[The Commander]

http://www.moddb.com/engines/eduke32/news/...polymer-history

[Sobek]

*edit* Moved to correct thread.

[zilp]

Plagman, on Feb 3 2010, 12:22 AM, said:

http://plagman.free....rmaltrooper.jpg

I "works" if you add spaces between 'normal' and '{' as well as 'surf 1' and the trailing '}'.
It's definitely buggy on some triangles, though. I'll try looking into it in some more detail, but I think it's bad interaction between the smoothing code and how the skin is unwrapped.

Yeah. Amazingly I have lived this far withot knowing about this flaw in md3 format.
I am talking about how it splits the UV seams.

Well it's not so amazing, since I've only done md3 models for this project, and it didn't used to have lighting on models.

What I'm thinking is that would it be somehow possible to implemenet a flag to the model tag, that would force "merging" of the double vertices from model.
In blender I can do this by going to mesh-edit-mode and pressing "W" and then "Remove Doubles".
This essentially removes the seams from the model.

Here is an example screenshot on how the seams look in Blender when imported, and what they look after the deleting/merging double ones.



Ofcoures I have not looked at the actual Eduke code, so I don't know the scope of this kind of "fix".

[zilp]

Finally got the normal maps working as they should. Atleast more so.







I will fix the animations still, and then release the model.

Lesson learned: in "model" tag, the "shade" parameter does not work with negative values.

Still I'd like to know:

1. How do specfactor and specpower map out? What are the inputs (0-100? 0-1?) and how do they map out.
2. How do parallaxbias and parallaxscale affect to the normal map? Are they only for parallax map?

Overall, I'd appreciate if someone could forward me to info page on how excactly should I implement these normal mapped models.

I have been out of the forums for long time, and probably will be, but I might still try to contribute from time to time.

[Roma Loom]

To tinker with spec and parallax params you need to put r_pr_overridespecular 1 in console and then experiment with values:
r_pr_specularpower "some value"
r_pr_specularfactor "some value"

you should ask Plagman about what is what here.

for parallax - r_pr_overrideparallax 1 and then:
r_pr_parallaxscale "some value"
r_pr_parallaxbias "some value"
where "scale" is the depth and "bias".. well I'm using it to make parallaxed texture fit its original position, because parallax effect can somewhat visibly move or scale your texture making part of the texture disappear under the floor for instance... hell.. it's really hard to explain, and I forgot the exact meaning of it though I've asked to describe "bias" Plagman already

note: parallax tweaking is possible if you have a heightmap in your normal map's alpha channel

[zilp]

Roma Loom, on Feb 5 2010, 11:28 PM, said:

note: parallax tweaking is possible if you have a heightmap in your normal map's alpha channel

I do not have parallax map for model, so should I set the alpha to zero or 255? Or just set parallaxscale to zero? Or do any of these matter?

[Roma Loom]

Either you fill the normalmap's alpha with white or maybe black (to prevent possible texture distortion, I haven't tested it) or better save your normalmap as 24bit PNG without alpha at all. Also I don't know if you saved your example normalmap in JPG just to make the archive smaller, but normalmap should be saved in any loseless format, but I think you know that already. Also I think there should be some option to get the heightmap in Blender or whatever software you use to bake normalmaps, but I think usual normalmap is enough for the models, haven't messed with the models yet...

[The Commander]

MODDB.com EDuke32 statistics for the month of January


Visits: 2,690
Games: 2
Files: 2
News: 2

http://www.moddb.com/engines/eduke32

[Spiker]

Interesting. That means someone should put more media in there. Pity that the quality of this trailer sucks.

[The Commander]

Spiker, on Feb 7 2010, 01:56 AM, said:

Interesting. That means someone should put more media in there. Pity that the quality of this trailer sucks.

Both the Article and the DNE trailer were added at the same time.
It tends to be articles/news that will get the most attention because they are shown on the front page and everyone clicks it to see what it is heh. (Till it gets bumped off the front page, hence the sharp drop)

[Helixhorned]

DanM: Eternity looks sweet! Reminds me of Deus Ex atmosphere-wise ... will the NPC-talk be purely monologue or will you be able to interact with them?

[zilp]

Question:

Does EDuke32/Polymer scale down loaded textures somehow?
I've noticed that the trooper model has significant quality loss in normal and diffuse maps.

Here is a comparison image of the model ingame, and loaded in Blender -viewing it using Blenders "game engine rendering".
Both have save 1024x1024 textures used.



Also, are the models shelfshadowing.. or where do those sharp shadows come from?

[Roma Loom]

zilp, on Feb 6 2010, 06:52 PM, said:

Question:

Does EDuke32/Polymer scale down loaded textures somehow?
I've noticed that the trooper model has significant quality loss in normal and diffuse maps.

Here is a comparison image of the model ingame, and loaded in Blender -viewing it using Blenders "game engine rendering".
Both have save 1024x1024 textures used.

texture_size.jpg

Also, are the models shelfshadowing.. or where do those sharp shadows come from?

That must be texture compression for sure, you should turn it off in gfx settings menu as I did when I first looked at my textures for polymer
As for weird shadowing - that must be broken smoothing groups in md3, you may try putting your model into MD3Compiler and run "rebuild normals" on it. But that doesn't worked for me as I wanted to, but it worked.

[Tea Monster]

Check for a slider in the graphics options for texture quality, I can't remember exactly what it's called. For some reason, the HRP gets shipped with it at 3/4 quality. I bet that's it.

[Roma Loom]

Just to bitch about broken normals in md3, even md3compiler doesn't work well here:

[Spiker]

I'm not a specialist. But in Blender there is an option called "recalculate the normals outside" I don't know how it works but often it fixed different problems that I had with models.

[Roma Loom]

Yeah... but my problem hides deep in the exporter for 3ds max which brakes them normals

[Gambini]

 zilp, on Feb 6 2010, 01:52 PM, said:

texture_size.jpg

Is that liztroop holding the dukeplus lasergun?

If he is, thanks whoever made the model for standardizing.

[Antal]

When can expect these new models and lighting in the new eDuke version or HRP?

[Radar]

Wow! A lot has happened to the HRP since I last checked in to any of these forums. Everything looks so awesome!

[RPD Guy]

man...
i have a FUCKING PROBLEM!
the ''normal textures'' in format PNG, have transparence, the alpha sets the parallax, the effects of luminance textures.
the problem is that the crazy bump, the textures that I do not get transparency, then only have
effects of dynamic lights when there are lights on you
can someone tell me where to download a program that makes the textures with transparency?
here is the textures what i talking about:

here is the texture what i maked (without transparency)
http://img97.imagesh.../9197/0764n.png
and here the original (with transparency)
http://img716.images.../9197/0764n.png

I love to make textures! xD , I need this tool because i am making a game with the mapster engine!

(sorry if my english is terryble)
HELP!

[Tea Monster]

You are using a normal map. The normal map affects the bumpyness of the texture. You never actually see the colors on the normal map. They are just there to tell the engine how and where your bumps are on your texture. You need a second texture, which is your Diffuse texture, which has the actual colors on it.

[Roma Loom]

I believe he wants to make a normalmap with heightmap in alpha channel to see some parallaxmapping. There's an option in CrazyBump to save heightmap in alphachannel of normalmap. Just turn it on. But honestly CrazyBump won't work well or sometimes won't work at all on complex textures like this wall-with-window tile.

[Piterplus]

Probably he want to make normal map with displacement in alpha channel (like in second texture)?
There is an option in crazybump's preferences which allow to do it.

[RPD Guy]

tanks for the tip Roma Loom!
if works, i tell you

[gt1750]

CrazyBump actually works well if you have enough patience and know how to use Phtoshop (or GIMP). Here's how I made the normalmap for 0764, which is shown above:

1) Generate a flat normalmap (no alpha) from the original texture
2) Paint a grayscale heightmap using Photoshop or GIMP (white=highest -> black=deepest)
3) Start a new project in Crazybump by loading the completed heightmap
4) This time, enable the "save normal map with displacement alpha-channel" option in Preferences
5) Load the previously generated flat normalmap into mixer
6) Play with settings until the shape looks right
7) Save the final normalmap (as .png) and try it in the game
8) Fiddle with "parallaxbias" and "parallaxscale" parameters in the .def until it looks right

That's about it. You might also want to tone down the directional lighting in the original texture and create a specular map.

[RPD Guy]

I'm sorry for being so annoying! (:
only one thing missing for me to be truly happy!
a modeler md2 and md3 (behind the BLENDER, I don't know what to use)
can someone tell me where to download a good? already looked for it and not found!
Thank you in advance!

PS: Google Translate sucks ok? my english isn't too terryble!
xD

[Fox]

 Roma Loom, on Feb 6 2010, 04:55 PM, said:

Just to bitch about broken normals in md3, even md3compiler doesn't work well here:

I always wondered about one thing in that fence model... =P

While the 8bit flat sprites doesn't give you a 3d dimension, I have the impression that this fence was supposed to have an curved area in the top, like this:

[Danukem]

There's a lot of maps where fences divide two areas, and the player can be on either side. If the fences have the one sided guard at the top, it will cause problems. For one thing, I doubt mappers paid attention to which angle all the fence sprites were facing, so there will be maps where with parts of the fence facing the wrong way and it will look bad.

[Master Fibbles]

 Dk2, on Feb 11 2010, 06:07 PM, said:

I'm sorry for being so annoying! (:
only one thing missing for me to be truly happy!
a modeler md2 and md3 (behind the BLENDER, I don't know what to use)
can someone tell me where to download a good? already looked for it and not found!
Thank you in advance!

PS: Google Translate sucks ok? my english isn't too terryble!
xD

I think I know what you are asking about...
You should check out the tutorials thread that is stickied in this forum.
http://forums.duke4....p?showtopic=798

There you will find some exporters for Blender.