About
Solinia Online makes stock use of the Torque Game Engine with the exception of increased number of terrain textures (12). Documentation here is a cut and paste document from the Torque Developer Network Wiki.
Introduction
Torque terrain, even after the years since it was first created, still looks great. This is due largely to the toolset that's used in making new terrains. It's got a fast workflow that allows level designers to build how they prefer. Artists that prefer to build out the terrain in a modeling application and generate a heightmap are going to have just as easy a time as people who simply like to set parameters and allow the terrain to procedurally generate. What's more, all the tools in the kit play exceptionally well together, which means there is no wrong way to build terrain. In fact, you'll find that you get truly stunning results if you utilize the best parts of multiple creation paths.
Through the course of this lesson, readers will learn the basic function of all the tools and then use them to create visually appealing terrains. But enough talk, let's start climbing this mountain.
The Terrain Editing Tools
The terrain toolset is comprised of 4 major tools, which each are geared around a specific use in mind.
The Terrain Editor
The terrain editor is a sculpting tool, although to call it merely a sculpting tool is to sell it short. With it, level designers have direct control over the form of the terrain with its host of smoothing, sculpting, and growing/reducing tools.
The Terraform Editor
The terraform editor allows you choose and customize a variety of procedural functions, blend them how you see fit, and click a button at the end to generate your terrain on the fly. This tool is fantastic for giving you a quick but visually solid foundation for you to build your level on.
The Texture Editor
The texture editor is similar to the terraform editor. With it, you load textures, customize their placement and blending options, and then click a button to texture your entire terrain with awesome results.
Placement Operation Mask Settings: Each Placement Operation (fractal, height, slope, and water level) are effected by their mask settings. The mask settings are set through the use of a 6 or 7 point graph that appears when you select the placement operation in the operation list for the material on which the operation is being used. Here's a little bit of information about how these graph control points work:
Keith Sponburgh: The control points vertical position will determined the transparency of the texture at that point with the bottom being minimal and the top being the maximum. I'm pretty sure it's a 0-100% setup, but don't quote me on that.
The six or seven points, from left to right represent the various stages. In the height filter these are each equal to 1/6 of the total terrain height (from the lowest point to the highest point) with the left being the lowest and the right being the highest. In the slope filter each of the six points are varying degrees of the slope with the left side being flat (0 degree) and the right side being vertical (90 degree). It doesn't seem to change anything if you adjust the number of control points, at least it didn't last time I checked. However, 6 should be plenty and I don't think there is a need for any less than that either since it's not used for any "real-time" purpose in the game.
The Texture Painter
While the texture editor and terraform editor share a similar workflow, the texture painter is similar to the terrain editor. With it, you can choose from a palette of textures and paint directly onto the terrain.