Terrain Development Guide
Chapter 3: Optional Terrain Development
Forests
By making use of elevated textures it is possible to produce a nice, and computationally inexpensive, 3D ground-clutter effect for forests. The idea here is to place 2 or 3 layers of foliage textures above the surface of the terrain. The combined effect can be quite striking and add a lot of visual depth to your terrain.
To create a forest, you first need to create a set of foliage textures. There needs to be one texture for each layer you want to use in construction of the forest. In the picture above, the small round trees are created by three layers:
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Layer 1: Shadows
Height above terrain: 0 meters
Transparency is used wherever shadows do not exist. This allows the base terrain to show through.
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Layer 2: Foliage 1
Height above terrain: 5 meters
Image contains only the tree objects. Transparency used elsewhere.
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Layer 3: Foliage 2
Height above terrain: 10 meters
Image contains only the tree objects. Transparency used elsewhere.
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Next create three new layers in the Terrain Descriptor File. Give each layer a different value for height (e.g. 0 meters, 5 meters, 10 meters). Within each layer's description, assign each foliage texture to those palette/color values in the Ecology Map where you want the forests to be built. No other textures beyond those for the forest need to be assigned.
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# Example of Elevated Forest Layer, 0m (shadows) #
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[Layer 7]
map = ecology.map
scale = 0.25
height = 0
blend = 1
num_textures = 2
[Layer 7 Texture 1]
value = 21
texture = _elevated/savanna_woods_layer0.tga
detail = _detail/detail_bumpy2.tga
rotation = 0
detail_rotation = 0
[Layer 7 Texture 2]
value = 43
texture = _elevated/savanna_woods_layer0.tga
detail = _detail/detail_bumpy2.tga
rotation = 0
detail_rotation = 0
Note: Although you can create an all new map just devoted to forests, the best course of action is to use the ecology map.
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