use occasionally around the secondary textures and seperating height differences in the primary texture for example SUPPORT2

then think of a standard switch texture, door texture, lift texture and STEP texture to use for when needed.

Then once you've thought of those, think of a flat combination that looks OK with the primary texture, then a flat combination that fits above the secondary texture.

Then finally a light flat that fits 64 squares and occasionally will be used to detail a ceiling, and a standard outdoor floor flat and a standard liquid flat.

All in all this takes less than 5 minutes and if you do this to start with, you will never be stuck for what texture to use, and you have successfully created a theme.

Anyone wanna try that too and see if there's any major flaws?

If I master it, I could make a tutorial.

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Here's the steps I take:

1. Decide on the map's theme, this includes picking the main color which pretty much leads to the main texture (<- because I prefer using stock textures, if there were custom textures involved picking the right ones would take more time) (this is done before any actual mapping begins).

2. Create a tiny room, set walls to the chosen main texture.

3. Map.

4. If there's an area where I'll predict a texture change or difficult alignment issues I'll throw borders in. Depending on theme (see step 1) it's either SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3, so there's not any real thought process involved.

5. Continue mapping.

6. Detail.


I suppose this might not work for everyone; it does for me since my maps always start from a visualized idea of one or more areas in the map. I'm not drawing anything on paper, I'm just thinking of what some part is going to look/feel/play like and if I like the idea I'll use that as a starting point.

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Jodwin said:

Here's the steps I take:

1. Decide on the map's theme, this includes picking the main color which pretty much leads to the main texture (<- because I prefer using stock textures, if there were custom textures involved picking the right ones would take more time) (this is done before any actual mapping begins).

2. Create a tiny room, set walls to the chosen main texture.

3. Map.

4. If there's an area where I'll predict a texture change or difficult alignment issues I'll throw borders in. Depending on theme (see step 1) it's either SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3, so there's not any real thought process involved.

5. Continue mapping.

6. Detail.


I suppose this might not work for everyone; it does for me since my maps always start from a visualized idea of one or more areas in the map. I'm not drawing anything on paper, I'm just thinking of what some part is going to look/feel/play like and if I like the idea I'll use that as a starting point.


Would be cool if you could create a quick example map, save a few stages of it in progress and send them to me to study, I would be so greatful

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eternal slumber said:

Yo, I was wondering if there was a program you could customize to place random textures in a map? So like, you made a map, now you run the program and it places random textures on the lines (perhaps from a list of textures you specify).

It would prolly look really ugly, but that's the point.

Damn, that would be an awesome program! Somebody please write it! :)

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Texturing takes me a long time - I'm extremely picky and want the whole thing have a certain look and color language.
Don't worry about time... take it as it comes.

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Guest

Use 'shift' when changing textures in 3D mode (in DB2). Then instead of having to texture each linedef individually, one click will change the selected linedef and every adjacent linedef that has the same texture.

Probably most people know this already, but if not, you now have a neat new trick.

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KiiiYiiiKiiiA said:

Use 'shift' when changing textures in 3D mode (in DB2). Then instead of having to texture each linedef individually, one click will change the selected linedef and every adjacent linedef that has the same texture.

Probably most people know this already, but if not, you now have a neat new trick.


Been usin' that for years boy ;)

plus it's not what I meant by this thread, but don't worry anymore I've resorted to random texturing and it seems to work fine for me now, but since texturing isn't a problem anymore, it's uncovered the awful truth that I just cannot map anymore.

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Guest

Heh. I knew the 'shift' thing was not what you intended with this thread, but seeing as I am such a slow mapper, I really had nothing else to contribute here. :S

And don't say you can't map. Do what I do. Keep making changes until it works. Which will of course slow you down, but you may have noticed that the quality of every mapper goes down when their speed increases. Same is for you.

Don't even aim to make a map in DB. Just get in there and play. Make interesting shapes. Make patterns. Make useless crap. Remove the pressure of having to come up with a 'map', and just make 'stuff'. Then over time when you go to make an actual map, you will have all this mapping 'stuff' in your head, and you will be like 'where did all this come from?'.

Trust me, this works.

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phobosdeimos1 said:

it's uncovered the awful truth that I just cannot map anymore.


That's not true. I've seen your maps and they're awesome. I'd kill for a Spire Complex 2. If you don't think you are very good at applying textures and creating a consistent theme, (which I'm not convinced you are hopeless at anyway) you are a hundred times better off collaborating with someone who can. You have an excellent talent of drawing lines, creating sectors, and placing items and monsters that simply should not go unrecognized.

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40oz said:

That's not true. I've seen your maps and they're awesome. I'd kill for a Spire Complex 2. If you don't think you are very good at applying textures and creating a consistent theme, (which I'm not convinced you are hopeless at anyway) you are a hundred times better off collaborating with someone who can. You have an excellent talent of drawing lines, creating sectors, and placing items and monsters that simply should not go unrecognized.


Thanks alot man that's really nice of you to say, really grateful for that compliment,
you too (you already know I'm a big fan)

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