AH3 skins

[Greebo]

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.

[hitech]

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

[Vraciu]

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

[Vraciu]

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/

[Greebo]

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.

[Greebo]

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.

[Greebo]

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.

[Vraciu]

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.)

[hitech]

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

[Greebo]

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?

[hitech]

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

[Vraciu]

Darn.   Was hoping the B would still be an option for those of us still working our way through Normal Mapping.

[hitech]

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

[Vraciu]

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!    

[Vraciu]

Minor quibble but the viewer spells ENVIRONMENT ENVIORment.   I guess that's how LBJ would pronounce it. 

*Ducking Dale throwing scissors at me*