MC Visor Suggestions

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:27 am

MC Visor Suggestions

I've recently been experimenting with different MC visors, and this is what I've come up with so far. I'd like your opinions on the visor's bump and the color/type of gloss used. Keep in mind that I can change the overall color, so pay attention mostly to the bump and gloss.

Visor 1:

Visor 2

Visor 3

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:34 am

I really don't like any of them, sorry. Are you making your own cubemaps?

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:37 am

no offense taken: the more I look at them the more I dislike 'em too. The first one looks like a fly, the second one looks a bit... just off, and the third one looks like that Star Treck guy with the wrinkley forehead. I'll keep messing around witih this and try to post some more visors in a little while...

Aequitas · Post by **Aequitas** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:55 am

I'd keep the default bump and just shift the colors around on the cubemap..

INSANEdrive · Post by **INSANEdrive** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:58 am

What were you using in those Pics?

------

I Suggest you Try The Cubemaps that are used for Bipeds.... (Such as Elites, Grunts, Ect)

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:01 am

INSANEdrive wrote:What were you using in those Pics?

I don't understand. Are you talking about weapons?

And I'll go mess with the cubemaps and see what I can come up with. Thanks guys

5C077 · Post by **5C077** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:08 am

Out of all them them I like the first and last but they definatly chould do with a diffrent type of bump on them the 2nd is kinda isk..........

Nice work chad.

INSANEdrive · Post by **INSANEdrive** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:37 am

theycallmechad wrote:
INSANEdrive wrote:What were you using in those Pics?
I don't understand. Are you talking about weapons?

As in...

When you Took the Pics... what Bump and Cubemap did you use on the visor?

ScottyGEE · Post by **ScottyGEE** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:03 pm

Aequitas I've tried modifying the mirror_surface.bitm by changing colours but it doesnt work out coz im obviously missing somerthing (the bitmap has 3 parts too)

I like the fly out of those

Paintbait · Post by **Paintbait** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:06 pm

That's friggin' dumpin', I can't wait to see how this whole thing turns out.

kornkidcrazy · Post by **kornkidcrazy** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:21 pm

Maybe some different colors, they are like a bluish purple, but they arnt bad. Maybe on the last visor, chang the color where the bumps sepereate, so like the bumpy part of the texture is a different color. Lol, if you make that red, he's look like cyclops from x-men. But nice work!

GametagAeonFlux · Post by **GametagAeonFlux** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:10 am

I'm not really a particular fan of them, but if I had to choose, #1 looks cool for some reason.

Aequitas · Post by **Aequitas** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:05 pm

ScottyGEE wrote:Aequitas I've tried modifying the mirror_surface.bitm by changing colours but it doesnt work out coz im obviously missing somerthing (the bitmap has 3 parts too)

Worked for me.. and its got 6 parts

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:09 pm

That's freakin' awesome. I'll have much to learn. Instead of figuring out the solutions to the problems, I like too often to take a whole new approach. Looks much better when you just solve the problem like you did. Good work!

This is the part where I ask you for a portion of your knowledge. Feel free to say "no."
May I have a p ortion of your knowledge in this reguard? I would rather like to know how to do the things you do. Will this work also with the glare on the Ghost and other vehicles?

Aequitas · Post by **Aequitas** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:34 pm

Well, here are what the cubemaps look like..

That purple one is the one being used in the screenshot i posted above, so there's obviously still some diffuse yellow/brown color being applied to the visor somewhere in the shader.. You might do better if you track those values down.

So, now for how I did what I did - quck-n-dirty.. For this, I'm assuming you know how to find a bitmap's raw data (and I'm just dealing with the main detail level).

Given:
Each face of the cubemap is 64x64
The raw's size is 16896 bytes
The raw's format is DXT1
DXT1s're compressed to 1/2 a byte for each pixel

So I opened Photoshop and made a new image 64x528.. Then saved it as a DXT1 (no mipmaps). Why 528?
16896 / 0.5 / 64 = 528

Then I copied the raw out of the .map, and pasted it into the .dds.. The header's 128 bytes, so leave the first 128 bytes alone and replace the rest. So then I opened the .dds back up in Photoshop and had something that looked like this (but without the watermark

):

So after I Color Balanced it with Photoshop, I saved the .dds again.. I opened it back up with Hex Workshop and lopped off the (128 byte) header, then pasted the rest over the bitmap's raw data in the map.

And that's it.. There's actually some padding between the faces that should be zero'd out when you replace the raw.. I'd fixed it but I'm assuming it won't make a difference if you don't do it.. Meh.

♫♪ Fantastic! ♫♪

Veegie[Temp] · Post by **Veegie[Temp]** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:37 pm

I think Aequitas is just a downright Silly-Billy.

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:39 pm

Thanks Aequitas, that's awesome. I'll try to dig into it a bit further after finals to see if I can figure out who to get rid of that residual yellow tint that's there still. Thanks a bunch!

Veegie[Temp] · Post by **Veegie[Temp]** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:45 pm

theycallmechad, it's in the specular properties of the shader tag.

i.e.

Aequitas · Post by **Aequitas** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:44 pm

*bump*

See above edit..

theycallmechad · Post by **theycallmechad** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:01 pm

That's some great info! I really want to give that all a try here when I can! I'm always up for new stuff, especially when it involves skinning. Thanks a bunch!