Upcoming Skins & Shader Maps

[giopanda]

a little update on showtime's mx2 model:

i'm working on gear of course (it will be released with the full 2010 thor core and phase lines, with leatt and sentinel chest protector) and normal/specular maps.
still a lot to do since i want to customise them for each of the gear lines, and most of all i'm struggling with two things:
why the normal map always appear "inside out" no matter what settings i use in the photoshop plugin?
and does it works better a black and white or an alpha transparency specular map?
because i read around some tutorials and they suggest to use black and white shades, but to me it looks better with alphas..
any suggestions from who knows better than me?
thanx

p.s notice the boots, i deleted 90% of the shading to leave the job to maps, they look good to me!

[Nybrok]

damn i love your work,they are awesome.

[Kawasakis]

Its just me who dont like that rider back? It looks like flat or something,and where jerseys end it looks stupid,not real at all.Should be more pants on that part i think,thats just my opinion.

Skins looks really great.

[DJ99X]

why the normal map always appear "inside out" no matter what settings i use in the photoshop plugin?
and does it works better a black and white or an alpha transparency specular map?
because i read around some tutorials and they suggest to use black and white shades, but to me it looks better with alphas..
any suggestions from who knows better than me?

1) Here are the settings I use for the photoshop plugin. These get the closest results to baking.



2) The RGB channel represents the colour of the reflections. White will get you the maximum light it can reflect, whilst Black will reflect no light. Also, if you have it set at say 0 0 255, it will only reflect pure blue.

The alpha channel represents the 'shininess' (the specular exponent) of the reflection. JLV has made it so 100% alpha (ie 255 in the alpha channel) uses the models specular exponent. From 254 down, the skin defines its own specular exponent. 254 alpha will make it very shiny looking, where the reflection will only occur in a small angle. 0 alpha will make the reflection diffuse, and the reflection will not change with camera angle (an example of this is Luiz's rear supermotard tyre). I usually set the specular exponent to something around 50/255 (ie 20% opacity).

Hope that explains it well

[yomo]

Does that mean you can have different surfaces reflect differently? or is the entire texture bound to the one setting?

Ie metal reflecting more than plastic

[DJ99X]

That is the point of a specular map. That is why bikes at the moment are shiny all over

[WhMx179]

i finished resizing it to fit the template, almost ready for puremxs

[REIDY-171]

Is it possible to have skin specific normal maps? If so, how would you name it?

[DJ99X]

Make the normal map the same name as the skin, just with _norm at the end

[REIDY-171]

Great thanks dj.

[tyskorn]

Are you going to put hvpunk's motor on there? I ca send you it if you don't have it.Looks nice though.

[WhMx179]

who me?

[tyskorn]

Yeah.

[WhMx179]

oh haha thanks man

send me that motor if you can

[tyskorn]

I've had this for a long time,but just did some stuff to the airbox and number plates.If anyone can help me and make some fender graphics,I will send you the bike.