dim3 Forum

I know this has been asked before, but it would be very helpful if you could have multiple layers of texture on one segment.

This mainly would be useful for outdoor maps where you have grass and want to create a dirt path. Right now, you have to make segments for the path and end up with ugly seams all over the place, but if this was added you could just fade between the grass and the dirt and it would look nice.

This would also be usefull for making dirt and pine needles and stuff, as you could use layers to create spots with more/less pine needles, and it could also be used instead of decals in some situations.
The possibilities are endless....

I'm not sure if older computers would support this, but it's easy enough to make it fall back to the first layer if multiple layers aren't supported.

Interface mock-up:

Scrolling down would reveal a few more layers.

You would also have a brush tool (you would switch to it instead of any of the selection modes) that you could use directly onto the map to erase/draw in layers.

Could this be added in the near future? It would rock.

This is not at all possible with the map format that Dim3 currently uses as far as I know.
Unless you want Brian to rewrite the whole engine and editor... again...

What could be added is heightmap support.
By heightmap, I mean terrain that is generated from a greyscale image and NOT converted into a static mesh.
Most engines do it that way. At some point the map IS of course converted to a mesh, otherwise you probably couldn't render it or test for collision, but not before the game starts.
That way, it COULD be possible, but it's a huge request...

Not sure if we even need this...

I don't think we need this. If you want more then one texture to be shown on a segment just put them together in an image editor and make it a texture.

And we certainly DON'T want Brian to rewrite the engine/editor again.

I'd say we don't, just paint what you want in the UV. dim3 isn't too good in rendering high-poly large areas anyway.

I believe it's called "Multi-Texturing", and it's the #1 way of texturing any kind of outdoor environments in all modern games. It basically works exactly like Photoshop layers, and you just paint the texture on each layer.

That's actually a really good idea, it's something I'll investigate. It's not that hard, the code exists in Editor, it would just need to be moved to engine.

[>] Brian

If it requires a rewrite of the whole engine or such, it's not worth it, but it is very useful for outdoor maps.

Anyway, as for the heightmap thing, that would be very useful but make sure to:
*Add an option in the engine called "terrain detail" or something
*An option to change the heightmap to polygons and stuff inside the editor
As it would be pointless otherwise.

I agree with ccccc, this would be a useful addition to Dim3's capabilities.

Certainly it would be useful, but I think that there are more important things that should be added/improved first.

Maybe some kind of Texture brush mode, kind of like the terrain brushes in games like Age of empires and stuff.