Autopsy - If I remember correctly, the lightmap resolution on BSP surfaces works the opposite way as it does on meshes. Have you tried going lower than 32?
Notorious - Make sure you didn't accidentally hit "Q". You may have had a brush in there that you have hidden.
Yup... that was it
Made some good progress with my stuff today. Good times but so much left to do... but at least now I donยดt have to worry about getting things to move and things like that anymore.
sXe: Are you using billboards for your leaves or planes?
If the second I'm guessing you might be using Fronds or Individual Leaves, which from my experience do not cast shadows properly. If you want your leaves to grow from the branches (as opposed to hang in the air when using Standard RT) use Single Leaf instead; lower the First value to get them cover the branches properly.
Sorry if I had completely missed the point, but I had the same issue two weeks ago
Teaandcigarettes - Thanks, I'll try that out when I get a chance.
Grimm - That's probably the case. I'm still using an older build since my school hasn't updated to a newer build yet. Makes it easier to take work between school and home.
Iยดve made the ceiling slightly transparent now and I wanted to get some kind of shadow effect on the ground from the non-transparent frames of the windows.
Thing is, no matter what option I turn on nothing happens.
oXYnary I'm a bit confused by your followup mirror question, mostly the image you posted, not sure what you want to mirror there.
You can mirror one side of a box onto the opposite side.
Rotating half of a top of a cylinder's UVs 180ยฐ and stacking them won't work IIRC, but truly mirroring it will, like in my example.
Yes, it's best if the mirror seams run straight up and down like in my example.
EDIT:
Based on the image you posted earlier it seems like you are asking if all UV seams need to be vertical/straight up and down?
The answer is no they don't, only mirrored seams need to be made that way, and only when the mirrored UV shells share an edge on the geometry itself. If they are opposite sides of a cube for example then seam direction doesn't matter, but if they are opposite sides of the same face of a cube that was split in half then the seam needs to be vertical to avoid visible normal map seams.
Mirroring UVs (and UV seams in general) can cause quite a few headaches with normal maps in UDK/Unreal but I think one of the most basic rules of UVing which is "hide the seams or place them in logical places where there would be a visible seam on the object anyway" still applies.
Well. I redid the seams again. Placed the mirrors that go across vertical as suggested. Took the curved ones off. Just as bad. What the hell am I doing wrong? This is a very frustrating. I never had these issues in torque. Im not "getting" something I should? Did I import the normal map in wrong? Just the default settings and the tc_normalmap option.
Wait a minute here, you're not mirroring your UVs. At least not what I'd call mirroring them. You've just got them split in half and facing opposite directions in the layout.
What I would call mirroring UVs would be to split a UV shell into two halves, then flip one side and either stack it onto the other side or move it 1 U or V unit over.
Unsure what the difference between what you mention is. I do pull off the reversed uvs from the main area when I bake with a uv modifier. Then delete that modifier on the final low poly.
Why did the seat still have that glaring seam even though it was not mirrored? In fact, if you look closely, any place on the model there is a uv island its showing seams. So im wondering if there is something else I'm missing.
Is there something special with skeleton materials?
Yea. There is something else going on as well.
Comparing to inbuilt Mantra
My swizzle is +x -y +z tangent. I thought that was standard for udk? Or is it maya of all positive?
Whatever the case I have tried to reverse my channels without luck.
Unless vehicles use object space and the above is?
is the left a shot of your texture in UDK? Are you using the correct compression settings? it should be TC_Normalmap, which should make []sRGB unchecked and the min settings set to -1,-1,-1,0
is the left a shot of your texture in UDK? Are you using the correct compression settings? it should be TC_Normalmap, which should make []sRGB unchecked and the min settings set to -1,-1,-1,0
It was TC Normalmap. was unfamiliar needed others. Changed. However, nothing looks different on the model. Still seams galore.
I added a planar strip of quads in the middle of the seat that I then split in half so the mirror will work with a normal map. It probably doesn't match your high poly model, but you get idea.
Here's a obj, sorry Modo probably borked your smoothing groups...
Any UV seam will result in a seam in the normal map so it's best to make your UVs as seamless as possible.
What I've been trying to show you is how to minimize a normal map seam across mirrored and "stacked" UVs. Which is what I thought you wanted to know how to do.
I added a planar strip of quads in the middle of the seat that I then split in half so the mirror will work with a normal map. It probably doesn't match your high poly model, but you get idea.
Here's a obj, sorry Modo probably borked your smoothing groups...
Any UV seam will result in a seam in the normal map so it's best to make your UVs as seamless as possible.
What I've been trying to show you is how to minimize a normal map seam across mirrored and "stacked" UVs. Which is what I thought you wanted to know how to do.
I hope that helps.
Ben, I wonder if its something more because I have never had issues like this before (albeit other engines).
You cant see but I circled the wheels as well.. The back wheel. Which isn't mirrored front to back on itself
EDIT: This is just.. Weird. I had previously saved and closed UDK after the normal map changes via srgb off. I went and looked at the scorpion at its vectors and normals. Went back to my model.. and the seams had disappeared!!??!!
I don't know if this is something with a graphics driver. Or a bug.
Anyhow, the model looks right now.. Sory for all that trouble you went through Ben.
Yeah you'd get a seam along side of the wheels and also on the end's of the strip right where the UVs are split too. You would have to UV it much differently to avoid any normal map seams.
Yeah you'd get a seam along side of the wheels and also on the end's of the strip right where the UVs are split too. You would have to UV it much differently to avoid any normal map seams.
Yea, would be a bit hard trying to equally split the rear (hard to show without a pict, but trying to line up its split would be difficult on the high res). But, I can say, again, it looks fine now. 90% of this was caused User error with the normal map import options and the engine then not updating the settings on the model or something (which may/may not be user error).
I did get new ways to mirror from you though. Thank you for all your trouble.
fortunately i just found a fix. i was messing around with the Static Lighting Level Scale in the world properties, and it was changed back to 1. when i turn it up to 512 or somewhere around there (had it at 800) the random glowing spots are gone. just found a section on it at the UDN http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Lightmass.html#Lightmass%20Solver%20quality
(light mass solver section) so the glowing might have something to do with too many calculations possibly?
for the uv layout, the brick wall piece is just planar mapped, and the bricks are tiled in the material itself. the two yellow lights are using the emissive channel for static lighting, and the small light is just a static mesh with a point light on top. starting to think the lighting with emissive channel for static lighting option is not doing wonders....
Why is it in game view mode or PIE, my textures look blurry compared to normal editor view. As if it is receiving too much ambient lighting. Is there a way to get through this or is this normal in udk?
boyluya: Sounds like you might be talking about the static tone-mapping that UDK currently employs - it will desaturate you scene in PIE/game mode in favour of showing a greater range of highlights. For now if you look back in this thread a bit there was a post on how to counter it with postFX color correction, but I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting for a better way to control it.
boyluya: Sounds like you might be talking about the static tone-mapping that UDK currently employs - it will desaturate you scene in PIE/game mode in favour of showing a greater range of highlights. For now if you look back in this thread a bit there was a post on how to counter it with postFX color correction, but I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting for a better way to control it.
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to point out but dunno the right words to describe it. Ok, I'll search what you said. Thanks. :poly121:
Can anybody point in the right direction for the correct grid/Scale settings in Maya to translate to UDK? Is it still the same as unreal where it was around 96 units for a character height ( I remember the Gears editor was slightly different in terms of character height). With grid divsions at soemthing like 16/32/64 etc. Not used unreal in a long time but looking at getting back into for a new folio piece
Thanks in advance- I did a search but didn't find anything - maybe I'm searching for the wrong terms?
Hey guys, is there a way to get vertex blending with alphas on the terrain? The default blending betweeb two materials looks like crap.
I've been looking around the forums, but the only solution I came across was using RGB masks. Some people suggested converting the terrain to a static mesh and using vertex pain. This would work pretty damn well, but I am concerned about the performance; my current environment is pretty damn big and I don't want my tricount to skyrocket.
Can anybody point in the right direction for the correct grid/Scale settings in Maya to translate to UDK? Is it still the same as unreal where it was around 96 units for a character height ( I remember the Gears editor was slightly different in terms of character height). With grid divsions at soemthing like 16/32/64 etc. Not used unreal in a long time but looking at getting back into for a new folio piece
Thanks in advance- I did a search but didn't find anything - maybe I'm searching for the wrong terms?
1 unreal unit = 1 centimeter in maya
for the grid, it would really be your preference, i have it at
length/width at 1024.00 units
grid lines at 16.00 units,
i wouldn't think so since max's Z is up right....and so is unreal....go check. bring in a simple model and use a point light and move it around to see that the bumps are going in/out when they need to. i render maps from maya and it works fine
Okay, I was just making sure. I've been using both Unreal and Xoliul's viewport shader lately and confused myself for a second on the correct direction of the green channel.
Une question. I'm working with post process effects in my scene, and with DOF, it blurs everything just the way I like it. Except for one thing. My water. I have the DOF focus type set to distance, which should make the water blur based on the distance from the camera, but it blurs all of the water completely, regardless of the camera distance. The water itself is basically a customized version of hourence's outdoor water material setup: http://www.hourences.com/book/tutorialsue3water.htm
The material setup is MLM Unlit, and Blend Translucent. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I got a question about using UDK efficiently in a real-world scenario...
I spent a crap load of time trying to figure out what was causing the pixelation on the right of the image...3ds max didn't have it, marmoset didn't have it and the normal map texture looks fine...
Well...I changed the compression setting in UDK from TC_NormalMap to TC_NormalMapUncrompressed and it got rid of the issue as you can see on the left side of the image...
Now...is it ok for me to be doing this? Or am I going to run into performance issues? This is just for my portfolio, but I don't want to develop nasty habits to get work looking good...
So can I do this...or am I doing something wrong with my textures? The texture size is 1024x512 tga. Baked in 3ds max...I also tried baking it in Xnormal and the same issues occurred.
I'm pretty sure TC_NormalMapUncompressed reduces the resolution of your normal map by half, so a imported 1024 becomes a uncompressed 512. I think the size in memory is supposed to be about the same between the two so there's no disadvantage besides the loss of resolution.
Autopsy: That's texture compression for you - in cases like this it can really show Seeing as using an uncompressed texture probably takes up many times the memory, have you considered using a smaller texture and tiling it? Should work fine for this kind of thing. It might also become less apparent with the diffuse in there. (Trying to dig around to find just how much larger an uncompressed version is, but my google skills are failing me atm... Any takers?) In any case, I wouldn't beat myself up over using uncompressed normals in a portfolio.
3dRyan, translucency cannot render to the depth buffer so it will always have issues with any depth based effect like DOF. Most of the time it uses the depth of the opaque object behind it.
I have a workflow question i want to ask... ( new to UDK)
Do you :
a) build a base layout in your main app ( Max in my case ) and finish adding assets in UDK
or
b) build everything as modular as possbile in your main app and put them together in UDK.
The main issue i'm having is that i find it much easier to assemble things in Max. So, if i build most of my base layout in max ,how do i export it to udk and keep it together .
Also i want to know if instancing just the geometry in UDK improves performance.
For example if i build 4 pillars for a building in Max , figure out how to export them together to UDK , and use the same materials for all of them , is it the same, performance wise , as instancing them in UDK ?
Ben: Thanks a lot for that info and the links dude. Really informative stuff!
rasmus: I think I need to start doing more tiling textures like you mentioned. I've only really done props where they all have their own textures. Better start getting in the habit of creating tileable textures for assets like this. Thanks for the help!
Once again, I'm puzzled. If you look at the pic, you'll probably know what's wrong: I think it's a smoothing group issue. I used maya to model the leaves, and it's all geometry. No alpha at all. Anyone know what might be causing this? If it IS a smoothing group issue, how do I fix it? I've tried both smooth and hard groups, along with all the tools under "normals" to change around the normals. Anyone got an idea?
Ok, I saw this up there before me, but none of the tricks they suggested were working... Whats up with the normal map seam on mirrored objects? It should work the way I have it set up... but to no avail... any suggestions? I tried rotating the UV's and rebaking too after I took this one, no change though...
Replies
I also saw that you can simulate fire light effects through use of a light function. Is one method better than the other?
Also, how do I get the softmasked blend mode to work? I can't seem to find that option anywhere.
Thanks again.
I assumed it would be. But I don't see it in my material editor. I'm guessing I'm making a really simple mistake.
Made some good progress with my stuff today. Good times but so much left to do... but at least now I donยดt have to worry about getting things to move and things like that anymore.
[ame]
(yes yes, iยดll go post in my thread)
If the second I'm guessing you might be using Fronds or Individual Leaves, which from my experience do not cast shadows properly. If you want your leaves to grow from the branches (as opposed to hang in the air when using Standard RT) use Single Leaf instead; lower the First value to get them cover the branches properly.
Sorry if I had completely missed the point, but I had the same issue two weeks ago
Its there (soft masked), I think he just needs the newest udk or at least March. Its been there since March for me anyways.
Grimm - That's probably the case. I'm still using an older build since my school hasn't updated to a newer build yet. Makes it easier to take work between school and home.
Thanks a lot guys
Thing is, no matter what option I turn on nothing happens.
Well. I redid the seams again. Placed the mirrors that go across vertical as suggested. Took the curved ones off. Just as bad. What the hell am I doing wrong? This is a very frustrating. I never had these issues in torque. Im not "getting" something I should? Did I import the normal map in wrong? Just the default settings and the tc_normalmap option.
Max
Showing the UV seams.
In UDK
UV Layout
FBX
http://www.oxynary.com/downloads/udk/layout.zip
Does UDK require each uv island to have its own smoothing group? Even if its across curved surfaces? Would that fix this?
What I would call mirroring UVs would be to split a UV shell into two halves, then flip one side and either stack it onto the other side or move it 1 U or V unit over.
EDIT:
Like this:
Why did the seat still have that glaring seam even though it was not mirrored? In fact, if you look closely, any place on the model there is a uv island its showing seams. So im wondering if there is something else I'm missing.
Is there something special with skeleton materials?
Yea. There is something else going on as well.
Comparing to inbuilt Mantra
My swizzle is +x -y +z tangent. I thought that was standard for udk? Or is it maya of all positive?
Whatever the case I have tried to reverse my channels without luck.
Unless vehicles use object space and the above is?
Vehicles will use standard tangent space normal maps. The "Y" direction is opposite Maya's default, so I think you've got it correct.
It was TC Normalmap. was unfamiliar needed others. Changed. However, nothing looks different on the model. Still seams galore.
Here's a obj, sorry Modo probably borked your smoothing groups...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1447878/layout2.zip
Any UV seam will result in a seam in the normal map so it's best to make your UVs as seamless as possible.
What I've been trying to show you is how to minimize a normal map seam across mirrored and "stacked" UVs. Which is what I thought you wanted to know how to do.
I hope that helps.
Ben, I wonder if its something more because I have never had issues like this before (albeit other engines).
You cant see but I circled the wheels as well.. The back wheel. Which isn't mirrored front to back on itself
EDIT: This is just.. Weird. I had previously saved and closed UDK after the normal map changes via srgb off. I went and looked at the scorpion at its vectors and normals. Went back to my model.. and the seams had disappeared!!??!!
I don't know if this is something with a graphics driver. Or a bug.
Anyhow, the model looks right now.. Sory for all that trouble you went through Ben.
Something more like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1447878/layout4.zip
Yea, would be a bit hard trying to equally split the rear (hard to show without a pict, but trying to line up its split would be difficult on the high res). But, I can say, again, it looks fine now. 90% of this was caused User error with the normal map import options and the engine then not updating the settings on the model or something (which may/may not be user error).
I did get new ways to mirror from you though. Thank you for all your trouble.
might be hard to tell from the image, but there is this orange and yellow glowing.....coming from who knows where
any suggestions?
(light mass solver section) so the glowing might have something to do with too many calculations possibly?
for the uv layout, the brick wall piece is just planar mapped, and the bricks are tiled in the material itself. the two yellow lights are using the emissive channel for static lighting, and the small light is just a static mesh with a point light on top. starting to think the lighting with emissive channel for static lighting option is not doing wonders....
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to point out but dunno the right words to describe it. Ok, I'll search what you said. Thanks. :poly121:
Can anybody point in the right direction for the correct grid/Scale settings in Maya to translate to UDK? Is it still the same as unreal where it was around 96 units for a character height ( I remember the Gears editor was slightly different in terms of character height). With grid divsions at soemthing like 16/32/64 etc. Not used unreal in a long time but looking at getting back into for a new folio piece
Thanks in advance- I did a search but didn't find anything - maybe I'm searching for the wrong terms?
I've been looking around the forums, but the only solution I came across was using RGB masks. Some people suggested converting the terrain to a static mesh and using vertex pain. This would work pretty damn well, but I am concerned about the performance; my current environment is pretty damn big and I don't want my tricount to skyrocket.
Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
1 unreal unit = 1 centimeter in maya
for the grid, it would really be your preference, i have it at
length/width at 1024.00 units
grid lines at 16.00 units,
but it really depends on how big/small your assets are and what grid options you're using in UDK. check this too http://www.kylerives.com/wordpress/?p=105
as for player/human size....i read somewhere on the udk forums that it's 6 feet...but don't quote me.
Thanks, yeah it appears things haven't changed as I suspected.
many thanks
If I render out a normal map in Max, do I need to flip the green channel for Unreal?
The material setup is MLM Unlit, and Blend Translucent. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I spent a crap load of time trying to figure out what was causing the pixelation on the right of the image...3ds max didn't have it, marmoset didn't have it and the normal map texture looks fine...
Well...I changed the compression setting in UDK from TC_NormalMap to TC_NormalMapUncrompressed and it got rid of the issue as you can see on the left side of the image...
Now...is it ok for me to be doing this? Or am I going to run into performance issues? This is just for my portfolio, but I don't want to develop nasty habits to get work looking good...
So can I do this...or am I doing something wrong with my textures? The texture size is 1024x512 tga. Baked in 3ds max...I also tried baking it in Xnormal and the same issues occurred.
Any help or advice on what's going on?
EDIT:
More info UDN or here.
EDIT: Ah, Ben outdrew me
Do you :
a) build a base layout in your main app ( Max in my case ) and finish adding assets in UDK
or
b) build everything as modular as possbile in your main app and put them together in UDK.
The main issue i'm having is that i find it much easier to assemble things in Max. So, if i build most of my base layout in max ,how do i export it to udk and keep it together .
Also i want to know if instancing just the geometry in UDK improves performance.
For example if i build 4 pillars for a building in Max , figure out how to export them together to UDK , and use the same materials for all of them , is it the same, performance wise , as instancing them in UDK ?
having 1 mesh asset that you copy around in UE3 saves memory and section count.
rasmus: I think I need to start doing more tiling textures like you mentioned. I've only really done props where they all have their own textures. Better start getting in the habit of creating tileable textures for assets like this. Thanks for the help!