AMTEX and UVs

[DWARVEN_KING]

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?

[Obsidian Games]

DWARVEN_KING - I also got your email on this, but figured I'd reply here.

 

The A:M-generated texture maps, which are an option with AMXtex, may not suit your purposes. Most DirectX viewers want texture maps to be powers of 2 (64x64, 512x256, etc), and the auto-generated maps don't fit this sizing. However, if you start by creating all of your textures with this sizing (either one large map or multiple smaller maps), you can use those with .X models just fine.

 

As you noted, AMXtex only exports a single texture per polygon, which should be the color texture. It does not handle normal maps, though. I've browsed through the DirectX 9 docs, and while I found mention of normal maps, I can't find where .X files use them. The list of supported .X templates does not appear to include anything for normal maps. Can you point me to the documentation that you found, so I can investigate further?

 

Thanks,

[DWARVEN_KING]

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?

[another]

What`s game engine?

[DWARVEN_KING]

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

[Obsidian Games]

No worries about the questions, I'm always happy to try and answer them the best I can. I will try to take a look at the "ParallaxOcclusionMapping" example and see if/how it works with .X files.

 

As for making an identical size normal map and having the programmer load it, that may well be possible. To be honest, I don't know enough about how normal maps are used with DirectX to give a good answer. If I can find out more, I'll post back here.

[Paul Forwood]

I hadn't even heard of parallax occlusion mapping until now. A quick Google helped me understand what it is and I must say it takes displacement to the next level.

 

Have a browse through this pdf file and look at the comparisons on pages 28 to 30, and the rest. I hope Yves is still inspired and stimulated by this sort of thing.

 

Parallax Occlusion Mapping

[DWARVEN_KING]

Thanks Obsidian.

 

Ill be very iterested to see your results.

[triath5147]

ooooooh, aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Daddy likes!

[another]

Dot3 - blending color@normalmap for good bump in old directX. Parallax mapping uses also a map of heights. It is possible to make maps in AM, and to blending them better in our engine.

For example in Blitz3D

cube = CreateCube(center)
ScaleEntity cube,300,300,300
FlipMesh cube
PositionEntity cube,0,0,0 

color_map=LoadTexture( "stone_diffuse256.tga",1+8)
EntityTexture cube,color_map,0,1 
TextureBlend color_map,3

normal_map=LoadTexture( "stone_bump256.tga",1+8)
EntityTexture cube,normal_map,0,0  
TextureBlend normal_map,4
EntityFX cube,2
EntityShininess cube,1

[Obsidian Games]

I've been looking into the ParallaxOcclusionMapping material in the 4/06 DirectX SDK, and here's what I found. Basically, there's some good news and some bad news with respect to how it works.

 

All of the work being done to simulate the displacement seems to be happening outside of the .X file, so there's nothing I can really do to the exporter to help this process. If you look at the .X file that they use for this example, (\Samples\C++\Direct3D\ParallaxOcclusionMapping\Media\Disc.x), you can see that it's just a plain disc. There is nothing added to the .x file to do the occlusion work, and in fact, there are actually pieces missing from the .X file, namely the material list and texture filenames. However, it does contain normal texture coordinates, which I think is key for the example to work. It appears to take that X file, and then loads in the appropriate textures and occlusion maps by way of the project code and .fx files.

 

I added in a material section to the .X file so that I could see what it looked like, and it loads up the textures just fine (I used stones.bmp), only without the occlusion mapping.

 

So, in order for this to work with A:M, it looks like you'll need to create your .X files with a single texture and export it like normal. The material section (starting with "MeshMaterialList" and ending with "} // End MeshMaterialList") should then be stripped out. After that, it's up to whoever is doing the programming to take it from there. I don't know if A:M can create the occlusion maps or not, but perhaps someone else can comment on that.

 

I'm sure this wasn't the answer people were hoping for, but I hope this helps explain it a bit. It does look like a cool technology, though.

[DWARVEN_KING]

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.