Im sure this has probably been asked before, but i really need help with making textures after using leveller. I make my track in leveller and then i dont know how to render textures in 3D Studio Max, or any prog. for that matter. Also is it worth using leveller if you only have the demo version or should i just stick to photoshop?  Any help would be appreciated.
I have already made textures before im wondering how to render the textures in 3D Studio Max when you export your .BMP from leveller and it is all sorts of different colors and when you put it into 3D Smax it looks funky.
there is a tutorial on how to render whit max at the mcmfactory forum..
there is only one better thing about the leveller shadows.. that is that it has no render time..
and in leveller i recommend exporting it out as a 513x513 the resize it later in photoshop..
WHAT?! LOL NO NO NO!!!! Leveller should be thought of as a FINISHING TOOL M/M...if you use Leveller and export and then resize in PS...you LOSE all that wonderful 64,000 level detail and reduce it to PS's tiny 256 levels. Why then use Leveller at all?
If you go to the topic on the Advanced Displacement Mapping with Leveller http://dirttwister.com/smf/index.php?topic=1364.0 you will find toward to bottom of the page where I have explained how to export a greyscale displacement map for use with 3D Max for rendering your shadows. Read the tutorial at MCMFactory for using max to render your textures (shadows).
As for wether it's WORTH it to use Leveller if you just have the demo...no it isn't really worth it cause you can't export at even 257x257 (I think the demo is limited to something like 128 x 128). So grab the licensed version if you are interested in using Leveller. Yes that means buying it...if you can't afford it then it's probably not worth using the demo for anything other than to convince yourself to come up with the cash to buy it.
But NEVER export from Leveller and then edit in PS! That's just crazy...why sacrifice all that detail? Leveller resizes just fine by itself just push and hold CTRL + S. You should always do all the work you care to do in PS BEFORE you import the displacement map into Leveller. Leveller is the last tool you to touch your displacement map...finish with it.
It's definately worth buying the program BTW...that is if you plan to make a lot of tracks or maybe someday make a career out of it. Leveller is used by a LOT of gaming industry professionals to create displacement maps for all sorts of games (mostly racing games). It's a great tool to have in your arsenal of track creation tools.
sorry if i wasnt clear but i ment the shadowmap texture..
and you dont loose quality when resizing that!!!
Terragen is free. Terragen is better at making terrain textures than 3D max...
I did a texture tutorial here: http://mcm2.theloz.com/textut/
Yeah it's for Photo-Paint which doesn't even exist anymore, but if you know how to use Photoshop enough to make a track then you should be able to figure out what i'm doing there in Photoshop.
~Loz
Uhm... making textures in 3D Max? I never really heard of something like that... you mean making shadows?
I can't agree with the Max textures statement that LOZ made. Old Robin who always did Terragen textures, used Max proceedural textures on his last MCM2 creation (can't recall the name at the moment). If HE thought that Max was a better solution...not to mention that TO ME the textures looked a LOT more realistic than what he'd done up to that point...then I have to assume that (while it may be a LOT more difficult, and might cost a lot) Max can out-do Terragen.
Personally...I haven't been able to nail down Max proceedural textures as yet. I've tried but just never quite got it down and it seems much less intuitive than Terragen does (to me). Plus I've seen what the PROFESSIONAL evironmental artist (at Rainbow Studios) can do with Max textures...Max is just better...once you've seen what I've seen you wouldn't think twice about agreeing. Maybe one of the Rainbow guys will pop in here and help confirm that as well.
It's not really Max's strength though. A really skilled artist can paint a photo-realistic painting, but a camera is sorta a better option. Also if you do the whole deal in Terragen (skies and texture), you can get them to match much closer than anything in Max. But I'd love to see some screens of O_R's new stuff ;)
My terragen skills have come on a lot since my MCM2 stuff, I'd be interested to know what you think when MVA is out ;)
~Loz