[Galemp]

For the FS1 ships, anyway.

http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/3dactionplanet/hlp/hosted/fsport/shine_fs1.zip

I've gone for subtlety here. You'll notice everything looks somewhat nicer without being overpowering. The tech room looks harsh but in-game it's better.

I still say the shine effect is much too strong, but if I made the maps any darker I'd lose all the detail. Bobboau, I beg of you, PLEASE tone this down! I'd like things to look as they were in FS2 with some slight highlights here and there, not completely soaked in light.

FS2 shine maps should be quicker and easier since they're smaller and less complex. I don't have a release date for them, though.

[Alikchi]

Hopefully these will be unnecessary soon..

[Bobboau]

why would they be unnesisary?

[Unknown Target]

Screenies?

[Fineus]

And answer the question, I'm curious!

[SadisticSid]

They'll always be necessary because Bob's code treats all textures as shiny by default, surely. Thinks like the Perseus' cockpit will be more shiny than the rest, and this is the purpose of shinemaps, as I understand it.

[terren]

I second the screenies request.
I want to see how it looks before I spend 8.7 years downloading it...

Although the shots themseves take about half that time.

[Setekh]

Well done mate, the Port's gonna look great.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by GalacticEmperor

I still say the shine effect is much too strong, but if I made the maps any darker I'd lose all the detail.
 

You know, You can use the command line to adjust the brightness. Try this setting, It was Icefire's and I like the effect:

Code: [Select]

-spec_exp 11 -spec_point 0.6 -spec_static 0.8 -spec_tube 0.4

[Flaser]

I tried it last nighte, and I don't want to downplay the value of GE's work, but I don't like it.

There are only a couple of occasions when you've taken use of the ability to color the shine and most of the maps are so toned down they leave the fighters without any metalic shine.

I know you don't like the extreme whiteness of shines, but this is only the top of the light curve in direct sun light. Toning that down alone would be good.

In space metalic things have to glow like they are emmanating light.

A thought occured to me, that would best discribe my reaction: "Heh, it's like shine parts added to a ship, just as with glowmapping".

Which is the reason why I don't like it. The glowmapping stuff was great as it was done.
However shinemapping shouldn't concentrate on just parts of a ship. In this essence, whereas glowmapping was adding key detail parts to a ship, shine mapping is a major overhaul IMHO.

I don't know wheter you like really mat colors, but I think even with all the paint on the fighters the light would still penetrate and get reflected.

Look at the FS1 techroom animations of the ships.
They did show of a lot of shine.
The problem could reside in the fact that too much light gets reflected even in low angle, so a little tweaking could be necessary to the code.

Metalic fighters like the Apollo, Medusa, Athena, Hercules should be looking quite shiny with a distinct tint to the shine that was made by the paint. Whitish for the Apollo, a mud green with the Medusa, dark grey/sandy red for the Athena and a light gray/blue with the Herc.

That sandy effect could be used for dark craft. Instead unsing pure colors I think the original texture could be blended with a grainy one. So you have small spots where then  light escapes like tiny needles and others where it's quite dull.
This color would also go well with the lower parts of those modern Vasudan armor.
A toned down light brownish reflection would go with Vasudan craft. Coupled with some red-blood and greenish-grey for machinery parts.
The Orion and the Arcadia with a blue-purple paint job should have a distinct metal blue tint.

I know it is easy to go off like that and  retell just how good that would look, but I know it is a ton of work and the reason why I still highly apreciate the fact you've given a shot at the job.

I'd call your shine set a "shine-highlight mapping", that would be a good template for any future shine maps.

[Drew]

ummm, how do you use these anyway?
do you just stick em in the same dir as the port?

[Hellbender]

They'll work ok from the maps folder.

EDIT:  Whoops, forgot they were in a VP.  Just put it in the same folder as the port.

H

[Drew]

hmm, the maps seem to be less bright to me.
but they reflect a little better, make ships look a little richer if ya know what i mean

[Galemp]

Originally posted by Flaser
Which is the reason why I don't like it. The glowmapping stuff was great as it was done.
However shinemapping shouldn't concentrate on just parts of a ship. In this essence, whereas glowmapping was adding key detail parts to a ship, shine mapping is a major overhaul IMHO.

I disagree. Shine maps, like glowmaps, can be used to hilight certain parts of a ship, with the base textures providing the most detail. Washing them out with light doesn't look so good, and the original textures are far more detiled than any shinemaps would be. Plus, if we're going to be getting more advanced tools like shaders and bumpmapping, the shine should definitely take a back seat.

In short, I don't want the shine mapping to be the ONLY special effect that you see.

[Liberator]

Originally posted by Flaser

A thought occured to me, that would best discribe my reaction: "Heh, it's like shine parts added to a ship, just as with glowmapping".

I'm of an opposite opinion.  Metal is typically shiny.  Paint on the other hand is much duller in reflectivity.  On a ship, say the Fenris, only the exposed metal parts are going to appear "shiny", the painted parts while reflecting light as everything does is not going to appear "shiny" it will in fact be quite dull as compared to the exposed portions.

Using this reasoning, the main hull of the Hatshepsut would not have a shine map, only the "neck" would have a shine map

As I've messed around with shine maps here in the Lab, I've gotten the best results from selecting the exposed matal portions of a map and simply raising the gamma of the selection.  This has the benefit of making the map "shinier" without overpowering the texture of or the map.

[Flaser]

Hmm...

Sample?

BTW how do we decide wheter a surface was painted or the metal just has that sort of color.

There are protective layers too, whose sole purpose is to protect the metal beneath - these could be very thin 'cause some of them can cost really much.

Finally I'd use the FS1 animations of the ships as a template.

[Drew]

btw, what exactally do these do anyway?

[Ryx]

Originally posted by Drew
btw, what exactally do these do anyway?

They "tell" the game engine where to apply the specular (shine) effect.

Can you control the intensity of the effect by varying the rgb (greyscale) value?

[Flaser]

That's exactly what you can do.
You can even tint the reflected light with the color of the texture.

[TrashMan]

SCREENIES!!!!!

* Note that the shining would be determined by the light sources!
The brighter the sun, the closer you are to it, the greater the shine....
   Thing's don't usually shine much in space....look at videos that show a shuttles/satleites filmed from another shuttle/station..

they don't look too shiny..