$detail

GoldSrc

Source Engine

edit

A detail texture (noise_detail_01), and its effect when applied to a material (brickwall031a).

$detail is a material shader parameter available in all Source games. It specifies a texture which Source will use to add high-resolution detail to a material when it is viewed up close, by darkening or lightening the albedo appropriately, depending on the $detailblendmode. You can also use a full color (as opposed to grayscale) image and blend it using $detailblendmode 2. It is very effective for increasing the apparent resolution of a texture, and was used extensively in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, as well as Portal 2 for the white tile textures's bumps.

Bug: $detail textures do not work in conjunction with some parameters:

• In on LightmappedGeneric, Does not work with $seamless_scale.
• In on VertexLitGeneric. Does not work with $selfillumfresnel, if $bumpmap is used.
• In on LightmappedGeneric, Does not work with $lightwarptexture

  [todo tested in ?]

Note:

• In , LightmappedGeneric does not appear to even have $lightwarptexture as a parameter... So it cannot "not work".
• In on VertexLitGeneric, Does not work with $desaturatewithbasealpha
• In , Does not work with $blendmodulatetexture and $bumpmap

Todo:  Document issues from other branches of source.

Confirm: Things that don't work in , usually don't work in either. And vice versa. But it'd be better if someone could confirm this.

Bug: Using $detail with $blendmodulatetexture will cause a graphical issue (stripes over the surface), only works correctly in .   [todo tested in ?]

Syntax

$detail <texture>

You will probably want to use at least $detailscale (see below) as well.

Parameters and Effects

$detailtexturetransform

$detailscale

$detailblendfactor

$detailblendmode

$detailtint

$detailframe $detail_alpha_mask_base_texture

WorldVertexTransition Parameters

Confirm:are these limited to , or are they in some/all –branch games?

$detail2

$detailscale2 $detailblendfactor2 $detailframe2 $detailtint2

SolidEnergy Parameters

Todo: Confirm if all of this information is actually true for

Confirm:Is SolidEnergy available in –branch games?

Note:$detail1tint and $detail2tint do not exist on this Shader, they are missing in this list intentionally!

Important:$detail has very similar parameter names, but they are not the same!

$detail1 $detail1blendmode $detail1scale $detail1blendfactor $detail1frame $detail2 $detail2blendmode $detail2scale $detail2blendfactor $detail2frame

Valve's Detail Textures

Valve's stock detail textures (available in OB only) are best used with the following pre-configured values:

$detail detail\noise_detail_01 // e.g. for brickwork, concrete...
$detailscale 7.74
$detailblendfactor 0.8
$detailblendmode 0

$detail detail\metal_detail_01
$detailscale 4.283
$detailblendfactor .65
$detailblendmode 0

$detail detail\rock_detail_01
$detailscale 11
$detailblendfactor 1
$detailblendmode 0

$detail detail\plaster_detail_01
$detailscale 6.783
$detailblendfactor .8
$detailblendmode 0

The below parameters come from models\props_forest\LadderWood.vmt. It is the only Valve Stock texture VMT file to use this particular detail texture. Because the detail texture (detail\wood_detail_01) is a high resolution (1024×1024), the $detailscale is lower than the others, with the exception of rock_detail_01.

$detail detail\wood_detail_01
$detailscale 2.563
$detailblendfactor .8
$detailblendmode 0

Additionally, there are 2 other stock detail textures. detail\detailash001a and detail\detaildirt001a. These files were used in the "leaked" version of Half-Life 2 and in Half-Life 2: Episode One using the following parameters.

Concrete/concretefloor009a in Episode One materials:

$detail detail/detaildirt001a
$detailscale 0.27

Metal/metalfloor005a in Episode One materials:

$detail detail/detailash001a
$detailscale 0.50

See also

Hiding large-scale tiling with detail textures - How to make texture repeating less noticeable using $detail