Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: Greebo on November 02, 2015, 04:05:44 PM
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Now that the alpha allows skins to work in the game I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for discussion on the subject. Also for somewhere to let skinners show off their AH3 skins since I am assuming we can't post alpha screenshots in the skins forum.
Thanks to Lyric1 for supplying the info for the 852 NAS Fleet Air Arm Avenger skin shown below.
This skin uses all the new AH3 effects available to skinners. With the current AH2 skins as well as the diffuse image, i.e the basic skin, the skinner can choose to include a specular map defining how shiny each part of the skin is and a bump map, which simulates bumps and dips on the skin by generating highlights and shadows based on the sun's angle.
AH3 adds several new effects that will be available for AH2-era shapes, while AH1-era skins will now get the option of a specular map, something they didn't have before.
The biggest improvement IMO is the normal map, which does the same job as the bump map but does it much better. The second screenshot shows off the panel ripples, fabric sag and the raised reinforcing strips incorporated into the skin's normal map. This sort of subtlety wasn't really possible on the old bump map. Special software is needed to create a normal map.
Nvidia make a free plug-in that works with Photoshop and Paintshop Pro:- https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop (https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop)
There is also a free tool available for Gimp: http://registry.gimp.org/node/69 (http://registry.gimp.org/node/69)
Also new to AH3 is an environment map which defines how well each part of the skin reflects the world around it, useful for bare metal skins. Then there is the power map which defines how sharp the reflections are on each part of the skin. In AH2 you could only set these effects for the whole skin in a text file. Both these files look broadly the same as the specular map but with some differences. For example it is possible to make reflections on the edges of panel lines extra sharp.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20British/852_NAS_Avenger_SC1_zpsunwmwkvo.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20British/852_NAS_Avenger_SC2_zpsdvpxuclv.jpg)
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Nice Greebo!
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It appears you have a handle err brush on the new skin viewer.
HiTech
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Looking good! <S>
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Looks great Greebo. Perhaps you could make a tutorial on how you worked the new files. Also, did you use the older bump map in conjunction with the Normal map, or just the Normal?
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Sweetness!!
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Awesome!
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Really nice!
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:aok :aok :aok :aok
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It looks like you've managed to capture structure read-through... I'm impressed.
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Looks great Greebo. Perhaps you could make a tutorial on how you worked the new files. Also, did you use the older bump map in conjunction with the Normal map, or just the Normal?
The game will by preference use a normal map for a skin. If there is no normal map included it uses a bump map or failing that nothing. So you do not need to upload both with a skin, just one or the other. You will still need to make a bump map anyway as this is used to create the normal map. Apart from any extra effects you add to the bump map (fabric sag etc.) making the normal map is really easy. You will need some normal-making software, like the free stuff available from the links in the OP. I'll do some more detailed tutorial posts with screenshots and effects suggestions for the new files soon but to make a normal essentially what you do is this: Enable the normal-making plug-in filter with your graphics program (basically just tell the software where the plug-in is on the HDD). Then load a non-greyscaled bmp of your bump map into the graphics program and activate the plug-in. That's it really.
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:aok :x :rock :cheers:
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Nice, Greebo!
Is the skin process stable or will there be other changes to how a skin is rendered?
Is there a list of all the files used for a skin with an explanation on what the files do?
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Outstanding work, Greebo as always!
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Thanks for the links Greebo!
That's outstanding work and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do with terrain textures.
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Thats just beautiful Greebo :aok
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:aok
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Greebo should get perk points in AH3 for every time a player fly's into the ground admiring his skins. I bet the numbers of player induced auguring will go way up for the first few months of AH3..... :O
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Several people have asked for a better explanation of the new AH3 skin file system so I will give it a go here.
The current AH2 skins system uses image maps to control the diffuse, bump and specular effects for each individual pixel of a skin, with text files to alter other lighting effects globally over the whole skin. When AH3 does go live then all skins will be changed to a new system where only image maps are used to control these effects. The AH3 skin files will have different names and existing skins will have their files renamed automatically by HTC. Until AH3 goes live any skins submissions will use the existing system.
Shown below are six versions of the same section from an existing Ki-43 skin that I have updated to the new AH3 format. Some of these are the same as before or just renamed and some are new. Apart from the diffuse the other files will be optional with the possible exception of the specular file, I am still awaiting clarification from HTC on that.
The Diffuse Map is the basic skin file that all skins share, it is simply a painting of the skin draped over the 3D shape. No changes have been made to this file, even the name stays the same as before. It may be that some skinners will want to reduce or remove some baked-in shading effects from their diffuse maps that can better be done with the other maps.
The Bump Map is again the same file and retains the same name as in AH2. This file allows the game to generate fake bump and dips on the surface of the skin by creating shadows and highlights derived from the position of the sun. Light shades are bumps and dark shades dips.
The Normal Map is the first of the new maps and has an _N suffix file name. It does the same job as the bump map but is more detailed and appears as a violet 3D image. Either a bump or a normal map can be submitted with a skin, there is no need for both. A normal map is made from a bump map using special software such as the programs I have linked below.
Nvidia make a free normal-generating plug-in that works with Photoshop and Paintshop Pro:- https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop
There is also a free normal tool available for Gimp: http://registry.gimp.org/node/69
Some normal software is stand-alone and some can be linked to your graphics editing program as a plug-in that you can access directly through a menu command. Your graphics program's help file should tell you how to set up a plug-in if you don't know how. Before making a normal map you first need to make sure the bump map image you are making it from is in the right format. All the other files listed here are saved as 8-bit bmps (256 colour or greyscale) but the normal-generating software will only work on higher bit rates, ideally 32-bit. Increasing the bit-rate can easily be done in any graphics program, although not necessarily right up to 32-bit.
Once you activate your normal software it will bring up a window giving numerous display options. On the Nvidia plug-in that I use the only settings I have altered from default are "Invert Y" and "Scale". Invert Y changes the look of the normal file so that it appears light is coming from the top rather than the bottom of the image and this makes the resultant normal image a lot easier to understand. Scale alters the size of the bumps, a bigger number means bigger bumps. You can also reduce the bump sizes by using less extreme shades of grey on your original bump map but generally it is better to use the scale setting.
The reason for submitting a normal map rather than a bump map is that it is far more detailed. For example the bump map image below shows some blurred dips on the fabric control surfaces and blurred lines over the rivet lines. However I created these for use with the normal map. On a bump map the low bit-rate causes blurred shapes like these to have a badly-banded appearance on the skin (put another way, it looks crap). On a normal map however there is much less banding and it can give the illusion of dips between the underlying structure of the airframe. The blurred white lines are made from a copy of the rivet layer which is then just gaussian blurred by several pixels.
The Specular Map is essentially the same as in AH2 but the file's suffix has changed from _B_a to a more logical _S. This file controls how the surface of the skin reflects the sun's rays. Lighter areas are more reflective and darker less. This file makes a big difference to bare metal skins like this Ki-43, the bright reflections on the metal areas and weak ones on the paintwork create a powerful illusion.
The Environment Map is a new file with an _E suffix. It controls how the skin reflects the sky and land around it. The environment map is created from a copy of the specular map and looks quite similar to it. This is because different surfaces tend to reflect both the sun's rays and the environment to a similar degree, i.e metal reflects both types of light better than paint. An area of the environment map that is close to white will give a chrome-like appearance to the skin. While this can be quite pretty my personal view is that this is not very realistic for a WW2 metal finish so I like to dull this effect down. This is why the environment map shades shown below are a bit darker than their specular map equivalents. The only areas that are near-white are glass areas and highly polished inner gear legs.
The Power Map is another new file with a _P suffix. It controls how sharp the highlights are on the skin. This is also created from the specular map and also look similar to it with sharper highlights shown in lighter shades. It looks similar because shiny surfaces like metal tend to have sharp highlights and matt surfaces like paint or rubber have vague highlights.
There is one different effect that can be added to the power map however. It is possible to make the edges of the panels to either side of panel lines have extra-sharp highlights. On the power map image below you can see I have got lighter lines outlining my panel lines and this is fairly simple to achieve. If you have several panel line layers make copies of each layer and merge these. Call this layer "Merged panel lines". Now make another copy of this layer, call it "Panel line edges" and turn all the lines on it white. Using copy and paste carefully position four copies of the white lines so that each copy is one pixel offset to the top, bottom left and right. What you should end up with is a panel line layer in white but with three pixel thick lines. Next move back to the "Merged panel line" layer, use a select tool to select all the lines, go back to the "Panel line edges" layer and hit the "delete" key. This erases the centres of your three-pixel thick lines, but leaves the outer lines intact. The merged panel line layer can now be deleted. For this bare metal skin I made a second copy of the panel edges layer and put one above the paint layers and one below to create harder edge highlights on the bare metal areas.
Putting it all together. The alpha skin viewer has a number of new buttons to help skinners work with these new files. These allow the effects of each map to be viewed in isolation, or with all the effects shown together or, as in the "Lighting Only"screenshot below, with all the effects except the diffuse map shown. Here you can see the effects of the normal map, the panel lines scribed into the surface and the structure ripples in the highlights on the wing. Also the specularity, environment and power differences in the reflections between the painted and bare metal areas. The environment effect is displayed best on the side of the fuselage which is bluer on its top half and greener below.
The in-game screenshots shows what it looks like when its all put together.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Skinning_Tutorial_Maps_SC1_zpswxuyctsa.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Skinning_Tutorial_Maps_SC2_zps7qfz8rsa.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Skin_Tutorial_Lighting_Effects_SC1_zpspeevccvu.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Skinning_Tutorial_In-game_SC1_zpssztlxegv.jpg)
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Fabulous, Greebo... The bump map is effectively the structure read-through overlay. You make me want to take this up, but it would have to get in line. Besides, you're doing so well with it.
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You're having WAY too much fun with this Greebo! :aok
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It appears you have a handle err brush on the new skin viewer.
HiTech
budump-bump-tisk
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wow awesome work :salute
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Thanks, Greebo.
I think the diffuse map has changed between AH2 and AH3. The map is no longer restricted to 8-bit, 256 colors in AH3. Maybe the restriction of using indexed colors changed at some point in AH2 and I missed the memo.
What happens to your beautiful skin at resolutions less then 1024? I'm assuming all the maps are downsized?
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Awesome work Greebo. :rock
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You're having WAY too much fun with this Greebo! :aok
What did you expect when you guys presented him with better ways to paint the toys? :D Skinner gotta skin! :x
VERY nice Greebo, very nice indeed. :aok
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Thanks Greebo, that link works great for Gimp and I actually was able to easily make a normal map for an existing AH2 skin (just testing).
What I would like to know next is how do you get the "bump" elevations? Is that all done by hand? Last feeble attempt that I made, I tried taking an existing skin desaturated or gray scaled it. The difficulty was getting rid of the "painted" surfaces.
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Using a grey scaled copy of the diffuse bmp is not going to work at all well for the bump or any of the other maps. You can use your main multi-layer working file to speed the process though.
Once I have finished making the main diffuse skin, I then start on the bump map. This is begun by making an extra copy of the diffuse working file with all its layers, renaming it with a _B suffix and changing it from 256 colours to greyscale. I then delete all the layers I can't use (colour scheme, weathering, shadows and highlights etc.) so I am left with layers that are useful for the bump map like the ones for panel lines, fasteners, holes and rivets. A base layer is created, flood filled with a middle shade of grey and placed at the bottom of the layer stack. The various layers above are then adjusted for grey shade and/or opacity. A copy of the skin bmp is pasted in to use as a guide for positioning other stuff accurately and this is turned off once the map is done.
Once everything I can use has been taken from the diffuse file I start creating any other layers I want to draw by hand. On the Ki-43 bump map shown above the raised aluminium fairing panels between the fuselage and flying surfaces were hand painted as a new layer, also some of the internal structure parts. Pretty much everything else was copied directly or modified from diffuse skin layers. For instance the raised structure areas were made from a copy of the rivet layer that was gaussian blurred and the sunken areas on the fabric control surfaces were created from a mask I used to do the fabric effects on the diffuse texture.
I can get away with doing so little work on the bump and other maps because I build the main diffuse map with these other maps in mind. Partly this is a question of not trying to cram lots of different stuff onto one layer which is a mistake I see other skinners make. For example all the little black holes on the bump map have their own layer on the diffuse so I don't need to do anything to this layer on the other maps. On my earlier skins I'd put things like landing lights on that layer too which I'd then have to edit out onto new layers on the other maps. My diffuse maps often have close to 100 layers, I have seen work by other skinners where try to cram it all into 10 or less.
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Thanks, Greebo.
I think the diffuse map has changed between AH2 and AH3. The map is no longer restricted to 8-bit, 256 colors in AH3. Maybe the restriction of using indexed colors changed at some point in AH2 and I missed the memo.
What happens to your beautiful skin at resolutions less then 1024? I'm assuming all the maps are downsized?
That would be news to me. As far as I know everything except the normal map is still 256 colour or grey scale. It may be the case that the skin viewer will work with files of greater bit-depth but I don't think HTC would accept them in a submission.
When a skin is viewed in a resolution less than it was created in it appears as a blurry mess. For example a 1024 res B-24 skin will look sharper than a 2048 res one to a player who sets a maximum texture resolution of 1024. Any player who is reducing texture size to gain FPS will probably have bump mapping turned off as well so the other maps will likely be a moot point.
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Thanks, I certainly have respect for all those who are able to put every rivet and panel in place. I was fantasizing that normal map could be manipulated from other files that already contain that information. But as you have clearly stated, layers are the way to go, and without the skinner's or HTC's bmp file or corresponding layer, it is not that doable.
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You can download any of the default skins' bmp files using either the old or new skin viewer or from the game. Select whatever you want to skin and hit "save textures" in the viewer. In the game there is a similar command accessed by right-clicking in the hangar screen. IIRC all the AH2 rides have bump and spec maps but only the alpha's TBM has the all the new files.
These bmp files aren't going to give you the rivet and panel lines pre-done. Personally I think doing that sort of thing yourself is what skinning is all about. However you can use the existing lines to trace off in order to make your own layers.
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You can download any of the default skins' bmp files using either the old or new skin viewer or from the game. Select whatever you want to skin and hit "save textures" in the viewer. In the game there is a similar command accessed by right-clicking in the hangar screen. IIRC all the AH2 rides have bump and spec maps but only the alpha's TBM has the all the new files.
These bmp files aren't going to give you the rivet and panel lines pre-done. Personally I think doing that sort of thing yourself is what skinning is all about. However you can use the existing lines to trace off in order to make your own layers.
I will be converting all the skins, I have written a converter to do them all at once.
I just didn't see the need to release them all at this point for testing.
HiTech
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Nice work Greebo.
Wow, now I have to start all over learning how to do this stuff. I was barely beginning to understand it the old way. :(
Greebs, can you tell me what is causing my skin to be washed out in the new viewer?
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,375904.0.html
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Nvidia make a free normal-generating plug-in that works with Photoshop and Paintshop Pro:- https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop
There is also a free normal tool available for Gimp: http://registry.gimp.org/node/69
I use PaintShopPro but this seems to be for Photoshop. Did I miss something?
Edit in: This one claims to do it as a standalone but I can't find any option to convert to NORMAL. http://www.irfanview.com/
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Paintshop Pro is designed to work with some Photoshop filters and this includes Nvidia's normal map generator.
First install the filter program "NormalMapFilter64.8bf". To get the filter to work with Paintshop Pro select File/Preferences/File Locations. Make sure the "Enable plug-ins" box is ticked. Click on "Add" and navigate to the folder you placed the normal program in. I put it into the following directory:- C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro X8 (64-bit)\PlugIns\EN. Once you have pointed PSP to the normal map's folder you may have to restart PSP for it to take effect.
To activate the normal file generator first load your bump map's bmp file (not the psp file) and go to "Effects/Plug ins/NVIDIA Tools/NormalMapFilter" and run it.
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Skuzzy has mentioned that something I wrote in the OP is wrong. My understanding was that the game would use a bump map if a normal map was not present. However this has changed and currently the situation is that skinners will only be able to submit a normal map, not a bump map.
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Vraciu I would suggest making your P-51D_S.bmp file a bit darker than it is now all over. Then make two copies of this file and name them P-51D_P.bmp and P-51D_E.bmp. The P file controls how sharp the reflections are and the E how much it reflects the ground and sky. In my opinion you should make the P file a bit darker than the S file and the E file even darker than that. Ultimately though its your skin so you need to decide on the levels you want.
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Vraciu I would suggest making your P-51D_S.bmp file a bit darker than it is now all over. Then make two copies of this file and name them P-51D_P.bmp and P-51D_E.bmp. The P file controls how sharp the reflections are and the E how much it reflects the ground and sky. In my opinion you should make the P file a bit darker than the S file and the E file even darker than that. Ultimately though its your skin so you need to decide on the levels you want.
I definitely will. The _P file basically controls how much like a mirror the skin appears, correct?
I still have to solve the mystery of the default skin's Normal Map showing on my skin no matter what I do. The panel lines and rivets in the _N file for the default skin cannot be overridden when viewing my skin in any method I have tried.
Deleting. Replacing. Wiping out all skin files except my own. Deleting all .res files. Deleting the _N file. Making the _N file a solid color or based on my panel lines. Nothing works. The default skin still makes itself known and my Normal Map is ignored--the default _N is used by the viewer even when no _N file is present. It did the same on your end based on your screenshot.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,375904.msg5008082.html#msg5008082
Those panel line depressions are the default skin's, not mine. It happens on my end the same as it did on yours.
(Will try the plugin as suggested, too. Thanks for the tip.)
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Fixed some issue , first the skin viewers brightness settings were set at 0, I.E. no diffuse lighting was happening.
2nd do to the way the system was looking for normal maps, it would never successfully find the map so it was always defaulting to the default normal,env and power map.
3rd I added backward support for the _B files if a _N file does not exist.
Unzip this file into your relase folder, not the EXE is aksktest.exe don't rename it or you would break the next patch.
This should fix the issues.
Now in converting an old skin the only thing needed is to rename the _S file.
HiTech
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Thanks HT, that looks better now. Is the skin viewer using the stdshapes slider setting from the game or some built-in setting?
Just to be clear, the backward support for the _B file is just for the viewer and skinners will need to convert the _B file to a normal before submitting a new skin?
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I was considering simply saving off the bmp copy of the _N in the viewer if one did not existed.
My guess is we will not support _B simply because of the additional web page work.
I set the skin viewer to 1.6 at the moment.
HiTech
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Darn. Was hoping the B would still be an option for those of us still working our way through Normal Mapping.
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Darn. Was hoping the B would still be an option for those of us still working our way through Normal Mapping.
You seemed to miss the point that the viewer would create the _N for you.
HiTech
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You seemed to miss the point that the viewer would create the _N for you.
HiTech
I totally missed that. Wow, that's a cool feature. Two thumbs up! :aok :aok
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Minor quibble but the viewer spells ENVIRONMENT ENVIORment. I guess that's how LBJ would pronounce it. ;)
*Ducking Dale throwing scissors at me*
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Minor quibble but the viewer spells ENVIRONMENT ENVIORment. I guess that's how LBJ would pronounce it. ;)
*Ducking Dale throwing scissors at me*
No was
an empty bottle of scotch
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No was
an empty bottle of scotch
I was gonna' say that but didn't want to sound accusatory! :D
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The new lighting makes bare metal skins appear rather flat compared to the old. The increase to diffuse and ambient light causes the aluminium to appear too light and the lack of contrast makes the skin look like it is just painted light grey unless specular reflections are visible.
After doing some tests it seems the main thing that can be done to improve the look of a bare metal skin is simply to make the aluminium colour on the main skin darker. I went with 50% darker at the current skin viewer lighting setting of 1.6.
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I was noticing that also, and although not a skinner.... I was thinking the environment map is what produces the darker impression. Is there a way to increase the environmental power? I was wondering if any of the top 7 debug sliders would have had this sort of effect..... but I haven't noticed any effect by them at all. :headscratch:
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The new lighting makes bare metal skins appear rather flat compared to the old. The increase to diffuse and ambient light causes the aluminium to appear too light and the lack of contrast makes the skin look like it is just painted light grey unless specular reflections are visible.
After doing some tests it seems the main thing that can be done to improve the look of a bare metal skin is simply to make the aluminium colour on the main skin darker. I went with 50% darker at the current skin viewer lighting setting of 1.6.
Can you show what the effect the new lighting had on your Ki-43?
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Can you show what the effect the new lighting had on your Ki-43?
I can't bear to watch! :cry
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Can you show what the effect the new lighting had on your Ki-43?
Here are some screenshots of the Ki-43 skin I did for the tutorial. The first one is the pre-patch lighting and the second the patch 86 lighting. From this angle the difference is fairly subtle but the brighter diffuse lighting washes out some of the bump and specular detail. From angles where you can't see specular reflections the aluminium looks quite flat and more like light grey paint.
Until the AH3 lighting levels are finalised there's no point playing with this too much but I did a simple alteration to the skin to see what would happen. Darkening the aluminium colour on the base skin 50% balanced the diffuse lighting and added some more contrast. The third screenshot shows this. It is a bigger improvement from angles where you can't see specular reflections.
Original lighting:
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Skinning_Tutorial_In-game_SC1_zpssztlxegv.jpg)
Patch 86 lighting:
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Patch_86_Lighting_Comparison_SC1_zpsouafdk5y.jpg)
Patch 86 lighting with darker aluminium:
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Aces%20High/AH3_Patch_86_Lighting_Comparison_SC2_zpsodx6zv8w.jpg)
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breathtaking new graphics options you have here.
for anyone interested in aluminum aircraft rivet deformation there are certain aerodynamic principles you can use to know how to do it correctly.
everything on top of the wings will puff out never in. the rivets will always be recessed along with their underlying support structure but open areas of aluminum skin will have a puffed out appearance...
why?
low pressure above the wing contributes to this in addition to the natural tenancies of aluminum to deform when riveted and recess around the riveted area.
making the unsupported areas of aluminum recess below the rivets and supports usually give an unrealistic look simply because any time there is aluminum skin deformation on a real aircraft the unsupported areas will bulge out in varying amounts if at all.
you can usually see the underlying structure underneath almost any aluminum aircraft not just by the rivets which are often flush but by the stresses and deformations on the thin aluminum skin. this effect is especially pronounced when light is hitting the surface at an angle.
the more subtle and irregular you make this effect the more realistic it will be. it should not look bubbly. think of it more as a force being exerted on the aluminum pulling it down and holding it in place.
wing spars should not have any deformation applied if they are visible on the surface. and if they are directly underneath the aluminum skin the aluminum above them tends to not deform much either.
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another way to think about it is it is similar to the way you can see human skeletal structure underneath the skins surface.. this is true for airplanes as well though it is a more subtle effect but it does add a vast degree of life and realism to any skin it is done effectively on.
also the thinner the aluminum skin such as on Japanese aircraft the greater the effect can be seen.
the only place the unsupported aluminum skin would ever seem to be curved inward and recessed is at the wing root where crews walk on it repeatedly but this recess effect is very faint if visible at all.
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The original lighting is best, Greebo. Just my vote. Guess we will see where it ends up.
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Should we be ignoring the aluminum skins when testing brightness levels since the glare is adjustable in the skin? Can the aluminum be brighter without looking like white paint?
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until you put an actual atmosphere in the sky above the bare metal that has a gradient sky color (light blue to dark blue) and a lot of clouds your still better off baking in bare metal atmospheric effects to help the reflective maps.
take samples from the default b17 skin for a good range of colors for the wings upper surface.
don't make it grey on top make it a range of blues if baking. underside generally brown as greens look funky. white or grey along the sides of the fuselage to simulate the horizon.
works amazingly on bombers that always fly level unless they are shot down.
works great on fighters too as no one is looking at the skin unless its in level flight or external view anyway. unless its the parts visible from the cockpit.
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The baked in effects that you are talking about, shouldn't that be covered by the environmental map? This is why I have been trying to get an answer, if environmental map power could be increased.
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Environmental mapping is controlled by how light or dark each part of the environmental map is. To alter the overall effect I'd simply make the whole map lighter or darker.
As there is now no way to control the diffuse and ambient lighting on a skin it is going to be a question of balancing the other effects on the various maps so they are not overpowered by the game's global settings for diffuse and ambient lighting. Until these settings are finalised there's not much point trying to do this though.
My bare metal skins have the baked-in environmental effects that Cit describes, as well as baked-in bump effects, specular effects and so on. For those skins that include maps to control these effects I haven't turned the baked-in stuff off, but I have turned it down. My feeling is that not every player will have bump-mapping etc turned on, so for them a skin with no baked-in effects will look bad. OTOH the baked-in effects will conflict with the mapped stuff when the plane is at some angles, so I just set it so the mapped stuff is more powerful and dominates.
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until you put an actual atmosphere in the sky above the bare metal that has a gradient sky color (light blue to dark blue) and a lot of clouds your still better off baking in bare metal atmospheric effects to help the reflective maps.
take samples from the default b17 skin for a good range of colors for the wings upper surface.
don't make it grey on top make it a range of blues if baking. underside generally brown as greens look funky. white or grey along the sides of the fuselage to simulate the horizon.
works amazingly on bombers that always fly level unless they are shot down.
works great on fighters too as no one is looking at the skin unless its in level flight or external view anyway. unless its the parts visible from the cockpit.
I've been doing this with the Ki-84 that I'm working on. The baked in effects have a huge effect on making the metal realistic looking even though it's static.
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I like a little blinding glare of gloss surfaces in sun. It reminds me of real life. Number 3 was my favorite.
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I like a little blinding glare of gloss surfaces in sun. It reminds me of real life. Number 3 was my favorite.
I'm not a fan of it obliterating the entire object. Especially on a flat, non-reflective surface.
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pretty much anything greebo does tends to be amazing so i would follow his example personally of combining active and baked effects for a wider range of performance variations in players computers.
just bake it as if its in level flight for bumps reflections everything.
will work perfectly at almost all time for bombers and no one in a fighter will see anything but the top of the wings for a split second when fighting or even when traveling...
if your looking at your wingmans skin in formation... yep your in level flight so its easy to bake everything in flight sims for those with lesser computers to still get a good skin to look at while having the advanced effects in addition to baking working in tandem tends to be win win for everyone.
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I need to ask, what is "baking" in this content?
I don't want to guess and be wrong.
I'm hoping to use the skin editor for better custom object textures.
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Next version will have another addition.
Now the Brightness will equal (Set Brightness - Environment Multiplier)I.E. the Slider - your _E texture.
So Shinny planes will be washed out less.
HiTech
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Thanks HT, will try that out.
Easyscor, in this context "baking" means painting an effect onto the main skin that could also be done with one or more of the effects maps.
So for example it is possible to create an illusion of the metal areas being more shiny than the painted areas of a skin on the base skin itself. To do this I paint bright white highlights on appropriate areas of the skin like the upper half of the fuselage, along the highest part of the wing etc. The layers for these highlights are then placed below the painted markings layers, but above the aluminium layer, so the highlights are not seen on the painted areas. Now this "baked-in" effect can look good when the plane is facing the right way up but odd when it is upside-down since the highlights look like they are reflecting light from below. The specular map however creates shiny areas whose highlights are based on the position of the sun so does not have this problem.
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Thanks for explaining that term even to us who never do any skinning. Very informative!
Actually, creating an illusion or "baking" is something I've been wondering about concerning terrain tiles: I know that planting a real looking dense forest would be very annoying for both the GV's and the bombers who'd like to spot a GV. For the rest of us deep forests would add immersion. By baking the forest terrain we could possibly get the best of both worlds. Then again, I may be well off the mark again.
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Thanks very much for your explanation Greebo.
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Tying the brightness slider to the environment map in patch 87 is a definite improvement. I can set the brightness slider much higher without losing the contrast between the metal and painted areas of the skin.
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I wanted to experiment with normal mapping for fabric effects a bit more so I skinned this fabric-winged early-production Hurricane Mk I. The "lighting only" skin viewer screenshot shows the fabric sag, raised fairings and panel lines generated by the normal map. When viewed in-game the fabric effect looked too strong so I ended up turning it down a bit as can be seen in the alpha screenshots.
The skin is of a 1940 Belgian Air Force Hurricane Mk I of the squadron 2/I/2Aé based at Schaffen-Diest. This was one of 20 supplied by Britain prior to the German Blitzkrieg on May 10th 1940. These aircraft were a priority target for the Luftwaffe and all were destroyed on their airfield in the first two days of the attack on Belgium. Thanks to Lyric1 for finding me the info for this skin.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20other%20countries/Belgian_AF_Hurri_1_SC2_zpsqqc0ev9d.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20other%20countries/Belgian_AF_Hurri_I_SC3_zpshwnivrjd.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20other%20countries/Belgian_AF_Hurri_I_SC4_zpsdxsfwr5k.jpg)
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:aok
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Very nice work Greebo!
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Greebo is amazing...
But the skin viewer controls SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sorry. Dale is a nice man--and very smart--but the controls are driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boss, please. You have to give us the old controls in AH3. I beg you. Or as my Nigerian friends say, "I BEG." :salute :cheers:
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Greebo is amazing...
Boss, please. You have to give us the old controls in AH3. I beg you. Or as my Nigerian friends say, "I BEG." :salute :cheers:
or................... Change the scroll to activate axis rotation. Currently the scroll loops with the center of the loop some distance from the center of the plane.
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or................... Change the scroll to activate axis rotation. Currently the scroll loops with the center of the loop some distance from the center of the plane.
Something. Dale is trying to improve the viewer. His changes are a benefit in many ways. However, ditching the pivot/axis rotation is a step backward. Having *BOTH* features would make the viewer as good as I can imagine it being.
We need to come up with a care package of Wild Turkey and send it to him by New Year's to get this change implemented. :P
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or................... Change the scroll to activate axis rotation. Currently the scroll loops with the center of the loop some distance from the center of the plane.
I feel like we lost this "battle" but it defies reason. Adding a pivot function would improve the viewer, not detract from it. Frankly the light shift on the old viewer drove me crazy. Adding a pivot to the current system would be the fix the old one always needed.
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Thought I'd try a GV with the new AH3 effects so I added them to an existing skin, the winter camo'd 24th PD Panzer IV H. The "lighting only" shot shows how much bump detail you can get using the normal map now. The zimmerit ridges, armour hooks, track tread pattern and even the mud on the mudguards can all be seen.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20German/24th_PD_Panzer_IV_H_SC1_zpslttyjkzv.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20German/24th_PD_Panzer_IV_H_SC2_zpscteiem1t.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20German/24th_PD_Panzer_IV_H_SC3_zpsqj7ph7hc.jpg)
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wow. This is looking fantastic. Keep up the hard work all, can't wait for AH3 to let the smoke out of my computer... :devil
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Wonderful Greebo :aok
:rofl Dubious, I plan to burn this ancient artifact too...... and AH3 seems the perfect tool to get her nice and toasty! I won't be satisfied until she spouts flames. So far, the more I push ole girl, the better she seems to like AH3.
Good work all around, and hopefully a well deserved holiday break and joyous season to you all.
ChiLLi
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Lyric1 found me some photos of this colourful B-29 and I thought it would be a good scheme to show off some of the new AHIII effects.
The aircraft in question is "Babies Buggy/City of Rock Island" flown by Major William C. Wilson of the 330th BG, 479th BS. The "City of" nose art was painted onto all aircraft of the Group, the idea being that crews would be sent on a promotional visit to the town in question once their tour was up. The black and yellow stripes and large numbers were applied for the last month or so of the war to flight leaders' aircraft to assist in formation assembly.
The screenshots show how the specularity, power and environment effects combine to give the illusion of metal. Particularly in the last shot where the environment and normal maps create a rippled reflection of the "K" across the elevator.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/479th_BS_B-29_SC1_zpsl4mnte2k.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/479th_BS_B-29_SC2_zpsscc52j39.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/479th_BS_B-29_SC5_zpsh2mwob8x.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/479th_BS_B-29_SC3_zpspf0qnobd.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/479th_BS_B-29_SC4_zpsdysk4y7h.jpg)
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:aok
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Wonderful Greebo :aok
:rofl Dubious, I plan to burn this ancient artifact too...... and AH3 seems the perfect tool to get her nice and toasty! I won't be satisfied until she spouts flames. So far, the more I push ole girl, the better she seems to like AH3.
Good work all around, and hopefully a well deserved holiday break and joyous season to you all.
ChiLLi
Be careful with that machine. It was hand built by an expert. ;)
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Man those look freaking awesome
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Thanks to Lyric1 for finding me the info for this skin.
This F4U-4 was part of VBF-86 flying from USS Wasp during the last months of the war.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/VBF-86_F4U-4_SC2_zpsrjaix1n7.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c155/Jonchaz/Screenshots%20USA/VBF-86_F4U-4_SC1_zpslequqncv.jpg)
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:aok