[How do you export Light Maps?]

I've been trying to export light maps and have only gotten error messages.

Has anyone gotten this feature to work?

 

Is there a tutorial out there on this subject?

 

In the wholly all of it... I intend to export a light map of ambient occlusion but I cant even get light maps working with AO off.

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

P.S.

 

I first posted this this question on the radiosity board... but I think this board might be more appropriate.

[2 sided normals]

Turning off back-face culling should do the trick.

[AMXTEX: animation export problems]

I just found the answer.

 

For some strange reason the only way I could get the finger animations to export properly was to translate the finger bones (in the Model Bone window) in the positve x direction until they were floating above the palm. (with palms facing foward)

 

Now the animations look wierd in AM but they look fine in their exported form.

 

Hurray for the inexplicable (yet ever so useful) solutiongs

 

P.S. still... if anyone can explain to me why this works maybe I'll better understand what Im doing wrong.

[AMXtex v3.0 Released for A:M v13]

Whoops.

 

I thought that v. 13 (ie 2006) was to be found here:

http://www.hash.com/support/updates.asp

 

 

But now I see the error of my ways and downloaded the actual v13 (beta 2 anyway) from here:

http://www.hash.com/support/updates.asp

 

Models will export now and everything is fixed (except my fingers: they are still broken )

[AMXTEX: animation export problems]

I guess I'll keep exporting animations untill I have a decent hand clench animation and then forget about this odd problem. Oh and I'm not actually using the 2001 skeleton (perhaps I miss-spoke) , I simply had rigged the hands in a similar "roll handle heavy" manner. Maybe this rollhandle Idea wont work.

 

The first thing I tried was simply using a string of bones with Euler constraints that only allowed movement in the -180 Y direction (so as to give each finger a hinge joint). But the exported model had the fingers wobleing all over the place as if the constraints weren't even there.

 

It really doesn't make any sense since (now that I think of it) the Euler on the elbow seems to export fine. Why are the ones on the fingers not exporting?

 

More experimentation is in order.

 

Thanks for getting back to me so quick.

[AMXtex v3.0 Released for A:M v13]

I have the newest version of AM (the one with the Yeti)

 

I've also downloaded the 2006 update for AM.

 

So I'm assuming that I have the 2006 version now...

 

yet, while AMTEX for v12 works fine the new v13 one gives me an "unhandled exception #1" wheather or not skin weights are on.

 

I've not only tried my models but also the Gala model on the CD.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

[AMXTEX: animation export problems]

I've been able to make IK kinematics, aim-at, and aim-at w/ scale to reach ON constraints work fine.

 

Euler constraints dont seem to work, but that is not my problem.

 

The problem is my fingers

 

I'm using no constraints on them, and they are rigged in the 2001 skelleton manner with the rollhandle being used exclusively to flexing the fingers. In the bone view, the initial rolls of each of the fingers is set to 0.

 

Now for some reason when I make an animation of the hand closing into a fist (for instance) the fingers will roll too far and consistently go into or through the palm in the exported version.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[AMTEX and UVs]

Thanks, Obsidian, for doing this research.

 

I dont expect miracles... I just want to know how everything works... and how I can best make game content.

 

I have just purchased AMXTEX and am very happy with your powerful exporter.

[AMTEX and UVs]

Thanks Obsidian.

 

Ill be very iterested to see your results.

[Realtime Normal maps in AM '06]

I was curious if Animation Master's realtime renderer can render normal maps in realtime.

 

Is there a setting that would turn such a feature on... perhaps.

 

Or is it not possible.

 

Any assistance a user who owns Version 13 could give would be greatly appreciated.

[AMTEX and UVs]

The team I am on is making the game engine from scratch with the Direct X SDK.

[AMTEX and UVs]

Well I thank you for answering directly... and I hope you do not look upon my incessant questioning as an anoyance. Know that I am planning to order AMTEX right after finals are over.

 

I must admit however, that I am not a programmer so I do not know if the actual .x file supports normal maps. I do know, however, that in the most recent SDK (April 2006) the sampe browser featured a rather impressive example called "ParallaxOcclusionMapping." I had already done a considerable amount of reseach on ATI's ParallaxOcclusionMapping and was overjoyed that Direct X supports this advanced technology.

 

Is the paralax being referenced by the x. file or something else like the program's actual code? I dont really know, probably the later.

 

Do you think that if I make textures and normal maps with identical UVs, and export the model with just the texture map, will a programer be able to load the normal maps onto the same UVs later?

[AMTEX and UVs]

Granted I dont YET have the full version of AMTEX, but I hear it is supposed to export texture maps.

Does anyone here (who has the full version of AMTEX) know if it really does export USEABLE texture maps?

I heard some rumor about there being gaps on the generated texture maps or something. (I really dont want to use a third party UV editor)

 

On another note, does AMTEX export normal maps along with the color textures? ( I know that AMTEX will not export more than one color texture for a single poly due to the limitations of the .x file) However, I also know Direct x supports normal maps (as seen in the most recent SDK sample browser). Does AMTEX ignore normal maps, treat them as color maps, or export them?