Ambient Occlusion- nVidia Not Supported??

[g_nash]

Ambient Occlusion as defined that particular post has nothing to do with your Graphics Card and you need not be concerned . It's used ( in this instance ) as a material type in the creation of assets for Railworks/other games ( and CG/VFX rendering ). Some pics and data here > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion < ... if this is not enough and you have an interest , I'll show you how AO works , and also the other mentioned types > Normal and Specular maps .

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[SMMDigital]

From what I understand and what i've gatheres from looking at the _occ textures in RW, it's like a shadow map that defines how an object looks when train-lights hit the object? Where my disconnect lies is how to implement it at the model level. What slot does the occlusion map go into? What shader is used? Does 3DCrafter even support its use?

[g_nash]

it's like a shadow map that defines how an object looks when train-lights hit the object?

Kinda , look at pics 3 and 4 to see what this does for scenery http://the-art-of-rws.blogspot.com/2010 ... aders.html

What slot does the occlusion map go into?

AO goes in Slot 3

Slot 1 is the diffuse texture
Slot 2 is the normal map (24bit) with specular map (8bit) in the alpha channel
Slot 3 is the Ambient Occlusion map.

What shader is used?

New Shader >>>> TrainLightBumpSpecMask

Does 3DCrafter even support its use?

I don't know anything about 3D Crafter , sorry

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[SMMDigital]

Ok, beginning to understand this a little better, but I still have questions.

What is a diffuse map? The first slot in 3DC is for the Primary Texture, the 24 bit + alpha as you have stated.

I have never used a shadow map, as 3DC does not support baking. I always make a layer in Photoshop to simulate grime and shadows. The second slot in 3DC is for a secondary texture, and its opacity is variable, so I suppose it could be used for a shadow or occlusion map.

The other slots in 3DC are Translucency, Bump, Specular, and Environment. Im trying to match up their Max equivilent, so when you guys talk max, I can translate.

[g_nash]

Ok, beginning to understand this a little better, but I still have questions.

What is a diffuse map? The first slot in 3DC is for the Primary Texture, the 24 bit + alpha as you have stated.

I have never used a shadow map, as 3DC does not support baking. I always make a layer in Photoshop to simulate grime and shadows. The second slot in 3DC is for a secondary texture, and its opacity is variable, so I suppose it could be used for a shadow or occlusion map.

The other slots in 3DC are Translucency, Bump, Specular, and Environment. Im trying to match up their Max equivilent, so when you guys talk max, I can translate.

I guess it would go like this then ..

Slot 1 is the diffuse texture ------------ This is my color map ( diffuse ) and would be your primary texture .

Slot 2 is the normal map (24bit) with specular map (8bit) in the alpha channel ------------ If Crafter supports bump , then maybe you can add the normal+specular(in alpha channel) here ... both can be made in Photoshop ( good photoshop hard surface tut from a great guy >> http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=373024 << (and not sure of any reason that the GIMP cannot do the same) or you can use CrazyBump ( http://www.crazybump.com/ ... youtube vid for demo >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohchkP-9oxo )

Slot 3 is the Ambient Occlusion map ------------ as you typed >>I always make a layer in Photoshop to simulate grime and shadows << so this is where you need that texture , need to put that layer as new texture , ( have you heard of or tried Xnormal ? http://www.xnormal.net/1.aspx )

That's how it goes for Max . You could maybe ask the Crafter guy if you can use it like the above .

(ETA some stuff)

[SMMDigital]

Thanks for the info, it is of great value. The flat surfaces tutorial i'm going through now, slowly. The other xnormal one blew out fuses 1, 3, and 27 in my neural net I think, so I probably won't be using it anytime soon. I'm about to begin building a new set of assets, so this stuff is going to come in handy very soon.

[g_nash]

Just add this linkie >> http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autode ... n-3ds-max/ << ... it's mostly for max stuff , it's also kinda big @180meg and long @41mins but starting @31mins there's some useful stuff on editing and adding elements to your normal maps and using the photoshop nVidia normal plugin ,, if you've seen/know about this stuff then no point looking again , but good if it's new info.

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