where can i find a full writeup on how the mat system works?
by Scott Galloway · in Torque 3D Professional · 08/22/2009 (4:03 am) · 9 replies
i've been using the leadwerks engine for a while now, and despite promises the new editor will be more artist focussed, i figured i'd give torque a shot.
anyway more than impressed enough to switch engine technology, but i'm having issues converting my art pipeline. so i have the following questions for now and you can bet i'll come back with more. i know the documentation is still in beta too, but this is pretty fundamental to getting the assets into the engine so i'm surprised it wasn't in there already.
anyway
how many uv layouts supported per mesh?
diffuse texture: rgb is clearly the colourmap, is A used for transparency or something else again?
normalmap: rg used for normals, is B useless or used for something and lastly is A used for parallax height?
detailmap: just rgb? does A do anything?, and can this layer be told to use another uvlayout?
lightmap: see detailmap questions
tonemap: what is this?
specular map: it changes specular colour but how do you specular mask, i don't want glossy brown tree's, but glossy green leaves are good. weathered metal is another example.i want rust to prevent specular but raw steel to reflect the specular colour.
oh and one last question, is there a snap to grid function at all?
any help at all appreciated
anyway more than impressed enough to switch engine technology, but i'm having issues converting my art pipeline. so i have the following questions for now and you can bet i'll come back with more. i know the documentation is still in beta too, but this is pretty fundamental to getting the assets into the engine so i'm surprised it wasn't in there already.
anyway
how many uv layouts supported per mesh?
diffuse texture: rgb is clearly the colourmap, is A used for transparency or something else again?
normalmap: rg used for normals, is B useless or used for something and lastly is A used for parallax height?
detailmap: just rgb? does A do anything?, and can this layer be told to use another uvlayout?
lightmap: see detailmap questions
tonemap: what is this?
specular map: it changes specular colour but how do you specular mask, i don't want glossy brown tree's, but glossy green leaves are good. weathered metal is another example.i want rust to prevent specular but raw steel to reflect the specular colour.
oh and one last question, is there a snap to grid function at all?
any help at all appreciated
About the author
character artist for an unannounced UDK project.
#2
lightmap may be useful for ambient occlusion maps. though if it uses the same uv co-ord's it excludes the lightmaps from any tiled materials. i'll have to test that out too.
the specular map stuff you've mentioned makes sense..none of my spec maps i applied would have had alpha channels thus i never saw the mask aspect. they were all stripped out of the normalmaps and pasted into new images.
looks like i'll be waiting to find out what tonemapping actually does practically speaking. thanks for the wiki link though.
08/22/2009 (6:25 am)
thanks on all accounts, i honestly would not have picked the result you mentioned on the normalmap though. leadwerks uses the same setup and the art didn't seem to look right at all. i'll play around with that later.lightmap may be useful for ambient occlusion maps. though if it uses the same uv co-ord's it excludes the lightmaps from any tiled materials. i'll have to test that out too.
the specular map stuff you've mentioned makes sense..none of my spec maps i applied would have had alpha channels thus i never saw the mask aspect. they were all stripped out of the normalmaps and pasted into new images.
looks like i'll be waiting to find out what tonemapping actually does practically speaking. thanks for the wiki link though.
#3
Whenever possible, it's worth using that normal alpha specular map without the full texture specular map feature to use less resources.
If you need color specular, add a specular map.
08/22/2009 (11:15 am)
You're welcome! Using alpha for specular on the normal map is something new to the Torque, first appearing in Torque 3D. Until now, the specular was diffuse alpha. The new setup is a lot more useful imho. Whenever possible, it's worth using that normal alpha specular map without the full texture specular map feature to use less resources.
If you need color specular, add a specular map.
#4
08/22/2009 (1:32 pm)
Specular Map alpha is not mask it is specular exponent, you can mask by making the pixel black (a specular color of black = no specular, because 0 * anything == 0). Normal Map alpha is specular mask.
#5
08/22/2009 (2:13 pm)
Thanks Pat, I've updated my previous responses to reflect that.
#6
diffuse:rgb=colour A=transparency if enabled
normalmap:rgb=normals A=specular mask, unless the specular option is checked in which it becomes parallax
detailmap:rgb=colour a=unused can repeat multiple times and is adjustable
lightmap:rgb sets ambient colour of mesh can be over powered by local lightsources, A is likely unused
tonemap: tied up with HDR
specularmap: rgb sets specular colour, A sets specular power (strength of specular effect
setting the specular checkbox to true deletes the specularmap and allows the parallax slider to function.
still no idea how to use multiple uv sets per surface. i'd like to believe that pointing the textures at differing uv sets within xsi would be enough but have yet to try that
08/22/2009 (7:35 pm)
so my understanding so fardiffuse:rgb=colour A=transparency if enabled
normalmap:rgb=normals A=specular mask, unless the specular option is checked in which it becomes parallax
detailmap:rgb=colour a=unused can repeat multiple times and is adjustable
lightmap:rgb sets ambient colour of mesh can be over powered by local lightsources, A is likely unused
tonemap: tied up with HDR
specularmap: rgb sets specular colour, A sets specular power (strength of specular effect
setting the specular checkbox to true deletes the specularmap and allows the parallax slider to function.
still no idea how to use multiple uv sets per surface. i'd like to believe that pointing the textures at differing uv sets within xsi would be enough but have yet to try that
#7
08/22/2009 (7:55 pm)
lightmap and tonemap use the second UV set in the mesh.
#8
that should keep me out of trouble for a while, thanks everyone who responded
08/22/2009 (9:35 pm)
excellent, thanks for your help, that would explain why they don't show up on the example mesh...or my test models.that should keep me out of trouble for a while, thanks everyone who responded
#9
also for anyone reading overlay is how you apply effective ambient occlusion maps. flood fill the rgb channels with your ambient dark colour and place an inverted ao map in the alpha channel.
must use a secondary uv layout. most reputable 3d apps wont make you jump through hoops to achieve that. in xsi you simply assign more than one uv set to a model.
example here
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/937971/holycrapbatman.jpg
08/31/2009 (9:28 am)
is there anyway to mask the detail texture opacity it's affecting area's of my diffuse i don't wish it to (eg deep rutts are being lightened and washing out my image depth)also for anyone reading overlay is how you apply effective ambient occlusion maps. flood fill the rgb channels with your ambient dark colour and place an inverted ao map in the alpha channel.
must use a secondary uv layout. most reputable 3d apps wont make you jump through hoops to achieve that. in xsi you simply assign more than one uv set to a model.
example here
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/937971/holycrapbatman.jpg
Associate Konrad Kiss
Bitgap Games
I'll try to answer as much as I can. The docs are still being made for Torque 3D - check out the Documentation Feedback thread for progress and access info.
UV layouts: the highest I've seen mentioned was 2, but I can't say for sure
Diffuse: A is diffuse transparency as you'd expect
Normalmap: RGB are for the normal, A is for embedded specular
Detailmap: I'm not sure about A, never tried it. I think it uses scaling on the same uv layout
Lightmap: no idea.. I'm thinking this was made for baked shadows (someone correct me if I'm wrong, please)
Tonemapping: haven't used it myself yet
Specular map is a separate specular map that can define color (unlike Normalmap alpha). Use rbg to modify where what shows specularity. (ie. make it all black for the tree trunk, and add a lighter color for anything that should show specular)
Snap to grid: There's something similar, check Edit / Editor Settings and Edit / Snap Options in the World Editor.