Specular maps working?

willy-wilson

Ok, well obviously spec maps are working but how can i get them to work with materials?

heres what i get in the viewer.
<img src="http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/willy-wilson/Capture1-1.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

and heres around what it should look like. (realtime hlsl shader in maya)
<img src="http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/willy-wilson/Capture-26.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

and heres my .material (note i do have a gloss map as well but none of the textures load if its included in the .material and i have tried putting the spec in other textures alpha channels.)
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1--> <material>
    <maps>
        <map type="texture" value="materials/test_color.dds" />
        <map type="bump" value="materials/test_normal.dds" />
        <map type="specular" value="materials/test_spec.dds" />
    </maps>
</material><!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Any help at all would be much appreciated.

Draco_2k

I believe specular maps have to be sampled from diffuse .psd's alpha. So you'd have something like...

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1--> <material>
       <maps>
           <map type="texture" value="materials/test_color.dds" />
           <map type="bump" value="materials/test_normal.dds" />
           <map type="specular" value="materials/test_color.dds" />
       </maps>
   </material><!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Well, at least that's how I do it.

Note that things will look different in Viewer and Editor due to likely differing light sources and angles.

willy-wilson

Ive tried that and tried again just now and its not working :/ i get the same result

Draco_2k

Well, that's weird. Did you try comparing the material against current props/textures? See how they look in the Editor? It may be a bug, too. If you have anything non-standard in terms of settings, drivers or hardware, not exactly unlikely.

You could try e-mailing me the texture (send a PM if so), I'll see if it looks like that on my rig, see if it really is a bug...

willy-wilson

yea the standard materials and props look just fine.

Draco_2k

Got your PM.

Not working for me either. The hell.

Draco_2k

Found your problem. The specular map is simply too bright: try cutting the brightness in half or so.

May or may not be a bug. Gotta ask someone on dev team, or someone knowledgeable at least.

Pipi

As opposed to a model, the specular map for a material needs to be in the Alpha channel of the diffuse map, always. That way, you don't have to (and shouldn't) write a code line in the .material file for a specular map. It will load automatically.

And the specular map needs to be really low in brightness (like Draco said). When you're finished making the specular map, in photoshop, adjust your white level down from 255 to around 100 or less.

slayer20

Thank you! I've been trying to figure this out for forever!