Recent content by softmonkey

A similar effect can be achieved using the dirtmap shader (a mental ray shader) applied as a lens shader and final gathering. (see more here) It will take time to render though, but that's what a renderfarm is for :D

Freeze your model

If you mean how to unwrap an object - please look at UV Tutorial. You want the TurboChi UV Texturing tutorial. If you want to freeze the UVs then open the texture editor and use Edit>Freeze UVs

If you have a commercial version, you download the docs from softimage.com. If you have the HL2 EXP then on the left hand side of the startup netview is a link to the documentation

Very good. Glad you are liking XSI. You should download foundation and use if for free for 30 days (without restrictions) to do some nice renders. To show polygon counts in XSI you have two options: 1. Select the object and press "Shift+Enter" 2. Under the 'eye' icon on the top of the...

And if you don't need the color bleeding, use the dirtmap shader by daniel rind @ http://www.xsibase.com/tools/shaders.php?detail=332 Just plug it into your phong's ambient and diffuse channels.

Does work - just tested it. Make sure you have shadows on the light and are set to shadow maps. Make sure you turn them on in the region and/or render options. Or another technique is to use area lights. Selec the light and turn it on. To get a final quality without the need for silly...

This is how I do my symmetrical setups in XSI... These tools are available in the EXP as well, although I am using v4. 1. get you starting mesh, e.g. a cube or sphere 2. select one half of the mesh by pressing y and drawing a rectangle in the top/side viewport. Press delete 3...

Make sure at least two objects are selected

The student copy @ $175 includes: * 1 year temporary license of XSI Advanced Student/Teacher Academic for Windows * Installation & licensing support and private web section access during the subscription period * 1 School kit: CD kit (Software CD, Media CD, Documentation CD)...

Consumers don't buy top of the line graphics cards

There is a limit in place at the moment...

You can find the complete list here of there differences between the different versions. It has everything you need for HL2. No problem there. Two ways: 1. Select the object and press shiftt+Enter to open a dialog. 2. If you want the information in a viewport, press the eye icon on...

In a word - YES ...The way it works in XSI. You can have as many intersecting pieces of geometry you like. Since normal mapping works using a distance parameter, the surface furthest away is the one baked into the normal map. E.g. you have a character and you want to normal map a belt...

Yes, the best normal maps are a combination of geometry and bump/displacement effects. Displacement should always work, but you may have some issues with the bump map, e.g. if the normal map is calculated before the bump then it simply won't appear. You will need to test this in your program...