Glowing textures

Thu Sep 25, 2003 5:48 pm by Simon_DR

Don't know if this was mentioned before but i was looking through other textures in the game and was looking for glowing effects and found out how to put textures on your model so they look like they are glowing like the spotlight effect in the image here:
http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/scifi2/b ... creen2.jpg

To do this all you need to do is create the texture as per normal but create it as if it was just light then in the .mat file in the material library on the surface to have the glow effect add another node called Et_name and add the glowing texture to the string data structure (it may be best to add _illum to the end of the texture name so you know what its for and to which surface it will be added) and change the string structure for the Type node to DcDtEt.

Then create another node in the texture library and add the import thr tga as the others.
You don't need to do anything to your model so you can add the new textures to the mat file without converting the model.

Hope this is of use to you.

Edited by - Simon_DR on 25-09-2003 19:04:00

Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:49 pm by skyshooter

yep, since I' m documenting the Mat files I have seen it too, I have finished for abou 70 % , but I don't get for what is the Bt statement (look at the nomad modells) and I don't get for what the flags are too (Dt_flags for ex.)

roughly it is so that in "Type" it's stored the types of maps in the modell, for example there is "DcDt" which should mean "Diffuse Texture / Diffuse Color" or there is Oc (Opacity Color) and EtEc ("Emissive Texture...." (self illumination) ) and finally there is Bt (but it isn't Bump Texture, since freelancer doesn't support bump mapping)

I'm coding a program for creating advanced MAT files, with all these features. So, stay tuned!

Fri Sep 26, 2003 4:17 am by Wanderer

This looks interesting. It'll be a good practice for capital ship textures.

Fri Sep 26, 2003 7:19 am by firebase

glowing effects when hit by a light source

Working hard to earn... but too lazy to do something...

Fri Sep 26, 2003 7:22 am by milkshape

Or it could be a strange texture using SphereMap on the ship? Well, a very nice texture

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Fri Sep 26, 2003 3:49 pm by Simon_DR

skyshooter: Sounds interesting. Looking forward to it.

Sat Sep 27, 2003 7:30 am by firebase

waiting for it skyshooter. Is there anybody here knows the creator of the cmpexporter, i'd like to tell him why he did not include VMeshWire Data...

Working hard to earn... but too lazy to do something...

Fri Oct 10, 2003 2:09 am by Glitch

@Skyshooter: Do you know how the nomad textures work? I've been trying to get the glowing/shimmer effect and I just can't seem to get it to glow/shimmer, all I get is the flat texture.

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

Sat Oct 11, 2003 2:24 pm by skyshooter

sorry, there will not be any prog in the next time. It should have a preview function, where you see the material you're creating applied to your 3d modell. BUT I don't get how to create a SelfIllumination effect in DirectX...
Then I still don't know what are these "flags" and what are Gradiant Maps (the Bt_name statement).

the nomad ships have only an opacity of 30 % and a Gradiant Map (I have no Idea what this is, probably the effect you are searching).
open with utf-edit a nomad ship 3db. under texture material you'll see a nomad_gradiant1.TGA, export this as dds and see yourself...

the 30% opacity is easy, in the material's "Type" add "Oc" (so it will be "DcDtOc"

create a new node called "Oc" and set his value to "0.3" (as float Array)
you can make your material 2 sided (since it's transparent you'll see the other side of the ship) by adding "Two" to "Type" (it will be "DcDtOcTwo"

Sun Oct 12, 2003 8:00 am by Glitch

Really? Sweet I'll try that, thx.

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

Fri Dec 17, 2004 5:03 am by harrier

Sorry to drag this old horse out again.

.... However, I have made progress on this :

I cant say I've completely cracked it...but for those that are interested, it is possible.....

Harrier..

Edited by - harrier on 12/17/2004 5:04:36 AM

Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:01 am by Anton

Don't keep us in suspense, tell us more! I'm learning to texture at the mo for remake of some Elite ships to go in my mod - self lit sections would be lovely

+++ out of cheese error - redo from start +++

Xtreme Team Studios

Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:18 am by harrier

Well,

they are like weapons ...the texures are in the .cmp file. and 2 textures are basically mapped to the same surface, one is the texture, the other is a gradient map that references in a .thn file.. it's very strange.. it also uses an odd hardpoint - HpFixed/HpFx01, tho I am not entirely sure what it does.. but I think that should we spend a little time on it it is possible to make all kinds of translucent self lit textures like this..

The shiparch has some oddities too..
Like:

DA_archetype = ships\aefleet\nightmare\nightmare.cmp
material_library = ships\nomad\nomad_fx.txm
nomad = true

I basically made a ship then copied the structure as close as I could to the nomad ships/textures, and then tried it, the first few efforts were invisible(frustrating head scratching time), then it just clicked, tho I did have to play with the ms3d files and build a secondary 'skeleton' ----- somewhere in there it appeared

:S

It is relatively easy to 'light' textures or make them 'translucent' (to completely invisible).... there is structure involved tho, the good thing about translucent textures, is that equipment/weapons hidden inside the ship disappears, yet the ship stays 'see through'

*Edit: The Ai have no trouble seeing you tho.. lol* and you appear on the hud of other ships as a "signature" so you cannot really hide.. he he.. but you can appear (almost) invisible--- (not cloaked)

The trick is to make them transparent and "self" lit ... (btw) combining the effects of lighting and translucency in .mat files does not work.. again I dunno why/why not.

I have been playing with this for a long time ,there are things in the nomad files that appear nowhere else..... yet they work in the freelancer environment:

in the .cmp file under type: DcDtBtOcOtTwo

I think i know what the Two signifies - "Two textures"
'Oc' is transparency.. most of the others are in the previous of this thread..it still needs work.. but making self illuminated panels is fairly simple and I see no reason why they cannot be combined with translucent "textured" textures and even glowing alien textures .. altho that might be stretching the friendship somewhat... lol.

I think we can even help it along with different lods.. but that's another story..

If you are interested in helping I'd appreciate it.. if you want more detail as to how.. I can add stuff to this..

This has very interesting possibilities.....

Harrier...

Edited by - harrier on 12/18/2004 3:26:58 AM

Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:11 am by Argh

Hmm. Very interesting stuff there. I don't suppose you can combine transparency with DcDT as OcDcDT? That'd be... handy...

Mon Dec 20, 2004 11:30 am by Louva-Deus

I have been playing with this for a long time ,there are things in the nomad files that appear nowhere else..... yet they work in the freelancer environment

Considering how the game was put together I would say that is the reason and function of the following line:

nomad = true

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