Alpha Channels! It can't be that easy

[sleepyto]

Okay the dummy is back and needs more input.

This is my first real experience useing wang files and alpha channels. My questions are very basic but I like to make sure the process is right before continuing. I am using Photoshop Elements 7.

Here goes. Let me know the errors of my ways.

This is a shot of selecting all of the wang file.

Alpha 1.jpg

Getting ready to save selection

Alpha 2.jpg

Selecting "Alpha 1" , checking the "add to selection" button then clicking okay.

Alpha 3.jpg

Getting ready to save in ace format

Alpha 4.jpg

"Make Meps" checked and "32 bit (ARGB)" checked then save.

Alpha 5.jpg

I think I have to do this for each of the eight wang files.

I am sure I have this all fouled up so don't hold back the critiqueing. Not too much laughing please.

[rgarber]

This is better suited for Marc cause he has Photoshop, I have Corel. There's two issues I'm not seeing here which I think means we need to start at the first step. Be sure to read the whole Wang texturing section in the manual or I'll be talking greek to you. But that in a moment.

1) The Alpha. The question I'm not sure the answer to is just how intense should the Alpha be and partly why I hesitate to answer these kinds of posts. This is still a learning thing for all of us. With that said, you first need to understand you create the Alpha, the program probably won't do it for you. In Corel, the alpha is the grayscaled image I attach to the original image and then save as a tga. If you've ever used TGA tools and looked at an ace file you will see there are two parts to the image. The first is the image itself and then the alpha which looks like a black n white version of the image. Your missing the black n white version of the image as far as I can tell.

2) My question is how did you come up with that one image? Did you create that yourself or did you use that wang program and just have one loaded? I see you mention the other seven files, I just want to make sure you got that part right. There are 8 images totaled. You can do it manually or with the wang tiling program. Don't forget to take some saturation out of each image or the texture will look illuminated in the game.

Rich

[sleepyto]

Yes that is a wang tile. I used the program that you guys suggested and this is one of the 8 generated. I then loaded it into the program. I guess I am not understanding the alpha channel thing. I also have Corel. Can't make up my mind which is easier.

[rgarber]

I'm not really the best person to explain these kinds of things. I know just enough to be dangerous. So if I get something wrong here, I apologize. I was going to link to the Wikopedia for Alpha Channel but that explanation looks like rocket science. For our benefit think of the Alpha as the transparency of the image. For Wang terrain textures I have no idea why we even need Alphas unless there's a blending between overlapping textures. And I think there is though most of the time I am of the impression the drawing tool for RS/RW has a mind of its own and it's hard to tell just what is going on. So let's just say if we didn't have the Alpha we would see our terrain textures buttressed up against each other without any blending into the other. So that's what your Alpha is doing. It's dictating the blend.

Again, I can't be of much help because I can't even show you a picture because I removed MSTS from my computer and so the tools are gone too. Think of your image, the sand, and then imagine if you had a grayscaled image of it next to it. Forget the black n white thing I said earlier, that was in reference to TGAtools. The blacker parts of the grayscale mean more transparency. The whiter parts of the grayscale mean less to none of the image is transparent. It could be the opposite I never can remember what's what with Alphas.

Okay, so once you got your grayscale of the image (take the image convert it to grayscale, change it back to 24 bit color and then save it under a different name) you then combine it with your original image as the Alpha channel. Then save your combined image as a tga. Or save it directly as an ace but keep the originals handy just in case you need to do some alterations.

It is that easy btw. There's nothing to this. Most of the work comes into this keeping the process straight since there are 8 files to work with.

Hope this helps.

Rich

[sleepyto]

Thanks Rich I will give that a try. This old dog is trying to learn a new trick.

[spec5sx]

Hey John,

It looks to me like you have it right so far. FWIW, I make the alpha channels on my terrain textures solid black. That may be the wrong way to do it but, so far I haven't noticed any trouble blending them with other textures in-game. Don't forget about naming your wang tiles the right way too.

Regards
John

P.S. You might want to consider toning down the color a little too.

[rgarber]

Hey John,

If solid black worked for you John then maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. I can't figure why a fancy alpha would even be necessary. If solid black works then I'll do that myself. I've been meaning to experiment with that myself. I appreciate you chipping in on this one I kinda feel a bit out on a limb with this. I'd hate to tell someone how I'm doing only to find out I'm going the long way about it.

Rich

[sleepyto]

Hi Rich:

Well I believe I have accomplished making the alpha channels and saving them to tga's in my source folder. I then converted them to .ace files. So I have 16 files in my source folder. Now I am lost as to the next exact step. Under the topic Newbie needs help I believe the next step is to open the textures blueprint. I cannot find the file, and what blueprint files I do find have the .pak extension. When I try to open them with the blueprint editor I get "failed to read schema". Hate to be such a pain but.

I will post how I made the alphas in another post if I can figure this out.

[rgarber]

John's really the best one to help you on this because he's freeware whereas I'm payware. I'll give it my best shot but my approach was different because I wanted to make all new terrain textures for my route. You're supplementing the default so you guys probably do this differently. In my Template Routes blueprint (and at the very bottom) I pointed the terrain textures to my Fort Kent Source folder.

(from Template Routes blueprint - at the very bottom)
Provider: All Aboard
Product: FtKent
Blueprint ID: Environment\Terrain\Textures.xml

I asked Marc to come take a look at this thread and explain to you better than I can what you need to do next.

Rich

[Bananarama]

If you're creating new textures, you'll need to create a new terrain texture blueprint, and include the new terrain textures in there. You could also create a copy of the Texturing blueprint (Texturing.bin converted to XML, edited and then converted back to BIN), and add your texture to the list. New textures would be in the Source\Kuju\RailSimulator\Environment\Terrain\<grass, dirt whatever> folder, and then you right-click and export using the Blueprint Editor.

IMHO, unless you start from scratch with your own terrain textures and texture blueprint in your own source folder, you might be getting over your head. Start with your own blueprint and textures, create one or two terrain textures to play with, and don't worry about a full library. It will take some time to get things the way you want, but unless you go this route, you're likely to create a mess later. Patience will pay off once you get a handle on how everything interacts.

[sleepyto]

Thanks all for all the input. I believe I have somewhat of a handle on it. I am starting from scratch with wang tiles, that seems to be fairly straightforward especially with the neat program that does a lot of the work for you. However I do have a question about the Texturing XML.

How and where do you look to get the numbers for the RGB part of the Distance Terrain Colour? I hope this will be my only hang up(at least for right now).

Thanks in advance
John

[rgarber]

I just pulled the sliders left and right til I got whatever I was looking for which wasn't really anything specific cause I have no idea what or how or when this color shows up.

Rich

[sleepyto]

Where and when do you see the results of moving the sliders?

[spec5sx]

To be honest I've always left that setting alone. I have yet to see RW/RS replace your terrain textures with a single color at a given distance. I would say skip that part.

Regards

John

[sleepyto]

Thanks on that, I figured that one out as far as where the color is displayed, Couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Now my last problem is how to get the texture to show up in the program. I have made a blueprint and exported it and this is what I get

Blueprints.png

And this is how the directory grass looks like

Grass Files.png

Seems like a lot of extra files, but that being said I think I am close. I know you guys might not think so but this is funnnnnnn.

Not to much further to go. I hope