AEcell - Cell Texture Pack - beta2 d/l

[AEon]

Glad they help a bit.

I still have the "mars base" textures I started to do that need to be finished. Will get to those once I have the next beta of AEdm7 done.

[jal_]

Not that I want to be a PITA or anything, specially since they are very nice textures, but... if the set has replacements for all textures, doesn't it break the original purpose of being quick fillers? I mean, aren't you texturing the map twice now, first in the orange set, and then again?

[AEon]

That is indeed so. But then again you are not forced to use the complete set, you can use just as many or few placeholders as you see fit. And that was one of the ideas behind the creation of the set: Add more choice, e.g. for deco textures.

My "test" map AEmars that is only using this set will probably turn out to be an experimental cell-look map. To be honest, I am not so sure I'd actually use the texture set myself, when planning to use "real" textures. Too much of my mapping inspiration derives from the proper textures. But the "neat" set of weapon/item pads already are making an appearance in AEdm7, a few other AEcell decals should be also nifty to use in other maps.

[cityy]

During the building process of q3ct4 I noticed, that there is no wood like texture in the pack ( or I just didn't find it ). Would be a really nice additional feature.

[AEon]

While starting to add rocks and greenery in AEdm7 I also noted that rocks, plants, and as you say wood are not part of the AEcell texture pack. And the reason for this is rather simple: Such organic material cannot really be reduced to 4 orange tones plus black, at least I don't know how. It might be be possible "fake" wood, but rock?

If you know of "original" texture material that could be abstracted, don't hesitate to post it, I'll take a look as see what I can done. Just remembered the gravel in Sock's POM, the alpha channel already is a form of abstraction... i.e. black pebble outlines and the pebbles could then "manually" be colors in orange tones. At least that could work, sort of.

[cityy]

Well I think there is no need to use a texture reference to create a wood texture of the AEcell sheme. Wouldn't a simple vector graphic be enough?

[AEon]

By all means, if you know of a vector source that would be fine as well. Since I am not an artist I need some source though.

[cityy]

Ok, forgett my retarded talk - looking for a source file now...

[Pat Howard]

if the set has replacements for all textures, doesn't it break the original purpose of being quick fillers?

Yeah that was my original question too. I've always kind of thought the pack could actually be two packs, one for the bare bones template textures (like evil's, but slightly expanded with flags, teles, lights, and other useful stuff) and another for the "traced" texture packs. I guess it doesn't really bother me that much though.

I also noted that rocks, plants, and as you say wood are not part of the AEcell texture pack.

You really don't need them. Terrain map floorplans should be quickly laid out with simple vertical walls and flat floors just like any other map to save time. Add detailed organic formations when you are using real textures later. As for a more complicated map like AEmars which actually uses the set as final textures, I'd probably just use flat appropriately colored textures. And for wood, why not just use one of the flat brown textures?

The base template textures are actually more flexible than I originally thought they would be. Here's a shot of the layout for a map set in Italy. I know I used a couple "traced" textures, but even without them the simple template ones can clearly be used for more than just base/metal mock-ups.

[AEon]

Pat,
Nice editor shot... fun to see textures put to an unexpected use.

[Pat Howard]

No health marker decal?

[AEon]

Pat,
never seen those actually marked in any map out there, same for ammo boxes, so I never created any.

Design: A filled "cross" (+) could be 50H and a outlined one 25H, no idea what the small 5H would look like though.

[Pat Howard]

Well I always mark 25 and 50 healths, although you could probably skip shards, 5balls and ammo boxes.

[Pat Howard]

A few items for you this evening:

Decals:

- I kept instinctively going to SFX for item decals. Floors is also logical I guess but they look out of place with the normal textures.

- The PT decal has the wrong qer_editor image.

- I could use a 25 health marker and a 50 health marker like you mentioned. Also a spawn point marker should be included - maybe use the square and circle that is currently used for the PT editor image.

- I'm not a fan of the surfacelight on the decals. At first I couldn't figure out where the light was coming from because I never would have thought the markers would emit light like that.

Base:

- Why is the "base" directory needed? The pack seems really unorganized because of that folder. Why not put all the walls in the walls dir, floors in floors, etc.?

- I noticed a couple of base textures (temp_floor_03 and temp_wall_04) have TGA and JPEG versions. Is this a mistake?

- Speaking of temp_wall_04, it's not on a large grid. Not very handy if you want to use it without the standard wall showing too.

Misc.:

- You have flat colors in both SFX and base. How come? EDIT: What I meant was you have red, white, and a bunch of shades of yellow/brown flat colored textures in both sfx and base. They look the same, except the sfx ones are smaller. Are the sfx ones for light blending?

[AEon]

I kept instinctively going to SFX for item decals. Floors is also logical I guess but they look out of place with the normal textures.
Could be moved to SFX... would not be much of an issue.

The PT decal has the wrong qer_editor image.
I have not been able to figure this out, in PS it looks fine but for some reason - I am guessing here - the alpha channel seems to be messed up. I have another texture that has the same issue. In-game it looks fine. Not idea what this is. For all other cases it works just fine.

25H, 50H, Respawn pads
Will create those then.

I'm not a fan of the surfacelight on the decals.
This is code from Sock's SAFE map... I always needed / used the extra light, if you don't like it a quick search/replace would let you delete it quickly in-shader.

Why is the "base" directory needed? The pack seems really unorganized because of that folder. Why not put all the walls in the walls dir, floors in floors, etc.?
To separate the evillair's original textures I recreated. Though sorting them into the proper folders would probably make things easier on everyone. Hmmm... will think about this.

I noticed a couple of base textures (temp_floor_03 and temp_wall_04) have TGA and JPEG versions. Is this a mistake?
Indeed... they should all be .tga... will be fixed.

Speaking of temp_wall_04, it's not on a large grid. Not very handy if you want to use it without the standard wall showing too.
Just used evillair's originals... if I understand you comment correctly, then temp_wall_02.tga should also have an issue?

You have flat colors in both SFX and base. How come?
Please explain it in more detail with an example. I have a vague idea what you may mean, but guessing on my part will not help.

That feedback should help iron out the "bugs" in the set. Thanks.

[Pat Howard]

Hey, AEon, how about some CTF decals? You know, flag markers, red arrows, blue arrows - that kind of stuff would be handy.

-pat

[Chretien]

Awesome thread!

[AEon]

Hey, AEon, how about some CTF decals? You know, flag markers, red arrows, blue arrows - that kind of stuff would be handy.

Different colors are not possible... they have to be shades of *one* color. Anyway the coloring would be up the the artists using the textures... the recent CTF map someone creates had blue and red shaders, so that would be the way to go.

About CTF decals in general... I'd need explicit examples... what exactly would be needed. I have one flag already, that can be re-colored via shader. A flag "spawn item" decal might be nifty, not so sure about the design though.

[Pat Howard]

I was just thinking a flag marker and some red and blue directional arrows. I guess I could just as easily find arrows elsewhere now that I think about it, and I could just use an oversized weapon marker decal for the flag. Would be convenient to have your own set in there though.

[AEon]

As mentioned "coloring" would have to be "style different" instead... i.e. red base has another arrow style then blue base.

Please collect a few decals you liked, then post a screenshot of them here. That way I can "check" about inspiration.

[Pat Howard]

I'm not sure we're on the same page. The rgbGen const doesn't apply to the decals right? Why do you need them to be compatible for recoloring?

[skinNCNmaster]

this is a great thing you are doing for the community here AEon. Thanks for the texture set! I've just downloaded it and will be playing wit it for the alpha of my first map after some three years of being inactive.

[MidiMightyMoe]

Just to show you the Defrag map I made with this cool texture pack : http://q3a.ath.cx/?mapdetails=FRcup25

So I tried to make my own shader and recolor it, it's relativiely easy and the shader files are well made. For me, not an experienced mapper, the pack comes in really handy and offer cool possibilities wihtout too much work.
So no big problems for me with this pack in its current state, it's actually one of my favorite ! Thank you AEon.

[j3st3r]

How do you determine what value to use to change the color of the textures? Is there a website or program that can help?

[obsidian]

rgbGen const ( R G B )

Takes normalized values for R G and B channels.