envcube reflections

[psi_]

hey everyone,

I'm new to all this modeling stuff but I managed to get this far (needs texturing, bumping etc.):
http://gpstyle.nl/images/modelscreeny.jpg


Now Im working on the textures and thats were I got some problems (no its not about UV wrapping ). Its got a envcube reflection thingy going, but as you can see:
http://gpstyle.nl/images/modelscreenyTEXT.jpg


it also lets the grips reflect!! Now how do I get around this ??

 

[simon]

in the specular map, make the handle area completly black
black = no relfection
gray = a bit of reflection
white = full reflect

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

simon...is that what the black and white image on this is...

I was going to ask before so...

 

[simon]

yea,
default texture | specular map | normal map

default texture AND specular map is one .tga file (32bit)
and the normal map file is one .tga file (but that file MUST end with _normal)
so i have these:

trailer_stack.tga (32bit)
trailer_stack_normal.tga (24bit)

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

i've added normal maps to a lot of textures but I didn't realised it had to end with _normal! good job I use that anyway!

what are the dimensions for the default texture and specular map then? I thought you were using a 1024x1024 texture?

 

[simon]

they are 1024x1024 yea, it needs to be the same size as the default texture

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

how is the specular map and default texture all in 1 tga then?

 

[simon]

ok, here goes:

go into channels
make a "new" channel, then you have "red green blue"
select them all three, and look wich one is best, then control + A
control + C, and go on the "new channel" you just made and do control + V
then select the top channel layer again "RGB" and go back to the LAYERS menu, so you will see your main texture again, but now it will have a spec. map in the channels, then save it as .tga and 32 bit

(c) Purerage, he tought me

 

[psi_]

ahhhaa... thats exactly what I wanted to ask

lets see if I kan get it to work though..

 

[The Dark Elf]

ok, here goes:

go into channels
make a "new" channel, then you have "red green blue"
select them all three, and look wich one is best, then control + A
control + C, and go on the "new channel" you just made and do control + V
then select the top channel layer again "RGB" and go back to the LAYERS menu, so you will see your main texture again, but now it will have a spec. map in the channels, then save it as .tga and 32 bit

(c) Purerage, he tought me

One thing wrong with that.. It's entirely inaccurate for spec maps or reflection maps. Your gonna end up having specular effects and reflections on area's that wouldn't normally have them, just because they had a certain amount of red green or blue in them, and people will notice. You should know how fussy gamers are, they'll pick at anything, and getting into the habit of doing it like that isn't wise. Besides, its just wrong and lazy, the original map looks really nice, why let it down with badly made maps, it wouldn't hurt to put some effort into the others.

Also the normal map shown above is so faint with so little depth to it there's little point having it in the first place, the effect will be small and not worth the time it adds to the framerate (and in a full scene, its gonna add to the framerate). For something like that just use an old fashioned height map. Normal maps are for giving the impression there's more detail, a faint one isn't going to help much, rarely noticable with pre-rendered, in realtime rendering, using Source's lighting methods it'll be even less visible, use height maps for less obvious effects, probably not even have a framerate hit atall with those. And for the above example, one would be fine. Also the normal map was clearly made by taking the other map.. things on there are appearing raised when they wouldn't be, because it was done with that photoshop plugin, which if it hasn't got a height channel in the image (the plugin uses the alpha as the height data) it guesses based on brightness.

Also, i can't be sure, but its possible its inverted, you might need to flip (invert Ctrl+i) the green channel. Depends though, every engine see's them different, so just test both ways and see which looks right and which doesn't.

 

[psi_]

hmmm ..ok think ive got it.

!edit!
well maby not :S, I added the channel (alpha1) and saved/vtex-ed it,
added "$basealphaenvmapmask" 1 in the vmt and checked it again in the model viewer... all remained the same(black parts reflecting too)

Do I need to get it ingame first to run a builtcubemap or im I forgetting something ??

!edit!