Mapping: Making arches look better.

[lizardkid]

i have this REALLY annoying problem with my newfound skill with arches, i made a very small bend for a bridge support, but the texture looks AWFUL! it's all blurred and bent over. like so...



is there any way to fix this? because although they're not a major part of the map, anyone who looks at them will probably bin the map right off...

[Mj]

Use the natural button (bottom right), but sometimes a mesh just refuses to tex right... And Tbh those arches look a bit wierd, you'd be better off using a bent square cylinder

[lizardkid]

i know they look weird, they're still in devment

i wanted to see if thre was some magically hidden hotkey to fix the tex's or something.

[bdbodger]

Also can you please use 640x480 for your pictures my monitor isn't as big as yours must be .

[seere]

Ok..Iv'e had a go at making a quick tutorial for you for a simple arch.

Your dimentions may be different but the concept is the same.
Ok drag out a 64x64x192 block.

Now go to
curves---->primitives---->square cylinder

Ok now change to front view

Ok now select your block and then press Ctrl B and you will see a series of dots come up.

Press enter once and the blue dot should appear in the middle of the pink ones either side (if it isnt press Tab until it is.

Now press Enter then Tab until you get the 3 blue dots at the top as shown below.

Right now hold down your left mouse button to the left of your block and drag it up to bend the block so it looks like this below.

Press enter and deselect...by now hopefuly you have one half of an archway.
Ok now select the arch again and press Space bar to duplicate it, press the ZN (z axis rotate) to align your 2nd arch piece with the 1st using all views to assure correct alignment.

Ok now you have your arch but it may seem a little small in height so just simply add on a couple of blocks either side to extend it using the same measurements.

And there you should have a perfectly acceptable arch, you can mess vith vertices etc to make it more elaborate but you should get used to doing this 1st.
Now texturing...hmm pain in the ass is texturing an arch ,hit the surface inspector and either try Natural (sometimes you have to press natural twice, or bring down the scale of the horizontal and the virticle by reducing each by one click. (dont be alarmed that there is nothing in the scale box it still works)

Dont be put off if in radiant it looks like the texture on your arch is darker/lighter...ingame it will look fine.
This is my 1st attemt at a tutorial and I havent taken long to do it so I hope its all correct and it helps.
Seere.

[Green Beret]

Nice tut.thnx,i never messed with arches b4,but you made it look easy

[lizardkid]

seere. i. love. you.

[Mj]

Its much easier just to drag the vertices around in 2D than bending, but thats just my deluded opinion

[tltrude]

Here is a video tutorial on arches: http://www.carbongraphx.com/mohaa/video ... Curves.wmv . When I frist tried it, I had trouble with the inverted end caps. On the second try, I faced the arches the same direction as in the video and it worked fine.

[Master-Of-Fungus-Foo-D]

yes. i also followed that one... i think you need to have it in top view for it to work (same direction???)

[bdbodger]

I think another way to get the texture to look right is to select the one side of the arch and use your middle mouse button on a wall close by that has the texture you want .

[Mj]

I think another way to get the texture to look right is to select the one side of the arch and use your middle mouse button on a wall close by that has the texture you want .

That method usually only works with flat patches...

[LiquorKraZy]

i tried the example by Seere..but when i applied the texture after hitting natural 1-2 times and lowering the scales...either way the texture always followed the contour of the bend and never quite looked right!

[wacko]

EDIT: Ooops, this is supposed to be an answer to the following post by bdbodger. dunno how I did this

You sure it does not work because on my computer when I use natural on an arch it looks like this


but when I use my middle mouse button and click on the wall beside it it looks like this

thats because the face u do IS flat, just like Mj said. If u tried the bent part, u'd find that the MMB doesn't work.

[bdbodger]

You sure it does not work because on my computer when I use natural on an arch it looks like this



but when I use my middle mouse button and click on the wall beside it it looks like this