I like my clutter middle-class

[Wulfharth]

Wanted to start a new thread about this clutter. First the crate. It looks like it's made of plastic in-game. Is that my mistake in max, photoshop, nifskope, or the construction set? If you need to see the nif or textures, there at the bottom.

For those not keeping up, here's the render.

morrowind-style crate

I'm currently debating what to do about the bottoms of the plates. They're going to have to be a different texture, I think.

[TheImperialDragon]

I haven't tested it very thoroughly yet, but I think it's probably the normal map of the texture (the _n.dds file). If the texture is very opaque, it ends up being very shiny in-game - but if it's more transparent (say applying an alpha channel), then it will still reflect light properly, but it won't be quite as shiny. I think this is what you're aiming for.

Try the attached texture and let me know if it works.

I checked out the TES3 versions of the plates, and it does look indeed as though there was a slightly different texture on the bottom (see screenshot for some examples). The bottoms appear to be less detailed though, so I don't think making them would be as challenging as the tops... generally the same patterns.

[Wulfharth]

That normal map did the trick. I have the final zip of the crate attached. Did you save the normal map as dxt3 with explicit alpha? I'll start messing with my normal maps and see if I can get up to speed.

Got the plate mapping figured out. I should have a few of them posted in a few hours so you can check them out. But in the meantime, enjoy your new crate.

[Wulfharth]

Here are a few plates. Check them out and let me know what you think. If these are good, I'll make some more. I found a bunch of textures.

Also, I just guessed at the icon paths, so let me know if those are okay.

[TheImperialDragon]

That normal map did the trick. I have the final zip of the crate attached. Did you save the normal map as dxt3 with explicit alpha? I'll start messing with my normal maps and see if I can get up to speed.

I took a look at your crate, and it looks good. :goodjob: One thing, and it's not a huge deal IMO, is that the texture around the edge of the crate (with what I believe to be bolts) looks like it was painted rather than bolted. It might be worth trying to apply some sort of bump map filter to it to make it look a bit more three-dimensional. Otherwise though, :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I usually save normal maps in DXT3 format (after "applying alpha channel" in GIMP), since I like keeping a bit of opacity to make the texture just a bit shiny.
Generally, the DXT format only really affects what levels of transparency are possible. Here's my understanding:

DXT1 - only two possibilities - pixel is transparent or it is not, no in-between
DXT3 - you get a nice range of opacity levels in between
DXT5 - you get a further range, but this takes a lot of space and usually DXT3 is good enough.

Here are a few plates. Check them out and let me know what you think. If these are good, I'll make some more. I found a bunch of textures.

I looked at the plates, and they're nice. [strike]They seem a touch thick though, so maybe make them a bit thinner?[/strike] Edit: Actually, I looked at the geometry a bit closer and they seem to have the right thickness, but something is making them look kind of bulky. It might be how the top of the plate kind of rounds off to the bottom, or it might be the UV-mapping. I'm a bit curious about your earlier comment about the mapping of these plates - does 3DS have an "Unwrap UV from view" function like Blender? Because if not, I'd be happy to try making another UV map for the plates (it would literally take seconds in Blender)?

Could you post the source for your textures?

Also, I just guessed at the icon paths, so let me know if those are okay.

What ended up being really interesting was that your texture paths were used for another set of plates, which I thought had been removed a long time ago - since all instances that were placed in the mod at one point seemed to have disappeared/gotten replaced with something else. They're good, but they don't look like Morrowind plates, and they're all middle class (so we would still need lower class). I can send you a link to the data files of the if you're interested, but I think we still need plates that look Morrowind-y.

I think the metal ones in the screenshot (here) were the best lower-class plates from TES3.

[Wulfharth]

Good call on those plates. They look much better with thinner edges. I've got the updated plates below. I'm not sure what you mean by morrowind-y. Do you want remakes of the same textures, because that is just an easy re-texture job. I'll make a few other shapes and put some place-holder textures on them.

I'm gonna try to fix the crate with a tidier texture. If that doesn't do it, I'll just add some polys. It doesn't have very many to begin with.

[Zurke]

Wulfharth, if at some point you have time, then we could use some gold bars. A couple of sizes would be great. I am thinking the texture should be less than shiny and not brand new.

I think the topic of gold bars came up when we were creating the Hlaalu Savings Bank. But we didnt have anyone available to do the job.


Thanks and have a great day
Charles

[Wulfharth]

I'll be happy to make some gold bars, but it does bring up a relevant question. At what point in the model making process do I get to define the material a model is made of?

The above crate is wood with metal trim. I've exported the metal pieces and wood pieces seperately, because I want to assign them the seperate material qualities, and then combine them in nifskope. Is that something I can do in nifskope?

When I know that, I'll be able to make you gold bars that behave like metal. Do you have any gold textures that you've used for other models that I can use for these, and do you have any kind of crest, symbol, or design for them. Gold bars usually have some identifier stamped in the top, but I guess it's not necessary.

[Zurke]

Good questions Wulfharth.

Your nifskope question is beyond me. TID and/or Sandor(Razorwing too) would be of better help.

We have ST gold coins that I will look at again as far as color goes. I will get back to you.

A crest or symbol is a good idea. But maybe having a bar without a symbol would be good to have also. I will look at possibilities and/or create a post to gain ideas.

Have a great day
Charles

[morcroft]

Just thought I'd share this little accident with you...



I was making some mancala game boards, one of which was to be sandstone (top). So I picked a nice stripe-free sandtone texture but I had the alpha channel up WAY too high in the normal map - and to me it looks like a pretty good gold! So I kept that in my board set for rich players and toned down the alpha channel. Actually, I think for the sandstone I saved the normal map as DXT1 which has 1-bit alpha and doesn't cause any shininess in Oblivion.

Can't help with the material assignment in Max: I use Blender. I can tell you that the Havok material is assigned to the collision, not the object. I do suspect you're being overambitious, though. I'd keep it simple for a crate and just assign the whole thing a cubic collision with HAV_MAT_WOOD assigned. It's worth keeping collisions as simple as possible because complex collisions slow the game down.