Which style of water looks better?

translucent, but change the texture, and make the underwater bits darker.

Also, if you're gonna make a waterfall, use the good method. (see Halo, level 2)

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Definitely translucent. Opaque is too... cartoony.

Translucent looks better. It would be more realistic to have the falling water opaque and the flowing water translucent, but opaque just looks icky...so I guess all tranlucent is my fav.

Stretch the U/V vertically on the water fall surfaces. About 1:4 or 1:8 ratio. Ctrl+Alt+/ the flowing water 1 time. You also might want to consider cleaving another water fall within the one you have and give it the light blue solid color mat (I forget what it's called off-hand) and leave it opaque.

Part of me wants to say opaque, but I'm going to vote for translucent.

I know what you mean. At first glance it would seem like translucent is a no brainer, but the more I think about it and the more I look at each one, the more I believe that you cant go wrong with either. However, I will go with translucent. As far as the other suggestions - the rest of the level is really early so when its to a presentable point I will show more pics for some feedback there. Just wanted to get the water out of the way because frankly creating a waterfall with flowing river gets my vote for biggest pain in the mass in JK level editing (assigning all the surfaces to all the cogs and getting the vectors for each one and getting it to all line up etc etc etc) and if I dont do it early in the project where my ambition is at its peak (all editors know this) then I will never get around to it.

After a bit more refining it is clear that you guys made the right decision for me.

that is... how the french say... Le mooch betterrr

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Sorry, it doesn't do anything for me at all. Creating such a natural scene realistically is quite difficult in JK. In the case of a waterfall, it would help to actually look at one:



Considering this, I think CaptBevvil suggestions were the most insightfull. Water (as we all know) is translucent... well, as long as it's clean. However, disturbed water is cloudy and opaque. So:

1. The fall should be white, and it's UVs should be stretched

2. The water at the base should be opaque, and a more realistic hue. Even in the tropics, water is never dark blue. Rarely is water even blue at all. More often than not, it's color is actually a reflection of the sky above it.

3. For mist, add a 2nd layer for the falls, a little larger than the 1st... make that one transucent, and have it scroll more slowly.

4. Consider using translucent 3do "sprites" instead or particles for the splash.


I hope this helps!

In all honesty I'm not about to go that far for a JK level. I'm sure it would look amazing if done right...but i'm content with what I am doing. I've already spent enough time on the falls and i'd like to get to the rest of the level. Thanks though...I wont forget the suggestion in the future.

[edit] On second though, okay i'm slightly convinced. I'll take a look at how hard it will be to implement that with what I already have...[/edit]

Oh, and I just want to make it clear that I am by no means showing anything off, believe me this isnt my best work by a long shot and i'm not trying to say that I believe the screenshots look anything other than slightly dull. I just wanted opinions on which face flag to use.

[edit again] okay, on third though....yeah back to my first thought. I've already gone too far and built too much around it to be able to accomplish that. Thanks for actually giving a good crit though....I wont forget that suggestions and next time i'll build a map where the falls are the main focus. Hmm.......[/edit]