Models

[maestro]

really ?
(waiting zaphod for explanation)....
Any sample object and screenshot ? (in upspring and ingame)... that helps

[Wolfy]

I've got armpw.bmp and armpw_s.bmp in basically all the locations I could think of: ./Objects3d, ./UnitTextures, ./UnitTextures/tatex

Images:

http://www.unituniverse.com/wolfy/blue_syndrome.gif
http://www.unituniverse.com/wolfy/pw_upspring.gif

[NOiZE]

i got a s3o feature with texture in the game... i put texture1 and texture2 into /unittextures

image

[jcnossen]

Currently, more=alpha (or opacity in most image editors) = more teamcolor. This is not a very convenient situation, but it works and is supported in 0.67b1... so let's use it (as opposed to changing it and doing another release).

This means that to have no teamcolor you need to make your texture invisible in the image editor.

Like noize says, s3o textures go in unittextures directory.

If you want to be sure about having an alpha layer, use the DDS format. There are quite a few DDS converters around on the web I think...

[plug] Upspring 1.0 is avaiable for anyone who didn't know already...

[maestro]

so if I use jpg, bmp, tga etc it all be bluish ?
zaphod, any other format that work with it other than dds ?
also any link to any .dds converter (freeware) ?

gotta add it to the spring manual

[SwiftSpear]

Currently, more=alpha (or opacity in most image editors) = more teamcolor. This is not a very convenient situation, but it works and is supported in 0.67b1... so let's use it (as opposed to changing it and doing another release).

This means that to have no teamcolor you need to make your texture invisible in the image editor.

Like noize says, s3o textures go in unittextures directory.

If you want to be sure about having an alpha layer, use the DDS format. There are quite a few DDS converters around on the web I think...

[plug] Upspring 1.0 is avaiable for anyone who didn't know already...

Ugg... That's really a poor solution. It would be much more logical to change it quick before any really good models are out. It's not a huge hassle to change over from broken s3o to fixed s3o, but I can guarentee that the backwards system will be alot of headaches to texturers.

[GrOuNd_ZeRo]

Noooo!, FU is offline, I can't download...whhhyyy???

[FizWizz]

so... from Zaphod's post I'm getting the understanding that because these other people do not have an alpha layer, the Spring engine is defaulting to 100% team color? Maybe having it the other way around would be better.

[Weaver]

I think it is important to use a format that supports transparency, so bmp and jpg are out, png and dds are ok.

To get a UV map texture working using PSP if you dont want team colour to show.

Create your texture. Save a reference copy with all your layers if you use them so you can go back and edit things later.

Merge all your layers if you used layers.

Flip you texture vertically.

Set the layer transparency/opacity to 1.

For me 0 (completely transparent gives a black texture). 255 is the same as no transparency and gives a blue texture.

[jcnossen]

so... from Zaphod's post I'm getting the understanding that because these other people do not have an alpha layer, the Spring engine is defaulting to 100% team color? Maybe having it the other way around would be better.

Yes, but the current way works too AND doesn't require a new release. It's also not a very big deal if you know what's happening (And everyone knows that now I hope). Edit your texture normally and invert the alpha channel once you're done with it.

[FizWizz]

okay, that's all well and good now, but can someone still please upload a .s3o to FU or something? it's not like I'm going to steal it or anything, I'd just like to see what a finished product looks like.

[Wolfy]

I've still got blue, been trying all sorts of alpha things, no change.

So I decided to just upload it, see if anyone else can fix it

http://www.unituniverse.com/wolfy/armpw.rar

That's the original dds texture, so it's not vertical flipped and has the alpha chan as it should be if it were working as expected... I think. Also don't mind the armpw_s.dds thats just for testing (originally thought it had the team color info).

[SJ]

Do you have an valid alpha channel in the first texture ? Otherwise it will probably be fully team colored (test it with a non blue team and see what happens).

[jcnossen]

I was pretty clueless either, so I tried to find out what the difference was between working test textures from Yeha and yours, and it's mipmaps!

You have to make sure mipmaps are saved in the DDS file. I tested it and your model will show up perfect.

[Wolfy]

Oh sweet there we go :D

I didn't know there was a working dds I could compare with, that would have saved me some time heh.

[maestro]

hi zaphod, what software do u use to save as .dds (direct draw surface ?)
can photoshop or paintshop pro doing it properly ?
any other format that support alpha and supported by taspring ?

[SwiftSpear]

I'm still going to complain about the team color thing because it's really counter intuitive to textureing. I can't really invision how I would even go about properly painting a team color texture right now, I don't think gimp even has an "oy, flip alpha!" function. Set up the other way I could just add a background color for team (say blue) and then paint the texture ontop of it and the texture would look exactly what it would look like in game. It would make painting partially teamcolored textures with grunge and stuff on the front really easy. It's going to be a huge frigging hassle trying to paint partial alpha sections on textures with the current set up. Image manip programs are set up to erase to alpha, not fill to alpha and leave all the erased parts fully visable.

[aGorm]

You sure not not confussing your alpha and your transparency?? In photoshop if you add an Alpha channel, you jsut paint on it (it comes out red, but it means this is alpha that aint). And Im preety sure you can invert the channel if you want to, its just like any other channel.
Actully errasing stuff with teh errasor is littraly removing it from teh image, not giving it an alpha value.

aGorm

[jcnossen]

I have uploaded the DirectX texture tool from the sdk to FU. I hope none of the FU admins have a problem with this... It's included in the free DX9 sdk, so people can always download that but it's a lot bigger.

http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=1908

It takes an awful lot of messing around to get alpha stuff working. In PSP7 for example, it has an alpha channel but doesn't list it as a channel :S
Eventually I got a simple texture working though.

It's quite easy to flip the alpha layer though, most of the editors can make a "Mask" layer and flip it using the normal invert function (like agorm said), then save it to the alpha channel.

Btw, if anyone is going to use the DX texture tool, be sure to use "Load Onto Alpha Channel Of This Texture" and not "Load Onto Alpha Channel Of This Surface". The last one doesn't work.


And make sure you generate mipmaps.

[Pxtl]

You sure not not confussing your alpha and your transparency?? In photoshop if you add an Alpha channel, you jsut paint on it (it comes out red, but it means this is alpha that aint). And Im preety sure you can invert the channel if you want to, its just like any other channel.
Actully errasing stuff with teh errasor is littraly removing it from teh image, not giving it an alpha value.

aGorm

Umm, traditionally alpha is transparency. Just because Photoshop lives in some imaginary world where it isn't doesn't make it so. The fact that Photoshop makes the transparency channel harder to nail down than a stick of butter on a hot frying pan is one of hte most frustrating things I've ever seen.