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How do I customize the normal map?


Magic Zach

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I'm trying to make my own custom normal map for the P-51. I have the texture all ready and changed, in the .dds 24 bit format, like the default normal maps are. The section in my description.lua is the following:

{"P51D_FUZ_FRONT", 1 ,"1c",false};

{"P51D_FUZ_FRONT", 1 ,"2c",false};

{"P51D_WING_L", 1 ,"LEFT 3",false};

{"P51D_WING_R", 1 ,"RIGHT 3",false};

I've changed the normal map names to be very brief for ease of use while editing. For my livery, 1a is the front fuselage diffuse map, 1b is the front fuselage roughmet, and 1c is the front fuselage normal map. I expected this to work, but the result in the modelviewer isn't at all what I wanted or expected.

[ATTACH]203726[/ATTACH]

This is the only thing that appears on the whole aircraft. Three "protrusions" on the left, top, and right side of the engine. No matter how I changed the normal map texture, it is this. No matter what, whatever I do.

 

Can someone help me out, please??

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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seem a bit strange, if you look, you can see a rivets line just over the bonnet, out the rivet line diffuse texture.

Have you modify all the channels? NM use red channel with light from right to left, green from from below to above, blue for the deep lines and holes. Maybe is not a pro explanation but work so:

RED

44jgtMb.jpg

 

GREEN

bJuHocN.jpg

 

BLUE

QoKWruA.jpg

 

MIXED

hgusOaL.jpg

 

Can you put here the screen of your front normal map?

IndiaFoxtEcho Textures Artist

 

My DCS liveries on UserFiles page here

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wait

{"P51D_FUZ_FRONT", 1 ,"1c",false};

{"P51D_FUZ_REAR", 1 ,"2c",false};

{"P51D_WING_L", 1 ,"LEFT 3",false};

{"P51D_WING_R", 1 ,"RIGHT 3",false};

Oh...my...God...

In my defense, it was 1 in the morning! If you didn't point this out, I would have been going in circles on this for weeks! And now that I look at this, I see this is the rear fuselage roughmet. Looking at it now, I see the panel there.

 

I found another issue, I think, with .DDS format quality. I may post again today, within one or two hours to show you what I mean.

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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Oh...my...God...

In my defense, it was 1 in the morning! If you didn't point this out, I would have been going in circles on this for weeks!

 

I found another issue, I think, with .DDS format quality. I may post again today, within one or two hours to show you what I mean.

 

Hahaha don't worry dude, happen!

I haven't seen it before either, just now i've had a good intuition!

This is why we are here: 4 eyes are much better than two :)

IndiaFoxtEcho Textures Artist

 

My DCS liveries on UserFiles page here

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Hahaha don't worry dude, happen!

I haven't seen it before either, just now i've had a good intuition!

This is why we are here: 4 eyes are much better than two :)

 

I seem to be exporting the normal textures wrong. I made a typo in the op, those weren't 24-bit .dds textures. Those were dtx5. But, no matter what format I try, and if it's not grey/see through, there is always this pixelization. For instance:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203788&d=1549241620

attachment.php?attachmentid=203794&d=1549243700

I can't seem to get around it. I used DXTBmp, and I just downloaded gimp 2.0 and a .dds plug-in within the last half hour, and I still can't find a way around it. There is a .dds format just for normal, but it's different. The DCS engine doesn't seem to like it (it makes the plane grey, or maybe a bit see-through), and it's purple.

 

I tried 24-bit .dds. I tried DXT1, DXT1(no alpha), DXT3, DXT5, DXT5nm. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

Also, you had asked to see my normals I'm using. The normal maps I'm using are actually a mix of both your and Rudel's normal maps, with some slight additions of my own (like erasing the perforated filtered air panel, adding coolant/aftercoolant relief valves, and adding detail to the wheel bays). I am not going to put this livery as public, so don't be alarmed if I credit you and Rudel or not. This livery is just for personal use. I may give it to some online friends through Dropbox, just so they can see me in it, but that is as far as it will go. If anyone asks, I'll tell them what I told you, that it is a mix of both Porro and Rudel's normal maps, with some adjustments and additions of my own.

 

Screens from a few of the things I added/erased from the normal map:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203790&d=1549242930

attachment.php?attachmentid=203791&d=1549242930

 

And these are two of the edits I am using, still WIP (need more work on wheel bays). Front fuselage and left wing:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203792&d=1549243152

attachment.php?attachmentid=203793&d=1549243152

 

 

How do you work with normal maps, so there is little to no pixelization in it, like I'm getting? This would help loads!

Thanks!!

595290380_Screenshot2019-02-0316_13_12.thumb.png.b9ba39233633d9f882d8ce18e361b480.png

1c.thumb.png.5e02c74f966b1d5b9824a9f4076f5bce.png

1319243351_LEFT3.thumb.png.fe5a0958eec02393ce14b64db737dc14.png

300112697_Screenshot2019-02-0316_26_46.thumb.png.71f8e0a3539c4a8ea765f5c3089ded69.png


Edited by Magic Zach
more screenshots

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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Don't worry about credit, Magic

About pixels, I think which isn't a normal map problem, but Roughmet: if you look old DCS livery like Israeli livery have the same problem.

My advice is to try to change or redone the roughmet

yNYKakz.png

IndiaFoxtEcho Textures Artist

 

My DCS liveries on UserFiles page here

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Don't worry about credit, Magic

About pixels, I think which isn't a normal map problem, but Roughmet: if you look old DCS livery like Israeli livery have the same problem.

My advice is to try to change or redone the roughmet

yNYKakz.png

 

I tried this. Switching the roughmet out with a default roughmet (485th FS livery) didn't work. Though, using a default OR your normal maps in place of my edits works flawlessly.

 

How did you create/export normal maps? Tools? Format?

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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I tried this. Switching the roughmet out with a default roughmet (485th FS livery) didn't work. Though, using a default OR your normal maps in place of my edits works flawlessly.

 

How did you create/export normal maps? Tools? Format?

 

I'm quite sure which is roughmet map problem:

This is the same livery (Israel Air Force) with same normal map, but the first with the original roughmet, the second instead from USAF 485th FS, MOONBEAM McSWINE

 

XBbDNkl.jpg

naehi48.jpg

IndiaFoxtEcho Textures Artist

 

My DCS liveries on UserFiles page here

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I'm quite sure which is roughmet map problem:

 

This is the same livery (Israel Air Force) with same normal map, but the first with the original roughmet, the second instead from USAF 485th FS, MOONBEAM McSWINE

 

 

 

XBbDNkl.jpg

 

naehi48.jpg

I'm sure it isn't the roughmet. I'll check.

 

If the Israel livery is a default livery, I'll insert your normal map and take a look at it.

But when I replaced my normal edit with yours on my livery, it eliminated the pixelation entirely. I also did replace my roughmet with the 485th default roughmet, and the pixelation was still there, with my normal map edit.

How did you export normals? What format? What program? It appears to me that I'm exporting my normal map edits either in the wrong format, or maybe the format I'm exporting is an old one (I'm using DXTBmp to export .DDS images).


Edited by Magic Zach

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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Well, what's strange is that I goofed around with the Israel livery, and yeah, switching out the roughmet (with gentleman jim's) fixed the slight pixilation I saw on that livery. :thumbup:

 

But yet, when I tried to do the same when switching out my own roughmet's, I still had awful pixilation. But, at random, I might have come across a work around, which has me confused, but it seems to work fine...

Import my .png of my edited normal, save as "Extended Bitmap", and export in the Extended 32 bit 888-8 format. I'm surprised, but it seems to have worked. The pixilation is gone! Completely! And I know for sure that it's my edit, not the default.

1323437522_Screenshot2019-02-0517_42_48.thumb.png.e13e41c2a1eaaeadc98f0dfaa48f3bdd.png

Some dents I added to the wings. My idea here is that ground crew while reloading may ding the wing a little bit:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203949&d=1549420984

I added some coloration to the exhaust stacks. Still working on it:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203948&d=1549420984

No holes showing up from the perforated filtered air panel showing up:

attachment.php?attachmentid=203951&d=1549421427

 

It seems for now I've found a sorta solution? It's not DDS format, but DCS seems to accept it without fuss at all!

2024431890_Screenshot2019-02-0517_32_54.thumb.png.22a9d1f2543aba0f48d9862f78520fe5.png

461806006_Screenshot2019-02-0517_25.57(1).thumb.png.907fd8b32fe4f7e760cc9c4004f388d6.png

2104611571_Screenshot2019-02-0517_19_21.thumb.png.c71adf83d3ac1e82c1e07cd48163490c.png

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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  • 1 month later...
Woouuu. That level of detail is amazing! Congrats!
Thanks! I've made a ton of changes to it since.

I'm currently doing a completely custom overhaul of the normal map, seperate from ED's, Porro's and Rudel's, thanks to a plug-in I found for Gimp, that allows me to create normal maps out of grey scale images.a28e3b8d194090ba78f30f78179b7156.jpg8ee30b2a169b34c3f2b5fef34b256f66.jpge33e6d05e44ccb632406a3acf3e07375.jpg670265e0aafbd0dce3e29db029825b77.jpga9828ac09aa20631f47e964ca991c3a1.jpgf332b55308fe4be6bec015aecacc6f83.jpg


Edited by Magic Zach
typo

Hardware: T-16000M Pack, Saitek 3 Throttle Quadrant, Homemade 32-function Leo Bodnar Button Box, MFG Crosswind Pedals Oculus Rift S

System Specs: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS, GTX 1070 SC2, AMD RX3700, 32GB DDR4-3200, Samsung 860 EVO, Samsung 970 EVO 250GB

Modules: Ka-50, Mi-8MTV2, FC3, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-5E, P-51D, Spitfire Mk LF Mk. IXc, Bf-109K-4, Fw-190A-8

Maps: Normandy, Nevada

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