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Hello,

I looked at the forums but couldnt find anything like this.

Basically, I have read about the various maps (specular, displacement etc) but do not know how to create them or even use them if I make one.

Looking at the textures provided with FPSC, I noticed there were 3-4 textures (name with a *_D.dds, *_D2.dds, *_N.dds & *_S.dds) for every segment provided. I guess they are the various maps I am talking about.

I have seen some great texturing works by people around here and have been in awe of some of their work! (Jon's orc and bond's firefighter to state the most recent ones) From what I understand (I may be totally wrong here), I think they too use some of these maps to get that enhanced 3D effects on their low poly models!

So what I am asking for here is for someone to provide me with atleast a basic tutorial on how to create these maps (in Photoshop?) and how to use these ingame (in FPSC).

That will be really helpful to me!

Thank you very much,

-filya

Edit: I use Milkshape 3D for modelling, Lithunwrap for UVmapping and Photoshop for texturing (just in case the tutorials depend on the software)

filya,

Start here: http://developer.nvidia.com/page/tools.html

That's where you can download the plugins and read about how the stuff works.

hey errant. Thanks a lot for these.
To be honest, I really couldnt figure out much for that link...but yeah, I did find some other tutorials online and I know how to make the various maps.

I have figured out what bump maps, specular maps, diffuse maps, etc mean, and I also am pretty confident about making them in Photoshop.

But I really need someone to help me use them in game. I mean, what do I exactly do after having 4-5 different layers in Photoshop? Whats the next step?

Thanks again

This is the important part: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

For getting your feet wet, I wouldn't mess with melody, etc.

From what poking around I've done (which isn't a ton), FPSC is going to treat your maps differently based on the .fx shader called to in the .FPE and possibly depending on what sort of asset youre assigning it to.

I'm sure you've allready looked at some of the stock assets that use shaders and have evaluated the D, D2, S, N, etc maps. A good way to learn is to do a little reverse engineering. It may not be the best or fastest way but it will help you get first-hand knowledge of how FPSC is using the maps.

Be aware that not all shaders make use of all the shader maps. Most of the ones I've used so far only make use of D or D2 plus S or N. I'm a noob to the .fx system, so I am learning as well.

You should be saving out copies of the various layers as .dds using the plugin linked above. Also know that although bump and normal maps serve the same purposse in a sense, they are different animals. You can make a super basic normal map by taking your bump map and running the nvidia filter over it. Depending on how your UV map is laid out, you'll have to do some flipping around of the X/Y settings in the filter so that the normals are bumped in the correct direction.

It would be easier to help you, I think, if you could provide details on what it is that you're trying to do and what .fx shader you are calling.

aaaah! That enhances my noobness at this even more

First off, I dont know what a .fx shader is

Like I said, I just heard about how using various maps can enhance your model. And also bring out virtual bumpiness etc on even a plane surface.

So I researched a bit, and learnt how to make various maps in photoshop. But now, I have absolutely no idea how to put all those over my models. (since most tuts I found were for 3dMax)

As for what I am trying to do :

I am making custom models and walls and everything else for my game. And since my textures appear tooooo flat, I thought of enhancing them using various maps (bump and specular atleast!).
This is the reason I wanted to know more about them.

Thanks a lot for the info though Errant!

-filya

p.s: From what you know, which maps are the D2, D, S and N??

It should be in the manual and if not, it should be semi obvious.

D = Diffuse
D2 = composite diffuse
N = normal
S = specularity

.fx files tell the game what shaders to apply to the object.

If you open up the shader files in a text editor, you can see which map types it is calling to. If you can't locate the .fx files, then I have to conclude that you aren't familiar with the .fpe files either.

You don't actually apply these maps to the model. You just need to have them in the proper locations and with the appropriate filename suffix.

Since you're doing walls. I recomend reverse engineering some of the scifi walls as I know for fact that they use shaders. Load in one of the scifi walls next to your custom wall so you can compare what you're doing with how the effect should look. Duplicate the .fpe and crack it open and really try to learn about what's going on.

Though I have no doubt that 99% of them have misspelled or wildly innapropriate titles, there has to be some threads on here with info about hooking up shaders on custom segments. I'd help more if I could but I haven't done anything with segments yet. I also think you'd be extremely lucky to find someone willing to post an explicit how-to for shader functionality on the forums with the nVidia compo looming.

I really think the best thing you can do is just to start doing something and finding your own answers by trial and error. I doubt that it will work the way you expect the first time but give it some effort and you'll nail it.

Good luck to you Filya!

Errant, thanks again so much. You know, you have been very patient with me Really appreciate this.

Yes, I do know about the .fx files, but I dont think I need to modify them, do I? As for what effect they have on the texturing in game, I can only kind of guess from their names.

I guess I will have to reverse-engineer fiddle with the provided segments and such.

Hmmm....thanks for the file info (D,N,D2,S). Will have to spend some time figuring this all out. And if I do, I will try and write a small tutorial or something for the forums.

Thanks for the wishes

No worries and I hope you post something once you have firm knowledge. Frankly I just think it's cool to see someone learning to work with FPSC shaders because most seem to avoid them. Heck, even many of the models in the TGC model packs aren't compatable with shaders. That said, I'm glad to help with what little I know.

Nope you don't have to fiddle with the .fx files but opening them will show you all the maps that particular shader needs to function and at least some of them have helpfull comments describing what the shader does.

Think of the D, N, S and D2 files like this:

Diffuse is just the basic colors and patterns of your wall without any lighting or anything. As plain-jane as can be.

Normal maps are just modified height/bump maps.

Specular maps are like a height map but instead of height they regulate how the objects pick up light. Shininess I suppose. White is the shiniest and black acts like a matte surface.

D2 Maps are for use with shaders off so they are a composite of all the above qualities.

IMHO, D maps for low poly models need a little bit of lighting/shading painted in because there simply isn't enough variation or subtlty in the mesh to pick up lighting in a pleasing manner. I find that the stock Diffuse maps yield a very plain look if there isn't some of that kind of detail added in.

BUT and yes, it's a big but. This depends on which shader you are using. On characters, I found that if I only used the S map and not an N map it would blend between D and D2 but as soon as I added an N map it stopped using D2 alltogether and gave me the flat, nasty look. YMMV.

Keep in mind that you also have access to other kinds of maps such as glow maps and reflective maps. I don't know how well they work in FPSC but I've seen 'em so one could hope there's some functionality somewhere to be found.

wow Errant. I wonder how many time I shall have to thank you
With your knowledge, I am surprised you havent done some work on shaders and stuff yourself.

yes, I will surely post some good info on these once I do something useful