Heh, guess what Im making models for...

Normal map from a 13,600 poly head on a 1000 poly mesh via an emulated DX9 hardware shader.

http://members.chello.se/wunderboy/normal_map.jpg

Unf! :kitty:

Great start Jed, looking good, can you maybe post a wire frame overlay pic aswell, so we get a better idea of what extra data the normal map is adding.

This is a straight screen shot from my desktop with the shader off, so this is the underlaying "raw" mesh. This is what people with DirectX8 hardware would see.

Whoa.

This is looking ver nice. What do you plan on using it for?

Its for V2 of my Airborne models for the Source engine.

This is a quick shot of a quick diffuse normal text - I've ramped the normals depth up a bit so its easier to see, so the texture is a little unnatural for cloth but it illustrates the point.

Sweet Jesus of Nazereth! Only emoticons can express my true feelings of that above picture: :) :D :eek: :kitty:

Actually this one came out better when I ran it through the shader with a spotlight.

I'm experimenting with added normal maps to cloth textures to bring out the detail in things like the stitching and so on.

how the hell do u make that texture

So real it scares me. How will this compare to in game, or can you not tell?

According to the HL2 FAQ it says DirectX8 compatible cards can use specular normals on texture which means you can dictate which parts have a highlight from reflection.

Common examples of this are on faces where you highlight the parts of the skin which are most shiney which is mostly the forehead, nosetip and lips. Another example it so say add a glint to the eye textures.

DirectX9 hardware can use the specular normals plus the diffuse normals which is what the last picture and the first one are using. This basically treats each pixel in the texture like a face and gives it a direction.

If you think about how a flat shading model has each face get darker or lighter based on its orientation to the light, you get the idea. However instead of it going by the mesh, it takes each pixel and treats it the same way - basically each pixel in the texture gets lit as if it were a tiny mesh face.

Basically pixel shaders let you do all sorts of funky stuff but in the case of this, it lets you make the texture to have more 3D detail than the mesh underneath it.

I don't know about traditional bump maps to be be honest. They've been around forever and most cards support them to some degree but I've seen no mention of them with regard to Source.

Jeez Jed, look like you stole some HL2 models ;)

But yea, keep up the good work buddy.

no way I can run HL2 D:

Originally posted by Toejam Football
no way I can run HL2 D:

I was thinking the same.

I read an article that included the system requirements for HL2, and I'm not far off. I'll still have to upgrade to see anything like what Jed posted.

Speaking of the devil, I could not tell if that last render was real or not. :eek: I was about to say "wait a second, you fake!". Then I remembered, it's for Source, the end of all FPS engines.

"the end of all FPS engines."

Just what kinda horse crap is valve feeding to you poor guys?
hl2 best engi,yeah right.

one word, b.r.e.e.d.

look it up,be amazed,then wounder why anyones even bothing with anything less.

I think today i will be attacking your base from space,while my men drop in and assault the base from the north,meanwhile heavy bombers will assault the best from the east.
ALL in real time WITHOUT loading screens,mind you.

hl2 best engine,THATS funny.

Jed, if that model and skin test is any indication of what DOD:S will look like....

...let's just say that DOD:S is going to ROCK!

Even if the default skins aren't that high detail, I can't wait to see what the rest of the MSA community can put out.

Holy crap ! awesome !!

That jacket look like the goddamn real thing, is it photo based or something ? amazing details.

very impressive.











....... have my babies.

Well to answer one question, no its not a stolen HL2 model. I did however use the XSI Valve biped rig which I exported as an SMD and brought into Max to use as a reference pose. The torso model is based on screenshots I've collected for HL2 and some screenshots I found of HLMV for HL2 running in wireframe mode.

Truth be told with max making a torso is a doddle, its just a question of extruding a box, extruding some arms out, apply a meshsmooth modifier, collapse it and then just jiggle the vertices around a bit.

As for "will my system run that" I cant say for used by my machine only has a nVidia FX5200 in it and in Max at least I can use normal maps with DirectX shader textures so my card supports them to some degree at least.

Truth be told with max making a torso is a doddle, its just a question of extruding a box, extruding some arms out, apply a meshsmooth modifier, collapse it and then just jiggle the vertices around a bit.


This sounds like your finally moving away from Milkshape as a tool for modeling, and if thats the case, all i can say is it's about bloody time...........:), still only 8 out of 10 for not taking note of my sig.....LMAO.

Verrry Nice Jed, just a bit of stretching on the back of the left shoulder. Fixable?

Yeah its all fixable, thats not a final texture and its not even been uv mapped properly. I was just experimenting with normal maps generated from textures rather than poly data.

Holy God in Heaven. That is orgasmic.

So does now intoduce a sort of overlayer for the skins?

By this I mean, there is no need to try to add any sort of 2 dimensional depth to cloth, or any shadow, has the source engine eliminated the need to properly insure that the skin is affected by directional light?

Jed sir,

You are one multi-talented bugger! :D

Great stuff m8, cheers for sharing that.

Regards
Musso

Normal mapping is the way of the future :D Just look at DOOM3. :cool:

I assume thats a 1024x1024 texture... correct?

Nope, 256x512 at least for the back part.

FKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK:eek: :eek: :eek:



Or as in my sig:

Well 256x512 is a lot higher thanw hat we got now :p

I have a felling DoD:S will look quite a bit better than CS:S.

very nice jed. i would like to see a comparison of the 1000poly head regular and then with this normal map (if possible) :cool:


Originally posted by BaDkaRmA158Th
"the end of all FPS engines."
DRIBBLEDRABLE
hl2 best engine,THATS funny.
all your base are belong to me!

p.s. karm come to irc i needs to talks to ya

If you've got $$$ and want to create super-intricate-looking models/surfaces with normal maps (more intricate compared to Doom III), you should try getting Zbrush so you can easily (and i mean easily) sculpt your low poly uv-mapped mesh model to up to 8-million polies, and then automatically generate/export a normal map with the click of a button. The result? A low polygon game model (500 to 2000 polies) that is shaded per-pixel such that it looks like it has 8-million polies. Can you imagine that if you were to shine HL2's flashlight on that model, the light (depending on it's position/direction which you can play around with) would capture all the beautiful folds/carvings/ingravings you sculpted earlier? Superb stuff.

Jed sweet work.
the first pic u done would be call as a Luftwaffe pilot or a Falschrimjager.
Its his hair ive seen alot of ww2 films and they Luftwaffe and the Falschrimjager have there hair like that.It was a style they had in ww2 as my grandad told me.