Guide: How to Make TF2 Water Animated
(Images by hisanimations)
A guide on how to make TF2 water animated using hisanimations' map pack resources. As well as how to animate TF2 waterfalls and other water that uses scrolling textures.
A brief history on TF2 water porting
A previous version of the TF2 map pack port by hisanimations worked differently with handling water textures.
hisanimations: "Texture Scrolling - Waterfalls, vortexes, spooky portals, they all have a Geometry Nodes nodegroup to control the scrolling. If you find one missing, you can report it, or add it yourself. The scrolling is tied to time itself, so no matter what framerate you have, the speed will always be the same." -May 2023 TF2 Map Pack announcement: [link not available for Tumblr]
As of the October 2024 update of the TF2 map pack (now renamed the SEBC, or Source Engine Blender Collection), materials are set up differently to help animators and artists save up on file space. However, the water_animation folder (containing image frames for the water's normal map) is no longer included in the maps folder, which was used to animate the water. You'll need to do some things to restore it.
This guide is to help recreate the water animations from the previous TF2 Map Pack. It is basically a description of the method hisanimations used for the TF2 Map Pack.
Making TF2 water animated
hisanimations: "By default, the water is not animated, but there is a way to make it animated. Within every water material, there should be an animated texture node. To apply it, select the world mesh. Go to edit mode. Select the mesh that has the water material. Localize the material and swap the node links. Enable Cyclic and [Auto Refresh], and it should now be animated." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Improvements: Water Animation, 6:14 of video.
This section is for large bodies of water, like the water beneath the bridge in the map 2Fort.
First, download the water_animation.zip folder.
[file: zip download not available for Tumblr]
Extract it. Make sure the image frames are directly inside the folder, with the folder named water_animation. Place this folder somewhere you'll remember, like inside the _materials folder of your SEBC folder.
Open the .blend of the map you want. Select the part of the mash that contains the water. In the Material Properties tab, select the water material slot (if the slot list is long, uncollapse the little triangle button to unhide the search text parser and type in water to narrow down results).
In the Shader Editor, select Add > Texture > Image Texture to add an image texture node. In the new node, select Open. In the new window, find and select the water_animation folder and select the first frame of the image frames inside (tfwater001_normal_00.png). Set the node from Single Image to Image Sequence. Set Frames to 60. Checkmark on Cyclic and Auto Refresh. Set the Color Space to Non-Color.
Plug this image sequence node into the water material's shader so that it replaces the $normalmap Image Texture node.
The water should now be animated as you scrub through the timeline.
This section is for creating a more accurate water effect, like for shots where you want a merc's reflection in the water.
hisanimations: "In Eevee, [in the Render Properties tab,] enable Screen Space Reflections to get reflections off the water. You can add a reflection plane to make the reflections more accurate." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Extras, 10:41 of video.
To turn on reflections: In the Render Properties tab, enable Screen Space Reflections
To add a reflection plane: Select Add > Light Probe > Plane (or Reflection Plane, depending on your version of Blender)
Change the size or scaling of the plane, and place it just below the surface of the water.
This section is for animating waterfalls and water that uses an image texture.
hisanimations: "Things like waterfalls and vortexes in game have animated textures. Which means you'll see them shift to fake movement. This has also been implemented in the map pack, but because there's no way for me to automatically add them some models, may lack this animation." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Features: Texture Scrolling, 3:02 of video.
Firstly, download hisanimations water.blend and custom.blend files:
hisanimations: animated waterfalls - put into _materials [attached .blend files: water.blend, custom.blend]: [link not available for Tumblr]
[file downloads not available for Tumblr]
Place them in the _materials folder of your SEBC.
The waterfalls should now be animated on you TF2 maps in the SEBC when you open them and scrub through the timeline.
Animating other waters: Texture scrolling
The waterfall texture scrolling should work with any textures that tiles (example: green nuclearwaste.png on TF2 maps).
To use it for another, open the map file you want. Then select File > Append… Then in the new window, locate the custom.blend or water.blend file in the _materials folder of the SEBC. In the folders you see inside the file, select Material > custom/waterfall002_solid. Its data will now be inside your .blend file.
Select the mesh with the water/liquid you want to animate with a texture scroll. In the Material Properties tab, select the material slot for the liquid. In the Shader Editor, note the name of the current material. Switch to the material waterfall002_solid. Select and copy the nodes for the material that are plugged to the left of the #basetexture Image Texture node.
Switch back to the previous shader material for the liquid. Paste in the nodes. Plug the Add node to the Vector of the image texture node of the material. To make the speed of the animation slower, decrease the value of the Multiply's bottom-most Value property from 1.2.
What this guide doesn't cover
Below are water effects I haven't been able to make a guide for at the time of writing. Feel free to make a guide for these:
Adding water waves on shores (banana Bay, beaches, etc.) (I think it's animated using the same methodology as other scrolling textures, but I haven't been able to confirm it at the time of writing.)
Water trails (from boats/mercs moving through the water)
Water splash decals (shooting at the water)
Animating caustics (underwater light)
Rain and Raindrops (Sawmill map, etc.)
Some links to water effect resources that may be useful:
Fake Caustics: [link not available for Tumblr]
Bubbles: [link not available for Tumblr]
[Alt links to YouTube tutorials instead:]
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