Getting more bits in the Alpha channel...
Author
Does anyone know of a way to get more than 8-bits in the Alpha channel? I am trying to create a texture that will be used as an overlay to some digital terrain data and use the alpha bits to hold altitude information in the overlay. That way I can use a quick alpha test to remove the portions of the texture that I don''t want to see. This works fine except that the resolution of the data is such that 8-bits in the alpha is just not enough. Does anyone know of a way to get more resolution in the alpha channel?
There really isn''t a way to add more alpha bits, but you can always cheat.
Instead of having your alpha represent 1 altitude unit, you can use them to represent 2 altitude units.
A*2 = your information.
I''m not sure what kind of terrain you are using, but you can cheat a lot of different ways. Instead of using the raw alpha information, you can also plug the information into a formula.
If you use a spline, you can set your accuracy better for some elevations than others.
~~~~~
"the best thing about betting on apathy is that even when you lose, you dont care." - nethead.
Download and play Slime King I.
Instead of having your alpha represent 1 altitude unit, you can use them to represent 2 altitude units.
A*2 = your information.
I''m not sure what kind of terrain you are using, but you can cheat a lot of different ways. Instead of using the raw alpha information, you can also plug the information into a formula.
If you use a spline, you can set your accuracy better for some elevations than others.
~~~~~
"the best thing about betting on apathy is that even when you lose, you dont care." - nethead.
Download and play Slime King I.
Author
Thanks for the reply,
I pretty much came to the same conclusion. Unfortunatly, trying to cheat by using multiplication, or even normalizing the data will not work too well because I really need more than 8-bits for the resoultion of the data that I am using....
I guess it comes down to this... I am trying to make a monocrome texture (remember, this is an overlay) in such a way that I can quickly remove portions of the texture from being displayed (so I didn''t have to keep recalculating and reloading the texture). I saw that a quick alpha test worked... but the resolution was poor. Since I only cared about it being one color, I wondered if anyone knew of a way to get to those extra bits that I didn''t care about or knew of another way of doing what I am trying to do... I hope I am making sense...
Any help would be appriciated.
Chris
I pretty much came to the same conclusion. Unfortunatly, trying to cheat by using multiplication, or even normalizing the data will not work too well because I really need more than 8-bits for the resoultion of the data that I am using....
I guess it comes down to this... I am trying to make a monocrome texture (remember, this is an overlay) in such a way that I can quickly remove portions of the texture from being displayed (so I didn''t have to keep recalculating and reloading the texture). I saw that a quick alpha test worked... but the resolution was poor. Since I only cared about it being one color, I wondered if anyone knew of a way to get to those extra bits that I didn''t care about or knew of another way of doing what I am trying to do... I hope I am making sense...
Any help would be appriciated.
Chris
How about using multiple textures, each one with a finer granularity?
You have to remember that you''re unique, just like everybody else.
You have to remember that you''re unique, just like everybody else.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement