DM-Zeto [New Beta Available]

[stevelois]

Damn.......... I work on my stuff now & didn't save the changes after I post the pics !

I can remake the nodes but not sure I can explain everything correctly Not to mention the same settings don't work with all materials so you have to mess around the settings.

If you want, just send me the link of your unpublished build before you publish beta 2 & I can apply all the changes for you. It will take me few hours & I'll send the map back to you. After, you just have to change the desired setting of the materials you're not 100% satisfy

What do you think about that ?

[lowenz]

Thanks Lowenz. Do you know where that was at? Is it by the main room heading towards the first door/link gun?
I thought I had got all those little tears taken care of.

Here: http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3839/97835064.jpg

It appears walking along the wall.

[Axeman]

Damn.......... I work on my stuff now & didn't save the changes after I post the pics !

I can remake the nodes but not sure I can explain everything correctly Not to mention the same settings don't work with all materials so you have to mess around the settings.

If you want, just send me the link of your unpublished build before you publish beta 2 & I can apply all the changes for you. It will take me few hours & I'll send the map back to you. After, you just have to change the desired setting of the materials you're not 100% satisfy

What do you think about that ?

That works for me, man! Much appreciated.

@lowenz- yep- that's where I was thinking. Thanks for catching that!

[Sly.]

Hm.. It's in the curve... A possible hole maybe? Sometimes problems like that can be solved by moving the whole map a bit. You could try it if you want.

[stevelois]

Look more like a bad lightmap to me.

It happen often with a value of 32 with such geometry. You can reduce lightmap to 16 or 8 or less just to check if it's only that

[Axeman]

It's actually just a seam/bsp hole. There were similar issues in other curved hallways that I needed to fix. I set the entire map at 8 lightmap initially then I'll go through and change what doesn't need it back to 16 or 32.

Like I said earlier- those curved hallways are made up of multiple brushes due to no 2d editor and only the straight ends are on the grid. So- therefore, trying to align the four additive brushes that make up the ceiling interior "hang downs" then the multiple brushes for the floor trim on those curves (again- none of which is really on the grid) and issues are going to come up.

I thought I had caught them all, but didn't realize that the first one I made (that hall) and copied to make the rest of the curves had that seam in it too. I think I caught the rest of them, but I just didn't look at the first one. I thought that issue had come up on later copy/pastes.

Ugh...so wish I would have had the 2d editor.

[Axeman]

Hmm...that's weird. I can't find it in my latest build. Perhaps it has fixed itself (lol).
I'll keep my eye on that hall in subsequent builds to make sure it doesn't come back.

Thanks again for spotting that, Lowenz.

[IzziTheLizard]

Daaamn Steve! Wanna tweak my new map for me? I pretty much just finished it.

[stevelois]

Daaamn Steve! Wanna tweak my new map for me? I pretty much just finished it.

LOL

I'm surprise some of you like the difference that much !

But when Axe will publish is next beta, everyone can look into it. It's really basic settings but my English isn't that good to explain everything & to obtain some results, you must mess around a bit.

BTW, I learn by watching 3dbuzz vids, the ones that came with the collector edition. They release the complete vids series since a while in a separate archive, which you can dwn freely. Link to my homepage in the UT3 resources page It's a must in my book to any mapper/coder

[Axeman]

Ok. Cool. I have those vids with the collector's edition. I'll watch the ones on the material editor and see if I can work something out for the next beta.

Edit- Wow! Thanks for the mention on your homepage, Stevelois! I appreciate it!

[SEBASTIEN-NOVA]

Ugh...so wish I would have had the 2d editor.

If you still have the ut2k4 ed installed, you can still use the 2D shape editor to create your complex brush, then export it as t3d and import it on ut3

[Axeman]

@Sebastien- I tried that once and it crashed my editor. Perhaps I just didn't do it right, but looking back it would have probably saved me more time to fix that issue rather than what I did.

@Stevelois- just watched the material tutorial vids. I think I get it now. I'll work on it and see how it looks in the next beta release.

[SEBASTIEN-NOVA]

@Sebastien- I tried that once and it crashed my editor. Perhaps I just didn't do it right, but looking back it would have probably saved me more time to fix that issue rather than what I did.

Oh really? too bad because I have used this method many times without troubles...Sure it would have save your time !

As you work fast, I wait the next beta to give it a try

[IzziTheLizard]

Ohh thanks for the link to the 3dbuzz videos, Steve. But does it include a post process tutorial? I didn't see one in the files.

[stevelois]

Ok. Cool. I have those vids with the collector's edition. I'll watch the ones on the material editor and see if I can work something out for the next beta.

Edit- Wow! Thanks for the mention on your homepage, Stevelois! I appreciate it!

No prob Axe You choose to remake a great classic so by posting that news to my homepage, you get a bit more attention, hopefully

...just watched the material tutorial vids. I think I get it now. I'll work on it and see how it looks in the next beta release.

I'll check your next beta to see what you have put into practice. If I can add a little, then, I could make the tweaks

Ohh thanks for the link to the 3dbuzz videos, Steve. But does it include a post process tutorial? I didn't see one in the files.

Your welcome

Since you can do lot's of things with a PostProcess volume, I'm not aware of any specific tuts & the main reason is that the possibility are practically endless. In my UT3 resources page, you have great tut links which many of them will introduce you to PP volume but to obtain really what your looking for, you have to mess around.

An advice, look at the maps you like the most, copy the pp volume & replicate it in your map as a starting point, then adjust the settings for your liking It's a lazy way but if the PP volume save your day, just credit the original author in your readme

[Axeman]

Steve- that would definitely be great if you could take a look at what I did and see how you would change it to make it look better.

[stevelois]

Can you post a pic of your experiments yet ?

Edit

So I made a little pic of one of my custom material with a brief explanation

It's the way I made your materials look better in the pic before :



In my case, the textures I use are all in 1024x1024. I could just use the normal map tweaking & plug the diffuse & specular directly but I wanted more

Hope it help

[Axeman]

Still working on it. Right now I'm just trying out the defaults that the tutorial stated (lol) and it doesn't look nearly as good as you did yet. I need to definitely go in and play around with the settings.

Really had no idea the material editor was so powerful.

Question- on material instances. I could use a texture coordinate to scale the instance to put on a stock mesh (my doors to the goodies for instance)? Right now they don't scale like the rest of the walls.

The belt door should actually be similar to the wall texture near it, but when I applied the texture it didn't scale correctly so I went with the ribbed wall for it.

[stevelois]

Still working on it. Right now I'm just trying out the defaults that the tutorial stated (lol) and it doesn't look nearly as good as you did yet. I need to definitely go in and play around with the settings.

Really had no idea the material editor was so powerful.

Bah, you will catch fast, I don't doubt it See my previous post for more info

Question- on material instances. I could use a texture coordinate to scale the instance to put on a stock mesh (my doors to the goodies for instance)? Right now they don't scale like the rest of the walls.

Yep, just plug the TextCoor & raise the value to 2-3. something that suit you

The belt door should actually be similar to the wall texture near it, but when I applied the texture it didn't scale correctly so I went with the ribbed wall for it.

Well, applying a different material than the one as that as been made for the mesh can give some very odd results. Sadly, this is a matter of trial / error !

[Axeman]

Ok- I've only done the ribbed wall texture and the main wall texture in this pic:

Before:


After:


Better. But not much.

edit- thanks for the explanation above. That will definitely help!

[Axeman]

Can you post a pic of your experiments yet ?

Edit

So I made a little pic of one of my custom material with a brief explanation

It's the way I made your materials look better in the pic before :



In my case, the textures I use are all in 1024x1024. I could just use the normal map tweaking & plug the diffuse & specular directly but I wanted more

Hope it help

This is great.
My only questions.
What type of node are the ones with the blue? Constant 3's?
Is the one in your diffuse with the .25 average just a Constant?

This looks a little different than what I did, but of course, I just followed the tutorial to the letter. lol
I'll make one up like your set up and check out the difference. Mine, right now, don't look that great up close. I think that's due to not scaling the detail normal map very well.

[stevelois]

...My only question. What type of node are the ones with the blue? Constant 3's?...

Yep, a constant3

Most of the time, you will only play with the B & leave R & G to 1.0.

In my case, I had to play with the R to obtain that nice result.

[Axeman]

Yep, a constant3

Most of the time, you will only play with the B & leave R & G to 1.0.

In my case, I had to play with the R to obtain that nice result.

Ok- cool
How about the white nodes with the 10, 4, and 1.5 values? Constants?
And lastly- the grey .5 node with the yellow text on it? Another constant?

[stevelois]

Ok- cool
How about the white nodes with the 10, 4, and 1.5 values? Constants?
And lastly- the grey .5 node with the yellow text on it? Another constant?

All of them are Constant1.

You can recognize the constant by the numbers in the top of the box.

I mean, if you see 1 number, it's mean it is constant1 & so on

[stevelois]

I must go now.

I change the material a bit & make it look even better than before (yellow arrow)



This is how I made it :



I believe you can achieve that by ease since you see all the numbers & also the detail normal map I use. Have fun with the other materials now

[Axeman]

Alright- here's the floor texture using your set up.

Before:


After:


Definitely looks better. I'll try your method on the walls tomorrow and check out the difference.
Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it.

[Axeman]

I must go now.

I change the material a bit & make it look even better than before (yellow arrow)



This is how I made it :



I believe you can achieve that by ease since you see all the numbers & also the detail normal map I use. Have fun with the other materials now

Wow...that looks badass.
Love the contrast now between the main wall and the ribbed wall. Awesome!

[stevelois]

Before I go.....................lol

I can say, your last pic demonstrate a really nice progress

I think you will like the results later Like this :



So keep it up man, your on a good way

[Axeman]

Before I go.....................lol

I can say, your last pic demonstrate a really nice progress

I think you will like the results later Like this :



So keep it up man, your on a good way

Yep- it's starting to look good!
Thanks again!

[IzziTheLizard]

Wow it really is looking much better...

[xViperAKx]

Definitely looking better. I was originally going to comment on the materials to tell you they need a little work with normals and speculars, but I wouldn't know how you'd receive that.

[Axeman]

Definitely looking better. I was originally going to comment on the materials to tell you they need a little work with normals and speculars, but I wouldn't know how you'd receive that.

You can comment/criticize/critique anything you want with me. I never take things personally.

I especially like feedback on items I have issues with such as light colors (I'm colorblind) or things I really have no knowledge of (like the material editor- although I am learning now).

So- never hesitate to speak your mind on any of my threads. No worries.
If you ever don't feel comfortable sending something harsh in the thread- send it to me in a pm. Again- no worries.

[Axeman]

Got it done, Steve. Looking pretty good. Dark and cold looking...

[stevelois]

Got it done, Steve. Looking pretty good. Dark and cold looking...

Great

Show some nice pics to your public Axe

[Axeman]

Now- I just need to really work on lighting so it doesn't look so uniform and it should look better.

Still a bunch to do to break up monotony of the walls, extras, etc.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Sly.]

Looks neat! 100x better than before
Imo the lighting looks mostly okay in combination with the current materials. Before it looked less colorful than now.

When you release this version then I can give you more accurate feedback. The materials have improved the lighting of the map and it is hard to tell from the screenshots. I bet it will look different in the game.

[stevelois]

Hé hé,

Last pics look way better Axe

I suggest you lower your overall light brightness if you use many pointlights with big radius. I didn't check your sunlight setting (if you use one) but a 0.05 to 0.1 are very common values.

So by lowering your brightness lights values overall but raising the ones in front of the blue windows (where you see outside) & on your various lights meshes will provide better contrast

[Axeman]

Yeah- planning on tackling lighting tonight.

[Zerglings]

Damn I can't see the pics nor Download your map form my end it just hangs and does nothing.

[Axeman]

That's weird, Zerglings. Sorry about that.
Anyone else having any issues viewing the pics or getting to the download?