50 réponses à ce sujet

[Dann-J]

The alpha channel of a tint map controls how much of the tint gets through. If you want certain areas to not tint at all (like the whites of the eyes), then the alpha channel has to be completely black in that area (so no tint gets through).

 

The specularity of the normal map will also have an effect on how the tint colours appear. Getting the alpha channels on the head and body models to match for both the normal maps and the tint maps can be a major pain in the arse. If they don't match well on both textures, then the skin colour of the head and the body will appear different. That's not so bad for models where the only exposed body skin is on the arms or legs, but for models where the skin joins up between head and body (cleavage, bare shoulders, etc) you can really notice the difference.

[Eguintir Eligard]

well all I know is I had it looking perfectly matched before. Surely this is achievable again?

 

FYI just checked... the alpha channel of the entire image shows black. (in gimp. When I look at body it is black alpha channel where I've put colours, and then checkerboard aka no colour/transparent outside of the shapes)

 

?

[Eguintir Eligard]

This is his face tint map btw:

 

 

And this is the in game result with every colour slot of the entire creature set white.

 

 

Obviously his face is taking a lot more white than the body. This was previously an issue (the glowing face) because I had the lights turned up higher in the environment for the face than the body in 3ds, but they currently occupy the same file so thats no the case. In fact, check out the skin slot set to green for a better example:

 

 

Now it appears safe to say that the face skin is only taking a portion of the skin channel tint when it should be all, since it is painted pure red as per the above map.

 

Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this as this project is done and I very much tire of dealing with it.

[Dann-J]

If the alpha channel of the tint map is all black, then you shouldn't be getting any tints through at all. Curiouser and curiouser...

 

Unless the alpha channel is a really dark grey, in which case only a very slight amount of tint would get through.

 

Given how bright his head is relative to his body, the specularity of the head's normal map might also be at fault.

[Eguintir Eligard]

Issue being? Should I not have created MImaps for the normal map when I converted these all from TGA to dds?

[Tchos]

Please post the tint map, so I can look at it in Photoshop.

 

You should create new mipmaps any time you change the texture, or else the object will switch back to the old texture as it gets further away (if you choose to keep the old mipmaps when you save).

[Eguintir Eligard]

Tchos did something to the texture maps. There is less of a glow (none really) but the face skin still is a combination of eye colour and both hair colour slots to get its tint. And I can never make it match the legs and arms which are controlled by the skin colour. Anybody?? Really want to be done with this project.

 

Also I think I may have discovered that the normal map is inverted for NWN2, as I once discussed with Semper. The eyebrows and shoelaces on fatty seem to be indents rather than protrustion. The cure?

[Tchos]

The "glow" that I fixed was just as someone earlier suggested -- the light was reflecting brightly off of him, because the alpha channels of the normal maps were pure white.  I filled them with skin specular maps, and removed the unnecessary alpha channels from the tint maps, and made new mipmaps for the tint and normal maps, but didn't change the diffuse maps.

 

I don't know how these are mapped to the mesh itself, so I can't tell if there's anything mapped incorrectly for tinting the head.

 

As for the normal map inversion, it depends on how you're making them.

[Eguintir Eligard]

4760 is the one who told me the colour correlations and he was right. Was red for skin, as I recall. I've tried blue and green for the skin on the head to no avail. Everything seemed to stop working when I used the proper DDS format, previously i had been using TGA while it was a prototype.

[Tchos]

I'm not talking about the colour choices, but the UV coordinates.

[Eguintir Eligard]

Quick question about LODs as I think I did these wrong too:

 

c_fatty_head01   Is the top detail mesh

 what would I name the L02 and L01?

c_fatty_head01_L01?

[Eguintir Eligard]

and now things have gone from bad to worse. This now makes me wonder if the body mesh is borked too. This is obviously more than LOD model showing at once is it not? Was my naming convention wrong?

 

 

[Eguintir Eligard]

I'm out of ideas. I deleted the Lods so I could just focus on getting the head right first, it still looks like this. Its inexplicable. Mip maps? I am tempted to just upload this broken crap and move on with my life

[4760]

Would you share the max file, so we could try and see if we find anything?

[Eguintir Eligard]

I was going to post it when complete anyway so that people can more easily modify or extend the project at will. More people should do this.

 

PM me here with an email and I will send it.

[Dann-J]

and now things have gone from bad to worse. This now makes me wonder if the body mesh is borked too. This is obviously more than LOD model showing at once is it not? Was my naming convention wrong?

 

 

 

He's a fat inverse darfellan!

[Eguintir Eligard]

oh the awkward moment of error 4760 has exposed.

 

Fatty project should be fully functional as expected now. I have to admit though, I've always been secretly supicious of the whole L01/L02 thing being properly executed. I guess I could always run a test with one vertex pulled crazily to the left or right so it sticks out.

 

Fatty project is done. His idle animation includes plenty of variety on it's own and you can even see him step through them all in the toolset as it is scriptless.

 

I was going to include a few more animations but no one has expressed any need and I am not sure how they work.

 

For example I wanted to do a dying one but apparently there is "dying, dead looping, turn left, look left loop etc" and thats more stuff than I plan to figure out at this point. I can kind of guess, but not sure where one animation should end and the other begin etc.

 

If anyone has some requests at the last minute here and can give me the naming conventions I will do them. I need to know all of the animations and their names and the order they go in to create the effect desired.

 

Also last call for some custom animation, (Lance) if you want a bartender wiping the counter custom animation, etc.

 

If I hear nothing I will still upload the original max files so any 3ds 7/8 owner can make some very easily.

[Eguintir Eligard]

PS anyone know what attachment points I really need? Is there one I need to allow compatibility with adding hair styles later?

 

I'll even add 1 hairstyle as an option now if someone can point me to or tell me the convention for naming it etc. Anyone?

[4760]

The ap_ you'll need will obviously depend on what you want fatty to be able to do...

On the list I posted here, ap_hand_right (to handle items) and ap_pelvis are probably the most important ones.

Then, ap_torso, ap_back, ap_halo and ap_camera would be needed in case fatty is the target of spells or physical attacks, or involved in a cutscene or has a conversation.

For the placement of hair, ap_forehead is what you need (but I think a dummy named "c_fatty_hair01 dummy" is also expected in the hair mdb).

[Eguintir Eligard]

so where do these two dummies go? Same spot? at the edge of the forehead mesh?

 

So forehead dummy goes on the head, but the hair dummy goes on the hair itself, is this right?

 

And the hair mesh will be c_fatty_hair01? And the tint map can use R G and B? Or maybe just RG since its 2 colours in game.

[Dann-J]

I think hair tint textures use green and blue for the hair itself, and red for any hair accessories.

[Eguintir Eligard]

ok and I guess the forehead AP goes on the skeleton, as with the others, and I simply place it at the forehead area,

[4760]

Exactly. If you import p_hhm_skel in a new 3ds max scene, then a head, then a hair mesh, you should get how to place the dummies.

[Eguintir Eligard]

Ok. It looks like the base project with body and a head without hair is almost complete just one thing lacking. I've heard of such problems before (seams I am guessing) but the solutions seem to be different wherever you ask:

 

 

Notice the throat of Fatty has an indent across it like the normal map is implying a pipe was pressed against his throat?

 

Also, his shoes are showing black on the corners.

 

And as you can see from the eyebrows, the red channel or whatever channel implies depth, definitely needs an invert. Anyone know how to do that in GIMP?

Gimp never seems to have a straightforward way to deal with channels.

[Eguintir Eligard]

Ah forget it. It's been over a year I am done. The project functions, and I've included 3ds max files for those who want to improve it if desired.

 

Enjoy and thanks everyone.