Hi guys and girls, I'm looking for some help, or maybe just advices ! Let me explain, I'm a backer of BeamNg, playing almost since day one of the tech demo release. I've built lot of custom maps, just for me, for training purpose, to learn a bit more about Torque Engine ! So far, I'm pretty fluent with BeamNG Editing tools ! But I still have a big issue ! How can I make nice sweet roads. I'm going to describe how I'm processing my maps and what I've tried : - Backing a nice Heightmap with WorldMachine. - Exporting in RAW 16b PC to Unity - Using EasyRoads 3D plugins to carve roads on my map. - Exporting my Heightmap and converting it to png. - Loading my heightmap to BeamNg editor and start fun stuff... Now my problems ! First of all, using Unity... It's not a big deal, but this EasyRoad Plugin v2 doesn't let me build nice intersections. And after exporting heightmap the softness of the road is not really great. I've tried some settings on my road parameters in Unity, but it still jaggy ! I've tried a lot of different map resolution. I'm generaly working on 0.5m/px maps. But also 0.25m and 1m per pixel, and my problem persist. But I can smooth that without big issues. But switching to Unity is a mess, and having to convert heightmap form raw to png etc... It's not ideal. Then their is the problem of painting roads. When i'm exporting my map from World machine, i generate grass mask, rock mask, sand too, so I gain lot of time with patinting texture in Torque Editor. But since my roads are generated on Unity (and i'm pretty bad at it), i can't just have a mask of my roads path, meaning i have to paint all my roads with asphalt brush in BeamNG. I think their is a way to build my Roads at the beggining, maybe in World Machine, and even have a png mask for it. I've tried drawing road mask in photoshop and then "merging" it as a layer in World machine, but the result is not really great. I've tried using other engines like "cities skyline" map editor, but limiting the import/export to 1024x1024. (and i mostly working on 4096) Maybe it's possible by using the layout generator in World machine, but I can't figure out, the settings for my splines. Maybe you guys are using different method to make roads, please help me with these. I'm pretty comfortable with 3D softwares, I can use 3dsmax, Zbrush, unity, unreal, so technical stuff aren't a problem at all. Just let me know how you do it, or what is the best way to have nice mountain roads for you ! Thanks a lot for the time you take to read that... If you did ! Have a nice day/night.... (and sorry if my english is not tip-top but i'm french ! )
So your primary goal here is how to do good smooth roads in World Machine, masked with their own color?
Well my primary goal is to find a way of making my roads without switching softwares. Or maybe just know the best way to make roads on heightmaps... I don't really care if I have to paint asphalt all over my terrain road geometry. How developers or modders make roads on the heightmap??? Not with the torque terrain tools ???
The 'new' way being suggested is to add roads to a heightmap in Blender. Road camber and anything else can be done that other software can't replicate very well or at all. I use World Machine and export heightmaps with decent roads into Torque without any further programs needed. My map Baja Hills was done this way. The road building process in WM is tedious but once learned can be very quick.
I've made some road mesh over my terrain using 3dsmax, then exporting as an heightmap. The main issue is for "carving", i mean, when the road need to be over the terrain it's ok, but when you have to carve the terrain for the road, polymodelling is really tedious ! So maybe you have some sort of tuto I can follow to build my roads directly in WM ???
Personally, I use beam editor now to shape roads, I have fund a very easy technic to do it with the new tools and I often export the map to improve the overlay texture after create a lot of roads. I prefer this technic as blender or World machine technic because in the game I have a better seeing of the landscape... If someone want a short video to show how I do I can make it. Just tell me on Private message.
Well seeing what I am doing in World Machine is indeed a pain in the ass so I have learned ways to deal with it. Doing roads with the Torque editor sounds like complete heresy but if anyone can find a way it's you. PM sent!
MP sent too ! I don't know how you can build nice roads on mountains with the Beam Editor ! But if its possible, it could be a good alternative !
I know that @bob.blunderton has made roads on mountains, also he uses technique where mesh road is created to be temporary shaping tool and then is replaced with decal road, but I don't know much about this stuff, what little I have played with world editor is pulling my hair straight and I'm amazed what some guys can create with that. There is some tips Bob shared recently, which may or may not be use for you but he writes about road smoothing there: https://www.beamng.com/threads/advanced-island-redux.30565/page-2#post-533451
Yeah you can make some awesome banked roadways in the beam editor with using the raise-to-mesh and lower-to-mesh terrain editor tools, after you get a mesh road laid out and banked to where you want it. I've kind-of mastered this technique and it was used to build 99% of the roads in Tennessee USA and completely where I re-did my highways in So-Cal Interstate recently, and now Nevada Interstate. It's actually very easy once you get the hang of it. Just make your mesh wider than the road you wish to put there, and you'll be fine. Sometimes my transparent-AI-guide texture (in ART/ROADS directory) that's in all 3 of my maps helps here, so you can SEE the ground underneath the mesh when you're previewing to see if you've got it leveled out properly. If you lay down your DECAL road texture before leveling the land to the MESH using the aligner tools you'll be able to see where the land is at the proper height as the decal road will show through and look like it's on the surface of the mesh. It works well.
Oh... Didn't think of the conform to mesh tool... I see... That could be a good solution. Drawing general road shape with mesh roads and conforming the terrain as i want. Thanks guys. Appreciate.
Thank you so so much. I'm looking for that since a long time. But I have missed bob.blunderton's tuto... Wich is the same technic. That will become my new way trying to make roads... Thanks a lot to all of you for your help. And I think this video need to be added to bob's tuto or pined on forum section... Merci Doullpepper pour le temps passer sur le tuto...
Seems the WM way of doing this is dying fast. Will watch your vid when I get home Doull. Thank you too Bob!
Just another thanks... This technic help me so much. I'm loving again maps creation... By the way, improving beam editor and make content creation more accessible could be really great... That can make the community bigger... But once more thanks a lot everyone...
I would love to see an adjustable falloff function for the mesh to terrain functions. I don't know why I didn't key into this technique sooner but I am going to work on a map that incorporates both terrain to mesh and World Machine aspects. Hoping for the best!
Adjustable falloff. It's there, it just doesn't jump out and say hi! One (easy) way is Get your road level, smooth it out, then SMOOTH the banks on both sides (The right-of-way that follows the road on both sides). A wider smoother will make a longer sloped bank more realistically on fewer passes. Stay a few 'squares' from the road on the 1st pass and get closer on the 2nd, touching up where needed. A second way that's much harder (the first time), is to have a wide road mesh like above would get you - like 3x the width of the road itself, maybe 4~5. Get out the conform terrain to mesh (up or down, depending on where the mesh is in relation to the terrain, use brain here!). Use pressure = 10 or less, something low like that ON THE BANKS, ONCE YOU HAVE THE ROAD FORMED up and done (smoothed and all). It should basically slowly drop your banks or raise the terrain up to your road, it's helpful to use a tool about as wide or a little less than the road and keep the tool in the center as you go. While I say it's much harder, it's not really, it's just a little less intuitive. Those with large terrain squares (Desert Highway, Tennessee, etc) are wise to keep the banks back a full square from the road, at-least, terrain collision is calculated just slightly different than what you see. Squares = you can see them on the terrain with view-wireframe mode. This is (for simplicity's sake) the units of your terrain and are in powers-of-two. This goes for banks up or down from the road-bed. @DoullPepper : THANKYOU, from one mapper to another, while I already know how to do this and have been doing it since the day they released this feature (I already knew how to use this from another editor), NO ONE ELSE except you, me, and @jdbensch (because I told him), seems to know this! I was just thinking, gee, now that I bought my drives, and have space to record, I should do a video. Here you are to save the day! MightyPepper!
you are not the only to know this method. I used it the first time during the last summer, when i worked on the update of my map Stairway moutain. It's Synsol who oriented me on . Some time after, I talked about it a bit with Aboroath and Firepower in his thread for his map Crater. i don't it's me who have found in first , but some people use it since a long time. In all case, it's cool to have put a tuto for this method
Yes it's about time this did get a tutorial. I am glad you know this method, since it's always better to have more good maps with some decent driving on them!
