Specular map help

spectre1130

I need help making my spec maps more believable. When I connect a spec map to my meshes, they are all very shiny even though I didn't blow out the whites in the original maps. Everything looks like metal. Do I need to work with the spec power node as well? I went ahead and used a multiply and constant3vector expression per my teacher to gray out the spec which toned the shininess down, but the objects just don't read well. Any tips on spec mapping and the nodes needed to achieve good results would be very welcome to this UDK noob.

Thanks in advance

Stromberg90

images? Need to know what it looks like now to able to help you.

Donavonyoung

Images would be great and the texture flats would help out as well.

Harbinger

I third the request to see your textures and your material setup.

Spec Power can greatly improve the look of your materials. Even putting a constant value into SpecPower can make a big difference. Low values around 5-8 for rough surfaces like wood or concrete, higher values for smoother surfaces like glass or metal.

Putting your specular map through a power node effectively increases contrast, which can help pull out details as well.

spectre1130

I know guys I'm sorry. I am so behind on this project even after weeks of putting 50-60 hrs. in on it because my texturing chops are on the low side. I haven't posted pics and such as that takes too much of my noob time to produce well. I just got off my graveyard shift as well so I'll try to post something tomorrow. Thanks Harbinger for the quick tip though. I have some kind of idea about the spec power but haven't used it ever. I wish my texturing class 5 semesters ago taught me more about...well, texturing well.

Ace-Angel

Spec Power is Roughness/Gloss values, which dictates how tight and small the highlight is.

Spec Power is what defines a material at the end of the day, so make sure you create a proper mask for it (which need to be straight up B&W values without any real details in them).

sprunghunt

Also don't just plug a specular map into your material slot.

It's possible to go very in-depth with shaders but the absolute most basic setup I ever use is to put a bitmap combined with a multiply node and a constant value. It gives you more control and you can do more with it.

spectre1130

Finally, some stuff to look at.

King Mango

I usually use a power on the diffuse texture for the specular "color." Some people advocate complementary colors. (basically inverting the a high contrast version of the diffuse which can be done with a power and a 1- node in the editor) I don't particularly care for that yet probably because I haven't found the right settings though I've seen it work well for others.

I usually set my diffuse power to anywhere between 1.25 and 1.5 and then plug that in to specular and as mentioned earlier, higher values create a tighter specular highlight. I've never been able to get a spec mask and math to work to my favor either so I always just use a value of about 25-35 for wood and stone, and lower values for glossy leaves, glass and bare metals. Sixteen is about the default value if no value is plugged in to specular power iirc.

If you don't mind a jab at your normal map, it looks like your polygon generated "corrective" normal map is overpowering your texture detail. Did you try removing the blue channel from your wood normal layer in layer properties? Also try using a smaller sample/filter size for fine details I usually go with 3x3 for detail normals and 5x5 or higher for the broad features.

JordanW

You should put control for the specular power. The defaul is 20 which is way too sharp for wood that would make a crate. You should look at reference of objects you're trying to create materials for. That type of wood would have very broad dim specular that is modulated by fresnel.

spectre1130

@kingmango. Removing the blue channel in properties? Are you talking photoshop?

King Mango

yes. double-click the layer and in the advanced blending options you should have checkboxes for each color channel.

spectre1130

I'll look at that later. I unfortunately have to go to work now.

unstoppablex

1. if you want better specular maps. first thing i recommend is changing the spec map into a colour spec map. normally when light hits a surface, it reflects a higher pitch of the colour of the object, unless there is a gloss coding on the object(like a finished table), then it'll be a white spec. below i gave you an example to try out for your object.

2. grab a constant and connect it to specular power, just like jordanW said, you need to lower it from the default. i recommend a value of 10.

3. your AO bake are pure black, with no tint of colour. rarely is shadows ever truely black. unless this box is going to be in a dark basement with only one light source it most likely will have a tint in the shadows. if you still have the photoshop file, give your AO layer a blue tint.

4. You have smoothing groups on your model, it's making it look extra weird. remember that if faces on your model doesn't have an assigned smoothing group that UDK automatically puts them in smoothing group 0.

r_fletch_r

unstoppablex wrote: »

1. if you want better specular maps. first thing i recommend is changing the spec map into a colour spec map. normally when light hits a surface, it reflects a higher pitch of the colour of the object, unless there is a gloss coding on the object(like a finished table), then it'll be a white spec. below i gave you an example to try out for your object.

non conductive surfaces like wood shouldnt have a coloured spec. colouring the spec will make it look metalic. Jordan nailed it, low spec, masked with fresnel.

spectre1130

Thanks for all the help so far and critiques. I have not done much in the last few days at my behest, but I am gearing up for the big push to finish this assignment for early next week. I just want a halfway decent level as it is my first go. Don't know if I'll get to all the particles and such to really make it shine though.