Test objects and Mat'ls

*bump*

Anybody..?

Eh... what are you wanting us to say? Looks cool? Are you looking for advice, some ego stroking, or what?

The cars and whatnot aren't bad.

But for the life of me, I cannot figure out what all those texture maps are for on the candlestick and holder.

You shouldn't have more than diffuse and normal/bump map only on a prop like that. Paint the illumination into the diffuse map, you don't need a specular map for it either, since it is a) very small, and b) a constant material. Also, the model itself is too high-poly... try an 8 sided cylinder. Also, you won't be using a single decal texture for the flame, it'll likely be a particle or animated texture/billboard.

The stained glass window is nice, but you copped out on the specular texture and bump map. A good specular is important to get something to look good. Upon reinspection, tbh it doesn't appear that you made that texture... did you take it from a texture CD by any chance? The detail doesn't fall in line with the rest of your work. The really weak bump-map you have (basically, a monochrome of the original image) gives it away... if you make the texture yourself, you will have a very nice layered image to convert to greyscale, and then normal map.

i agree with professor's assessment. while different control maps do make things look better, it would be a waste to use that many for a small object. resources are prioritized by having the most visible and larger objects getting more resources. basically, make the best use of what you have. why waste valuable texture memory on a single candle when you could use that for a building or statue?
for the candle, just bake that info into the diffuse and perhaps have a normal map (or greyscale bump map) be half the res of the diffuse to save further space. that should work.
the vehicles seema little too boxy for me, but if that is the look you were going for then you achived it though (i just have never been a fan of the boxy cars).

Thanks for the thoughts on baking the illumination into the diffuse map. Also, to respond to your point about the animated billboard, that's what it will be, but since the engine isn't up and running yet I just put it in as geometry.

It's not actually going to be an ingame model, it's just to test the engine as we go. But thanks for the ways to save system resources, it'll be helpful when we get into things like performance issues.

Professor, I did make the window. It's not consistent with my other stuff, I know, but I've only started using Photoshop seriously very recently. But you're right about the spec map; I don't know yet if the engine is going to be able to do it, so I figured leave it. I added a reflection map, though, to simulate spec to some degree:



What are your suggestions for a less "weak" bump map?

And don't insinuate again that I'm lying about work being mine. Credit where credit's due, and in this case, it's mine.

Quote:

Original post by icon57 What are your suggestions for a less "weak" bump map? And don't insinuate again that I'm lying about work being mine. Credit where credit's due, and in this case, it's mine.

i think he means that instead of just using a grey scale version of your diffuse, actually hand paint the bump map using the diffuse as a guide. this will give more accurate results. you should also move to normal maps, when done right normal maps are superior to regular grey scale bump maps. and an engine that supports specular mapping and other control maps should use normal mapping too.