GMax settings for Chrome?

[Yardreamer]

I followed the instructions in the SDK for chrome to what I figured to be correct and with my test cube the surface was a shinny grey but not chrome hoping to what I thought would be just an image issue. I made my actual model and followed the instructions, I addressed the textures to the correct paths Specular and Chrome ( box_Specular. PSD ect) then place them in the material editor as shown in the SDK manual. I noticed in the example the reflection image was in DDS but gmax would not accept it as well for the Fresnel ramp I made a home made one using a gradiant of the same hues I used in the specular map.I did not place a bump image as i do not have one. When the model shows in FSX the texture only showed the diffuse map a grey dull box and neither the specular nor the alpha. Are the settings correct as in these SS? I am going bald from the constant hair pulling over this project by the way. Thanks Dreamer

 

[delivery guy]

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75906&highlight=texture+pack

Download my textures pack here. This gives you your global and specular for gmax and game.
In the game you do not need the global as it is default.

So just convert the specular and diffuse to dxt 5 or psd.

You can use bmp for gmax.

Your setting are perfect, maybe turn up global a little. Change the textures.

For the diffuse, use the texture that will show on the part, or grey for reflective.
The darker the grey(black) the more reflection.

DG:speanut:

 

[Deleted member 1281]

There are many parameters that need to be considered here.

How does your diffuse alpha look? The darker it is the more reflection you get.

How does your specular alpha look? The darker it is the more shiny you get. I am not sure a textures pack is of much help as the specular alpha is usually an inverted greyscale copy of the diffuse.

You might make a mistake in the Reflection Map slot. Better use exactly the same texture name as in the DC-3, ie GlobalEnv_AC_Chrome. Create a small and perfectly arbitrary bmp to act as a placeholder so that gmax can fill the slot. As DG says, the true GlobalEnv map, which uses an entirely different format, will be autoloaded in sim.

Why not d/l a repaint kit of a model whose glossiness you want to emulate. Study the tone values used there, and perhaps analyze the mdl settings themselves via a tool such as MdlMatXX by Martin Wright.

 

[Yardreamer]

Thanks for the help and I followed both instructions but am still not obtaining the chromed finish… Here is a screenshot of the FSX model of the fuel pump the white front is just fine but the sides, top and extruded front border are grey with no chrome or shiny effect… I am sending s/s’s of the texture files with corresponding file names asthey were placed in GMax material edit. Formated 512 x 512 the Specular and diffuse in PSD and the Chrome in 24 bit BMP. The material editor settings are the same as my first post except with no Fresnel ramp. Thanks again Dreamer….
1st S/S FSX model

as placed in FSX file names
Diffuse color file name "Fuell_pump-3.DDS" DDS5 reversed DXTbmp edit

Specular Color File name "Fuell_pump_3_A_Specular.DDS" DDS5 reversed DXTbmp edit

Reflection file name "GlobalEnv_AC_Chrome.bmp" 8bit reversed DXTbmp edit

 

[delivery guy]

i had no problems. I set world reflection slider to 50% to achieve this pic above.
You can see mountains and trees showing up as i spin around.

Your gmax textures:

diffuse (bmp or psd)
specular (bmp or psd)
global_env (bmp or psd)

game textures:

diffuse (dxt5bmp or psd)
specular (dxt5bmp or psd)
do not add a global texture

Your material editor was perfect and yes skip the fresno. Not sure what that does. Your mistake is in the texture organization.

I am not sure a textures pack is of much help as the specular alpha is usually an inverted greyscale copy of the diffuse.

My texture pack will work just as good. Inverted might be better. But i find that my custom specular saves you texture work and many hours and get the same job done.

By the way this pic is using your specular as the texture. I find it is no different from my method. Good luck!

DG

 

[Deleted member 1281]

Post/attach a small part (cube) with the material applied to it so we can check and run it on our rigs.

When you try out different settings make sure you restart FS in order to avoid it loading the textures from RAM.

 

[delivery guy]

I was just thinking, since you have rust, mjahn is right and u should us an inverted specular, to achieve brighter reflection in areas that don't have rust.

This time you want brighter grey where there is no rust and darker for the rest.

DG

 

[Deleted member 1281]

Admittedly this isn't the dc-3 chrome set but it does get pretty shiny ...

 

[Yardreamer]

so for gmax PFD format difuse, specular and refelction and just difuse DDS5 and Specular DDS5 (or should Specular be Alpha) for FS texture file? Sorry for the Q&A but a month ago I knew nothing and all of this is new and a lot to take in.

 

[Yardreamer]

here are the files after 3 hours still grey maybe someone can see what I am doing wrong. View attachment new Fuel pump_1.gmax

 

[n4gix]

so for gmax PFD format difuse, specular and refelction and just difuse DDS5 and Specular DDS5 (or should Specular be Alpha) for FS texture file? Sorry for the Q&A but a month ago I knew nothing and all of this is new and a lot to take in.

Okay, you need to completely understand one thing at this point:

Aside from the texture assigned to the Diffuse Color slot in the FSX Material, none of the other textures used do a single thing in GMax! In other words, you will only "see" the Diffuse Color texture in GMax's viewport.

The only thing of importance are the filenames assigned to the other slots, and the various configurable switches and settings for material properties.

In simple fact, the only "real texture" I even use in a Max/GMax scene is the Diffuse Color bitmap! For the rest, I create a simple 4x4 pixel image and save it over and over again, using all of the various "filenames" I need for any given FSX Material...

 

[Yardreamer]

Thanks for the help but I am fustrated to the point of giving up. Most of the day and the best I have is a grey shinny box and a few clouds reflected on top but no chromed effect at all. Thanks again for all you time and help Dreamer

 

[Deleted member 1281]

Na don't give up, I've d/l your gmax source, will look at it later today and come back with comments. This will get sorted.

Edit -- done that now. In the reflection slot I put the dummy GlobalEnv chrome map (as mentioned above), otherwise tweaked specular and alphas just a little bit but left your settings and came up with this:

Looks more or less OK to me? Much more chrome you wouldn't want to have especially if the object is weathered already. Of course one could tweak further ... much depends on light angle in the sim, however, so you must make sure to slew the object around, look at it from all sides etc.

FYI, dds's and revised gmax are here

http://home.arcor.de/edug/texture.chrome.zip

 

[Yardreamer]

Have it now and thanks looks better than I hoped now on to the next phase of the project. *sigh I have had easier learning curves but believe it or not I am enjoying this thanks for all the patience instructions and encouragement... Dreamer