Nosslaks stuff

[Tels]

Hmm, I'm not sure. To be honest I don't like those textures at all, as they've got lighting baked into it. I might try to make a new diamonds pattern in Blender and just generate normals and ambient from that.

 

I think that if you do not add a "fake refraction" stage (either by painting it on, or by adding fake relfections like our glass does), you will end up with a rather flat and wrong looking gem.

 

Neither can I! Do I need to make a texture that controls the reflectivity of the model?

 

Yes, that is called a "specularity map". (Or did you mean that the material reflects the sourrounding correctly instead of just some amount of light? that is much more complex, see mirrors and environment cube maps).

[Nosslak]

I think that you would need to use a blend filter stage in the material definition to limit reflectivity depending on grime (etc). (Presuming that the primary stage is the cubemap... if not, then blend add) ...

 

Here is a relevant topic:

 

http://www.doom3worl...php?f=2& t=18781

Thanks, I'll look into that.

 

I think that if you do not add a "fake refraction" stage (either by painting it on, or by adding fake relfections like our glass does), you will end up with a rather flat and wrong looking gem.

 

Yes, that is called a "specularity map". (Or did you mean that the material reflects the sourrounding correctly instead of just some amount of light? that is much more complex, see mirrors and environment cube maps).

I was talking about cubemaps. I wanted to have a map that controls the intensity of how reflective it will be. I know what a specmap is.

 

I personally have no issues with a clean machine, of course some stuff is always newly built. But dirty skins are a must.

I'll make two skins for it then.

 

Also I might have to do a chair for a school assignment so I thought I could just model one for TDM, so is there any need for a specific kind of chair? I think I'll have to do this before I make the machine. I'll probably get more details tomorrow but if I have to make a chair and you don't have any special requests, I'll make one of these:

Which is the most attractive?

Edited November 2, 2010 by Nosslak

[Baddcog]

either one, I can't choose

[Tels]

I was talking about cubemaps. I wanted to have a map that controls the intensity of how reflective it will be. I know what a specmap is.

 

I thinkhaving fake-reflection cubemaps for such small gems is overkill. But you can convince me that it looks soo much better than then painted-on version

 

The problem heere would be that you'd need to do a new cubemap for each room (otherwise a red-lit room will reflect your green cubemap etc). Or you need to do a neutral cubemap. Either way, here you go:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Cube_maps

[Melan]

Which is the most attractive?

Probably the first; cleaner in the details and the brown vs. red contrast works great for it. IMO.

[Nosslak]

I thinkhaving fake-reflection cubemaps for such small gems is overkill. But you can convince me that it looks soo much better than then painted-on version

 

The problem heere would be that you'd need to do a new cubemap for each room (otherwise a red-lit room will reflect your green cubemap etc). Or you need to do a neutral cubemap. Either way, here you go:

 

http://modetwo.net/d...title=Cube_maps

I just wanted to do use cubemaps because nbohr mentioned it. He also made it sound like you already had everything that was needed, that I'd just have to apply some simple settings. Anyway how expensive would a cubemap be for such a small object?

 

Probably the first; cleaner in the details and the brown vs. red contrast works great for it. IMO.

Yeah, it looks a little easier to model too, so I'll just go with that. It'll be my first Maya project so it'll take some time.

[nbohr1more]

Cubemap's are not usually that expensive as it is really just six textures being rendered depending on orientation.

 

Tels did bring-up a valid concern though, the reflection will not change with the environment. It will have to be a kind of generic reflection. I thought that some of those were present already in Doom 3 but if not you'd have to create some generic room and capture an envshot then blur all the captured images.

 

I think Tels was worried that you were applying the Cubemaps to every gem on the model... If that is the case, yes that is overkill.

 

There is also a native EMBM shader vfp which might even look better but that one probably is too expensive. (Mostly just too cumbersome to call it in a material).

 

(Take a look at what is already available in the env directory for Doom 3 base, I'm pretty sure that generic reflections are in there...).

 

 

Edit:

 

If you think about it, golden loot items are stationary anyway so a cubemap for any container is all that's needed. Eg: cubemap for footlocker interior, cubemap for cabinet interior, etc.

Edited November 2, 2010 by nbohr1more

[Serpentine]

I just wanted to do use cubemaps because nbohr mentioned it. He also made it sound like you already had everything that was needed, that I'd just have to apply some simple settings. Anyway how expensive would a cubemap be for such a small object?

 

Small cubemaps like the generic ones (which are actually pretty good for gems etc) will not have a noticeable hit in performance even with a whole load of them. If you use the generic ones and tone them down a bit with the 'rgb' keyword you should be able to get a pretty nice look on the jewels, if you're going for a polished look. Too much and they look like those horrible highlights in Oblivion etc. I'd say make a simple jewel type thingy and make a material to play with, see if you can match what your artistic vision is. Want me to knock up a test material with a few variations?, will throw it on some small gem or something.

[nbohr1more]

Maybe I'm off-the-rails but I thought we were discussing making the whole orb look like reflective Gold?

 

Like a better version of what Fidcal attempted:

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/page__view__findpost__p__235266

Edited November 3, 2010 by nbohr1more

[Nosslak]

Tels did bring-up a valid concern though, the reflection will not change with the environment. It will have to be a kind of generic reflection. I thought that some of those were present already in Doom 3 but if not you'd have to create some generic room and capture an envshot then blur all the captured images.

Yeah, I just wanted to apply a simple already finished texture as I was sure you must have one of those already, but if not I guess I can just make one from someone elses mission (I'm not good enough at DR to make one myself).

 

I think Tels was worried that you were applying the Cubemaps to every gem on the model... If that is the case, yes that is overkill.

I just wanted to use the cubemap on the whole model, on diamonds, gold and everything as one material.

 

There is also a native EMBM shader vfp which might even look better but that one probably is too expensive. (Mostly just too cumbersome to call it in a material).

I'll try to look into this then, but I'm still a n00b at materials so I won't promise anything.

 

If you think about it, golden loot items are stationary anyway so a cubemap for any container is all that's needed. Eg: cubemap for footlocker interior, cubemap for cabinet interior, etc.

I didn't really think about that, but I'll try to make cubemaps from some open contaiers as well.

 

Small cubemaps like the generic ones (which are actually pretty good for gems etc) will not have a noticeable hit in performance even with a whole load of them. If you use the generic ones and tone them down a bit with the 'rgb' keyword you should be able to get a pretty nice look on the jewels, if you're going for a polished look. Too much and they look like those horrible highlights in Oblivion etc. I'd say make a simple jewel type thingy and make a material to play with, see if you can match what your artistic vision is. Want me to knock up a test material with a few variations?, will throw it on some small gem or something.

I'll want to use it on the whole mesh, not just the diamonds. But anyway a testmaterial that could work on the whole object gold, diamonds/jewels, everything would be appreciated.

 

Maybe I'm off-the-rails but I thought we were discussing making the whole orb look like reflective Gold?

 

Like a better version of what Fidcal attempted:

 

http://modetwo.net/d...post__p__235266

Yes, this is what I what I was talking about too. If anything I want the whole model reflective not just the diamonds.

[Serpentine]

Ok sure, that makes sense too - I'll knock something up for you tomoz afternoon

[nbohr1more]

While I am looking forward to Serpentine's work

 

I took another look at EMBM in Doom 3 and it doesn't look as cumbersome as I thought it was. The shader vfp code in this forum post is irrelevant as I believe it is already in the GLProgs (?) so all you would need to do is follow suit with the elements in the material definition. Take a look if you wanna play with it:

 

http://www.doom3worl...=14158&p=128651

 

(second post by OrbWeaver btw... )

Edited November 3, 2010 by nbohr1more

[Serpentine]

EMBM doesnt really apply to doom3, it was only of importance where surfaces were lit per vertex. EMBM also has nothing to do with dynamic environment maps or anything like that.

 

By default a cubemap applied will react to the normalmap as expected, you just need to play with the blend mode and make sure you're using alpha correctly to make it look less overpowering, but I'll put up an example with materials etc tomoz.

 

These over exaggerated shots from doom3world also help explain.

Without

With

[Nosslak]

Time for a status update!

 

I haven't really made any progress with the royal orb as xNormal and Blenders baked textures wouldn't match up. I'll fix this by adjusting the color map manually in Photoshop (as I should've done a while ago). The reason that it's taken this long is that I've been trying to find a solution to the problem and that I've got some school stuff that I've had to finish up, but I'll try to get back to this. BTW do anyone know the name of the different diamonds textures and where they're located?

 

I also felt like modeling something new today and this is what that resulted in:

It took maybe two hours or something to make. What do you think? I modelled it after the first picture to the right, but I think I'll try to make the map a bit more like on the second (no ships or other drawings so that should be a lot easier to make).

 

Also I need to know if TDM is supposed to take place on Earth or not (I think I read that it's supposed to but not 100% sure) as I will attach a map texture on the sphere.

[ungoliant]

oooo. Moment of truth. What does "planet TDM" look like? And would the good citizens of Bridgeport, or the much larger Empire really have the planet mapped out anyway...?

[Springheel]

Also I need to know if TDM is supposed to take place on Earth or not (I think I read that it's supposed to but not 100% sure) as I will attach a map texture on the sphere

\

 

We actually have a globe model already (nice to have variety though) so you could check the texture it uses. It's definitely an old earth map.

[Fidcal]

BTW do anyone know the name of the different diamonds textures and where they're located?

 

Yes, in the zip file: tdm_models_decls01.pk4. Inside the zip you will see the folder darkmod\materials within which you will find the file tdm_models_loot.mtr. I think all the gems are declared in there.

[Nosslak]

We actually have a globe model already (nice to have variety though) so you could check the texture it uses. It's definitely an old earth map.

I did not know that, but I've taken a look at it and the texturing on it doesn't look all that good (I was watching it through the editor though) and I think I might be able to make a better version.

 

Yes, in the zip file: tdm_models_decls01.pk4. Inside the zip you will see the folder darkmod\materials within which you will find the file tdm_models_loot.mtr. I think all the gems are declared in there.

Thanks!

[Bikerdude]

I also felt like modeling something new today and this is what that resulted in:

 

Very very nice.

 

We actually have a globe model already (nice to have variety though) so you could check the texture it uses. It's definitely an old earth map.

 

Oh, is it in 1.02 and where..?

[Springheel]

It should be in the decorative folder, I think.

[rich_is_bored]

It would be nice if there were some way to tag assets so you could find them by keyword.

 

This can be done easily for materials because there is a description keyword. But static models would require a different solution altogether since you don't write a declaration for them.

[Nosslak]

Here's an update on the globe:

This is still the highpoly, I'm texturing the highpoly globe so that I can use an easier unwrap and then bake it down to a more efficient one.

 

What do you think of the map? I'll add more details such as rivers and text later as it's still not finished.

 

I'm using this map as reference for the details but I made landmasses by just tracing a modern map.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Nosslak

[Fidcal]

Looking good so far. Be interesting to see the final finish on the globe.

[Springheel]

I'm using this map as reference for the details but I made landmasses by just tracing a modern map.

 

Yes, it looks very modern, which is not ideal. Why not use the historical map and trace that (or just use it as the actual texture)?

 

I'd also recommend not making North America so prominent...while TDM may very well take place on an alternate Earth, there has never been any reference in setting material to the discovery of a "New World" and I'm not sure whether we'd want to establish clear knowledge of the Americas or not. The existing setting is clearly European, so if anything, that continent should be the most visible. In cases like this it's best to keep specific details rather sketchy.

[Nosslak]

Looking good so far. Be interesting to see the final finish on the globe.

Thanks!

 

Yes, it looks very modern, which is not ideal. Why not use the historical map and trace that (or just use it as the actual texture)?

The historical map isn't rectangular so I thought it'd be hard to make it look good on a sphere. I made some quick attempts at getting an unwrap that matched the map but I couldn't get anything that resembled it. As the the creator of the map have into account the fact that the world is round and distorted the continents I didn't think it would look particularly good, but I just ran some tests with the map warped in Photoshop to be more rectangular and it looked surprisingly good (though the grid lines on the poles got twisted). I'll try with this map instead, it's not as high-res but that probably won't matter in-game anyway as I'll probably have to downsize it further.

 

I'd also recommend not making North America so prominent...while TDM may very well take place on an alternate Earth, there has never been any reference in setting material to the discovery of a "New World" and I'm not sure whether we'd want to establish clear knowledge of the Americas or not. The existing setting is clearly European, so if anything, that continent should be the most visible. In cases like this it's best to keep specific details rather sketchy.

Yeah, but it's hard to find any good map that could be used without too much manipulation that doesn't feature America and still look somewhat good.