GPL texture generation tool

[Taiyo.uk]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/fxgen

Looks interesting...

[fromhell]

Heh this is kinda neat

[Sindwiller]

No Linux port yet

[dmn_clown]

not even a build system, and they really screwed the pooch with Microsoft's version of C++ (Doesn't run in wine due to some missing Microsoft c++ bits).

[Taiyo.uk]

Yes, sadly it's win32 only at the moment.

//-----------------------------------------------------------------
//      GUILib Description
//-----------------------------------------------------------------

        This is a Win32 wrapper for moment, for cross-platform an OpenGL and SDL version is scheduled.


//-----------------------------------------------------------------
//      Editor
//-----------------------------------------------------------------

        Win32 version only but a cross-plaform is scheduled (see GUILib)

Perhaps if we send them anonymous death threats ask them nicely enough then they might hurry with the cross-platform stuff

[dmn_clown]

LOL!

At least it is GPL'ed so we can look at the code and attempt to build it.

[fromhell]

http://www.fxgen.org

there's a newer version out

Still winblows only, but it's starting to get more promising.

[dmn_clown]

*shrugs* I don't see them doing anything that can't be done in an image editor. 

http://www.fxgen.org/node/46 - Our metal plate textures are better than this.
http://www.fxgen.org/node/20 - Our concrete textures are better than this.

It doesn't take Claude Monet to create decent looking game textures, it just takes the will to learn how to use an image editor.

[iLeft.bye]

can you post some samples all I can do is some cell-noise stuff
( sigh I tried it at 4 am figured out how to use then fell asleep... )

[qduaty]

Hi,

I'm involved in the FxGen project. I wanted to tell these of you that are still interested in the utilization of FxGen in OpenArena, that I ported FxGen to Linux. Both 64 and 32 bit binaries, as well as the source code, are available for download from our svn (click). Current version of the library can be linked dynamically. There is also a simple GTKMM-based editor in the package, so you won't need to install windows.

Procedural tools are specific - they are like a spray when compared to a tiny brush used by regular texture creators. So in order to use them, you will have to get used to them. Anyway, I am willing to create some textures myself. This is an example rendered as 1024x1024 (click). In the game, a 2k*2k version looks better than this.

The editor can create Jpegs (as well as the rest of gtk image export formats). With some textures, PNG seems to achieve better compression and is necessary for transparent ones.

For batch processing, there is a BMP extractor (named "test"), which extracts all textures from a project with given quality.

Edit. As it's particularly easy to create a normal map in FxGen, I will be glad to know whether they are already supported in OA, and how to enable them. So, what should I do in order to add my normal map to the game?

[cosmo]

Procedural texture generation is nice for demoscene stuff where size matters. I see no point for OA here or do you want to 'calculate' every texture when OA starts up and dump it in your memory 'til shutdown?

I guess FxGen is great for primary texturebase generation that can be used by an artist to create some nifty texture sets. At least I wish there are a few more guys out there doing this.

[kit89]

Neat tool.

As far as I can see using FXgen with a graphics package, would allow the creation of some very nice textures quickly.

[qduaty]

Processing of "e7panelwood2" alone, in 2k*2k resolution, on a 2GHz AMD takes up to one minute, and 700 MB of RAM. (A set of textures from the package, when generated all at one time, takes only a few percent more). Memory mgmt in fxgen will be optimized in future versions. Anyway, fxgen is designed so that, in some cases, it can produce standalone textures, with no need to process them further in a photo editor, and their realism depends only on our creativity. Of course, fxgen is still work-in-progress so feel free to request improvements if you'll find it necessary.

These textures that indeed don't need further processing, could be distributed as a small .pk3 package and, at first run, the jpeg and png files could be generated, and stored back into the .pk3 archive. This way, the user and their system could decide what resolution they need and there would be no further overhead during startup.

Of course, so called "base" textures can also be made, and my gtkmm editor can be easily converted into a GIMP plugin.

[dmn_clown]

Processing of "e7panelwood2" alone, in 2k*2k resolution, on a 2GHz AMD takes up to one minute, and 700 MB of RAM. (A set of textures from the package, when generated all at one time, takes only a few percent more). Memory mgmt in fxgen will be optimized in future versions.

I would suggest working on the memory usage before anything else, 700M RAM is excessive.

Procedural tools are specific - they are like a spray when compared to a tiny brush used by regular texture creators. So in order to use them, you will have to get used to them. Anyway, I am willing to create some textures myself. This is an example rendered as 1024x1024 (click). In the game, a 2k*2k version looks better than this.

<snip>

Edit. As it's particularly easy to create a normal map in FxGen, I will be glad to know whether they are already supported in OA, and how to enable them. So, what should I do in order to add my normal map to the game?

Your e7panelwood2 is ok, but I have yet to see a wood paneled wall where the planks are exactly the same color, there is always a slight variation of color in between planks and the metal band's highlights are too bright, in a level where this is used you'd have a nice pattern of consistent and repetitive white streaks.

Attached is an example of what you should be shooting for wrt wood no overly-done highlights and no shadows.

OpenArena does not support normal maps or specular maps, the only id tech 3 project that does is xreal which isn't the best project to base on due to extreme hardware requirements.

[iLeft.bye]

probably xreal is the worst project if you just need normal maps and some rt lightning
good example of writing hardware dependent code