Materials don't show up in-game
by Yuan Cui · in Artist Corner · 05/26/2009 (9:05 am) · 7 replies
Hi there
For exporting materials to TEGA,
I followed the tutorial here
http://docs.garagegames.com/artist/official/3D%20Studio%20Max/Materials.html
and now try to export my own materials.
after I bring the model into the game engine, the material I created in 3dsmax 2009 won't show up.
It seems happens to all the materials expect the diffuse map.
here are a few images I captured during work:
in photoshop texture with alpha channel (I saved the texture as a PNG file evetually, the screenshot was taken during the working process)
in 3dsmax 2009, class-looking texture
in showtool pro, nonthing show up in the game engine environment
I followed the tutorial and checked the problems could result this happen. I place all the textures in the same folder as my model and nonthing went wrong at this point.
Could someone tell me what could be the problem?
For exporting materials to TEGA,
I followed the tutorial here
http://docs.garagegames.com/artist/official/3D%20Studio%20Max/Materials.html
and now try to export my own materials.
after I bring the model into the game engine, the material I created in 3dsmax 2009 won't show up.
It seems happens to all the materials expect the diffuse map.
here are a few images I captured during work:
in photoshop texture with alpha channel (I saved the texture as a PNG file evetually, the screenshot was taken during the working process)
in 3dsmax 2009, class-looking texture
in showtool pro, nonthing show up in the game engine environment
I followed the tutorial and checked the problems could result this happen. I place all the textures in the same folder as my model and nonthing went wrong at this point.
Could someone tell me what could be the problem?
About the author
#2
Sorry I was importing the materials to TGEA
And the 1st screenshot are actually took during the work process, evetually I saved it as a PNG(see the 2nd and 3rd screenshots).
I can't think of a reason for why it didn't work so far.
If anyone can provide help I really appreciate it.
05/26/2009 (12:15 pm)
Hi~Sorry I was importing the materials to TGEA
And the 1st screenshot are actually took during the work process, evetually I saved it as a PNG(see the 2nd and 3rd screenshots).
I can't think of a reason for why it didn't work so far.
If anyone can provide help I really appreciate it.
#3
Anyways,
I have never known photoshop to save out 'alpha channels' to it's default PNG file format. Are you using the superpng plugin and then saving the file with the alpha channel ?
On a minor note..you may already know.. showtool pro will not show tgea materials. So I am guessing you're just trying the app with png and transparency. Which should not be a problem.
Yuan, I am not completely sure of what you are asking here. You say that you're having problems with transparency but then you say you put all of the images into the folder with the model and then nothing was wrong.
Perhaps I am confusing what you're explaining or you're in need of more docs. TGEA 'materials' are mainly set by materials.cs files yet 3dsMax settings can have an affect on models too. I am not 100% sure on the complete explanation of what max settings work and don't work because there has never been complete docs on that subject afaik.
If you can re-read your post and see my point of view on this I would appreciate it. I am sure I can help you out if you re-explain your issue in detail.
05/26/2009 (5:23 pm)
Sorry that I missed that jpg png thing...I have a head-cold and the pills give me medicine-head.Anyways,
I have never known photoshop to save out 'alpha channels' to it's default PNG file format. Are you using the superpng plugin and then saving the file with the alpha channel ?
On a minor note..you may already know.. showtool pro will not show tgea materials. So I am guessing you're just trying the app with png and transparency. Which should not be a problem.
Yuan, I am not completely sure of what you are asking here. You say that you're having problems with transparency but then you say you put all of the images into the folder with the model and then nothing was wrong.
Perhaps I am confusing what you're explaining or you're in need of more docs. TGEA 'materials' are mainly set by materials.cs files yet 3dsMax settings can have an affect on models too. I am not 100% sure on the complete explanation of what max settings work and don't work because there has never been complete docs on that subject afaik.
If you can re-read your post and see my point of view on this I would appreciate it. I am sure I can help you out if you re-explain your issue in detail.
#4
The problem is that I don't know the way how we get material working in TGEA. Is there a detailed tutorial that will cover all the details about exporting every advanced materials? I found couple of them on the documentation page but it doesn't seem to work.
Just forget about the problems, Say, if I wanna get a transparent map work or a specular map work in TGEA, what do I need or what plug-ins or tools do I need, and what process should I use to successfully import the materials into TGEA? Do I need coding at all? or I can totally do this with the engine and a few tool kit? I'm an artist myself so I would like to know what can I do with the engine itself or should I contact the programmers to figure out a way to do this.
Thanks very much!
05/26/2009 (7:49 pm)
Hi sorry about my poor description.The problem is that I don't know the way how we get material working in TGEA. Is there a detailed tutorial that will cover all the details about exporting every advanced materials? I found couple of them on the documentation page but it doesn't seem to work.
Just forget about the problems, Say, if I wanna get a transparent map work or a specular map work in TGEA, what do I need or what plug-ins or tools do I need, and what process should I use to successfully import the materials into TGEA? Do I need coding at all? or I can totally do this with the engine and a few tool kit? I'm an artist myself so I would like to know what can I do with the engine itself or should I contact the programmers to figure out a way to do this.
Thanks very much!
#5
These are the real 'magic keys' to making your materials. There really is no need to use Max for material exporting with TGEA besides for 2 sided materials which were left with poor normal rendering. There are IFL's as well but I consider them more as animations than materials.
do a site search for "materials.cs" ..you'll get loads of info..or..
open the install of TGEA and read the docs. There is plenty of information at this path: TGEA_1_8_1/documentation/Documentation Overview.html
Are you planning on buying TGEA/TGB/T3D ?
05/26/2009 (11:37 pm)
Look into the "materials.cs" files(you will mainly find these in the shape folders). They are short script clamps that even script-noobies can understand within a day.These are the real 'magic keys' to making your materials. There really is no need to use Max for material exporting with TGEA besides for 2 sided materials which were left with poor normal rendering. There are IFL's as well but I consider them more as animations than materials.
do a site search for "materials.cs" ..you'll get loads of info..or..
open the install of TGEA and read the docs. There is plenty of information at this path: TGEA_1_8_1/documentation/Documentation Overview.html
Are you planning on buying TGEA/TGB/T3D ?
#6
I never knew I should write my own .cs file for materials.
I'll look into it and try if it works.
I've got a job to do with TGEA and my university got a license already.
Maybe I'll buying a license for my game project in the future :)
05/28/2009 (10:21 am)
Thanks! I never knew I should write my own .cs file for materials.
I'll look into it and try if it works.
I've got a job to do with TGEA and my university got a license already.
Maybe I'll buying a license for my game project in the future :)
#7
07/08/2009 (6:47 am)
But how about exporting directx shaders from 3ds max ? It would be such a blast if anyone could have some hints on this. 
Torque Owner TheGasMan
G.A.S. [+others]
#2. You have an alpha channel in what you have saved as a jpg. Unless you are doing some out-of-ordinary steps to accomplish this task. You will never get a jpg to handle an alpha.
You should get the superpng plugin for Photoshop.
You *should* be able to addit to the "Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS#\Plug-ins" folder without removing the default png plugin. Then use it as "save as" or "open as". Superpng allows the alpha channel of a png file to be manipulated or setup as a mask etc (general idea here).