Oolite Bulletins

montana05 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 5:28 am

Griff's work is ways above my pay grade, while Krita offers the feature to include another map to the Alpha channel, I still don't know what the improvement is.

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:10 am

Now if I could only figure out the benefits and methods behind the way Griff does his diffuse maps in a semitransparent style..

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 8:13 am

Anyone recall this being written about specifically somewhere?

"diffuse_map" = "himsn_con_diffuse.png"; 
"normal_map" = "himsn_con_normal.png";
"emission_map" = { "name" = "himsn_con_normal.png"; "extract_channel" = "a"; };

diffuse_map = "himsn_con_diffuse.png"; 
emission_map = "himsn_con_emission.png"; 
normal_map = "himsn_con_normal.png";

Makes editing a bit easier for an amateur editor like me.

cbr wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:10 am

[I believe it is (efficient ?!) resource management. One image containing multiple functions.

But you do not have to use it to make use of the new material settings.
You can use single images for each specific purpose ( eg. diffuse, emission, etc)

spara wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 10:57 am

To my understanding it's just a more compact way for distribution... Makes editing a bit easier for an amateur editor like me.

cbr wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 11:10 am

ditto

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:52 pm

I spent quite a while revamping one of Aegidian''s old ships but this one came with a problem. After converting it from dat to obj it seemed fine, but after seeing it in wings with written text on the texture I realised it came in a mirrored mode. This was a minor problem, I cold always mirror the texture, but after converting it back to dat and looking at it in the game I see with dread that the model projects its texture from the inside out. Like that baboon in "The Fly"!

Anyone know if this can be remedied, or is the model lost to its bizarro destiny?
[edit]
No worries! A kind, smart man at the wings forum came forth with the help I needed. All good.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:43 pm

So, tell a dumb pilot; what is dat? obj? mirrored mode? projecting a texture from inside out? And how is this relevant to the game which I play?

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:21 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:43 pm

So, tell a dumb pilot; what is dat? obj? mirrored mode? projecting a texture from inside out? And how is this relevant to the game which I play?

Well, when the game draws a ship it is a model in the .dat format, but this is an Oolite-only format. The models made in modelling programs are most commonly in .obj files. Then, to see a home-made model appear in the game, one needs to convert the .obj file to a .dat, which can usually be done successfully with a python script (Obj2DatTex.py), which the nice devs have made for us.

When one wants to wake the dead and play with someone else's game model, one takes the .dat from an OXP, and converts it to an .obj with different python script (Dat2ObjTex.py). This is not as reliable, I have a 60-70% success rate, usually old models are no problem, newer models often don't work, and I don't know why. For instance, I can't even manage to convert the modern buoy. But, so to speak, all of my old models, and almost all of Giles' old models I've been able to resurrect.

But some of the old Aegidians can come with a twist. When you open it, the texture can be mirror-backwards, or even weirder, project itself from the inside out. Like taking a picture and stuffing it inside a goldfishbowl, you see it, but it's very wrong when you expect it to be on the outside. I didn't know what to do and was weary I had to start from scratch and give up this poisoned model, but it turned out to be fixable in Wings.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:16 am

Thanks! I've rejigged this a little and bunged it in the "OXP howto model" wiki page. I had no idea about any of this...

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:50 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:16 am

Thanks! I've rejigged this a little and bunged it in the "OXP howto model" wiki page. I had no idea about any of this...

I'm surprised. But you may be right, with all of the different, in-depth how-tos, maybe a little introduction was missing. I'm sure I could tailor it a bit more for wikipurposes.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:35 pm

They assume far too much knowledge on the part of the reader.

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:22 pm

The first babysteps explained are missing for me

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:56 pm

Just had a decent look at this. I presume that you know most of it, but... just in case there are new elements (UV map, diffuse map, effects map, normal map).