|
Author
|
Topic: Sharper textures... how?
|
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 06:54 AM
   
I was just starting on my F-14's cockpit and did a very early test run. I got a nice graphic on the Me262's main panel just to see what it'd look like. It looks like HELL! How is it those instrument gauges look SO GOOD and same with the cockpit walls and circuit breaker panels, yet everything I basically texture is blur city?Help!! IP: Logged |
Sv
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 08:01 AM
If you map small textures to big polys you will get blur.If you map medium sized textures to small polys it will be sharp. It is a texture size to poly size ratio. I think  ------------------
-Sv =FC=
WWI in SDOE!
IP: Logged |
Tailslide
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 12:06 PM
Export the mainPanelHW to max and have a look at the object. It's not just a single poly. TS
IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 11:12 PM
Positioning gauges and needles... welcome to Hell, Pete.IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 11:52 PM
hehe, ok.  From what I've done so far, got two seats and a decent looking panel (only the panel, no holes in it), it seems like it'll be cool. But somewhere in my main cockpit body the fps really took a hit (bummer). Also I noticed that since I have a nice tight fitting interior of it that when flying in a tower view you see the black show through the fuselage at a distance. I guess I need to squeeze the walls inside closer together to remedy this.But it's true, it already feels nightmarish. Does ANYONE have some really great, close up pics of modern JET instruments? I'd like to see what I'm working with so I can do up some nice ones, but I may have to substitute some. IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
|
posted 01-24- 11:59 PM
Don't cut holes in your instrument panel. The gauges in SDOE are just rounded polygons placed flush with the instrument panel... basically, just a polygon with 12 verts... you can probably get away with less.... heck, I just used squares on my Spit panel, but I had to make sure the instrument panel blended with the gauge textures then. The gauge tif is applied directly to that and then the needle is positioned correctly over that. [This message has been edited by JT (edited 01-25-2000).] IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 01:26 AM
Thanks JT! That doesn't sound to bad. I'm actually very excited about this whole thing now. I was able to extract some nice instrument textures from Flightsim.com, just downloaded an F-14 instrument panel for FS2000, used a GAUtoBMP2 converter, and then converted those files to tifs. Now I'm all set!
IP: Logged |
Yardstick
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 04:12 AM
MPosis and I have used square instrument textures for the 4 Bf109 and 2 Fw190 cockpits. I have worked out a technique for blending these in pretty much seamlessly that takes between 10 and 30 minutes an instrument. Cockpits take loads of time, the original 109G-6 took in excess of 100 hours, the Emil (my favourite by far) about 60 hours and even the Fw190s (which are of a lower resolution) took about 30 hours. I have just re-worked the Zero cockpit (which I originally didn't like very much). Now with correctly recessed, individually mapped instruments, it looks great. I am trying to sort out the reflections which are currently pretty amateur looking and have a 'greenhouse' look about them. ------------------
Yardstick painted this
IP: Logged |
DanW
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 07:23 AM
On the glass reflections....I noticed that on the zero, when i messed with the glass tif files that brown didnt really show up as brown on the glass. Is there a seperate tif file that controls the oil/dirt marks on the glass, or am i using the wrong color? If so, what color should it be? IP: Logged |
Yardstick
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 07:31 AM
You will have to load from the alpha channel and experiment with that. It is quite difficult to get the hang of as you are painting a negative image. As I do my reflections effects as subtly as I can the negative images are very indistinct which exacerbates the problem. And if you think painting external textures is a pain, wait until you try reflections ------------------
Yardstick painted this
IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 08:29 AM
Yardstick,I'd love to hear your blending technique. From what I'm guessing it'd be to use a nice bacground panel map, and then put a small section of that same "repeating" texture on the back of each square instrument, followed by the gauge picture (and then an alpha over that). Is that it basically? IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 10:08 AM
No, don't use alpha on gauges... not necessary. All Yardstick is saying is that if you put the gauges on squares, you will have to make sure that the tone and color of the instrument panel blends with that of the corners of gauge tifs, or it will be apparent that they are just textures on squares. If you put the gauges on rounded polygons, like Parsoft did, then this is not a problem.[This message has been edited by JT (edited 01-25-2000).] IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 10:09 AM
Ok, thanks. That makes sense.IP: Logged |
Yardstick
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 10:42 AM
Ok here goes.It's important that you know exactly where the instrument texture goes - because if the panel is not uniformly shaded i.e. has shadows, it will cause problems. Copy a square of the panel that corresponds to the position of the instrument tif. Resize it (usually 64x64) and right click the clone brush exactly on a corner of the resized texture. Set the clone brush to 1 or 2 pixel brush-size, start in the exact same corner of the instrument texture and clone the resized panel texture carefully around your instrument dial. Having done this use the soften brush to blend the joint between the dial and the background and you should have a square dial that blends perfectly into the panel. It's key to remember that the resolution/texture memory trade-off should be a paramount consideration. It is very easy to create photo realistic cockpits that kill the game - you have to learn to compromise if you want the thing to be playable. If you have textures that are below the eye line or unimportant, reduce their size. Hope this helps. ------------------
Yardstick painted this
IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
|
posted 01-25- 11:12 AM
Great advice! Thanks a lot.IP: Logged |
FSIC Messageboard
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone! 
