[Cobra]

So yeah, I get this:



Nothing I do seems to want to fix that. It was working fine before, then I made some adjustments. I can't remember what it was now, but it doesn't seem to want to go away.

It was starting to look pretty good until this happened.

[castor]

Are you sure you saved the map as DXT5N?

[bkd86]

Post your texture and the normal map.

[Cobra]

It's just the stock texture with the normal map on it.

Uploaded in .rar to preserve it.

I'd have a better way of making normal maps if DaBrain would get back to me on his method!

[EDIT] Well this is certainly odd. It doesn't look right in Irfanview.

[EDIT2] Ok, looking at it from a different program, it's got a lot of artifacting.

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Vasudan Admiral]

Looking at the texture, it looks like you've got random noise overlayed on both the green and alpha channels. The normal map is working correctly though - you can see it through the noise.

[Cobra]

What's causing the noise, then?

[Galemp]

Well, as previously stated, be sure to save it as DTX5-NM and not just DTX5. Also ensure that your alpha channel on all the maps are clear.

[Cobra]

It's saved as DXT5_NM, and I just mess around with emboss and nVidia's Normal Map Filter. it gave me better results than what I had before, but now it's suddenly going "Hello, you've got noise!"

[Cobra]

Hmm, found it. Apparently "fastest compression" doesn't mean "more compressed" as I thought it did. set the compression method to Production and it all works now.

[Kaine]

Hmm, found it. Apparently "fastest compression" doesn't mean "more compressed" as I thought it did. set the compression method to Production and it all works now.

"Fastest" means it's the fastest in computational terms, that is, it takes the least CPU cycles to complete. Usually means least compression &/or most artefacts, depending on the kind of compression you're doing.

[S-99]

That's just perfect if you wanted to on purpose have a really old looking or over-used escape pod

[castor]

Looks like it landed someplace with acidic athmosphere

[S-99]

Everyone gets the new escape pods, but you get old dependable with the captain

Seriously though, great way to make an old looking escape pod. This method of modifying the normal maps to make a craft look old could also be applied to other models utilizing normal maps as well. I know the pegasus stealth fighter piloted by the transcendant would strike more fear by making it look like it's been around for a while (sort of like scar in bsg just to point out as an example), in the least help set the point that the transcendant has been around for and has apparent experience.

[Cobra]

I really don't see how it looks old.

[S-99]

The ****ed up normal map gives off the impressions of paint chipping away and getting hit by tons of micro meteorites.

[Herra Tohtori]

Not to my eye. They just look crappy and glitchy. Chipped paint and other marks of old age (impact marks and dents) would be better shown by actually putting them into the textures, not relying on something as chaotic as compression artefacts on the normal map...

[S-99]

Well sure it looks crappy. I'm sure there's better ways to simulate micro meteorite impacts and paint chipping away. This however was a really great unintentional crappy way of doing it. Eye of the beholder here, sure it looks crappy, but the crappy normal map makes it look old and beat up in my head. That's pretty cool to me for something that was accidental.

EDIT: The chaoticness of the normal map is cool. But, they're not really so chaotic, the artifacts are only in the areas of the escape pod where there are supposed to be metalic nooks, crannies, indentations (which happens to be all over the ship). So yeah the whole ship is covered up in artifacts, but mainly spreading out from the areas that the normal map was to bring out the nooks, crannies, and indentations along the hull.