Metasequoia modeler tutorials and Keynote translated plugins

[HwitVlf]

Did the new video card fix your problem with Normal maps not working well?

[airflamesred]

No John. Basically, someone gave me this pc and only when I went to get SP2 for windows did I find the installed version of XP is not legit. When I get some money I can afford to do something about it and upgrade direct X etc

Uploaded a drum pic to my DA account.

[HwitVlf]

Ah, if Meta's normal mapping just requires DX9, have you tried downloading the DX9 installer directly HERE. I don't think there's any "genuine check" before install.

Some very nice stuff on your DA page! What was "Dave " for?

[Verdite]

I'd no idea you had an account on there Mark - ill be frequenting more often!

My first guess about Dave was

https://unlimitedcinema.files.wordpress....ssey_1.jpg

[airflamesred]

Dave is for a quite large project which is moving at a glacial pace, cause I keep getting bogged down in detail and side tracked!
It won't load ver 3 on that pc but I have it on the laptop for emergencies.
The pic would't upload to the gallery https://sta.sh/01mhpowwgbtv

[HwitVlf]

Is that a drum set in the picture? ‎  Thats a crazy lot o drums!

Of minor interest, I just noticed that Metasequoia doesn't save UV coordinates precisely. Not sure why but sometimes it converts a coordinate of something like "1.0000" to "0.9998" etc. I don't think that minor difference would be noticeable to the naked eye, but it could make a difference in some model handling/converting programs.

[Verdite]

It actually affects how the atlas is exported, its exported incorrectly and you have to either re-map everything or use another program, like xnormal which allows you to 'pad' the outer edges for textures.

[HwitVlf]

Ben, does that problem only happen when you are making MDL's using x2mdl or does it also happen when you're making Items/Objects with X2MDO? If you send me a simple example of a file with the problem, I might be able to make a tool to fix it.

[Verdite]

Actually it happens in metaseq, ill attach a pic. Basically the outer edge lines arent drawn correctly, it seems they are drawn jagged rather than smooth, and actually squash inwards, into the UV lines in some cases.

[Holy_Diver]

You may notice that your texture there isn't smooth. It's made out of pixels. So that's where the jaggies come from.

Atlasing is intrinsically problematic. Its really only done in the modern sense so that larger textures can be loaded into memory so that more things can be drawn in a single pass without changing the configuration.

You need at least an entire pixel separation. Many of SOM's models suffer from putting UVs smack in the middle of two pixels, or on the edge, or not a full pixel distance between them.

But if you want a game to appear to be solid. You have to use mipmapping. By the time the texture is converted into a mipmap the single pixels separation disappears, since the four pixels nearby are merged into a single pixel, and so on, until the final mipmap texture is a 1x1 texture.

As you can imagine if you don't want that tan colour in your final model. By the time the texture is like a 16x16 mipmap or smaller, the model will become mostly tan as seen from the distance. Or a blending of that grey and that tan.


PS: Speaking of x2mdl. I know HwitVlf was upset that the models didn't always appear right in SOM_MAP. No one ever thanked me, so I don't know if anyone noticed that a feature was added for this a year or so ago. I know Verdite is aware of it. I just assumed he would pass on the news. But I am saying it here just in case not. Also there is an option for making transparent MDL files. But its all or nothing. If these aren't in the --help screen that's my mistake.


PPS: I have no clue how games build large atlases and keep the entire texture from being displayed as a 1x1 mipmap (where all of the textures would get merged into one) you'd think every texture would need a gutter around it at least as wide as the smallest allowed mipmap.