I'm working on an Australian terrain map using a mix of terrain textures but this applies to any map using the Path terrain.

Q: Why do the edges of "path" (brush 6) transition to default? Why can't it just be a brush ?

The only way to get a good blend using "path" is to draw them across default terrain. As soon as you try to cross brush 7, 8 or 9 you get the ugly default edge.

If you look at my examples you'll see the ugly mess on path edges despite a great transition occurring between brushes 7 through 0. Is there a way to change this? I have reversed orders, tried every which way but it's mostly irrelevant because path edges revert to default. imho this is a waste of a brush unless I restrict paths to follow default terrain only.

I've seen this often (most prominent with sediment) and have just figured it was a "feature" that I wasn't personally fond of.

However, this may not be the case and devs have flagged this as a bug now. Thanks for the report.

In the meantime.. you can sort of get around this by re-ordering your terrain textures. Brush 6 is technically "ground" and not "path". So, it helps if the texture you use for your paths isn't more than one tier removed from what you are painting it onto. Otherwise it will blend using any in-between terrain types as you are seeing.

The trick is to plan your transitions for the terrain. Path is the topmost texture, and then 'default' grass, then the texture choices 7, 8 and 9. This way you get the transitions you want without the banding. I suspect the feature you are after a brush overlap technique where the terrain texture draw is based on what was painted there last, but this would require more resource that than the terrain currently uses and tax systems a little more (either through GPU rendering target work or larger texture resources in video memory). I have an idea which involves 'texture stamping' to create the brush system you have in mind, but this will only happen once we've dealt with some of the core issues reported.

Thanks for that Lee (and Errant).

I'll be patient and see what comes of it. For now I'll just settle for no path, there's very little of it anyway so not a major drama.

I've noticed an ugly 'tiling' effect on flat terrain. It can be disguised by adding grass. Any plans to address this?