ascottk on 18/11/2005 at 06:44
I think this is worth a double post :wot:
I've been playing around with specular stuff & realized T3 was treating the specular channel differently. I found:
* GENspec01_S.dds
* GENspec02_S.dds
* GENspec03_S.dds
* GENspec04_S.dds
* GENspec05_S.dds
And they are all greyscale gradients (black to white). In max you have:
Specular: Map Channel 1
Map: Specular.............. (GENspec0*_S.dds)
Map: Specular Mask...... (DemoBrick_S.dds)
Here's the results (left to right):
no specular, GENspec01_S.dds, GENspec02_S.dds, GENspec03_S.dds, GENspec04_S.dds, & GENspec05_S.dds
(
http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=speculardemo5sh.jpg)
Inline Image:
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/1096/speculardemo5sh.th.jpgResults are . . .uh . . . interesting :weird:
GENspec03_S seems to suck up light while the rest are darker than the original.
OrbWeaver on 18/11/2005 at 10:49
Remember that a grayscale height map also requires a "height" parameter to control how large the bumps are - I don't know how this would be set in TDS, but the left half of the picture looks as though the height is set very low.
The double specular texture is interesting; it looks like the Mask is what Doom 3 users would use as the specular map, and the Specular channel is some kind of fall-off texture (which I think Doom 3 uses as well, although it is coded in the shaders rather than being controlled by images).
str8g8 on 18/11/2005 at 20:10
(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/str8g8/screen_specular.jpg)
Got the effect I was after eventually :)
You can't really appreciate it in a screengrab, you have to see it moving, but the rusty areas are matte, and don't reflect any light, the un-rusty areas do.
It didn't use the specular slot however, which seem limited to the all over metallic "sheen" as posted above.
But here's how to achieve the above effect:
Put an alpha channel on the diffuse texture, where the white pixels are reflective and the black pixels are not. This has to be saved in the DXT1 or DXT3 format to keept the alpha. Then in the material editor, in the reflection group add an env map (one of the standard, ie, env_noise02.dds) and then raise Relection Amount and Reflection Alpha sliders. Don't use any bump maps or normal maps etc or it won't work!
cheers
str8g8
rujuro on 19/11/2005 at 03:49
That's awesome, amazing that you figured it out! Thanks
ascottk on 19/11/2005 at 08:04
Quote Posted by str8g8
It didn't use the specular slot however, which seem limited to the all over metallic "sheen" as posted above.
It's not limited to the overall metalic sheen because I didn't know how t3 handled speculars. When I used the same specular texture for both the mask & the overall specular I get the same overall sheen. But when I used the gradient specular-oriented texture for the overall specular with the specular map I get the results with the bricks. BTW GENspec05_S.dds works well for stone :)
I'll post more screens because I'm adding specular to some of the default textures. The results are obvious after turning off Flesh Materials in T3Ed.
str8g8 on 19/11/2005 at 14:30
Quote:
But when I used the gradient specular-oriented texture for the overall specular with the specular map I get the results with the bricks
Yeah, that was what I tried at first, but I couldn't get any good results. Adding the spec mask just seemed to mess everything up, everything would go very dark and i would lose the colour ... but maybe my spec mask was too dark.
Do those bricks have a diffuse map on them? If they do then you are having the same problem ... If not, try and show use the results. Also what happens to the normal? I found the spec slots stomp all over the normal\bump effects., and if it's a choice between specular and normal then for bricks, rocks etc I would go for the normal every time.
Just looking at that doom3 wiki with envy :erg: if only all this stuff was that well documented, this would be so much easier...
ascottk on 19/11/2005 at 17:26
Quote Posted by str8g8
Do those bricks have a diffuse map on them? If they do then you are having the same problem ... If not, try and show use the results. Also what happens to the normal? I found the spec slots stomp all over the normal\bump effects., and if it's a choice between specular and normal then for bricks, rocks etc I would go for the normal every time.
Just looking at that doom3 wiki with envy :erg: if only all this stuff was that well documented, this would be so much easier...
I'm not sure we're on the same page. I have no problem with the bricks. In fact I think GENspec05_S.dds with the map improves the lighting for stone. There appears to be less visual artifacts than the brick without specular and it looks less like plastic. Using GENspec01_S.dds makes the textures look like it has a slight bit of oil on it. GENspec03_S.dds (the dark one) looks like a heavy coat of oil. The other two look like they're wet.
I'll post more screenshots after I play around a little bit.
str8g8 on 19/11/2005 at 21:02
Sorry about the bricks, I realise now they were intended to be grey :D I had assumed the diffuse map had been left out for your test. I don't see any specular masking there (though it's impossible to say without seeing it in motion). I suspect the different effects are down to the GENspec maps and that the mask isn't really doing much to them.
However, just to be sure I copied your material setup. In-game, when applied to a well-lit bsp surface, it rendered almost completely black, on an object, it just rendered the diffuse map, but did not display any noticeable specularity. In the editor, with textures turned off there was a very faint pattern showing, as you showed in the screen grab, so maybe some effect is being achieved at render-time, but it is imperceptable to my eyes.
cheers
str8g8
