Gloss maps in maya?

zombie420

Please be patient, this is a major noob question here. It's my understanding that in order to preview gloss maps within maya, you need a HLSL shader? I briefly tried working with it but apparently it's up to the artist to choose what .fx file to drop into the HLSL shader before he can use it?

My end goal is being able to preview gloss maps so what is some of ya'lls workflow when previewing gloss maps in maya?

Kurt Russell Fan Club

Yep, you'll want an FX shader.

I don't use Maya so I can't confirm if there's another way but use a shader -- once you are in the habit, your art will look so much better (like a proper game model, and you can texture it knowing how it will look in game rather than in Maya).

There are plenty of them around - Xoliul works with Maya, here's another thread with links to some: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80454

Xoliul viewport shader has a gloss map slot - put your gloss in there and smile

sltrOlsson

The koddeShader 2.0 is where you wanna go! http://www.kostas.se/?p=17

You need to load the HLSL/CGFX plugins for Maya, it's there with the install you just need to load them.. Go to Window- Settings/Preferences- Plugin-manager.

passerby

the older Xoliul Shader works in maya too 1.5 i think it is
http://www.laurenscorijn.com/viewportshader

you just need to enable the hlsl plugin first than load up the FX file.


also

lcUberShader_3.0 is a good cgfx shader for maya that supports gloss.

http://blog.leocov.com/p/downloads.html

zombie420

How do I get the shaders to be visible in the viewport? I'm using maya 2012 and although I've compiled the shader in but when I choose default quality rendering, my mesh is black; high quality rendering my mesh is white and viewport 2.0 my mesh is bright pink.

I'm obviously overlooking a step somewhere.

bugo

You CAN preview gloss in maya, if its before 2013. Either High quality or viewport 2.0 should work.

Just make sure the gloss map is on the alpha of the specular, and connect through hypershader the alpha output of the gloss map to the cosine power of phong.
Reflectivity (reflection mask) and Diffuse works the same way.

edit: forgot to mention, if you have a separate map for gloss, it's fine, make sure to just grab one of the channels, R for an example.

bugo

Here's where you do the connection:

Make sure to load the texture on the left and load the phong material on the right

sltrOlsson

You activate the cgfx plug, apply a cgfx material (I think it's called, it should be in your list of materials), in your just applied material it will be a box asking for an shader file. Click it and find your shader file.

I've tried lcUberShader_3.0, Xoliul Shader and Kodde shader. The shader with the best interface and functionality, in my opinion, is the Kodde shader..

At least try it. I would not use an old 3ds max shader in maya.

Galactic_Muffin

zombie420 wrote: »

How do I get the shaders to be visible in the viewport? I'm using maya 2012 and although I've compiled the shader in but when I choose default quality rendering, my mesh is black; high quality rendering my mesh is white and viewport 2.0 my mesh is bright pink.

I'm obviously overlooking a step somewhere.

Same thing happens to me in Maya 2012. I have imported 2 different .fx files (Xoliul Shader and lcnextgenshader1.2) and neither of them are displaying anything. My mesh persists to display the default white (or green when rendered) material associated with the Hlsl shader. When I add my diffuse texture and specmap, the shader preview updates but the model does not. I have followed troubble shooting and tutorials to a T and I KNOW my computer specs are all correct.
I'm starting to have a feeling that Maya 2012 just simply doesn't support it anymore. Perhaps a bug somewhere.

haiddasalami

I hope you're hitting the 6 key or textured view. Maya 2012 definitely supports cgfx and hlsl shaders. High quality rendering doesnt show the shaders btw.

Galactic_Muffin

haiddasalami wrote: »

High quality rendering doesnt show the shaders btw.

Yes, textured view is on. Well, it displays for me in default quality but the normal maps and specmaps are not working. I was specifically told by this tutorial that I needed to set rendering to high quality in order to veiw specularity and normal maps.

haiddasalami

Galactic_Muffin wrote: »

Yes, textured view is on. Well, it displays for me in default quality but the normal maps and specmaps are not working. I was specifically told by this tutorial that I needed to set rendering to high quality in order to veiw specularity and normal maps.

Sorry I should have clarified, high quality doesnt work for cgfx or hlsl shaders though does work for maya's shaders (though its spotty and doesnt work 1/4 of the time) Are you using Leo's cgfx shader? CGFX shaders in Maya are somewhat better than HLSL as Mayas viewport is OpenGL

Brygelsmack

Hey sltrOlsson, where do I assign my Gloss map in the KoddeShader? I can only find slots for Diff, Normal, and Spec. There's a slider for GlossFactor but if I want to use a map specifically, can I do that somehow?

sltrOlsson

In the shader you tick use specular textures alpha as gloss and put the gloss in the alpha of the spec that's for koddeShader 2.0

Brygelsmack

Aah, alright then. Thanks man!