• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

alpha channels and glossiness

N

noob24

Messages
170
Country
unitedkingdom
how do alpha channels affect specular shine and glossiness. ei how can i adjust my alph channel in photoshop to enable more or less specular shine and glossiness in fsx. i assume i adjust the gray scale or should i just leave it black?


thanks
 
If you didn't get it in the earlier thread, why not read the SDK? You should read the Texturing Aircraft Models section and the part on Texture Map Types for starters.
 
For specular, there are three adjustable "things..."

  1. Specular Level setting in the FSX Material (SDK recommends starting with 202)
  2. Color/Shade of the RGB channels in the bitmap
  3. Shade of the Alpha channel in the bitmap

RGB Color or Shade affects the color or shade of the specular reflection multiplied agains the base color of the Diffuse Color bitmap's RGB channels.

Shade of the Alpha channel adjusts the "width" of the specular reflection itself. White is broad (wide angle). Black is very narrow (slim angle).
 
thankyou Bill this is exactly the kind of info i wanted that the sdk does not go in to in that level. infact i find this alot with the sdk. i would really like a detailed explaination of all the fsx material settings in 3dsmax . half of them i dont have a clue what they mean like z write, z write alpha,blend constant. basically all the settings. do you know anywhere were i can find info on each that explains their purpose>>
. Im also having a problem getting good specular shine on transparant textures, ive tried tweaking all the settings i can think of but im still getting a fairly dull broad specular shine on the glass. what can i specificallly do to improve this?

thanks

noob
 
Last edited:
"Shine" is set by the shade of gray used in the Alpha Channel of the Diffuse Color texture, as well as the slider setting in the FSX Material for "Reflection Scale."
 
my glass reflections are very faint. what settings in max can i use to make them stronger ?
 
Last edited:
noob24 said:
my glass reflections are very faint. what settings in max can i use to make them stronger ?
Click to expand...

They are supposed to be subtle, but try increasing the Reflection Scale slider in the FSX Material editor.
 
its already on max (100) i have been putting my reflections in the specular map slot. is this wrong ? ive tried putting them in the reflection map slot in the map section but i dont see them at all.


also for inside the vc i dont want to use the golbal environment map for reflection but when i uncheck it a get solid colour instead of transparent glass.


i have followed the glass recipe but although transparent i really dont know what else goes where?
 
Last edited:
Why yes that is wrong. You get reflection (but that is neither shine nor glossiness) via the alpha (the darker the more) of the diffuse and the reflection slider. And you have to have to specify one of the default GlobalEnv maps in the Reflection slot. Need more info? Simple, have a look at how it is done in theDC-3 sample files in your SDK.
 
This "Glass Recipie" is ONLY for the exterior model!

You cannot use it for the VC glass!!!
 
ok ive looked in the sdk for vc glass info but only four lines and did not work for me .

whats the diference in the vc windows and guage glass from external.


any help appreciated thanks

n
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top