Flashing billboards
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Ok here ya go. Quick n dirty
I modified the original texture a little to reflect how you might want to re-do the texture to simulate the lights going out and not reflecting off the noodle cup. But I used a pic I found on the web as close as I could get the shape and angle, so hopefully you have the original lying around. The textureâs just a guide anyhow, as itâs only 512x512. Also just dumped the whole mat file into the cmp itself, but looking at my TACC ship, it shouldnât need to be that way to animate. Wasnât entirely sure which mats were actually being used where, so just left the originals and added my own for the one which is now animated.
SIDENOTE: If you properly make a transparent TGA in photoshop, you wonât need the Oc, Ot_name, Ot_flags nodes, and it can just be DcDtEc type. I figured you only wanted the letters to blink, so thatâs the part I darkened. You may wish to redo the entire thing though for a clean version with proper glow simulation in the tga itself.
As it stands in the file, DcDtEcOcOt works well.
Nodes are:
[olist]* Dc (1,1,1)- Dt_name
- Dt_flags (64,0)
- Ec (1,1,1)
- Oc (0.8, 0)
- Type[/olist]
You also might want to change texture orientation. I just matched the original, but that reads backwards unless flipped on vertical axis.
SIDENOTE 2: wasnât paying attention when I renamed the mat in MS, so itâs Bill10 instead of 01 in the Milkshape file
Youâll also see why I said the texture will move .5 with this. It depends on the way you map the faces in Milkshape; I remapped the face to cover the entire texture, then scaled the mapping down by .5 on Y so it covers the top half of the texture only, like a window (which moves on Y in the MaterialAnim by .5).Iâm including:
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The MS3D file - so you can check the differences in grouping, and texture mapping (Hit âCtrl + Tâ in Milksh!t)
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PSD for Photoshop - erm I guess as a template / guide (done in CS5, let me know if you want a version compatible with older Photoshop vers
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PotNoodle jpg - just in case yours went missing
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sign_anim_temp.tga - easy access to check out the âfinishedâ texture.
LAST NOTE: the attached file is 7zip format, but had to rename to Zip to upload.
I could also upload my dinky little test system flmm format with the Billboard placed near your spawn. Just let me know. -
Thanks for taking the time to look at this. Iâll go and see what youâve done now
*** EDIT ***
Right. The timing on the billboard is lovely, perfect in fact. One side effect iâve noticed thatâs causing a little issue.
Iâm trying to put loads of these billboards round a circular base and when the billboard is on the dark side, you can still see it flashing but itâs very dark. Seems the system light has an effect on the emissive part of the texture. I just thought it would stand out more on the dark side but in fact itâs darkening the texture. Know of a workaround for this?
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Ah yes, thus far in my trials Et doesnât work with Dt when doing animations. Something about trying to animate 2 textures at once if I recall the discussion here a while back. I think if you have a texture with alpha chan specifying where to apply glow you can use EcEtOcOt. Havenât tried it yet, but by the looks using that in-game, some near combination should work.
What I am staring at right now, which works:
On the Bill10_Glow_Glass_Anim material try DcDtEcOcOt
Set Dc to 1,1,1
Set Ec to 1,1,1
Nodes are: Dc, Dt_name, Dt_flags, Ec, Oc, TypeThatâs what I just tried and it doesnât look like any shadows. A little earlier I was messing around with ⌠um some other combination and saw the shadows you were talking about.
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Gibbon wrote:
No iâm not, canât stand all that bloom nonsense lol. No idea why this is happening. I tried adding the EcEt section and although i can see it now, then it wonât flash plus only half the texture is emissiveâŚ. OddQuestion. concerning those BB that face the dark side of your system, Why can you use little invisible lights to put in front of it so that it is visible, with out messing with the mat file stuff?
Fus
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We also have custom BB in the UV, and altho they arenât animated, we on some of them, had to put little system lights in front of them so that they would look right. That is what I meant by little invisible lights. I was just reading this string, and that is what occurred to me, because it was something we had to deal with.
If you have already tried this to help solve the problem and it didnât work, then never mind.
Fus
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Just thought Iâd toss a vid up to show how this method looks in-game, and clarify to some of those wondering if this is a âslidingâ type of animation. As you can see, it is not
Again, sorry for the crap texture re-do. Just wanted to give a semi-accurate implementation.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=25173778