ANSWERED: Creating a custom dDO Mask?
polycounter lvl 10
I have recently returned from GDC with advice on my map and looking to give it a more stylized look. I'd like to know if there's a way to do so.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/ratchet/images/8/82/Ratchet_using_Winterizer.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130820230049
The cavities on some of these items have this circular effect applied to it and wondered on how to pull this off? I'm pretty decent with Quixel but don't know how to create a custom Dynamask.
After digging through the Quixel folder, there is a Mask folder with various black and white textures. Is there anything I should be careful of while messing with this? Or a website that has various mask images to check out and play with?
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/ratchet/images/8/82/Ratchet_using_Winterizer.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130820230049
The cavities on some of these items have this circular effect applied to it and wondered on how to pull this off? I'm pretty decent with Quixel but don't know how to create a custom Dynamask.
After digging through the Quixel folder, there is a Mask folder with various black and white textures. Is there anything I should be careful of while messing with this? Or a website that has various mask images to check out and play with?
Replies
There are a few ways to go about when creating custom masks, but non of them are particularly difficult!
What I usually do is to create a custom base material in black and white, always tile-able so that they can be reused in future projects. Those are the materials you see under "PATTERNS" in the material browser in The Suite. Quite easy to create but very powerful and a big time-saver! To make one of these materials just click the "create custom material" button on DDO, import a black and white image in the albedo slot and click save! You could also make a normal map as well with NDO if you want, I do that sometimes as well!
You could also create a custom map and save it out as a png, them use the "import bitmap" feature at the bottom of the dynamask editor, it imports as a smart object, so as long as your original image matches the texture size you can resize the imported file to cover your entire texture. Of course you don´t have to import a map that covers the entire texture, you can import small details if you want and place them on your texture!
Do you think any of these methods will achieve the result you´re going for?
I am looking to create a custom map and be able to use it within dDO and nDO(if needed). Are there any rules I should abide by to create a custom map? Png file, black and white image and tilable are three that sound pretty mandatory. If you looked at the image link, in the background on the environments, there's a pattern that they are using that is played off as scratches. I was told this by an Insomniac environment artist, to give the game that cartoony feel but show the wear and tear of the environment at the same time. I'd like to try and pull that effect off.
With what you say, it doesn't sound difficult to pull off, just gotta play with the image and try to get the look that I want. It appears, either way could do it for me. With the pattern option, I'd create the black and white image in Photoshop, save the file, then import it into dDO via 'create Custom Material" button and tweak any settings and save the file as a custom material. Sound about right?
If the scratches you´re talking about are the "bubbly" looking ones, then I would probably try to make a set of "grungemaps", then you can just smack them on whichever surface you want!