Feral Heart

Help & Guidance => Game Help => Topic started by: KiwiBirds on May 07, 2016, 09:44:52 am

Title: Heightmap help
Post by: KiwiBirds on May 07, 2016, 09:44:52 am
I'm currently in the process of making a map. I have most of it planned out, and now I just need to make the heightmap.
I usually work in SAI, though I also have gimp. However, the blur and smudge tool on gimp seem of a less good quality, and I've heard that since gimp works in 8BIT the edges of the blurred areas can still come out a little jagged, whereas when using, say, photoshop, the terrain comes out very very smooth. So my question is: Could you make a map in paint tool SAI, and then open it in GIMP and convert it to greyscale and import it into the game? Or do you have to use GIMP? And if so, is there any possible way to make the landscape more smooth and nice? Thanks!                                              
Title: Re: ???
Post by: Hakumi on May 07, 2016, 09:58:40 am
This seems like it could go in the Help Thread ( But I could be wrong ). BUT ANYWAYS.

I've heard that you can do that while doing certain tricks to it and everything .... But it might cause problems so you might want to go ahead and stick with GIMP for the time being so you don't run into having any issues since it seems that GIMP works best... As for the smoothing part, you could always try blurring it out using the different brush setting until it comes out to how you like it. ( At least that's what I did in one of my first maps and it didn't come out so jagged.

I'm not really an expert but just throwing something out there, hopefully some other floofs can give ya a helping hand here c:
Title: Re: ???
Post by: D-ead7Dog on May 07, 2016, 01:34:08 pm
Title: Re: ???
Post by: Warriorstrike on May 07, 2016, 02:15:29 pm
I'll move your thread over to the Game Help board since your question is more based around seeking help rather than discussing the map.
Title: Re: ???
Post by: KiwiBirds on May 07, 2016, 07:45:30 pm
@Pkf7
Um. I've already read the tutorial many times  and it hasn't helped. There's nothing about using SAI in it.
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: D-ead7Dog on May 07, 2016, 07:48:24 pm
Quote from: MudCake on May 07, 2016, 07:45:30 pm
@Pkf7
Um. I've already read the tutorial many times  and it hasn't helped. There's nothing about using SAI in it.

Use a different program. ;)
You're not limited on it!
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: KiwiBirds on May 07, 2016, 07:50:48 pm
@Pkf7
I am, because SAI doesn't have a greyscale option so it can't be imported into FH without crashing, even when only black/white/grey shades are used :<
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: D-ead7Dog on May 07, 2016, 07:59:19 pm
Quote
Woah, the biggest mistake is to use paintool SAI, because the thing is that you cannot put it as a greyscale canvas. I recommend you to use Gimp only. Try doing it on Gimp again and tell me how it goes. Here are some tips to help you:

1- The canvas size should be 513x513
2- Grayscale canvas
3- Use the colors going from Black to white. Make sure it doesn't have a dot of yellow, red, etc.
4- Save it as .png
5- Make sure the Alpha Channel is not on. Go to Layers > Transparency and if it says 'Remove Alpha Channel' is available, remove it.

Also, make a new map in map maker. It's better to start from scratch than borrowing Watermills. Then, you can save your height map (as .png) in the new folder that will show up. It should be the name of your map.
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: Kynvuu on May 07, 2016, 09:18:37 pm
I don't use either GIMP nor SAI, but I'm sure you could just select your whole image and then copy it over to a grayscale canvas in GIMP. I use Photoshop, and I know that it's similar to GIMP, so I'm assuming there's probably a function that converts RGB to Grayscale...not entirely sure though. Sorry if I wast much of a help!
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: Hakumi on May 07, 2016, 09:30:47 pm
Quote from: Kynvuu on May 07, 2016, 09:18:37 pm
I don't use either GIMP nor SAI, but I'm sure you could just select your whole image and then copy it over to a grayscale canvas in GIMP. I use Photoshop, and I know that it's similar to GIMP, so I'm assuming there's probably a function that converts RGB to Grayscale...not entirely sure though. Sorry if I wast much of a help!

Yep. There is a way to convert to greyscale on Gimp. It's in the advanced options and you can go from RGB to Greyscale. c:
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: KiwiBirds on May 07, 2016, 10:51:11 pm
Thanks for all your help everyone, I managed to do the map in SAI and then export it as a PSD into GIMP and then convert it to greyscale (as well as turning off the alpha channel)
Then I just imported it into FH. Thank you so much everyone! :>
Title: Re: Heightmap help
Post by: Kerriki on May 07, 2016, 10:52:10 pm
Locking this since the question was answered. Good luck on your map! :3