I've been working with Cinema 4D a lot lately, and found a few things that Dim3 could use.
1. A strength value for bump maps.
When I apply a bump map in C4D, the standard strength value is 20%.
Looks like this:
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9666/...e19hx6.png
When I set it to 100%, it looks like this:
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1816/...e20ft8.png
In Dim3, it's somewhere between 100 and 90, which often is too high.
Changing the specular map would be easy, but using a bump strength value (that might even be settable by script) would be better.
2. Specular mapping in Dim3 just doesn't look right.
In Cinema 4D, there are 4 values for specular, and you don't have to use a specular map at all.
The values are height, width, falloff and inner width.
A sphere with specular at standard settings on:
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/7534/...e13ms6.png
Increase the height and width a little and it looks like this:
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7074/picture14oo1.png
This specular value also affects the bump mapping. I think this is the way that Unity does specular, because it looks just like that, and they don't use specular maps, at least not in the example project/tutorials.
We could really use this, as it would improve the visual quality of games a lot.
Yessir, Specular would help me out a lot, I like that bright/dark contrast, and it looks real nice if it's applied right. I don't get into bump mapping much, but with the right type of specular, I could really improve the looks of my game.
Yea, I would love specular (but not using maps)!
The biggest problem I have is a lot of these effects are done in shaders, and I can't depend on shader support either by machine or OS, I can have much, much higher requirements or I have to handle these things in other ways.
I'm pretty sure C4D does this by hand as it doesn't have to real time render.
I'm going to be thinking about ALL of these things, especially more shader support, but that's for later. Right now I need to finish all the mesh stuff first, and that's going to take a while.
[>] Brian
Whats the overhead of having the current specular stuff in the code?
Might I suggest the controversial idea of removing it until it is functional.
cool another C4D user :p me too
while the "specular" does affect the bumpmap, or at least the looks of the specular, i suggest you turn on and use the same bumpmap (or normal texture) for "specular color". it adds even more detail.
i made something with the help of the doom 3 textures, bumpmaps and displacement maps. i haven't seen anything in dim3 yet about the latter. the specular is not very good to see but it is there. the model is simple as hell and there is some specular in the gun but not on the model itself because people and clothing don't really have it real life :p
since we're talking about bumpmaps and stuff I would like to promote the displacement maps also called normal maps. The background is 3d... only the it consists of 4 completly flat planes and the light. and when i mean flat i mean really flat, so flat that you can't see the planes from their sides. I used the textures for the colors as normal, the bumpmap for the little bumps (hence the name i guess :p) and displacement/normal maps for the 3d look and discovered why doom 3 looks so good. half of what you see might not be modelled at all. it is all done by displacement maps. the only downside is that you would need to make the planes consist of more then just 1 polygon. the more polygons you have the better the displacement effects look. here are the pictures:
Complete render:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28059054.jpg
Bumpmap only render:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28059222.jpg
Displacement only Render:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28059135.jpg
No effects render:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28059212.jpg
(if there is interest i could show the none specular versions too. I also got an area lighted (C4D's term for having realistic shadows that go from hard to soft shadows fromout the object making them) picture and it took my laptop over 5 hours to render! :o and i didn't have radiosity on :s)
(btw: the skin texture for the model is my own skin :p i took a photo with my build-in webcam, how cheap :p)
#1, people do have specualar, anything that light shines on does. If you render as an art then you use specular for skin, but you don't need it for skin in a game
#2, displacement maps aren't normal maps, I'm almost positive, I could be wrong though
#3, we already have normal maps
#4, I'm not sure displacement maps would work ingame as they involve creating lots of polys.... I'm not sure though....
btw, if you want an alternative to displacement maps try parallax mapping (needs a shader)
[EDIT]btw cool screens!
#1. not :p at least not on your arms but maybe your forehead. i think you probably mean radiosity. something i haven't seen in games yet but i can't blame the creators. it takes a freaking long time to render. radiosity makes some light reflect a very tiny bit onto another object. specular doesen't reflect light. it just shows some glare on the object itself.
no radiosity:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28084591.jpg
radiosity:
http://album.partyflock.nl/28084622.jpg
i used soft shadows :p
#2. here's something about it:
http://planetpixelemporium.com/tutorialp...ormal.html (is a tutorial too)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping
normal maps are displacement maps :p but that depends in which application you use them. I couldn't find normal maps in C4D because that was Displacement maps.
#3. :o where? :o
#4. normally they would but i don't know if DIM3 supports it :o who wants to check? :p
parallax?:o i need to look that up. i haven't worked with shaders yet. what are shaders exactly and what do they do?
thanks :D
#1. Specular is very useful for skin, especially if it's wet, but you'd use a more even tone, so it wouldn't be too harsh.
#2. Normal maps affect the way a texture looks, but displacement maps actually change the geometry of a model. Normal maps just look like they're changing the model's shape.
#3. We do have normal maps, you can add them in the Editor or Animator. Just double click on a texture, and you can add the normal map.
#4. Displacement maps would work, it's just a matter of computer power.
Parallex Maps are like normal maps, but they do more then create the illusion of geometry, they add lighting as though it were real geometry, but they also actually simulate the way you can view geometry, so you can move around the PMed texture, and it will look really 3D.
1. wicked :p
2. okay... but how come they use the same texture type, the ones that contain the colors blue, red and green? i couldnt use them well for bumpmap though i might try to set the bumpmap like about 1000 :o but the displacement in C4D is polygon sensitive. the more polygons the better the textured plane looks but in the editor it doesn't change anything so the plane is still a plain plane :o what is the reason of that?
3. chill (^.^) now let's make a Doom 3 (insert evil grin here :P)
4. linked to 2: would Dim3 use those colored depth textures, which i call normal maps being used as displacement in C4D, as normal maps or displacement maps :o