Roads in Blender?

[Cmodz]

what method is everyone using for creating roads in blender? i tried the spline tutorial from here but doesn't work as good when doing a uk map due to how awkward our road systems are over here or maybe i'm just not very good at it lol (probs that), i'm currently importing terrain into blender and making a path with a road section and using the face project snapping but doesn't turn out as good.

[WrinkleysRule]

I have no problems with UK or any other counties roads using the spline tutorial, the roadway section in the tutorial is a real life road in Cornwall

If your dem and spline are set up correctly then you shouldn't have any problems as the spline is aligned to the terrain in GE so once road mesh is exported from Blender it will be the same shape as the terrain.

PM me with the method you are using and I wil see what is going wrong for you

[Cmodz]

spline one works to an extent for me, it was more of the texturing i had issues with. i'm using bulletbills and it seems to come out blocky. i'll attach an image.

 

[WrinkleysRule]

From the look of your picture you have too many points in your spline, from the tutorial -  "generally  a value of 5 for roads and 10 or more for train tracks (gives a smoother incline) should be sufficient, but bear in mind that this distance will be the size of your individual road/rail sections in Blender. "

When texturing you should cover the entire texture image otherwise the texture edges will not match up causing your blocky problem.

Redo your spline with a csv setting of 5 and import into blender, create your road and then when unwrapping select UV-reset this will place all the seperate road sections in one lump and fill the image area, you may have some sections that are rotated but this is easily rectified by selecting just that section and rotating the UV to the correct orientation.

[jobjobplayrough]

I tend to find it easier and faster to turn the CSV in to a Curve. Then create "one" section of your road. Setup your UV for the section. Then use and Array Modifer and Curve Modifier on the section you just created. I am not sure how verse you are in Blender I can try and type out a more detailed process if you need. I find it better for longer sections of roads and easier to do the UV process on the one section rather then an entire road. Once you get it to where you like you can apply the modifiers and then adjust invididual section if you need to.   

[WrinkleysRule]

@jobjobplayrough

The method you are using is the method that was described in an earlier version of this tutorial and I think I still have it in my archives as a docx (word) file should Cmodz want to try it.

[Cmodz]

looks better doing 4 instead of 1 with spline steep hills look abit sharp edged but it's certainly do(able) just need to find a good method for joining the road up to a TJunction, also if you could send that other method aswell feel free. i'm always looking for different ways to see what suits my blender skills as i'm fairly new to blender.

[WrinkleysRule]

With regard to creating TJunctions what I do is use one blender file for all the road network that way I can easily add/create TJunctions, roundabouts etc and have the option of exporting the whole road mesh as one item or each road mesh spline seperately

As all my tutorials require a working knowledge of the software used in them I suggest you folow some online tutorials on how to do things in Blender here are a couple of youtube links to tutorials.

https://www.youtube.com/@grabbitt

https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice

Please post an image of the "steep hills look abit sharp edged" problem

I will dig out the Old Tutorial and pm it to you later today

 

 

 

[Cmodz]

i managed to get it working  great (sort of) but the mesh seems to do this weird duplicate effect

[Cmodz]

i got it working! not perfectly aligned to the terrain but i'm guessing that normal due to GE limitations. teextures still a little blocky but i'll have a play around with how many points to add to the spline. thanks for all the help guys!

[WrinkleysRule]

It does help if you read the tutorial properly "In the Shape panel of the Curve Tools, select 3D, Fill Mode 'Half',  Curve Deform 'Radius Selected', all other settings can be left as is. " operative section Fill Mode 'Half'

Regarding alignment to terrain, if you change your CSV distance then it is wise to redo the terrain height as it will not be the same as any previous CSV settings.

If you are refering to the centre of the road texture appearing blocky there will always be a certain amount of that as the same texture is used, the way to allieviate this is to add white lines and randomly add road decals such as potholes,cracks etc.

[Cmodz]

thanks 🙂 it's a very large tutorial quite easy to accidentally miss parts 🙂