LightWave to DTS Problems
by Cameron Ditty · in Artist Corner · 10/13/2003 (5:32 pm) · 15 replies
I have a 3rd party model in LightWave. I have converted all of the textures to 256x256 png's, I have converted all of the polys to triangles, and I have changed all of the projections from cubic to planar. It apears to export fine, BUT when I open it using show, only some of the textures are there, AND when I import it into the mission, it is rendered completely reflective.
Here is what I am using and the history of what I have tried:
LightWave 7.5
LWDTSExporter-03-02-18-BETA
Latest STABLE version of Torque
I started without converting to triangles, it exported but looked like a bunch of jagged edges. Then I converted to trianlges and it exported with the proper shape, but no textures, and imported into the mission completely reflective. I converted the textures and using show I had some texture, but no change in the mission. I converted to planar projections and now had more textures in show, but no change in the mission.
Any help would be great, I will continue to work on this and will post back if and when I make progress.
Here is what I am using and the history of what I have tried:
LightWave 7.5
LWDTSExporter-03-02-18-BETA
Latest STABLE version of Torque
I started without converting to triangles, it exported but looked like a bunch of jagged edges. Then I converted to trianlges and it exported with the proper shape, but no textures, and imported into the mission completely reflective. I converted the textures and using show I had some texture, but no change in the mission. I converted to planar projections and now had more textures in show, but no change in the mission.
Any help would be great, I will continue to work on this and will post back if and when I make progress.
#3
Images
example: [ image]www.mysite.com/images/wow.jpg[/image ]
without the white spae between [ and first image and /image and ]
10/14/2003 (5:37 am)
Here in the post is fineImages
example: [ image]www.mysite.com/images/wow.jpg[/image ]
without the white spae between [ and first image and /image and ]
#4
Do you have the textures in the same directory as the model?
Have you read the docs for the exporter on how to turn on/off environmental mapping?
If you want the mapping, have you an alpha layer on the .png to control it (darker alpha = less reflection)?
Good luck!
-EricF
10/14/2003 (8:32 am)
Just some KISS: :-)Do you have the textures in the same directory as the model?
Have you read the docs for the exporter on how to turn on/off environmental mapping?
If you want the mapping, have you an alpha layer on the .png to control it (darker alpha = less reflection)?
Good luck!
-EricF
#5
Yes I do have the PNGs in the same directory. I will re-read the export docs about the alpha layer.
10/14/2003 (11:11 pm)
Here is the screen shot:Yes I do have the PNGs in the same directory. I will re-read the export docs about the alpha layer.
#6
-EricF
10/15/2003 (12:28 am)
Hhmm... I had just read a post earlier that said all .dts models need to have an alpha layer to control the emap. I don't know if this is true. You can try adding a dark alpha to your skin and see what happens.-EricF
#7
10/15/2003 (12:43 am)
It looks like your dark surface has the reflections turned up in LW. What % is the reflection channel set to for that surface?
#8
It does not have an alpha layer. I will try adding this and see what comes of it.
>>>Kevin
For that surface:
Luminocity: 0%
Diffuse: 90%
Specularity: 20%
Glossiness: 10%
Reflection: 0%
Transparency: 0%
Translucency: 0%
10/15/2003 (4:00 am)
>>>EricIt does not have an alpha layer. I will try adding this and see what comes of it.
>>>Kevin
For that surface:
Luminocity: 0%
Diffuse: 90%
Specularity: 20%
Glossiness: 10%
Reflection: 0%
Transparency: 0%
Translucency: 0%
#9
10/15/2003 (10:33 am)
Hmm, it shouldn't use an emap if reflection is set to 0. If you are still having problems email me the file and I'll have a quick look and see if anything jumps out at me.
#10
Once I clean it up, I will be able to isolate surfaces better, and that should make trouble shooting easier.
Thanks for everyones help, and Kevin you may be getting an IM from me soon.
10/16/2003 (3:48 am)
>>> Kevin, I am still having trouble, so I may send this file your way. I want to clean it up first. If any one is interested I came across a script called DSelect7. It allows you to select all the surfaces that are facing the same direction. It makes converting from cube mapped to planar an easy task.Once I clean it up, I will be able to isolate surfaces better, and that should make trouble shooting easier.
Thanks for everyones help, and Kevin you may be getting an IM from me soon.
#11
Feel free to im/email me whenever.
10/16/2003 (4:57 pm)
I haven't heard of that one before, but it looks like a handly little script, thanks :)Feel free to im/email me whenever.
#12
Kevin worked with me over the past 36 hours to figure this out. Because of the size of the model I needed to unweld the surfaces. This increased trippled the size of the DTS, but all the normals were aligned appropriately (this is important because of funky texture effects when the normals were rotated). Kevin Ostrowski clued me in on this. Now in the engine Kevin noticed that if all of the unnecessary pngs were removed, the textures would show up. Then it was just a mater of adding them back until the culpritt was found. It appears that if a png was added for reflection, it would cause the entire surface to have 100% reflection in the engine, removing this and the texture looks fine.
So thanks to Kevin Ostrowski and every one else that replied to this thread I now have a Torque renderable model. Unfortunately that was the easy part, now I have to find a way to create a low poly conformal collision mesh for a 10,000 poly model :{
10/18/2003 (5:44 pm)
Ok, here is the update on this problem. Many of the surfaces did not have a png for the color attribute, it was relying on the lwo color which is not exported. After adding the color texture for any surface that needed it the textures were all visible in -show, but not in the engine??? Very odd! And while I broke each suface into 3 seperate surface (for each coord. x,y,z) and then align the texture normal with the surface normal (the surfaces were cubed mapped before this), the normals were rotated during export??? Very odd! Kevin worked with me over the past 36 hours to figure this out. Because of the size of the model I needed to unweld the surfaces. This increased trippled the size of the DTS, but all the normals were aligned appropriately (this is important because of funky texture effects when the normals were rotated). Kevin Ostrowski clued me in on this. Now in the engine Kevin noticed that if all of the unnecessary pngs were removed, the textures would show up. Then it was just a mater of adding them back until the culpritt was found. It appears that if a png was added for reflection, it would cause the entire surface to have 100% reflection in the engine, removing this and the texture looks fine.
So thanks to Kevin Ostrowski and every one else that replied to this thread I now have a Torque renderable model. Unfortunately that was the easy part, now I have to find a way to create a low poly conformal collision mesh for a 10,000 poly model :{
#13
10/19/2003 (10:16 am)
Actually buildings should be built as .dif files and use .dts files for high poly details with box collision meshes.
#14
10/20/2003 (5:36 am)
Yes... I am figuring this out. You can see my other thread here that deals with this issue. I am desperately working on getting max2map to work. I have been able to export to 3ds, and everything except the textures make it. Now if I can go from 3ds to map, re-texture then go from map to dif, I will be in business. But there is not much in way of documentation for the max2map exporter.
#15
10/20/2003 (5:39 am)
Yes... I am figuring this out. You can see my other thread here that deals with this issue. I am desperately working on getting max2map to work. I have been able to export to 3ds, and everything except the textures make it. Now if I can go from 3ds to map, re-texture then go from map to dif, I will be in business. But there is not much in way of documentation for the max2map exporter. 
Torque 3D Owner Michael Cozzolino
Big Monk Games