Newbie question

urbine

hey all

I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to explain the process of creating the holes and tears in the wings from the following link:

http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/dw/4/view_entries/finals_1_3489.html

from what I understand an opacity mask has been used to block out the holes in the wings, however being a bit of a novice I was under the impression that opacity masks were used for 2d objects in games, leaves/vines etc. I was just wondering how the 3D leathery-ness of the wings was acheived.

thank you in advanced

SHEPEIRO

a normal map creates the impression of 3d by changing the lighting on a per pixel basis

Mark Dygert

SHEPEIRO wrote: »

a normal map creates the impression of 3d by changing the lighting on a per pixel basis

... and most of the time you can use both together, but you should check with your shader artist/programer before stacking too many maps together, but it is possible, just not always economical.