a50 bumpmaps

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:14 pm

im trying to get the bumpmaps for the ground on Truth and reconciliation to look like this

but im getting problems, first is visible in the first pic, there is a huge space between this tile and the next tile.
also, on the other side of this tile i get this

and when i look at it from the side that the shadow shows up on in the first pic i get this

this is the texture as seen through photoshop

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:43 pm

thats weird.
are you sure that you flattened the image, saved at the correct dxt, and chose no if it told you that it needed to be resized?

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:51 pm

flatten the image? i know i did the second one and it didn't ask me for the third, in fact it warned me that this is smaller than the original and that HMT will automatically change the image size
but i don't even know what flattening the image means

edit: let me try a different DXT, the dxt that HMT told me it was was like x8r8g8b8 and the x threw me off cuz none of the Dxts in the plugin i have have an x in em

timmy42 · Post by **timmy42** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:54 pm

you use photoshop right?

flattening image means taking all layers and making them one... basically

go to layers>flatten image... its all teh way at the bottom

saving as a JPG automatically flattens it also... but one time i did that, and teh quality fubar'ed... so flatten it manually

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:02 pm

oh yeah i did that, merged all the layers, for me it doesn't say flatten

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:10 pm

Before you save it you have to right click on one of the visible layers in the layers/channels box to the right, then hit flatten way down at the bottom.
It should then say background is the only layer.

And that dxt is what usually works for my bumpmaps.

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:12 pm

thx, mine just says ARGB without the 8s so it confused me

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:20 pm

And flattening is a must. not just merging everything.
Not flattening and injecting may cause corruption (from my experience)
But did it work in game when you tried again?

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:23 pm

believe me, what i'm doing to make it 1 layer works, as long as you don't unlock the backround and you merge stuff with it, then it will still remain Backround and injects fine...the ARGB thing just worked, but it turns out i'm really bad at making bumpmaps...gonna need some tweaking

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:27 pm

K
But if your going to re-do the bump map, I would suggest a different style.
The wind blown style doesn't go with the environment of the level.

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:33 pm

i gotta figure out more about bumpmaps through experience before i start changing it

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:38 pm

806bfd is up (relative) north
8094fd is up (relative) south
8080ff is flat
I think that is correct and if it is that is all you need to know

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:03 pm

arrrgg!! what does teh numbrz! meen!

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:33 am

teh colors

bcnipod · Post by **bcnipod** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:30 am

What did you inject with? Eschaton or HMT? Check to make sure that it is not being resized by photoshop at all. my guess is that it thinks that is space around the edges of the bumpmap or that it is corrupted somehow. Check your file formats types.

Lambda · Post by **Lambda** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:09 am

the weird direction problem is because you need more colors. See, all the colors I can count in your home brewed bump-map is two. You need about as many colors as this

DeadHamster · Post by **DeadHamster** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:23 am

Nvidia has a normal map filter, I believe you can just open your sand texture and then run it through the filter, it should come out fine.

bcnipod · Post by **bcnipod** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:29 am

It also may be the fact that what you have there is a very poor example of a bumpmap. Like what Lamda said, the bumpmap needs to flow correctly with a multitude of colours not just two.

AbeFroman · Post by **AbeFroman** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:04 pm

DeadHamster wrote:Nvidia has a normal map filter, I believe you can just open your sand texture and then run it through the filter, it should come out fine.

ok so how do i do that?
and will it end up like lambda explained it should end up?

edit: ok new problem, the old one is fixed, but now i'm getting something else which is REALLY wierd
here's a resized version of my new bumpmap, with 4 different positions marked with numbers, where the number is is where i am standing when the bumpmap is in-game

Position 1: it shows up perfectly but the light source appears to be coming from position 2

Position 2: it doesn't show up at all

Position 3: it also doesn't show up

Position 4: again, it shows up fine, but this time the light source looks like it is coming from position 3

if you need pics to understand what im talking about lemme know

i understand that for 2 and 3 i need more colors, but what causes 1 and 4?

xbox · Post by **xbox** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:52 pm

The Nvidea filter can only handle normal/flat angles and surfaces
everything else has to be done by hand
EDIT they all need more colors