"Honestly, if its not for free..its not for me. If all fails, I'll write one me-self."
There are lots of free seamless texture generators out there. The difference is one of quality and ease of use.
The link Peter posted is a perfect example.
It uses the same sort of texture blending algorithm that most seamless texture generators out there use. A simple alpha blend.
But that algorithm simply isn't very good.
Here is a direct comparison using the same texture with both the function Peter linked to, and my own seamless texture generator. I chose a texture which is favorable towards the alpha blend algorithm, what with it being fairly even across it already.
Peter's link:
My seamless texture generator:
Note how not only are there diagonal stripes with muddy color and low contrast in Peter's image, but the texture has lost much of its variation because now the texture basically tiles every one half of the original texture width. Note how in the center of each "tile" you see the same rock as at the corners. That's a terrible waste of texture. And the seams aren't really gone at all, because blurry lines along the diagonals make the texture repetitions are obbious as ever.
Meanwhile the texture my function outputs has only one real problem, and that is one rock which has a particularly dark shadow... and that could be easily touched up in a paint program.
So, you can stick with free if you want, but I'm still gonna write this program for people who want quality. :-)
Oh, and Peter's function wouldn't work well at all on a manmade surface, like a brick wall. The way a copy of the texture is pasted into the middle of each tile wouldn't work at all for that.
There are lots of free seamless texture generators out there. The difference is one of quality and ease of use.
The link Peter posted is a perfect example.
It uses the same sort of texture blending algorithm that most seamless texture generators out there use. A simple alpha blend.
But that algorithm simply isn't very good.
Here is a direct comparison using the same texture with both the function Peter linked to, and my own seamless texture generator. I chose a texture which is favorable towards the alpha blend algorithm, what with it being fairly even across it already.
Peter's link:
My seamless texture generator:
Note how not only are there diagonal stripes with muddy color and low contrast in Peter's image, but the texture has lost much of its variation because now the texture basically tiles every one half of the original texture width. Note how in the center of each "tile" you see the same rock as at the corners. That's a terrible waste of texture. And the seams aren't really gone at all, because blurry lines along the diagonals make the texture repetitions are obbious as ever.
Meanwhile the texture my function outputs has only one real problem, and that is one rock which has a particularly dark shadow... and that could be easily touched up in a paint program.
So, you can stick with free if you want, but I'm still gonna write this program for people who want quality. :-)
Oh, and Peter's function wouldn't work well at all on a manmade surface, like a brick wall. The way a copy of the texture is pasted into the middle of each tile wouldn't work at all for that.