[Getter Robo G]

Nice Jadehawk, that's what I was hinting towards in MIRC the other day to Easarai.
Definatelt NOt the "Christmas Tree Look". 

kudos!

[blowfish]

IMO shinemaps are a necessity.  You can use the alpha channel to make them not look like mirrors.  Plus, they tend to bring out the normal maps more.  Also, I would increase the glow on the turrets.

only used Alpha for making planets but for textures too in the fashion you say? How does that work?

The alpha channel controls the amount of environmental mapping that appears on the texture.  You may notice that, without an alpha channel, many textures end up looking like mirrors because they reflect the background so much.  You can reduce the amount of background reflection with the alpha channel.  There are different approaches to this, but a lot of the FSU guys say that the alpha channel should be pretty close to black except for chrome, glass, etc. areas...

[Jadehawk]

OK so if I save the DDS shine map as a Explicit Alpha (DXT3) this will work better?

[blowfish]

Well you actually have to create the alpha channel , but once you have, DXT3 or DXT5 will be fine.

[Jadehawk]

ok I think I see what you mean now. I created new shine maps for some of the textures I used on this and here are the FIRST results.  Oh I forgot to say, the first shots DID in fact have shine maps. But they had no Alpha channel and in fact all my stuff have shine maps but these are the first with Alpha Channels.



 

Yes I know it's shiny like a Christmas tree, but I DID say it's the first try 

Too shiny? 

Question: How much shiny is acceptable? I'd say about 10 to 20% and no more than 35%
Opinions?

[General Battuta]

That's much better, I think.

[Getter Robo G]

If that was in response to me, I wasn't talking about your pic Jadehawk, I meant that Easarai's initial release was a damn Christmas tree. You beat me to it and calmed it down...

 

[Jouzin]

WAU looks great really nice ship....

[Jadehawk]

If that was in response to me, I wasn't talking about your pic Jadehawk, I meant that Easarai's initial release was a damn Christmas tree. You beat me to it and calmed it down...

 

Naw...it's was a response to my own observation about my work. 

I'm still having trouble getting the hang on how to make the shine map with alpha channel. The exact point I'm having trouble with is controlling the shininess. What I have is one layer for the details and color. the other layer had a black filter. I made the Alpha mask on the black layer several times First time was at 60% and second was at 30%. Last attempt was at 80% and they all  showed the same shininess. I guess I need to flatten the layers into one layer like you do for making planets? I'll mess with it and see if I'm right.

[blowfish]

Does whatever image-editing program you use (Was it Paint Shop Pro? ) have a channels editor?

[Jadehawk]

yes Paint Shop Pro 9

[esarai]

Out of curiosity does Photoshop have a channel editor?

[blowfish]

Out of curiosity does Photoshop have a channel editor?

Yes.  Open the channels palette, and if you create a new channel, it should be called "Alpha 1" ().  Using black=transparent and white=opaque, you can do whatever you want to the image's alpha channel.

[Droid803]

Yes.  Open the channels palette, and if you create a new channel, it should be called "Alpha 1" ().  Using black=transparent and white=opaque, you can do whatever you want to the image's alpha channel.

Or in the case of Alpha Env Mapping, Black = Not Shiny, White = Shiny.

[Zacam]

Paint Sheep uses MASKS for alpha layer editing.

One of the reasons I stopped using it.

It and GiMP both badly provide what I want when editing the alpha channel. Namely, providing it as a seperate channel with visibility independent of the other channels.

[Flaming_Sword]

There's a show layer mask option in GIMP, it's what I've been using, anyway. Of course, it's grayscale.

[blowfish]

There's a show layer mask option in GIMP, it's what I've been using, anyway. Of course, it's grayscale.

Alpha masks should only be grayscale anyway.

[Snail]

Damn, this thing is seriously overpowered.

[blowfish]

Damn, this thing is seriously overpowered.

Overpowered is a relative term...

[Snail]

Relative to what? Inferno?