Modifying Existing Assets

Post all of your progress here about official assets, and receive feedback from our team.
User avatar
Ishq
Project Head
Posts: 1145
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:32 pm UTC

Modifying Existing Assets

Post by Ishq »

I think we should restore or modify a few asset changes that we have made in the past:

  • Trapper texture
  • Acid tube texture
  • Muzzleflashes
  • Certain particle effects (luci, etc)
User avatar
kharnov
Granger
Posts: 1851
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm UTC
Clan: GT
Location: New York City

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by kharnov »

The generated normal maps on the guns are really bad. They looked cool at first but right now they all look like plastic to me.

User avatar
Ishq
Project Head
Posts: 1145
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:32 pm UTC

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by Ishq »

That's not the normalmaps, that's the specmap. You just need to tone those down.

User avatar
kharnov
Granger
Posts: 1851
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm UTC
Clan: GT
Location: New York City

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by kharnov »

Can you make a new set, then?

User avatar
Ishq
Project Head
Posts: 1145
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:32 pm UTC

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by Ishq »

Unlikely. I'm not good at this type of thing. I can tell someone how to do it though.

User avatar
kharnov
Granger
Posts: 1851
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm UTC
Clan: GT
Location: New York City

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by kharnov »

Okay. We'll need to include that in the pak file for this release. We also need to include the grenade spec map fix. I can contribute a few good color grading strips that people can use for testing.

What do you mean by modifying some of the particle effects? Like, you want a new luci ball? The current one actually looks fairly decent with bloom on, but otherwise yeah, it's pretty bad.

User avatar
Ishq
Project Head
Posts: 1145
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:32 pm UTC

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by Ishq »

it looks awkward. I've seen better luci effects by trem people in graphic mods.

User avatar
velociostrich
Dragoon
Posts: 318
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:24 pm UTC

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by velociostrich »

Ishq wrote:

That's not the normalmaps, that's the specmap. You just need to tone those down.

Oh, it's both. It sure as hell is both; I can tell by the pixels. (No, really, I can tell just by looking at the normal map itself that it's bad.)

The problem lies in the approach. The normal maps were created using greyscale images in CrazyBump, and the result is going to be about the same as what you would get with a bump map (because CrazyBump is basically just creating normals from greyscale images in much the same way), and so the result does not match the expectation (e.g., you don't get as well-defined "edges"). Plus, there's pitfalls to trying to slap a normal map on a model that has not been unwrapped for one; for example, you really ought to pull islands apart from each other where there are sharp edges to avoid artifacts—except, well, there's not really any sharp edges on those normals so the edges look rounded, adding to the plastic-y look.

For the past few days I have been writing an article to address these and other common issues, as well as to provide an overview of graphical features and all that stuff. Not sure by when I will finish it, however.

User avatar
kharnov
Granger
Posts: 1851
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm UTC
Clan: GT
Location: New York City

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by kharnov »

I put together some quick muzzle flash replacements for the rifle and chaingun.

Image
Image

User avatar
kharnov
Granger
Posts: 1851
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:54 pm UTC
Clan: GT
Location: New York City

Re: Modifying Existing Assets

Post by kharnov »

Here's the result of more experimenting.

Image
Image
Image
Image

Post Reply