Creating New Textures Using Wally

Building A Basic Flat Texture

	Before we get started, I should note that Wally lets you draw in the largest texture mip ONLY; all of the smaller sub-mip textures get rebuilt automatically (or you can manually do it whenever you want by clicking the Remip button, or hitting F11. Click on the View | Options menu item to bring up the Options dialog box to tell Wally when to automatically Remip. Select the Remip tab. Make sure that "Rebuild Sub-Mips On File Save" is checked. Click OK. Let's get started. First, Select a background color for your new texture. To do this, just use your right mouse button to click on a dark color on the Color Palette Toolbar; I chose a nice dark brown. (If the Color Palette is not visible, click View | Color Palette to bring it up. Then, click File | New. Next, select a size of 64 x 64, which is a good standard wall size. Press OK. Tip: If you accidentally create a new mip with the wrong background color, just use the Flood Fill tool to fill it with the correct color. Select the Zoom tool (over on the left) and right click on the image until it won't get any smaller and then left click once. Your zoom level is now 200%, which gives room on screen for one of Wally's coolest features, tiling. Click on the Tile View (Ctrl+T) button, which will show you a nice 3 x 3 tiled view of your texture. The tiling feature is a big help when it comes to making "seamless" textures. I recommend that you use it often. You should, however, use the normal, untiled view when you care about where the edges are, for example, when adding highlights and shadows to the boundary for a 3D panel effect. Now select a foreground color by using your left mouse button to click on a color in the Color Palette; I chose a nice medium blue gray. Select the Spray Paint tool. Then, select a brush size of 32 Pixels, a Round brush shape, and set amount to Medium; use the left mouse button to spray on your new texture (See Figure 1a). You want to go over your entire texture until you have a nice even pattern. If you make a mistake, just use Edit | Undo (Ctrl+Z) to go back. You can also draw on the texture using the right mouse button to draw using the background color. Next, select Image | Blend (Medium) to build a nice smooth base texture. Select a brush size of 16 Pixels and use the left button to click on the "too dark" spots. Then use the right button to click on the "too light" areas. Repeat the spray paint process until the texture has no major splotches. Use File | Save to store it as "Tut1". Congratulations! You've just completed your first texture, which will be the basis of an entire series of texture variations. This flat texture can be used in your levels whenever you need a flat seamless texture, like on pipes. (See Figure 1d).

Building A Panel Texture

	Use File | Save As to save your texture as "Tut2". This is just to be safe; you don't want to accidentally overwrite the flat texture you just built! Tip: Save often and keep updating the filename. This can save you a lot of hassles. Now, turn off the tiled view, and use the Zoom tool to zoom in by 2 left clicks (your zoom level should now be 400%). Select the Darken tool, a brush size of 1 Pixel, a shape of Square, and a darkening amount of Most. Use your left mouse button to draw a single pixel line along the bottom and right edges of the texture. Remember to use undo if you mess up; it is easier to draw shorter segments (rather than trying to draw one long segment). Next, select a darkening amount of Medium. To improve the shadowing, draw a second line just above to bottom one and draw another just to the left of the segment on the right. Tip: Use the SHIFT key to constrain your horizontal and vertical movements. Use the SPACEBAR to switch between horizontal and vertical motion. Select the Lighten tool. Select a lightening amount of A Little Bit. Use your left mouse button to draw a single pixel line along the top and left edges of the texture. You may want to vary the amount setting or just skip a few pixels here and there to get an attractive highlight. You may want to use the Pencil tool to touch up the edges a bit. You can use the EyeDropper tool to pick up a pixel's color for an exact match. Tip: Use the CONTROL key while using a drawing tool to do a quick switch to the EyeDropper tool. The eyedropper will be active as long as you hold the CONTROL key down; when you release the key, Wally will switch back to the currently selected tool. Save the texture. You've just completed your second texture. This panel texture can be used whenever you need segmented wall panels. (See Figure 2). Splitting Your Panel Into Sections Now save your previous texture as "Tut3". Select the Darken tool, a brush size of 1 Pixel, a shape of Square, and a darkening amount of More. Now, draw a single pixel line starting at pixel 1,15 and drawing down to 63,15. Look at the status bar to see your cursor location. Remember to use short segments and undo if needed. Next, select a darkening amount of A Little Bit. To improve the shadowing, draw a second line just to the left of the segment you just made (1,14 down to 62,14). Select the Lighten tool and set the lightening amount of A Little Bit. Draw a line from 1,16 down to 62,16. You've just split your panel into two sections. Now select the Spray Recolor tool. Select a tint amount of Most and a Square brush with a size of 16 Pixels. Pick a nice accent dark color and completely cover the left panel segment. Save it. (See Figure 3). Tip: Know your tools. Use the Replacer tool when you want to change a single color value to another color. Use the Recolor tool when you want to change an entire range of colors to another hue, while preserving shadows and highlights. Use Spray Recolor when you want a translucent spray paint effect OR you can use it like the Recolor tool (but you don't care what colors get replaced). Use Tint when you want to blend the existing color with the paint color, instead of replacing it. This is also a good time to note that due to the inherent limitations of a 256 color palette, some colors do not blend as well as others. You may notice this effect when the spray paint tool fails to build up to the desired final color or when the small sub-mips do not look as blended as you hoped. There is no true fix for this problem, but until id moves to 24 bit textures there are a few things you can do to improve your results. Try to use colors that have many similar shades in the Quake 2 palette. Also, don't hesitate to go back and touch up your image with the paint brush or pencil tools.

Building Texture Variations

	Adding Battle Scars Reload Tut2 and save it as "Tut4". Select the Bullet Hole tool. Then, use the left button to draw some small bullet holes. Now use the right button to draw a few large ones. Use the Darken tool with a width of 5 Pixels, a Round shape, and a low amount setting to add some soot marks. Save it. (See Figure 4). Tip: I think bullet holes look more realistic if you place several of them together in a strafing pattern. I also think that battle scarred panels look best when you create several different ones. When building your level try not to use the same scarred panel within sight of another identical panel (or at least keep them far apart). Adding Scratches Reload Tut2 and save it as "Tut5". Select the Scratch tool. Switch to tiled view, so that scratches can wrap over the texture's edges. Select a scratch amount of A Little Bit. Then, use the left button to draw some shallow scratches. Now use the right button to draw a few deeper ones. Save it. (See Figure 5). Tip: I think scratches look more realistic when clustered in groups of 2 to 4 (and all going in the same approximate direction). Adding Blood Reload Tut3 and save it as "Tut6". Let draw some blood splatters! First turn off Tiled view. Select the Tint tool. Pick a nice medium red. Select a tint amount of A Little Bit. Set a brush size of 6 and use the left button to draw some blood stains. Now re-select the tint tool. This allows us to apply over our recent tinting. Draw over the middle areas of the blood stains to deepen the red. Tip: You may have noticed that Wally automatically prevents over-tinting. All the effects tools (darken, lighten, tint) exhibit this behavior. If you wish to build up coverage, just click the current tool in the toolbar, which will reset the effect and allow you to apply on top of the last layer. Now use the Spray Paint tool to add the actual droplets of blood. For extra realism, let's add some drips. Select the Pencil tool and draw a few short vertical lines through the blood splatters (using several different shades of red). Save it. (See Figure 6). Adding Some Diagonal Stripes This can be very time consuming with other painting programs, but Wally makes this easy! Reload Tut3 and save it as "Tut7". Select the Patterned Paint tool, set the brush shape to Square and set the size to 8 Pixels. Pick a medium bright amber as your foreground (left button) color and a very dark gray as your background (right button) color. Look down at the status bar; if constraining is set to "Vertical", press the SPACEBAR to switch to Horizontal constraining. Move to 4,32 and hold down the SHIFT key to constrain the tool. Use the Right Button to draw a horizontal line all the way across the image. Now press the "F" key to flip the pattern and draw another horizontal line starting at 4,40. Tip: In order to get the flipped line to match up with the first one I had to experiment with the line placements. Don't be afraid to play around until you get the results you want. If it doesn't work out just Undo (but remember to save any results you want to keep). Next, set your brush size to 4 Pixels. Use the Left Button to draw a third horizontal line starting at 2,54. Press the "F" key and draw the forth line starting at 2,18. Now let's blend the stripe into the image; select a medium brown foreground color. Switch to the Spray Paint tool and set the amount to A Little Bit. Put a light layer of brown over each stripe. Select the Lighten tool, set your width to 1 Pixel and apply a thin highlight to the left edge of each stripe. Select the Dairken tool and apply a shadow to the right edge of each stripe. Save it. (See figure 7). (I will be enhancing the Patterned Paint tool in the future, so at some point this procedure may need to be modified).

Building Floor Textures

	Reload Tut1 and save it as "TutFloor1". In general, your floor color should contrast with the walls. This helps the wall / floor edges stand out and makes your levels more attractive. I think lighter colored floors look more realistic, so let's pick a nice light tan color. Use spray paint to apply an even layer of color over the old wall texture. Tip: By using the original wall texture as our source, we help keep our texture set unified. Select Image | Blend (Medium) to smooth the texture. Switch to Tiled view. Then apply another very light dusting of Spray Paint to add a bit more detail. Save it. (See Figure 8). Checkered Tile Floor Reload TutFloor1 and save it a TutFloor2. This one is similar to the split panel you did earlier. Turn off the tiled view and select a Square brush of size 32. Pick the Darken tool. Select an amount of A Little Bit. Move to the upper right corner and make a dark square; go to the bottom left and make another square. Pick the Lighten tool. Select an amount of A Little Bit. Make two more squares in the remaining corners. Switch back to the Darken tool and draw shadows along the bottom and right edges of each tile. Remember to use the SHIFT and SPACE keys to constrain your tool. Pick the Lighten tool and draw highlights along the upper and left edges of each tile. (See figure 9). Cracked Floor This one is so easy, it's fun! Reload TutFloor1 and save it as TutFloor3. Select Tiled view. Pick the Scratch tool. Select an amount of Medium. Draw a cluster of scratches. Your results will look best if you tend to draw your scratches in a few similar directions. Continue drawing clusters of scratches until you get a loose cracked look and then switch the amount to Least. Now fill in all of the empty areas with clusters of scratches. Save it. (See figure 10). Tip: Remember, if you need to cut and paste irregular areas (or some other tool that Wally doesn't support), export the file as a PCX, edit with Paint Shop Pro (or any other program), and import the PCX back into Wally.

Conclusion

	Well that took me less than half an hour to complete. I'll bet it didn't take you more than an hour. Use your imagination and go wild! And check back here every so often, since Ty and I plan to add more features. Feel free to email us with your comments and suggestions. Wally is © Ty Matthews and Neal White III. Quake2, Quake, id, and all related programs are id's property, of course.