Parallax tips -
by Harvey Greensall · in Torque 3D Professional · 09/09/2010 (9:00 pm) · 11 replies
Hi
Anyone out there have some awesome tips to do with Parallax mapping? I've created all textures using xnormal, looks great in the xnormal previewer.
The model I'm working on works exactly as I'd expect without the height map in the normals alpha channel in T3D, but when I use the height map it does some strange stuff with the specular, and when you use the parallax slider it appears to push the detail INTO the model instead of pulling it OUT of the plane and giving it ..well...parallax.
Is anyone else out there happy and getting really cool parallax FX working?? in which case it's just me? I'm trying to get some real next-gen results and nailing exactly what works really well in the engine.
Cheers
H.
Anyone out there have some awesome tips to do with Parallax mapping? I've created all textures using xnormal, looks great in the xnormal previewer.
The model I'm working on works exactly as I'd expect without the height map in the normals alpha channel in T3D, but when I use the height map it does some strange stuff with the specular, and when you use the parallax slider it appears to push the detail INTO the model instead of pulling it OUT of the plane and giving it ..well...parallax.
Is anyone else out there happy and getting really cool parallax FX working?? in which case it's just me? I'm trying to get some real next-gen results and nailing exactly what works really well in the engine.
Cheers
H.
#2
09/10/2010 (7:35 am)
Yea... thats just how the math works out. A very small setting is enough in most cases... we didn't look to apply any artifical scale to it.
#3
09/10/2010 (6:17 pm)
Cool, cheers chaps ! ,,,,,,Do you mind if I upload the texture examples here? I can put a small vid together too if I can work out how to embed it so you can see what's happening....I've tried with really very small settings in the parallax and it seems to do nothing, maybe it's something I'm doing...I'm using a .TGA BTW... 
#4
I was unaware that TGA was an option, but then again I am a die-hard superpng fan. Also: What image app do you use ?
09/10/2010 (6:20 pm)
Please share the images, I'll help you out.I was unaware that TGA was an option, but then again I am a die-hard superpng fan. Also: What image app do you use ?
#6
09/10/2010 (7:11 pm)
and hopefully here is a video....It shows just a normal map, then a normal map with the height map in it's alpha...
#7
Also bear in mind that it doesent make the 'fake geometry' poke out from the face, it gives it depth.
also, personally i find its easier to guage the height on a face like that with parallax etc by putting a border of some sort around it with a different texture that has no normal etc tied to it
09/10/2010 (7:58 pm)
Dont use the parallax slider for setting the value, type in something around 0.015 and see how that looks.Also bear in mind that it doesent make the 'fake geometry' poke out from the face, it gives it depth.
also, personally i find its easier to guage the height on a face like that with parallax etc by putting a border of some sort around it with a different texture that has no normal etc tied to it
#8
09/10/2010 (8:52 pm)
Thanks for all this advice, it's really helping to nail what I can expect to get out of the T3D parallax. So, you're saying I won't be able to get this type of effect from the parallax?...This is it in xnormal....second half of the video shows what i was hoping for...
#9
im nackered so probably minced my words a bit there on describing it there, do ya get what i mean though ?
as a side thought, any chance you could either post up the source images for that or email them to me and ill knock up a materials setting to see what look i can get with it
09/10/2010 (10:29 pm)
Thanks for that video Harvey, with xNormal by the looks of it its making it extrude out of the face. However t3d's parallax can get the same kind of effect, but its easier to think of it more of a 'depth map' instead of a heightmap as such. the highest point of the heightmap stays on the face of the surface, and the rest of it is pulled back into it.im nackered so probably minced my words a bit there on describing it there, do ya get what i mean though ?
as a side thought, any chance you could either post up the source images for that or email them to me and ill knock up a materials setting to see what look i can get with it
#10
Looking at the video you posted (#6) it looks like the same effect i used to get when i use an parallax incompatible normal map texture. Have a look at this video to see one way TP recommend you dealing with parallaxing. Hope it helps.
09/11/2010 (1:57 am)
@ HarveyLooking at the video you posted (#6) it looks like the same effect i used to get when i use an parallax incompatible normal map texture. Have a look at this video to see one way TP recommend you dealing with parallaxing. Hope it helps.
#11
03/06/2011 (4:51 pm)
Has anything come of this? I know this is old, but it's the exact same problem I'm having. I'm using 1.1 Beta 3, and the material editor has changed a bit since the video Marcus posted. Any time I put a parallax map in the normal channel, it seems to use it as transparency for the normal map only, not matter what else I do. Is this just a problem with Beta 3? I couldn't find anything in searching the issues in the Bug Reporting forum. 
Torque Owner TheGasMan
G.A.S. [+others]
Conjecture:
iirc, I used a setting of 0.01 and it reacted as if I Set a 4 or 5 out of 10. ..anything above 0.5 was garbled.