Procedural Texture Mapping

Decade can now generate its terrain textures procedurally. This is a big step as each terrain created automatically gets textured based on its unique attributes. Instead of just showing you a screenshot I will briefly explain how the textures are created.

A set of base textures is gathered. These are plain textures of all the environments which will exist in the terrain. e.g. sand, grass, rock, mud, snow etc...



Each of these environments is given

• optimum height (The best height at which this environment exists)
• min height (The minimum height at which this environment exists)
• max height (The maximum height at which this environment exists)

By cross referencing these values with the height map, the textures assigned to each terrain which exits at the given height are blended together with higher preference going to the more optimal terrain.

The result is the above texture which is then applied to the terrain. For my first implementation of this algorithm I am happy with the results, however as always there are many improvements which need to be added.

• Tiling textures instead of stretching them
• Add support for applying the detail texture to the terrain texture at this stage to cards which do not support multi-texture can still have detail at no extra cost.
• Some better logic for texture blending instead of just checking the height. The environment in a valley is different to that of a cliff face at the same height, or rocky outcrops on a snow covered mountain etc...
• Add lighting so that features are enhanced.
• Add vegetation to add more realism.