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Blender Mega Thread

14445474950139

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  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    You might take a look at this thread about using the Apex Clothing Tool with meshes exported from Blender.

    https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?5242-Blender-gt-Apex-Clothing-Tool-gt-UE4

    Or this page on the wiki about using softbody simulation to affect armatures.

    http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.4/Manual/Physics/Soft_Body/Combination_With_Armatures

    Unfortunately the wiki page is pretty old so you'll probably need to do some testing around to get things working, but it should be possible to do this, and it should also be possible to cache and bake the simulation to keyframes for export to UE4.
  • Gmanx
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    Gmanx polycounter lvl 19
    Unfortunately the wiki page is pretty old so you'll probably need to do some testing around to get things working, but it should be possible to do this, and it should also be possible to cache and bake the simulation to keyframes for export to UE4.

    I've been making trees in Blender using the sapling add-on today and was wondering about doing something similar - whether I can bake out the built-in sway animation from Sapling so it works in UE4.

    Might have to have a play with it.
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Hey Jed, yeh I already had seen that tutorial with thw swing thing. Looks convincing enough.

    If somebody has a simpler solution, please let us know.
  • cookedpeanut
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    cookedpeanut polycounter lvl 13
    Could someone tell me if this is possible in Blender?
    https://youtu.be/BGhIQJYe_ew?t=25
    He applies more geometry to the shape which interpolates the curves but doesn't affect the edges. I tried doing something similar in Blender but no joy, I applied an edge-split modifier and then a subd modifier underneath, however it just curves the edges. Using the subdivide smooth almost works in essence, but not as is shown in the video.

    I need this so badly!
  • JustMeSR
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    JustMeSR polycounter lvl 4
    He applies more geometry to the shape which interpolates the curves but doesn't affect the edges.

    Creases achieve what you described.
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyxFd_G-Bc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyxFd_G-Bc[/ame]
  • cookedpeanut
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    cookedpeanut polycounter lvl 13
    JustMeSR wrote: »
    Creases achieve what you described.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyxFd_G-Bc

    Perfect, thankyou.
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    There is a way to have "true" wireframe view without the need to turn off Faces Overlays every time?


    Default
    uDM5EUs.png

    With Faces turned off (N-->Mesh Display-->Overlays)
    iu7uQmP.png
  • SnowInChina
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    SnowInChina interpolator
    is N-> shading -> hidden wire

    what you are looking for ? (only works in edit mode)
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    Well, that is the wireframe version of hidden lines, so it doesn't show all the wires.

    I wanted to see my wireframes without that X-ray effect on the faces. If I turn off Faces on the Overlays option and switch back to Solid, the faces are only shown as highlighted wires and I don't want that.

    This back and forth between options is slowing me down, the quad view is bugged too and doesn't even have separate shading for the various views, so what to do?
  • iadagraca
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    iadagraca polycounter lvl 5
    can you give a picture of what you're looking for?
  • SnowInChina
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    SnowInChina interpolator
    SonicBlue wrote: »
    Well, that is the wireframe version of hidden lines, so it doesn't show all the wires.

    I wanted to see my wireframes without that X-ray effect on the faces. If I turn off Faces on the Overlays option and switch back to Solid, the faces are only shown as highlighted wires and I don't want that.

    This back and forth between options is slowing me down, the quad view is bugged too and doesn't even have separate shading for the various views, so what to do?


    instead of using quad view, you can maually create new viewports and save that as a preset
    in this new viewports you can have different shading
  • darkmag07
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    darkmag07 polycounter lvl 12
    display_wire_ref.png

    Is this what you're looking for? This mode will draw the wireframe over whatever view the model is currently in, including when not in edit mode. If you select the object and then go to Object > Display you just need to make sure the Wire checkbox is selected. The Draw All Edges box makes sure it shows every edge, but can be bad for really dense models.

    You could also consider adding the new wireframe modifier which will draw wires on top of the model based on a material, although it can be kind of buggy. (It's nice for wireframe renders however.)

    It also seems like you might have missed the viewport shading modes? (It's the box with the circle next to "object mode" in my screenshot.) Z toggles wireframe and solid. Alt+Z toggles wireframe and textured. There's also a menu on the bottom bar with a few more options.
  • Frankie
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    Frankie polycounter lvl 20
    I think he's looking for a global (viewport?) toggle you can get to with a shortcut rather than an object one you have to click in a menu somewhere, I would really like that too actually.

    Edit: actually read it properly this time, think you were right darkmage07.
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks for the various suggestions, but is not what I was looking for, I thought that the picture where explicit.

    Anyway, to make it simple, I want a way to toggle between Solid and Wireframe mode, without that semi-transparent face overlapping that Blender have.

    G7FNpOy.gif

    Just like here, or in any other software.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    Go to File->User Preferences, Themes tab on top, 3D View on the left. Find Face and Face Selected colors 13 rows down from the top. Click the colors and drag alpha to zero. Save user settings and you should be good to go.

    Is this what you're looking for?
  • SnowInChina
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    SnowInChina interpolator
    maybe try this

    28qrqdj.jpg

    toggle with Z


    edit : jed beat me to it while i was performing photoshop magic =(
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    That's IT!!!!

    I love you guys :D
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    SonicBlue - this is my setup, with F3 and alt-F3 respectively set to wireframe and solid. I hope this is what you are looking for.

    ci5BQOM.png

    Now a one key toggle would be better, but I do not know how to do that.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    Just put SOLID in the other Value slot and you'll have your one-key toggle. This is how the Z key is setup by default and I think it's fine.
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks Pior!

    As JedTheKrampus said, you can do that, I was trying it, and when I updated the page he had already replied.

    I did that in another way:

    52TgQU8.png


    If you're using the PieMenu, there's no a direct Z toggle btw.
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    1431373545-celi.png

    Prooud to present my first ever model in Blender.
    I am planning of texturing her in a few hours, using Kritta and Blender.

    Wish me good luck.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152769

    It's happening! Fresh tutorials for high-quality Cycles renders. If you find these hard to follow or extremely boring at any point let me know where you got stuck (by PM if you're more comfortable with that, but in the thread if you have a question that you think people would benefit from knowing the answer to) and I will try to improve my tutorials and answer your questions.
  • Mongrelman
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    Mongrelman polycounter lvl 18
    Thought I'd post this as I don't think it's been shown in a while.

    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZH8RJDr6pg[/ame]
  • Frankie
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    Frankie polycounter lvl 20
  • mont29
    Hey guys, made a second testbuild of asset-experiements branch) (the one containing filebrowser changes needed for asset engine project), more details here! :D
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    Frankie: yes you can. First, take this Python script and save it in Blender/(version number)/scripts/addons folder as object_toggle_wireframe_on_shaded_on_all.py.
    import bpy
    
    bl_info = { "name": "Quick Wireframe on Shaded", "category": "Object" }
    
    def main(context):
        do_i_show_wire = not context.active_object.show_wire
        for ob in context.scene.objects:
            ob.show_wire = do_i_show_wire
    
    
    class ToggleWireframeOnShadedOnAll(bpy.types.Operator):
        """Toggle Wireframe on Shaded on All"""
        bl_idname = "object.toggle_wireframe_on_shaded_on_all"
        bl_label = "Toggle Wireframe on Shaded"
    
        @classmethod
        def poll(cls, context):
            return context.active_object is not None
    
        def execute(self, context):
            main(context)
            return {'FINISHED'}
    
    
    def register():
        bpy.utils.register_class(ToggleWireframeOnShadedOnAll)
    
    
    def unregister():
        bpy.utils.unregister_class(ToggleWireframeOnShadedOnAll)
    
    
    if __name__ == "__main__":
        register()
    

    Then, start Blender up, go to the addons list, and add the Toggle Wireframe on Shaded on All addon. Go to the hotkey list, go to 3D View->3D View (Global), scroll down to the end of the section, click Add New button, click the arrow next to the new hotkey, type in the top left box object.toggle_wireframe_on_shaded_on_all, and define your hotkey of choice for the operator in the box to the right of that.

    Make sure you read the script and understand what it does before you do this. Otherwise, you might be installing malicious code on your machine! Also, it will help you learn how to make your own scripts so you can become the Seneca of Blender.

    Bastien, thanks for the testbuild. You've been consistently making the patches that Blender needs the most, and I really appreciate it.
  • Frankie
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    Frankie polycounter lvl 20
    Thanks for the script and encouragement Jed, would love to be able to do it competently myself, definitely something for the future.
  • ironbearxl
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    ironbearxl polycounter lvl 18
    I'm having a problem where I can't adjust the dialog box dividers anymore. I think it's related to the screen.region_scale operator since I'm getting the message "can only scale region size from an action zone" when I try to move a divider. I was editing shortcuts in the Screen>Screen Editing rollout.

    I think I've spent more time in Blender just changing the UI interaction then actually using the program, and I'm still not done... It's cool that Blender can be changed to my liking but if the shortcuts for simple stuff started out more like max or maya or modo or photoshop or word or something that made sense it would be less of a gigantic pain in the damn ass.

    Also, there is a lot of the program that is buried away in a shortcut somewhere and god forbid you delete it. I deleted the specials menu from the key editor and realized there was no menu assignment for it! So I had to go blender.org/api to find the operator name and re-assign a shortcut to it...
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4DToZHc768[/ame]

    This guy's add-on is total trash and gave me false hope on my progress.

    I am currently unwrapping my dozens of hair strands and wanted to copy-paste the uvs instead of unwrapping them all.

    ANy way to do this?
  • ironbearxl
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    ironbearxl polycounter lvl 18
    Blond wrote: »
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4DToZHc768

    This guy's add-on is total trash and gave me false hope on my progress.

    I am currently unwrapping my dozens of hair strands and wanted to copy-paste the uvs instead of unwrapping them all.

    ANy way to do this?

    Object > Make Links > Transfer UV Maps
  • ironbearxl
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    ironbearxl polycounter lvl 18
    ironbearxl wrote: »
    I'm having a problem where I can't adjust the dialog box dividers anymore. I think it's related to the screen.region_scale operator since I'm getting the message "can only scale region size from an action zone" when I try to move a divider. I was editing shortcuts in the Screen>Screen Editing rollout.

    I think I've spent more time in Blender just changing the UI interaction then actually using the program, and I'm still not done... It's cool that Blender can be changed to my liking but if the shortcuts for simple stuff started out more like max or maya or modo or photoshop or word or something that made sense it would be less of a gigantic pain in the damn ass.

    Also, there is a lot of the program that is buried away in a shortcut somewhere and god forbid you delete it. I deleted the specials menu from the key editor and realized there was no menu assignment for it! So I had to go blender.org/api to find the operator name and re-assign a shortcut to it...

    Ok, the problem is even if you edit the screen.region_scale and then reset it back to default, it won't work after that. I had to open up the saved shortcut file .py in Notepad and then delete the entire #Screen Editing section.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    Blond wrote: »
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4DToZHc768

    This guy's add-on is total trash and gave me false hope on my progress.

    I am currently unwrapping my dozens of hair strands and wanted to copy-paste the uvs instead of unwrapping them all.

    ANy way to do this?

    Or use the data transfer modifier: put the faces that you want to transfer UVs for in a vertex group, add a data transfer modifier on the target mesh, put the source mesh in the Source Object field, check Face Corner Data, pick the algorithm you want (I like projected face interpolated myself, but you may be in a different situation), pick UVs, pick the vertex group for the faces you want the attribute transfer to affect, apply the modifier and you should be golden.

    AFAIK Ctrl+L only works when the vertex order is the same.
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Data transfer modifier? I dont see it in the modifier list. Are you sure it doesnt hold a new name?
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    It's in the list on the leftmost column. It's pretty new so you might have to update Blender.
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    Blond wrote: »
    This guy's add-on is total trash and gave me false hope on my progress.

    I am currently unwrapping my dozens of hair strands and wanted to copy-paste the uvs instead of unwrapping them all.

    ANy way to do this?
    Is there a reason why you chose to do it this way instead of just making one strand, UVing it, and then copy/pasting the whole strand mesh then adjusting the vertices while placing it?
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Is there a reason why you chose to do it this way instead of just making one strand, UVing it, and then copy/pasting the whole strand mesh then adjusting the vertices while placing it?

    Well, trust me this is ALWAYS how I used to do it within Maya.
    Model the object and quickly wor on the UV's so I don't have to re-work on the duplicated ones.

    However, I'm not sure why, I kinda tohught of using a tool without even testing (so it's all my fault) and thought I could just copy paste the uvs onto another shell :-( ...

    That''ll teach me...
  • Frankie
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    Frankie polycounter lvl 20
    Anyone know if it's possible to custom order vertex indexing to help with sorting transparent object (I've got some trees made up of slices, like plates stacked on top of each other with a segment of the tree textured on each)
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    By the way, I just wanted to thank all of the peeps that take the time to answer our questions!

    Your help is much more than appreciated. Thank you all.:D
  • xrg
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    xrg polycounter lvl 10
    Frankie wrote: »
    Anyone know if it's possible to custom order vertex indexing to help with sorting transparent object (I've got some trees made up of slices, like plates stacked on top of each other with a segment of the tree textured on each)

    I'm not sure I follow for sure what you're trying to do, but this article covers transparency in Blender pretty thoroughly, so it might have what you're looking for.
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Hey xrg, since I've followed your video tutorials on hainpainting in Blender, can you answer this for me?

    How can we merge (flatten) multiples layers of texture into one?

    Also what's the difference between material texture and world texture?
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    1431643407-bad-planning.png


    Well, loks like I'll have to red- the hair all over again thanks to my horrendous planning and workflow.

    I'll make one instance and duplicate it then..
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    To be fair, redoing all the hair with instanced strands will take the same amount of time as unwrapping what you have right now. If you buckle up and get to it you could straighten/overlap all these UVs in about an hour or so.

    Regardless, you will still end up being frustrated since in both cases, you would need to have a proper(ish) hair strand texture ready in order to precisely preview how it will look once applied to the model. So, my advice would be to work on that first and foremost.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    Blond wrote: »
    Hey xrg, since I've followed your video tutorials on hainpainting in Blender, can you answer this for me?

    How can we merge (flatten) multiples layers of texture into one?

    Also what's the difference between material texture and world texture?

    You could always use the built-in compositor for that ;)
  • Frankie
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    Frankie polycounter lvl 20
    Thanks for the link xrg, that did it, I also had to use face mode instead of vert mode
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    1431697118-go.png

    MMh, I meant merging for example two diffuse texture into one, just like you would do in any painting program.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    You could also do a bake for this. Make an image with the size you want, set bake mode to Textures, uncheck Selected to Active, uncheck Bake to Vertex Color, go into edit mode, select all verts, go into the UV/Image editor and go to the image that you want to bake to to set it as the active image for the bake, and press Bake.

    It's no Ctrl+E but once you've figured out how to do it it's decently fast. Plus you can use it to bleed seams after you're done painting.
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Hey thanks JED, I'll try this. :D

    So, Pior, I couldve listened to you but i choosed to redo the whole thing at the cost of adding 6000 tris ...

    Well it looks better at least (new versions are images above)

    1431722526-cool.png

    Can finally start texturing!!!
  • Blond
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    Blond polycounter lvl 9
    Another question regarding textures and material:

    1-When I create a new texture that I want to paint, does Blender save the file somewhere, is it packed in the .blend file or I have to save it? How?



    2-Also, if I get things right, Blender only uses ONE material ? And from there you have to create all of your other materials by changing the parameters?



    In Maya, you had a list with different shaders (lambert,phong,blinn,etc.)
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    1. Blender doesn't save the texture file anywhere by default. Images are saved independently from .blend files to facilitate faster saving, though you can pack them later to send them to a render farm. If you want to keep your painting, you have to save the images from the UV/Image editor once so Blender knows where to save it (the default hotkey for this is F3, and you can also get to it from the Image menu on the bottom), and after that's done you can quickly re-save all the changed images that your material uses from the T panel in the 3D view, under the Slots tab.

    2. I'm not totally sure what your meaning is here, but Blender Internal and Cycles materials work in very different ways. I can't recommend using node-based materials for Internal but for Cycles it's practically mandatory. Using Cycles nodes is kind of like the Hypershade and using Blender Internal materials is kind of like using the attribute editor. Of course you can have more than one material datablock in a file. However, you assign different BRDFs in Blender Internal from the material editor itself. For example you can pick Oren-Nayar diffuse and Phong specularity and apply a color ramp to the specularity to give it a Fresnel effect.

    One odd thing about Blender Internal is that the CookTorr specular BRDF is actually Blinn-Phong (non-normalized) and the Blinn specular BRDF is actually Cook-Torrance. Don't worry about it too much, just leave the spec on CookTorr and you're good to go.

    Blender Internal materials have additional things you can switch on to get emissive, shadeless, ray mirror, subsurface, transluency, etc. In Cycles you have to implement them yourself by combining shaders like the diffuse, glossy and translucent BSDFs and emission, but it's pretty easy to do once you get used to it. However I personally prefer Blender Internal for texture painting since it's easier to see what your gloss and spec maps do (especially if you're still painting for a non PBR engine like Dota 2.)

    Another pair of odd legacy things about Blender Internal are the dread pirates Dvar and RGB to Intensity. You can find these guys in the texture properties under Influence, and you need to understand how they work to paint spec intensity and spec power maps. Basically you need to check RGB to Intensity under Influence if your texture influences any scalar parameter. This includes diffuse intensity, specular intensity, specular hardness (power), alpha and translucency, and ray mirror amount. I recommend having a texture only affect scalar parameters or color parameters, not both. Anyway if it's a scalar parameter, remember to check RGB to Intensity for image textures.

    The Dvar affects whether your scalar texture pushes the scalar value up or down. If the Dvar is 0 the texture will push the scalar down, and if it's 1 the texture will push the scalar up. So, for example, if I'm painting a gloss map for the Dota 2 hero shader, that shader works by starting with a specular power that's defined in the material description file. (Let's say it's 30.) Then the gloss texture decreases specular power. To replicate this in the Blender viewport I would first set the specular hardness to 30 in the material properties and the specular intensity to 1. Then, I go to my texture properties and add a new image texture. Under Influence, I uncheck Diffuse Color and check Specular Hardness. Then I check RGB to Intensity and set the Dvar to zero. This will make my specular power texture decrease the hardness when it's black, giving me broad highlights, and leave the hardness alone when it's white, giving me plain old specular highlights.

    To preview the Dota 2 shader in the game I can set up a compositing node tree that nondestructively packs my masks into an output file, improving iteration times a bit.

    I hope this is helpful to you. I'm a bit drunk writing this so maybe I haven't communicated some things as clearly as I might have liked.
  • eri619
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    eri619 polycounter lvl 5
    I'm here for some information about this model format,its extension is YOBJ.I'm providing a sample model file and textures below.
    http://www.datafilehost.com/d/7638c65f

    also here is a blender script which opens the model in blender 2.49
    https://mega.co.nz/#!1llHUb5a!14iCHUtlmFL_aPvICWaeoYXcRNffzfFuFzagDCTwriE


    Unfortunately this script doesn't export the model back to the same format after editing.
    Blender script is greek to me,else i would have deciphered the face and u-v data from the script itself.
    I need some expert to shed some light on the face format and the U-V data

    here are some details of the format which i know
    9to321.jpg
14445474950139
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