Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

Razorwing · 06-25-2006, 05:49 AM,

1. With the new exporter in mind, am I right that Blinn is again the better shader model instead of the CivilizationIV Shader I've been using so far?

2. Which ambient/diffuse color is optimal for a texture? I've been using white (255) so far but I noticed that produces a really horrible glare when a light source comes near, so now I'm using light grey (200) instead. Don't know if that's best, but it does remedy the glare.

3. Will the ambient color setting for specular have any effect on the model if and when a specular map is used in-game? If so, which color is optimal for it?

4. How do I get a bounding box to fit snugly on my model?

5. How do I stop the transparancy in one texture from making some stuff seen through it invisible?

TIA Smile

gundalf · 06-25-2006, 12:53 PM,

Quote:Originally posted by Razorwing
1. With the new exporter in mind, am I right that Blinn is again the better shader model instead of the CivilizationIV Shader I've been using so far?

It doesn't matter. The exporter only extracts the texture and basic material information from the max material, which also works on the civ4 materials. I'd recommend using a standard material, though. You never know.... Wink

Quote:Originally posted by Razorwing
2. Which ambient/diffuse color is optimal for a texture? I've been using white (255) so far but I noticed that produces a really horrible glare when a light source comes near, so now I'm using light grey (200) instead. Don't know if that's best, but it does remedy the glare.

Depends on what you want to achive. Ambient is always added to the lighting equation, even if there's no light shining on the surface. I'd keep it rather low.

Quote:Originally posted by Razorwing
3. Will the ambient color setting for specular have any effect on the model if and when a specular map is used in-game? If so, which color is optimal for it?

I think you mean specular color. The specular color is the color of the highlights produced by specular component of the lighting equation. Specular mapping affects the influence of this component on a per texel (pixel) basis. I think oblivion works this way, but I haven't tested it... Wink

The sininess strenght parameter also affects this component...

Quote:Originally posted by Razorwing
5. How do I stop the transparancy in one texture from making some stuff seen through it invisible?

This is with my exporter, right? I'm certain the model needs a NiAlpaSomething property if it has a transparent texture. The engine sorts transparent primitives by depth and draws them back to front. The property tells the engine to do so. I think what you observed is a result of the lack of such a propertyl The exporter doesn't create such a block, yet. *puts it on the todo list*

Quote:Originally posted by Razorwing
TIA

HTH. I'm a bit hangoverish (just looked that word up), so this might be confusing...

Razorwing · 06-25-2006, 06:34 PM,

Thanks gundalf Smile

1. Kk.

2. I want to achieve as broad a range as possible without causing glare effects like in some of my screenshots. Oki then I guess I'll stick with 200.

3. Yes I probably meant that, the third color box on the Blinn Shader's parameter sheet. I've never experimented with it before and I don't know if the color has any bearing on how specular maps are rendered by the game. Does it?

4. No, I haven't tried opacity-enabled textures with your exporter yet, but I don't think it's related to the exporter. I had the same problem with the official exporter for TES3, so I'm sure it's caused by something in Max. Basically the opacity isn't confined to the model; it makes stuff seen through the invisible layer invisible too. So if you put my ivy 'model' on the back of the plaque in Kali Gulas Square you'd see an invisible rectangle in the middle of the plaque's backside with the ivy floating in the middle of the rectangle. Sortof. Any ideas what causes that effect?

wildkarrde · 06-25-2006, 10:56 PM,

Hello, Razorwing. I believe this is my first post here but I am a longtime admirer of ST. I just recently started modeling for Morrowind and I believe I ran into the same exact problem that you are having with transparencies. Phijama was kind enough to teach me how to correct my problem and maybe it will work for Oblivion modeling also. What you have to do is set the transparent objects to ?zmode10?. This should fix the visibility of the objects behind the transparency.

Here is a pic of my model before and after zmode10 was applied:
http://xs202.xs.to/xs202/06246/compfea.jpg

And here is the thread at the TES forums explaining exactly how to apply zmode10:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index...try6713062

Razorwing · 06-25-2006, 11:06 PM,

Cool, thankyou so much wildkarrde! :bananarock:

And welcome to Silgrad Tower Big Grin

:wave:

wildkarrde · 06-25-2006, 11:25 PM,

Thanks for the welcome. I really don?t know if this will work for Oblivion modeling since the zmode10 setting is a part of the official Morrowind exporter. I?m not familiar with the capabilities of the current exporters for Oblivion but at least it should give you a place to start looking.

gundalf · 06-25-2006, 11:41 PM,

Welcome to ST, wildkarrde. :wave:

Quote:zMode10 is one of the max properties that are part of the Tes exporter toolset. If you have the official exporter then you have access to zMode10.

This won't work with my exporter or the CivIV one. I'll add an equivalent to mine...

wildkarrde · 06-26-2006, 12:02 AM,

Sorry, I didn?t know if there was something comparable to that setting in the newer versions of Max - I guess not. I confess to being pretty much a noob max user. That?s awesome that you are going to try to implement that feature in your exporter.

BTW congrats and a huge THANK YOU for your exporter Gundalf! I might actually be able to put something I made in Oblivion now. The other methods seemed too much of a hassle to learn.

Razorwing · 06-26-2006, 01:10 AM,

Aaah, I see! That's probably why I haven't found it, hehe... I don't have the old tes shader anymore.