Guild of Writers

Hi,
a quick note to let you know that the first age tutorial has been updated, up to "Your Second Visit".

It now covers texturing (plus stenicling tricks and alpha vertex paint), as well as making simple plants and bushes, and adding a skydome.

Link: Your First (real) Age

Wow, that looks really good.

I'm having a problem with this line in "Stenciling":

"For the next one, use the copy/paste tools to copy the RockDetail texture, and name it Dirt."

If I rename it Dirt, the RockDetail texture gets renamed Dirt as well. If I put that one back to RockDetail, guess what happens.

I'm wondering if this might be something to do with why I got my entire Age covered with soil last time. if the two textures can't be separated, then selecting just a few faces isn't going to matter a lot.

EDIT: It is. Changing the texture in "Dirt" changes the texture in "RockDetail." If this is because of something I've done or not done, I don't know what it is. I'm stuffed.

Help?

FURTHER EDIT: please sir, the tutorial's wrong. Rather than copying and pasting RockDetail, you create a new texture while RockDetail is selected, and it still has all the right characteristics and can be renamed without unfortunate consequences. I have achieved soil in the right place by doing this.

Hmm, interesting.
(IC Trylon screams "Heretic!!!!" )

You're saying that by using the copy-paste tools, it adds a link to the texture, instead of adding a new texture....

Checked this out, and indeed you are right! I still recommend the Copy/Paste tools to make sure that the Map-To and Map-Input settings are exactly the same, but after that you should make a new texture on it.

Thanks for figuring that out!

My pleasure.

(IC Zander screams "Yes???!":))

I'm noting my progress through the tutorial in my Journal (it's surprising how well it goes into IC). If I run into anything else like this, should I post it here?

The problem is that your textures are linked. If you have this issue, simply click the button in the texture panel to unlink it from all other textures. The number on the button is the total number of textures linked together.

Maybe there should be a separate thread for "tutorial problems." (Maybe there is, and I just haven't found it yet.)

I tried again with the vertex painting just now,having finally succeeded in getting a separately selectable plane by repeatedly hitting Shift+D and then P till it got the message, and I got the same result: sharp black edges on my grass patch, shading nicely into green. The first time I painted over the green colour of the vertices on both layers with white first and then did the edges in black. This time I noticed the handy "Set Vertcol" button and used that to get them white before painting the edges black. Same thing happened. Please, someone tell me in what way I'm being stupid.

Also, on the next bit, you have us sizing a plane so that its height is twice its weight...

it sounds like what you're doing is correct, but that for some reason, the vertex color layer you're using is not being interpreted as alpha. Would you please post a screenshot of what you're trying to do in vertex paint mode, so we can see some context?

Ok, everything looks Ok in that shot, could you switch to the editing buttons with your grass patch selected? (F9)