ChiefBrex's WIPs List - Current Projects: Rigel Class & TOS Pack (03.05.17)

[ChiefBrex]

Okay, I give up on speculars. I've done EVERYTHING Adonis told me to do, and STILL, I get NOTHING in Max.

This was the result:




These are my spec map settings:



Speculars were also the one map I had the hardest time with.... 

[CyAn1d3]

Interesting.. As it has a shine in the material editor....

Whats your map look like?

[Centurus]

The registry also looks out of place with speculars applied.

[ChiefBrex]

For some reason, the speculars are working on the registry textures in the render, but not on the rest of the mesh.

[007bashir]

Something wrong with the mapping then?

[ChiefBrex]

Nope. If there were a problem with the mapping, it would be reflected  in the diffuse maps first. And I have not seen any issues with the textures.

[BFGfreak]

Have you tried sacrificing a pacifist klingon to the gods?

[ChiefBrex]

Have you tried sacrificing a pacifist klingon to the gods?

No. Jimmy says it gives gay people hives if you do this.

[Adonis]

Turn off the invert in the settings, you don't need it, and if you applied that as spec color, set it to RGB instead of opaque. Mind you, the specs will show up best if you view the ship from a complementary angle to the one the lightsources rays hit it at (say, if your light is viewed from that pic render you posted directly opposite and set below, then you should get the specularity show up fully).

[starship]

Hummm... I don?t know if it helps, or not, but... Here it goes anyway.
My settings to show speculars, are a bit different, and even that way it can?t be perfectly seen all the time. It has something rellated to the angle where the light reflects. Look at these renderings of my Interceptor class conversion, from lwo to max, and you can see the differences due to the angle and lights position (renderings were done in video post just to show the glows):



Better than try to explain, is to provide you the mesh (3dsmax9) itself. Download it here, and take a look at the material editor settings, maps, and lights :
http://brstarship.deviantart.com/gallery/38954220#/d5blj43

About the registry issue, you can solve it by two ways:
1- using the blend material
2- making the registry as a mesh itself (costs much more pollys)

Hope that helps a bit. ;)

[ChiefBrex]

Turn off the invert in the settings, you don't need it, and if you applied that as spec color, set it to RGB instead of opaque. Mind you, the specs will show up best if you view the ship from a complementary angle to the one the lightsources rays hit it at (say, if your light is viewed from that pic render you posted directly opposite and set below, then you should get the specularity show up fully).

They're set up in Spec level only, as the spec maps are in color. As for the angles, I've got my omnis set up exactly where you told me to put them, and then changed the angle of the view to what you see. But I had to change the first two omnis to 0.4, as 0.1 was showing up so little, that you couldn't see anything of the shadows.

Hummm... I don?t know if it helps, or not, but... Here it goes anyway.
My settings to show speculars, are a bit different, and even that way it can?t be perfectly seen all the time. It has something rellated to the angle where the light reflects. Look at these renderings of my Interceptor class conversion, from lwo to max, and you can see the differences due to the angle and lights position (renderings were done in video post just to show the glows):

Better than try to explain, is to provide you the mesh (3dsmax9) itself. Download it here, and take a look at the material editor settings, maps, and lights :
http://brstarship.deviantart.com/gallery/38954220#/d5blj43

About the registry issue, you can solve it by two ways:
1- using the blend material
2- making the registry as a mesh itself (costs much more pollys)

Hope that helps a bit. ;)

Not really. My registries, for starters, look fine with no speculars applied. The only reason they're showing up so bright is because speculars are applied.

Here is a picture of one of my spec maps. It's from the saucer. All three spec maps use the same color scheme.



If I can't get these color maps to work, I'm going back to gray scale with black and white specs.

[moed]

Is it possible that your specular maps are currently on more than one layer?

If so then try flattening the image in Photoshop or something... that might help as I have found that when I have specular problems sometimes it's due to them being on more than one layer such as a glow layer and an RGB layer. Once I flatten them into just one layer it takes care of the problem.

I realize that you're having the issue in Max but I'm just talking about proper specularity showing up in BC. 

[ChiefBrex]

TGA format flattens the image doesn't it?

[EDD_7]

TGA format flattens the image doesn't it?

Yup, Have you check the Alpha Channel to your Specular map, it might be that its all black instad of the white needed for speculars!  Just an idea i don't know whether it affects the lighting in MAX.

[ChiefBrex]

I removed the alpha channel on the speculars, since they're supposed to be 24-bit. Aren't they?

[Killallewoks]

I removed the alpha channel on the speculars, since they're supposed to be 24-bit. Aren't they?

I thought BC only operated in 16 bit and 32?

[Adonis]

They're set up in Spec level only, as the spec maps are in color. As for the angles, I've got my omnis set up exactly where you told me to put them, and then changed the angle of the view to what you see. But I had to change the first two omnis to 0.4, as 0.1 was showing up so little, that you couldn't see anything of the shadows.

Brex dude, BC uses spec color, not level (level is something entirely different, Excaliburs engine uses it correctly). Set your specular as both color and level, but use the rgb setting for color, and opaque for level under alpha source, that way, it'll give you a fairly close approximation of how it will look ingame. BC's specular maps don't utilize the alpha channel! Just make sure the camera is facing one of the light sources on the horizontal plane, and they should show up. And in each materials setup you don't need the invert function on. Also, you could make your spec map slightly lighter in color intensity.

I thought BC only operated in 16 bit and 32?

They work in 24 bit and 32bit (which is basically 24bit+alpha channel).

[ChiefBrex]

Brex dude, BC uses spec color, not level (level is something entirely different, Excaliburs engine uses it correctly). Set your specular as both color and level, but use the rgb setting for color, and opaque for level under alpha source, that way, it'll give you a fairly close approximation of how it will look ingame. BC's specular maps don't utilize the alpha channel! Just make sure the camera is facing one of the light sources on the horizontal plane, and they should show up. And in each materials setup you don't need the invert function on. Also, you could make your spec map slightly lighter in color intensity.

Okay, tried all this, and still nothing. I think the Rigel Class will have to go without speculars, or I'm going to have to use black and white specs, because nothing is working, and it's only pissing me off to the point where I'm about to scrap this project.

[mckinneyc]

Black and white specs are fine. Most of DJ's and Wiley's are black and white and look how beautiful they are

[CyAn1d3]

Hell I use b&w specs