Mini-Modding (Tweaks)

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:47 pm

Vice,

Say I wanted to change the lights to the left and right of the console monitor display. Three graphic files are used to define the texture:

buttons2
buttons2lights
buttons2shader

In what order are the three files displayed? In other words, which file sits on top of which other file? (The top file would be the "mask" ... in that it would cover the other files except where the texture of the mask is black. Right?)

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:17 pm

'buttons2lights' should render on top and emissive, 'buttons2' as the base layer and 'buttons2shader' above that. Yes, the shader layer will likely need white areas where there are lights so they will be visible.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:00 pm

Okay, thanks Vice. That means the lights are on top ... can't put a "wire mesh" over them ... so, I cut sections out of the lights so the wire will show through.

And shader area for lights is white. But basic texture area for lights is black. Right? Makes sense. I hope.

Post by **Vice** » Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:09 pm

Right, where you want the lights to appear on the base texture (ie diffuse), you'd want to use black. On the shader texture, you'd want to use white.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:44 pm

Okay, thanks Vice. First try worked ... but looks flat. So I need to tweak the tweak and give it a little 3-D effect.

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:55 pm

Vice,

I noticed that the default lights remain at a constant brightness, no matter how much light is reflected off the background (base) texture. My lights, on the other hand, get washed out when the base texture is reflecting lots of light. Is there a trick to keeping the lights a steady color?

Post by **Vice** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:08 am

Is the base texture still blank (black) where there are emissive lights? If so, try blacking out the light areas on the specular/shader texture (if the layering is still the same on the mesh, the lights should still show up).

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:19 am

Originally posted by Vice

Is the base texture still blank (black) where there are emissive lights?

Yup, the area for the lights is totally black.

If so, try blacking out the light areas on the specular/shader texture.

Okay, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:04 am

Oddly enough, that worked. Cockpit lights are no longer washed out when the base texture is reflecting a lot of starlight.