[SOLVED]Decal Material problem (Ugly pixelated outline)

[_Crow_]

Hi guys, I got a problem,

I was trying to make decal materials and I did everything correctly except I ended up with a black outline on the texture and was wondering if there was a way to either fully get rid of it or just feather it out.

here is what i got:




closer pic:



this also could be a photoshop issue and since i am not a pro at that, then its unsolveable. i tried feathering it from PS but it just made it blotchy and completely ruined it.

[_Crow_]

i also created a step by step instruction manual in case i forgot a step. here it is incase it helps:

Steps to creating a decal

1: get a png file

1.5: change size to 1024 x 1024

2: add layer and make it WHITE so the background of the decal is WHITE

3: save into step2 folder as .png

4: open file again and use MAGIC WAND TOOL to select all the white, then turn to black and *DONT* ADD FEATHERING

5: goto Channels and dupe BLUE LAYER

6: SAVE as TARGA in Converted folder

7: open file again and delete alpha layer

8: dupe blue layer again and highlight ONLY dupe'd layer

9: set dupe'd layer's image>adjustments>levels to left side

10: save

11: open UDK, go to AARCH file>decals, import, create decal mat, etc

[Chosker]

can you post a picture that shows the RGB and then separately the Alpha of your TGA?

[Snipe34]

I hope this link helps Chosker rather than explain, probably the RGB has a black background and that gives the outline.

http://www.cgtextures.com/ Look in Tutorials and: "Alpha mask background trick"

[_Crow_]

i appreciate your reply and help but i fixed this problem last night and i tried taking this post down but i guess it didn't work. sorry for inconveniencing you, herr Chosker :3

it turned out my problem was a slightly incorrect way of making the decals. I watched Metal Game Studio's tutorial and he did some slightly complicated method that ended up looking sloppy and didn't work (still a fan of his tho, might just be an error on my part). I ended up having to make a separate opacity mask and just deal with the hassle of having two textures take up space instead of having one texture with a glitchy built-in opacity mask.

I still feel good that i got a reply tho, so i thank you for that. :]

[_Crow_]

hi snipe!

like i said, i tried taking this post down but it didnt work, im adding a solved tag to it as we spea-...type...

[Snipe34]

OMG that was quick, happy you fixed it!

While I'm here - thank you Chosker for your many helpful posts

[_Crow_]

indeed i am very quick!

its also good to note that the first method made the decal either fullbright or black so that was also a problem but it be fixable.

TIME TO FLOOD MY MAPS WITH ELECTRICAL OUTLETS AND LIGHT SWITCHES!

[_Crow_]

OMG that was quick, happy you fixed it!

While I'm here - thank you Chosker for your many helpful posts

can you post a picture that shows the RGB and then separately the Alpha of your TGA?

err, snipe and chosker, i discovered a new problem.

I thought the decal being completely black was a texture glitch, but it turns out it will only be lit if its being hit with a dominant directional light. I'm making a horror game so this presents a bit of a problem.

If I use a directional light, i would only be able to have decals on some walls and if i make them emissive, they will glow in dark environments. What do i do?

[gaz661]

TIME TO FLOOD MY MAPS WITH ELECTRICAL OUTLETS AND LIGHT SWITCHES!

I advise caution when placing decals.on UDN it says "decals have a comparable performance hit to static meshes" or something along those lines,but I have found they can be quite resource hungry.
I followed the rule about not having them intersect and most have a maxdrawdistance of 6000 but despite there being only 321 decals out of over 20,000 actors in my map,in some areas they can cost 10 fps.
it took me a long time to figure out what was causing the slowdown but once I set up a key to toggle them on the fly I can see the real difference it makes.
I have slowly been going through my map and replacing the decals that I can with static meshes.

just an observation that may save you some time.

[Snipe34]

Totally agree, decals can slow it all down.
When placing them in a map, with the decal selected, I right click and choose AddDecal, not Moveable Decal. Most of my decal textures use no alpha but have a white background. The material: Texture Sample > Constant Clamp > Emissive. Then BlendMode > Blend_Modulate; LightingModel > MLM_Unlit all of which I think helps the load.
If they're too bright I darken them in my paint program and reimport to UDK. I could fiddle around in the material darkening them, but that would consume extra processing power ingame.

[_Crow_]

Totally agree, decals can slow it all down.
When placing them in a map, with the decal selected, I right click and choose AddDecal, not Moveable Decal. Most of my decal textures use no alpha but have a white background. The material: Texture Sample > Constant Clamp > Emissive. Then BlendMode > Blend_Modulate; LightingModel > MLM_Unlit all of which I think helps the load.
If they're too bright I darken them in my paint program and reimport to UDK. I could fiddle around in the material darkening them, but that would consume extra processing power ingame.

I advise caution when placing decals.on UDN it says "decals have a comparable performance hit to static meshes" or something along those lines,but I have found they can be quite resource hungry.
I followed the rule about not having them intersect and most have a maxdrawdistance of 6000 but despite there being only 321 decals out of over 20,000 actors in my map,in some areas they can cost 10 fps.
it took me a long time to figure out what was causing the slowdown but once I set up a key to toggle them on the fly I can see the real difference it makes.
I have slowly been going through my map and replacing the decals that I can with static meshes.

just an observation that may save you some time.

Thanks for this info guys, I never knew how consuming they would be. My maps are relatively small and wouldn't I be able to toggle the decals to save performance? (like when exiting a floor, it turns off all the decals on lower floors.)

Also, my problem isn't that its too bright as in the look of it, it's bright as in you would see a fullbright decal in a dark environment, and/or a dim decal in a lit area depending on what I set the dominant light to. I think its an error on my part tho because the decals from Goat Sim and UT don't do that, they react with the surrounding light. You guys know of any way i can achieve this?

[Snipe34]

Brightness /darkness of decals on the fly I dunno. I make them dimmer in my paint program and that works for me.

As Gaz mentioned maxdrawdistance is the way to turn off decals (and static meshes btw). Gaz mentions 6000. That all depends on whether the player can see it. Room to room for example I've set maxdrawdistance to as low as 800.

[_Crow_]

neat, i forgot he mentioned draw distance. lol

I also tried a trick he mentioned turning the decal into a static mesh and that worked like a charm aswell. :P