Boof's Build thread

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by Mikeymike21

There is no normal speed, everyone has thier own pace

I misspoke I guess. Maybe I meant average.

[Cowpig]

Yeah, but Doug models like heck! Look at his WIP so far!

Average time on a model depends on how much detail is going in it. Or when the deadline is, no matter how much detail (like me ).

Originally Posted by Maj. Numbskully

Reminds me of another very talented "new" speed modeler we had here for a while once or thrice
who's no longer around........
or is he?

Or how good you are.

I'd say the best person to ask for n_tga and s_tgas is the Maj.-resident expert on CSs.

[dhk79]

Here's a quick & dirty on Spectral Mapping I made for someone else. For Normal Maps check the docs for whatever plugin you are going to use to generate them and you can find some basic tutorials if you search the web.

[Cowpig]

There is also this thread.http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/show...ighlight=n_tga

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by dhk79

Here's a quick & dirty on Spectral Mapping I made for someone else. For Normal Maps check the docs for whatever plugin you are going to use to generate them and you can find some basic tutorials if you search the web.

Thanks for this. I downloaded the "nvidia normal map filter" plug-in for photoshop. I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to use it but I'll keep checking.

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by Cowpig

There is also this thread.http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/show...ighlight=n_tga

Awesome thanks this tut uses my plug-in. You guys are great!

[dhk79]

I use the same plugin, so if you have questions yell.

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by dhk79

I use the same plugin, so if you have questions yell.

I will take you up on it. When I get there You'll hear from me.

[dhk79]

General guidance for Normal Maps (also nown as Bump Maps) are that they are based on 256 shades of grey. Black being zero and white being 255. The neutral grey 128 is the mid point or a level surface. Everything darker than this is recessed and everything lighter is raised.

Map out your bumps and indentations on multi-layers, combine them, and then use the plugin to process.

Use the options shown for the plugin and save the result as your _N.TGA file. Just copy it into the ...\RealFlight G4\Vehicles\CustomModels\... directory for your aircraft and RF will take care of the rest.

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by dhk79

General guidance for Normal Maps (also nown as Bump Maps) are that they are based on 256 shades of grey. Black being zero and white being 255. The neutral grey 128 is the mid point or a level surface. Everything darker than this is recessed and everything lighter is raised.

Map out your bumps and indentations on multi-layers, combine them, and then use the plugin to process.

Use the options shown for the plugin and save the result as your _N.TGA file. Just copy it into the ...\RealFlight G4\Vehicles\CustomModels\... directory for your aircraft and RF will take care of the rest.

WOW that's less complicated than I thought. That's good enough to get me started thank you sir

[Boof69]

Could someone tell me how to get the "show both sides",and"canopy" prefixes to work? As the picture illustrates I am attempting to name multi sub objects in the material editor ~SBS,and~CANOPY. Neither will work in RF. How far off am I?

[dhk79]

I do not think RF will recognise sub-object materials. Do the exact same thing as a primary material and the names will work.

BTW there is also an ~ALPHA material to use transparency without the Show-Both-Sides that is also part of ~CANOPY.

[Boof69]

Rf does uderstand the sub-object materials. My canopy is transparent which is the first sub object material in the pic. I'm still confused how to use this naming convention since RF will only accept oone bitmap for a model. Can you expand on your explaination. Sorry

[Boof69]

Originally Posted by dhk79

I do not think RF will recognise sub-object materials. Do the exact same thing as a primary material and the names will work.

BTW there is also an ~ALPHA material to use transparency without the Show-Both-Sides that is also part of ~CANOPY.

Ok I see from the picture. Question answered. Thanks again

[dhk79]

That's easy. You can have as many materials as you like, but only one bitmap. If you look at the example I posted, you'll see three materials that use the same map. Each material can therefore have different reflectivity or use different reserved names, so that they'll behave differently in RF.