Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Bobboau on August 15, 2004, 04:16:25 am

Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Bobboau on August 15, 2004, 04:16:25 am
I made these a long time ago and I don't feel like converting them to the correct format, but I thought some people would like them and useing virtualdub get them into avi format
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Bobboau on August 15, 2004, 04:19:16 am
and you might like to see an effect I'm planning for BWO, look at the docking pad of the station, note the depth
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: DaBrain on August 15, 2004, 07:49:32 am
Wow the effect is pretty cool :yes:

How did you do that? (How many textures does it use?) :)
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: aldo_14 on August 15, 2004, 08:10:31 am
Quote
Originally posted by DaBrain
Wow the effect is pretty cool :yes:

How did you do that? (How many textures does it use?) :)


Looks like multiple layers of textures with alpha transparency to help create the illusion of depth.  Hard to actually make out anything from that clip, tho.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Taristin on August 15, 2004, 08:52:03 am
Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. It does look like there's depth, though. Which is cool and all. But making all those targas with alpha transparency would be too difficult for me. >.>
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Liberator on August 15, 2004, 04:08:23 pm
Those lockons are cool, but they'll need some work to be usable.  I don't have the skills to do it anyway.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Lightspeed on August 15, 2004, 05:48:30 pm
The first lock-on rocks.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Rictor on August 15, 2004, 05:52:33 pm
screenies?
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: aldo_14 on August 15, 2004, 06:22:38 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Raa
Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. It does look like there's depth, though. Which is cool and all. But making all those targas with alpha transparency would be too difficult for me. >.>


Nah, it'd be piss easy.  Those look like the arcadia maps, which are mostly straight lines IIRC - ideal for making masks.

;)
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Taristin on August 15, 2004, 06:26:53 pm
I guess. Mayhaps I'm just too lazy:p (Or I don't actually know how to do alpha transparency, unless it's the same as alpha environment just on the texture file.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Bobboau on August 15, 2004, 08:09:22 pm
there's four layers in it, and it's just an alpha mask, it looks almost exactly like that in game wich is realy cool when you fly over the surface, maybe this would give someone some ideas for an HTL Arcadia
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Lightspeed on August 15, 2004, 09:02:15 pm
Cool cool. A way to simulate displacement mapping :D

However, I fear its definately not gonna do the performance any good, making you use more than four times more texture space.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: aldo_14 on August 16, 2004, 03:24:12 am
Not if it's the same texture used 4 times with a position tweak, unless imverymuchmistaken.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: DaBrain on August 16, 2004, 04:54:34 am
And how does it work?
I'd like to try that one myself.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Lightspeed on August 16, 2004, 09:15:24 am
You have a model with four "hulls" over each other. Parts of the textures from the outermost hull are transparent. Inside these parts you see through to hull #2. In those spaces, some parts from hull #2's texture are transparent, and you see through to hull#3. In these little areas, hull #3 will have some transparent spots, letting you look through to hull #4.

aldo: Same texture with tweaked positions won't work for most textures or ships, sadly.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Liberator on August 16, 2004, 10:01:04 am
How heavy is this computer-resource wise?  If it can be done on a wholesale basis with next-to-no-impact FPS wise, this could be used to create the illusion of depth in Fighterbays on warships as well as dynamic hull details on everything.
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: karajorma on August 16, 2004, 12:28:29 pm
As far as I can see it's no more resource intensive than a few polys per layer as far as modelling goes. Textures are another mater completely. If you UV map the layers and put them on the same map as everything else there will be no cost at all. Start using seperate maps and it's going to cost you for each one. (I'm assuming that alpha  channels still work when both parts of the model are textured from the same texture.)
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Bobboau on August 16, 2004, 07:20:14 pm
the more you use the effect the less inefecent it would be, as stated it uses four textures in two relitively small flat places, useing the same texture would help but the diferent layers realy sort of need to be in diferent subobject in order to give you any controle, though that would be less important if you only used fully transparent / fully opaque alpha
Title: missle lock thingys
Post by: Taristin on August 16, 2004, 08:01:53 pm
You could easily use one map, if you seperate the arcadia parts on a different map, and alpha mapped it that way. So you could have one texture for the multiple details.