Custom water texture - From scratch?

[ThaGuyWithCake]

Hello all. First time posting here.

I've been browsing Interlopers, Facepunch, Steampowered etc. There are many tutorials on different types of texture creations from alpha to bump mapping. However, I CANNOT find anything on creating a custom water texture from scratch. I know there are tutorials on normal maps, scrolling textures to make waterfalls, even on editing already made water textures. But how do I make my OWN water? The ripple effects/patterns all from scratch.

I'm fairly new to custom content, so please excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject.

[nub]

I know there was some tutorial here on animated ripples, but it was really complicated and I think the programs used are discontinued.

But I do know of one program you can use to create water caustics effects. Example:



There's a little, neat program called Caustics Generator. You can generate your own custom, animated caustics texture from it that's easily brought in to Source. I don't know of a specific tutorial, and it's pretty late on my end so I can't really detail it, but play around with it if you want.

This isn't something you'd use as a straight up water texture. It's the light effect you see on cave walls or pool surfaces that's caused by the surface of a body of water. Just thought you might find it interesting to try out.

[ThaGuyWithCake]

Ahh, thank you, I'll check it out. What I wanted to do was create water that sort of looks similar to the Uncharted series, or even like the original FarCry game.