I just can't seem to get it right!
Please... someone... help me.
No matter what, the lava never looks good.
Can anyone give me some tips on how i can fix this monstrosity?
Yes, I can see you're having an issue.
I'm guessing you're going for that 'cooled chunks over molten rock' look? Yea, that's a tough one to get right. Also, are you working at 8x resolution? That's what it looks like to me.
First off, let's identify the problem. You have a really obvious repeating pattern. Well... two actually. There's the "Y"-shape of the cooled parts, and then there's a long line of yellow that tiles horribly as a result.
Now, for the cooled parts, try looking at some reference pictures. You'll notice that lava cools quickly, so the entire surface hardens quickly. The main parts where you see the magma beneath are when it flows and moves. That is, when the surface breaks because of the movement of the fluid. Finally, check the colors. You have the hardened surface down, and the magma is correct, but consider a bit of red gradient between the two. I can't tell if you're holding a strict pallet or number of colors, but it's something to consider.
Now for how to fix it: Instead of one huge shape for the cooled parts, consider many smaller shapes. Make them similar in size and form, making them indistinct from one another but still obviously separate. This can be the hardened part, or the still liquid part showing through. The trick with making things tile, but not pattern, is to fool the eye into thinking that it's all the same without any breaks. Uniformity does that quite well.
BTW: Your netherrack also suffers from this. There's a 1px dot that sticks out, as well as other larger shapes that obviously repeat from one tile to the next. Getting tiling right is one of the master-skills of texturing, so I suggest you master it early.
This is where having a middle color comes in handy. Since you're using a series of uniform shapes, but still trying to make them seem 'random', having a red hue in-between can allow you to go in and touch up mistakes and hide the fact that areas are going to be off-set from one another. Think of it as a way to add half a pixel.
Lava is a difficult thing to texture. No lie. I'm pretty good at this stuff, and I went through a dozen of them before I got the version I wanted. Don't give up!
Please... someone... help me.
No matter what, the lava never looks good.
Can anyone give me some tips on how i can fix this monstrosity?
I'm guessing you're going for that 'cooled chunks over molten rock' look? Yea, that's a tough one to get right. Also, are you working at 8x resolution? That's what it looks like to me.
First off, let's identify the problem. You have a really obvious repeating pattern. Well... two actually. There's the "Y"-shape of the cooled parts, and then there's a long line of yellow that tiles horribly as a result.
Now, for the cooled parts, try looking at some reference pictures. You'll notice that lava cools quickly, so the entire surface hardens quickly. The main parts where you see the magma beneath are when it flows and moves. That is, when the surface breaks because of the movement of the fluid. Finally, check the colors. You have the hardened surface down, and the magma is correct, but consider a bit of red gradient between the two. I can't tell if you're holding a strict pallet or number of colors, but it's something to consider.
Now for how to fix it: Instead of one huge shape for the cooled parts, consider many smaller shapes. Make them similar in size and form, making them indistinct from one another but still obviously separate. This can be the hardened part, or the still liquid part showing through. The trick with making things tile, but not pattern, is to fool the eye into thinking that it's all the same without any breaks. Uniformity does that quite well.
BTW: Your netherrack also suffers from this. There's a 1px dot that sticks out, as well as other larger shapes that obviously repeat from one tile to the next. Getting tiling right is one of the master-skills of texturing, so I suggest you master it early.
This is where having a middle color comes in handy. Since you're using a series of uniform shapes, but still trying to make them seem 'random', having a red hue in-between can allow you to go in and touch up mistakes and hide the fact that areas are going to be off-set from one another. Think of it as a way to add half a pixel.
Lava is a difficult thing to texture. No lie. I'm pretty good at this stuff, and I went through a dozen of them before I got the version I wanted. Don't give up!