ok just started tomake some new models and what not.. got them all pretty looking in anim8r software. now the problems.
i need to have the atm file and a bmp to skin over the atm. Atm file made by converter on TU.net. very well and good. i am having problems taking the modfel i have which uses "materials" as textures and converting that to a valid bmp that skins well over my model.
i have done a uvmapper thing, but it only makes the bmp in black and white, and aint no way i am coloring by hand cuz i am not 4 yrs old anymore.
second. any one know of a link wherwe i can get software to take my .3d files with material textures, and export the textures to bmp files??/
is this making any sense to anyone, or am i too tired?
rendering
I don't know Anim8or, so I can't be sure there isn't a way to do that. However, in my experience... materials are for rendering, but any model being used in realtime (ie this game) needs the "coloring by hand" thing doing. It's called texturing :) Rather than being the staple of 4 year olds it's what happens to make all of the 3d stuff you see in any game, ever.
In fact, a texture file (bitmap, jpeg, whatever) is just another kind of material as far as most 3d programs are concerned. From a rendering point of view it's the "colour" of an object, the surface detail, while other materials dictate how light plays on that surface, how reflective it is, all that stuff. From a real-time point of view the colour is the main thing we have to worry about (more advanced 3d engines would also use bumpmaps, lightmaps, normal maps and so on as additional 'materials' but TU just has one - the texture file).
So, there's really no way round it: you have to paint the texture file by hand. "By hand" doesn't always means colouring each pixel manually with brushes and fills etc, though it can do: good texturing usually starts with high quality reference images, and if your materials in Anim8or are in a normal image format, you might find it doesn't take too long to paint them into your template, the uvmap thing.
One other thing you might look at is whether Anim8or has "render to texture" functionality, sometimes known as "texture baking". Normally you use this to apply the effects of lighting to a pre-painted texture, but it might be possible to get Anim8or to take the materials stuff and render it to the uvmap template for you...somehow I doubt it (I don't think you can do it in Max, for example) but who knows.
f
In fact, a texture file (bitmap, jpeg, whatever) is just another kind of material as far as most 3d programs are concerned. From a rendering point of view it's the "colour" of an object, the surface detail, while other materials dictate how light plays on that surface, how reflective it is, all that stuff. From a real-time point of view the colour is the main thing we have to worry about (more advanced 3d engines would also use bumpmaps, lightmaps, normal maps and so on as additional 'materials' but TU just has one - the texture file).
So, there's really no way round it: you have to paint the texture file by hand. "By hand" doesn't always means colouring each pixel manually with brushes and fills etc, though it can do: good texturing usually starts with high quality reference images, and if your materials in Anim8or are in a normal image format, you might find it doesn't take too long to paint them into your template, the uvmap thing.
One other thing you might look at is whether Anim8or has "render to texture" functionality, sometimes known as "texture baking". Normally you use this to apply the effects of lighting to a pre-painted texture, but it might be possible to get Anim8or to take the materials stuff and render it to the uvmap template for you...somehow I doubt it (I don't think you can do it in Max, for example) but who knows.
f
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onionguy92
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:47 pm
- Location: The Northern State of the Continental US
For the planet thing, if you take your imagefile and then put it I think in Clients/Data/Space/Planets and make sure your file's name is your planet name, and it might have to be bmp, then I think it should show up in space. At least that worked with mine. It may or may not work for other players. As for texturing, I know you need to represent all views of your model in your bmp. As far as I know, Anim8or has neither export materials to bmp capability nor is there software out there. The UV Mapper provided by TU.net supposedly creates a texture map of your model for you, but I can't get the maps it shoots out to work.