FSXA FSX Materials Problem

[Tako_Kichi]

I am trying to finish of my major scenery project with the addition of a number of vehicles but I am hitting issues that no amount of Goggling and trial and error is fixing so I am giving you guys a cry for help!

I have had no problems getting the material sorted for my buildings as I set the 'No Base Material Specular' option in the 'Enhanced Parameters' section which kills all shine on the buildings. The vehicles are another issue entirely.

I wanted a little bit of shine on the vehicle bodies but none on the wheels/tires/seats/canvas tops etc. so I set up the alpha channel on the texture sheet accordingly (white for no shine, light grey for the shiny areas). However I am not seeing that when the model is placed in FSX, I am getting shine on all parts as if the alpha channel is being ignored and the shine is being applied to the whole model. I have a gut feeling that I am doing something wrong with the material settings panel but the FSX SDK is about as clear as mud and I have been unable to find a posted 'recipe' anywhere for a basic shiny material but there are lots for transparent materials.

The setting I have are as follows:

Basic Blinn Parameters - Specular Highlights Section
Specular level = 70
Glossiness = 30
Soften = 0.1
(Note: The specular colour just above this section is set to a deep grey 30/30/30)

FS Extended Parameters
Fresnel Ramp Section
Reflection and Specular are both checked

Special Functionality Section
Blend environment by inverse of diffuse alpha - checked
Use global environment map as reflection - checked

Bloom Section
Allow Bloom - checked

Frame Buffer Blend Section
Set Default Opaque - clicked
Source blend = one
Destination blend = zero

Emissive Properties Section
Emissive mode = AdditiveNightOnly

The only map I have is the regular diffuse one with an alpha channel no spec maps or bump maps are involved.

Can anyone see where I am going wrong or have a working 'recipe' I can try? I have a feeling it's either in the Specular Highlights section or the Special Functionality section but nothing I have tried so far has worked. I am not even sure if I should be setting anything in the Specular Highlights section if I am not using a spec map.

I just need to sort this final puzzle and this project will be ready for release after over a year of effort. Thanks for any assistance.

 

[Southwest]

Hi Larry,

I'm not on my desktop so please hang in there, normally I have the following settings checked, did you try making a new texture, leave all the setting as default, but just change the below?

Special Functionality Section
Blend environment by inverse of diffuse alpha - checked
Use global environment map as reflection - checked

These are normally the only settings I change for this type of material,

Regards.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Hi Larry,

I'm not on my desktop so please hang in there, normally I have the following settings checked, did you try making a new texture, leave all the setting as default, but just change the below?

Special Functionality Section
Blend environment by inverse of diffuse alpha - checked
Use global environment map as reflection - checked

These are normally the only settings I change for this type of material,

Regards.

Thanks for the speedy reply. I am pretty sure I went back to a default at some point but I can easily try another one with your settings. I am currently just trying to get one model working and then I can go back and change all the others once I have a working 'recipe'.

EDIT:
Well I just tried your suggestion of a new material with default settings apart from the two flags and the result was yet another shiny model with no alpha in use. I took a screenie so you can see the results...

The shine should only be on the green paint but as you can see the wheels, seats and other parts are also shiny too.

 

[Southwest]

If it works on the above, but you want your settings a good idea would be to adjuat a single setting, then export and keep doing that until you find the culprit, at least then you can eliminate which settings are faulty.

Let me know how it goes, if it fails it could be an idea to attach your texture.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

I guess I was editing while you were posting so you may not have seen the piccy yet.

I have attached my texture as suggested.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

OOOPS! I attached a tex file with NO alpha!

This one has the CORRECT texture.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

I think I finally cracked the issue. I used a default FSX material to start with, then changed the following items....

Special Functionality Section
Blend environment by inverse of diffuse alpha - checked
Use global environment map as reflection - checked

and finally checked the 'No Base Material Specular' and my alpha channel started working as it should.

All I had to do then was play with the Special Functionality Reflection Scale and Spec Map Power Scale sliders until I got an acceptable amount of shine. I wanted just a little bit of shine on the paint but not totally flat and I am happy with what I have so I can go back and apply it to all my vehicle models now.

Here's a shot from FSX but the shine isn't that noticeable until you pan around.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[hcornea]

Your original settings applied fresnel to spec and reflection. With no fresnel map specified (I presume)

The other thing to watch is quantization of your alpha channel if you use anything less than DXT5

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Your original settings applied fresnel to spec and reflection. With no fresnel map specified (I presume)

The other thing to watch is quantization of your alpha channel if you use anything less than DXT5

Now you pointed that out I can see where that came into play and I always make my FSX textures as DXT5 (I guess that comes from the years of being a repainter!)