Skinning Help

[TheDarkOne555]

Hi. Im new to HM but not to halo2 modding. I wanted to get into skinning. But i got some n00b questions first...plz be kind enough to answer.

Whats a Bump/Bumpmap?
Whats a mipmap?
Whats a Mask?
Whats an Offset?
Whats a Shader?

Thx for anyone willin to help a fellow modder/soon-to-be skinner

Edit:
Whats Noise?

[Geo]

Welcome to HM...

Now I'm not entirely sure of the correct definition of Bump Maps, but they're basically bitmap images that add "detail" to a texture and make it seem as though the texture isn't flat, so like light reflects off of certain parts of the texture as though there were 'bumps' in the texture.
Bump Mapping

A Mip Map is several copies of the same image, just different sizes. In Halo 2, when you are far away from an object, the game loads the smallest copy of the texture, which has the least detail, because you are far away you won't notice the lack of detail. As you get closer to the object it changes to the higher, more detailed texture, because you will notice the lack of detail if it still used the small one. Always generate mip maps when skinning.
Mip Maps

I'm not too sure what a Mask is, I think it's like a layer on an image that adds details, but im probably wrong there, so if someone could correct me, thanks.

Offset

A shader... hmm... I know what a shader is, I just don't know how to describe it... Shaders


Hope that helped.

[TheDarkOne555]

Thx man! I always wondered why my skins appeared black from far away and came into view when i got close! Now i know it was cause i didnt make mip's.

I wish someone would make a skinnin' tut or somethin. Cause i really really really wanna learn usin' PS but i dont know how to add detail or anythin'. But i want to. Thx...btw, whats noise?

[BlueRedFire]

Skinning

http://files.halomods.com/viewtopic.php ... t=skinning <-- Scroll down till you find "easy skinning".

http://files.halomods.com/viewtopic.php ... t=skinning <-- Bitmap injection.

http://files.halomods.com/viewtopic.php ... t=skinning <-- Begginer- Skinning in Halo 2

http://files.halomods.com/viewtopic.php ... t=skinning <-- Halo 2 - Skinning Step By Step

Also, isn't noise just sound?

[TheDarkOne555]

no. Open your shared.map and scroll down under the bitm tag until you find something like "Jackal_Shield_Noise" or "Energy_blade_Noise."

And thx for the tut's

[Tural]

Welcome to HM...

Now I'm not entirely sure of the correct definition of Bump Maps, but they're basically bitmap images that add "detail" to a texture and make it seem as though the texture isn't flat, so like light reflects off of certain parts of the texture as though there were 'bumps' in the texture.
Bump Mapping

A Mip Map is several copies of the same image, just different sizes. In Halo 2, when you are far away from an object, the game loads the smallest copy of the texture, which has the least detail, because you are far away you won't notice the lack of detail. As you get closer to the object it changes to the higher, more detailed texture, because you will notice the lack of detail if it still used the small one. Always generate mip maps when skinning.
Mip Maps

I'm not too sure what a Mask is, I think it's like a layer on an image that adds details, but im probably wrong there, so if someone could correct me, thanks.

Offset

A shader... hmm... I know what a shader is, I just don't know how to describe it... Shaders


Hope that helped.

Geo pretty much covered the first two.

A mask is an image used so parts of a shader are only applied to a certain part of the bitmap.

An offset is simply a location within a file, the same way you could say "The text is on line three," you could say "The text starts at offset 100," for example.

A shader is a set of images applied to a mesh, if you were to null out the shaders, the meshes would appear to have no images applied to them.

[TheDarkOne555]

thx man. Learn somethin new everyday.

[Geo]

Or in this case, you learnt five new things in one day.

Thanks Tural for explaining the last two.

Oh, and noise in that context isn't related to sound in any way, I think it's distortion on the jackals shield, like when they get hit or something.