How to change land textures?

Can't find anything in Knowledge Base or through search on this question. I want to change the texture of a selected piece of terrain. Specifically, I have a large piece of land about 1/4 of which I want to turn into an underwater park. I'm getting the land terraformed as I want it, but I can't figure out how to change the texture in selected areas from "sand" to some "cave" textures I have.

Can you point me to a forum thread or tutorial that I missed to get me started along these lines?

Many thanks -

Buzzer

First of all, it would be helpful if you could turn on private messages for the forums so people can send you private messages rather than start new threads.

Is your land on a private island or on the mainland?

Mainland land textures cannot be changed. You would have to cover the land with prims and then change the texture on the prims.

I'm not sure how private island land texture changes happen, but I would contact the owner of the island and ask them if your land is on a private island.

Hope that was of some help

You'll have to use textured prims to do this. Terrain texture is only able to be conrtrolled sim-wide, by the sim owner or estate managers.

Im an Estate Manager and architect for a couple of sims. The terrain textures are only controllable on a whole-sim basis. It's impossible to change just one selected area, such as the parcel that you own. At best, the sim's estate manager can 'tilt' the divisions, raising or lowering the rough dividing lines between the 4 terrain textures (which get spread in 4 altitude-defined bands), by adjusting limits at each corner of the sim.

Musicteacher, thanks, I wasn't aware of that option but have enabled it now.

Ceera, that was about what I'd concluded, but it's good to have it confirmed. I've been avoiding building but I guess this is as good a time as any to give it a shot. The "cave" textures are just too good not to try out in an underwater setting.

Many thanks -

Buzzer

Yup. I have found that any of the terrain type textures usually work just fine when placed on prims. They are, by definition, seamless and tileable textures. So any of the textures in your inventory that you have full perms on, including those in the Library area, should be OK to use in making cave-like areas. Besides, at the very least the roof of a cave HAS to be made of prims - it's impossinle to terraform the ground in any axis other then up and down. You can dig pits and trenches, but you can't make tunnels and chambers that are roofed over with real terrain. The Library textures also include some wonderful sand textures.

You may find some references in the How-to guides or in the WIKI that state that you shouldn't apply terrain textures to prims. I have yet to se any adverse effects to doing so, myself, and it seems these days to be a common practice.

Having had zero luck terraforming a cave, I had about reached this conclusion. Again, thanks for the confirmation.



Thanks for that. I will give it a shot. If I'm successful (and why wouldn't I be? I'll invite you over for a looksee.

Buzzer

If you would like to see a large cave system in SL, go to Nohona Isle, and look behind the first bend in the waterfall. Nohona Caverns is one of my largest builds.

The lake in the mountain crater covers the pit the caves are built in, while the waterfall covers the slit in the side of the mountain for the entrance. Follow the torches to find the main paths. For best dramatic effect, override your sun position to midnight, and turn on local lighting.

A word of warning; the caves themselves are a XXX Playground, but they are not very heavily used yet. If you're bashful, you may want to check the map for pairs of green dots before going in.

speaking of land textures- where can i get some nice 512x512s at? Im currently using the ones in the Library folder but i see some nicer ones on PIs all the time, where are they getting these from?

(Mainly looking for various grasses, like the dark one with the flowers on it, and sands)

Wow!!! those are good, tyvm!

woot, that also has exactly the grass I was hoping for.

So once i have land i've rented, i'm stuck withe textures or or is the prims thing something I can do? Sorry i'm a little confused and very new at this.

AD

You can still cover the actual terrain with prims that use the terrain textures. Doesn't look quite the same, but it works for stuff like making a nice grassy lawn.

Yes, it is pretty easy, especially if you are making something more or less flat. Leaving out various niceties, try this...

Rez a box. Make it long, wide, and real short. Go to the Texture tab, and then select a texture with Grass, Sand, Gravel, or whatever.

Make several of them, and spread them around. Move them up and down a litte, or tilt them a little, and the original land underneath will poke thru here and there.

You can also experiement with cylinders, spheres, and toruses (torii) to get more shape.

There are also textures that look like a pile of rocks or a hedge or some wild weeds, already. You put them on a boring flat box and they all of a sudden look good.

By the way, I am not a professional landscaper by any means, just a novice like you but maybe a couple of weeks ahead. Drop by Sagwa North East to see the Cave I build with my friend, Mav...See what a couple of Noobs did, and you will appreciate places like Bliss, Apollo, and Svarga all the more