New shallow water dds

[bh]

My new EarthWater4k is now ready for download, get it here (3 megs):

http://www.rhundley.freeserve.co.uk/EarthWater4k.zip

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Regards...bh.

[bh]

Hello all... any feedback on this one?

Regards...bh.

[Guest]

It looks quite nice It even looks more real than the 8k texture I found on the texture foundry
Is it possible to make a texture without water? It would be cool to see the ocean floor from space

[Don. Edwards]

Anonymous,
Go to http://www.space-graphics.com/
They have a texture of Earth with out water. And this has been done by a few others here in the forum in the past.

bh,
Well it will be OK for some people but I want Earth to be as close to the real thing as posible. Thats why I make my own. The water just looks to much like the surface of a bowling ball. No offence but its just not the that accurate. But you do get an A for effort and a strong B for execusion.

[bh]

Thanks Don...
Yes, it's not for everyone I guess. But some people must be giving it a try.
Anyone like it at all? I love it. I may have a problem.

It looks really nice from a close orbit, just let it drift, take away the clouds and... Fullers ESB does the trick.

Regards..bh.

[bh]

Hello all...

8k version of this will be ready soon, maybe tomorrow (Tuesday evening UK time). I will post later after its ready for download (13megs).

Regards to all...bh.

[bh]

Hello all...8k ready, webspace down, should be back tomorrow.

Regards..bh.

[bh]

Hello all...

Here's the 8k EarthWater texture...it won't be here for long, I'm going to have to get it moved somewhere else, then I can get the shuttle models and other stuff back on line.

http://www.rhundley.freeserve.co.uk/earthwater8k.zip

Give it a try...bh.

[Rassilon]

Before next week my server space should be set up...Ill host it there if you want...It wont be a month before the forums will be set up but Ill be able to host...somewhat...Still wont be able to offer FTP but I might be able to set up a public uploads page...Just have to work out the best possible security with that...

And yes Im back...

[bh]

Thanks Rassilon, could be a way out of my webspace problem...anyone tried this texture yet?

Regards..bh.

[Jango Fett]

I'm using it right now, I like it very much, although a liked the old 4k better, because this one isn't so blue. It concerns my question you said you will answer me - does this version comes from edited standard 8k texture from TexFoundry?

And one more question: why are new 8k textures 40 Megs in size, and old from Texture Foundry is only 21 Megs?

It slows my machine when I put 4k bumpmap, which I used always, now I must use 2k bumpmap.

[bh]

Hello Jango Fett...I'm chuffed that you like the new water/earth texture.
I will try to answer your questions.

I first started work on this texture about six months ago after downloading Franks (fsgregs) shallow water from Bruckners site. I tried blending it with what ever Earth texture I was using at the time, I think it was the standard texture that ships with Celestia (Blue Marble?). I took me a long time to get anywhere near a look that I was happy with and my first attempts were a bit hamfisted.

I decided to use Don Edwards NewEarth8k.dds as a 'base' texture adding Frank's shallow water - I did a lot of extra work on this - and a new deep water blend with Don's deepwater. Don's texture weighs in at 43.6megs and that is why the EarthWater8k is so heavy. If I use the 8k texture from TexFoundry (I haven't tried it yet) It should come in at about the same size as the original (21megs).

As to why the 8k isn't as blue as the 4k - I missed a step before the dds conversion! I really should make notes of what I'm doing here. I hope this answers your question.

The 8k slows my machine down too, and I have to use the 2k bumpmap. I tend mix the 4k and 8k depending on what I want to look at.

Many regards...bh.

[jim]

why are new 8k textures 40 Megs in size, and old from Texture Foundry is only 21 Megs?

Hi Jango and bh,

the answer is very simple, Fridger use the DXT1c format for compression and
you had used DXT3 or DXT5 format. Check my post about texture for more informations.

Bye Jens

[Jango Fett]

Thanks bh!

I thought it would be the answers. I actually can't see the difference beetween Don's and Fridger's 8k textures.

Jim,

I know the basics with texture compression, so your note will do.

Thanks!

[bh]

Jens... I tried using DXT 1 but the blending of the shallow/mid/deep water became rather pixelated...did drop the size by half though. Shall investigate further.

Regards...bh.

[Guest]

Hello all... still having a few problems reducing the size of this one!

I tried the new shallow water texture on Fridgers 8k... and it looked a bit crappy (no offence Fridger, it's just my lack of knowledge in this area).

If anyone else is keen on having a go please do.

Regards to all...bh.

[bh]

Me again... I was logged in, but wasn't... if you know what I mean.

bh.

[bh]

Hello all...I've just found out the link to the texture was wrong! Many apologies.

http://www.rhundley.freeserve.co.uk/earthwater8k.zip

That should do it...sorry...bh.

[bh]

New earthWater still looks great but it's a slow down animal... Can any body get this down to around 21 megs?...I can't. I get very pixelated blends with DXT 1 using Dougs plug-in (that doesn't work any more).

Help!! Jens, Fridger. Don, Rass...

Regards...bh.

[jim]

Hi bh,

Have you tried Pixel's Tool. But this can only build dxt1c files from a BMP file and works on commandline (DOS-window).
http://free.bol.bg/pixel/CreateBigDDS.zip

I guess you are useing only the Photoshop plugin ? You should also try the commandline tool NVTXT.EXE (with a little BAT file).

Or try the 'Devil' commandline tool' form DBrady. If you want I can upload this.

Bye Jens