Models

Weaver · Post by **Weaver** » 01 Dec 2005, 19:36

Do we still need a bug fix for features having there faces flipped? I did no one else get this. And I'm tend to agree with Swift Spear, it will be worth fixing the transparency thing before too much get made. Otherwise we will be helping new modelers with these same questions to the end of time.

TA 3D · Post by **TA 3D** » 01 Dec 2005, 22:14

I have the same face inverting problem with features too. Heres pics of my problem in a post i did a couple days ago.

http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewt ... 3024#43024

By the way we still need Occupancy. The alpha layer on the second texture isn't used so that could be used for Occupancy.

Weaver · Post by **Weaver** » 01 Dec 2005, 22:36

TA 3D wrote:Occupancy

You mean transparency right? And in normal transparent none inverted sense too?

TA 3D · Post by **TA 3D** » 02 Dec 2005, 00:31

Yeah Occupancy transparency, same thing. What i'm saying is use the alpha layer on the second texture for it. Yeah like the more whiter, then more solid, while the more blacker, the more transparent(black and white are speaking in terms of the grayscale alpha channel). But make sure it overrides everything in that a part of the texture that is 0(soild black) is even show ingame(no team color shown eather), just empty space.

By the way aGorm, Gimp treats alpha channelss as transparency.

maestro · Post by **maestro** » 02 Dec 2005, 11:34

hi, cant anything that not .dds work with upspring ?
why cant it work with .psd, png, psp, etc, etc ?
Also if someone have any DDS exporter that work please write here so everyone can make proper spring model...
ive download irfanview, but it can only import (not export)dds
ive tried zaphod dx file but it said it dont compatible with my direct x...
I heard some paintshop/photoshop link but the d/l page is down...
so much trouble just for simple texturing....

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 02 Dec 2005, 11:39

dds plugin for photo shop: http://download.nvidia.com/developer/NV ... 7.1800.exe

Zenka · Post by **Zenka** » 02 Dec 2005, 16:59

NOiZE wrote:dds plugin for photo shop: http://download.nvidia.com/developer/NV ... 7.1800.exe

Thanks, I was hoping it existed.
but the URL should be: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/phot ... ugins.html, or am I mistaken?

Sean Mirrsen · Post by **Sean Mirrsen** » 02 Dec 2005, 17:47

I have a few strange problems with Spring, S3O, and DDS. I also have problems with Upspring and compiling the last version's source, but I'll post that elsewhere.

Here's the current problems. S3o models in spring have no LODs, units just disappear when they hit LOD distance. They also have no healthbars. They also do not have the construction wireframe working correctly, it is always a solid team color and does not change until object is complete.
Next, DDS texture problems (I didn't try other formats yet). DXT5 compressed alphamaps look good in the editor, but once in Spring, the alphamaps get distorted in a very weird way, spikes showing up on smooth lines, different intensity spots appearing on non-opaque sections of the map, and generally the team color is overly bright, it needs to be a bit darker and deeper. Also, the texture seems to be read from a mipmap, namely the first mipmap, which effectively halves the texture resolution, making it even uglier. Fix these problems, and I will be happy for the most part. If you add multiple LODs, or single mesh model support, I'll be even happier.

edit: I think the mipmap thing is also the reason to non-mipmapped textures never appearing on units. Look into this please.

Post by **jcnossen** » 02 Dec 2005, 17:56

I have some serious debugging and improving to do apparently.

Weaver · Post by **Weaver** » 02 Dec 2005, 19:24

I think health bars are there, but not displayed at the right height, often they are inside the object so you can't see them. I will double check this again when I get home later.

TA 3D · Post by **TA 3D** » 09 Dec 2005, 22:32

Hey Zaphod, do you think it would be possible to have eaither the blue channel or the alpha channel of the second texture be Occupancy? If so could it be included in the next release?

maestro · Post by **maestro** » 10 Dec 2005, 03:01

How should I set the dds file ? which one i should check and which ones i should uncheck ?

?

Also any link to how to make proper alpha layer for dds thingies ?[/img]

Post by **jcnossen** » 10 Dec 2005, 03:11

For texture 1, use DXT3, DXT5 or 32 bit ARGB ( so it has an alpha layer )
For texture 2, you can use anything except 8 bit indexed.

You can make the alpha layer in PSP by creating a new Mask layer, and when you're done with the mask layer save it to the alpha channel (in masks menu). Very difficult I have to say, it's probably easier to use the DirectX Texture Tool and just import an alpha channel onto an image without one.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 10 Dec 2005, 03:39

Hey, I just want to comment: the texture tool you're using there is CRAP. Nvidia has a better one. Much better.

Always use DXT3, not dxt5. DXT3 gives crisp alpha layers (team colors), while DXT5 distorts them. I'd post an example, but I think you can tell what I mean.

Weaver: I've noticed this too, it's not so irritating for me tho because I've got fairly symmetrical textures to begin with. The only problem I have is that on the front of my ship, where it says GES Cahudhri, I have to flip the UV map horizontally when I want to render it in max, but keep it reversed for other situations. It's not such a big deal, but it would be nice to have it fixed... AFTER they fix the bug which is preventing me from making any progress with G/E/M, that being random object placment.

Dwarden · Post by **Dwarden** » 10 Dec 2005, 18:54

Caydr what You think about this texture compression tool :)

http://www.ati.com/developer/compressonator.html
direct download http://www.ati.com/developer/TheCompressonator.zip

and
http://www.ati.com/developer/ati_compress.zip

ATI_Compress is ATI's library for texture compression. It is used by The Compressonator in its ATI 3Dc compression plug-in. It is also available to third party developers who wish to incorporate it within their own applications. It can compress to a wide range of compression formats including ATI2N, DXT & swizzled DXT formats. It also supports conversion of textures between 8bit fixed, 16bit fixed & 32bit float formats.

also some will like rendermonkey for both DX9 and OGL shader development http://www.ati.com/developer/sdk/radeon ... onkey.html

and rest of useful tools http://www.ati.com/developer/tools.html

maestro · Post by **maestro** » 11 Dec 2005, 02:56

Hi, but caydr said nVIDIA better tool, not ATI tool...
to Caydr, could u give link....

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 11 Dec 2005, 03:09

Umm... I think this is the one I use: http://www.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

Dwarden · Post by **Dwarden** » 11 Dec 2005, 04:52

maestro wrote:Hi, but caydr said nVIDIA better tool, not ATI tool...
to Caydr, could u give link....

i wonder why (ie like some explaining) ...

i keep using ATI converting tool since i needed convert some textures for Celestia (and i got higher quality than with NVIDIA one) ...

TA 3D · Post by **TA 3D** » 14 Dec 2005, 02:58

If you haven't noticed this in the mod devolpment programs thread or in the wiki, Gimp has a DDS importer/exporter that has all that functionality and it's free for those who cant afford Photoshop or Paintshop.

It can be found here:[url]http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/[url]

Sean Mirrsen · Post by **Sean Mirrsen** » 14 Dec 2005, 10:20

I'm using the NVidia plugin for Photoshop, and it works fine.

And thanks to Caydr's suggestion, the resulting textures also look fine.
I think the docs should tell to use DXT3 instead of DXT5, since the latter really does screw up the alpha layer (DXT5 is interpolated alpha, DXT3 is explicit alpha... really, it should be obvious, but there was no information that DXT3 can be used).

Spring RTS Engine

Models