Texture Seams on Export
by James Abraham · in General Discussion · 06/03/2004 (5:25 pm) · 10 replies
Hi All,
I've recently noticed a problem with how textured models are exported. I am noticing that suddenly all of the seams on my skinned character have become visible in the game engine. They show up as black lines. No longer blended.
In 3ds Max, I even tried to compensate for this by moving my UV coordinates WELL into the texture area so if they shifted a bit on export, the seam should have been unnoticeable. On top of that, i even got rid of the black mask I used in Photoshop, and I'm still getting BLACK seams.
Any ideas?
Jim
I've recently noticed a problem with how textured models are exported. I am noticing that suddenly all of the seams on my skinned character have become visible in the game engine. They show up as black lines. No longer blended.
In 3ds Max, I even tried to compensate for this by moving my UV coordinates WELL into the texture area so if they shifted a bit on export, the seam should have been unnoticeable. On top of that, i even got rid of the black mask I used in Photoshop, and I'm still getting BLACK seams.
Any ideas?
Jim
#2
The Conitec A5 engine has the same problem. But I was able to fix it by shifting the coordinates. I'll have to try it again.
06/04/2004 (1:53 am)
Hmmm.The Conitec A5 engine has the same problem. But I was able to fix it by shifting the coordinates. I'll have to try it again.
#3
06/04/2004 (5:58 am)
Kind of a big problem dont yo think? Especially if they dont get it fixed with the new TSE. Have you seen how horrible Normal Map seems look?
#4
This can be fixed in the image map if you are careful about UV layout and check it in-game. Lightwave Dave's new showtool has a method for cycle through the mip levels that should make it easier to see the effect and to fix it.
06/04/2004 (6:42 am)
It is the mip mapping.. if you have borders around your image (surround the texture with black) it will bleed and cause seams when it mips. This can be fixed in the image map if you are careful about UV layout and check it in-game. Lightwave Dave's new showtool has a method for cycle through the mip levels that should make it easier to see the effect and to fix it.
#5
06/04/2004 (8:47 am)
@Ward - texture verts are full precision in Torque and are exactly the same values Max uses. I think Joe is probably right about this one and what James is seeing is mipmapping (which Max probably doesn't do).
#6
As Joe says, your best bet is to adjust the texture and UV coordinates to compensate.
06/04/2004 (8:58 am)
This is a problem with the way OpenGL filters pixels at the edges of a texture map. Nothing specific to Torque.As Joe says, your best bet is to adjust the texture and UV coordinates to compensate.
#7
Jim
06/04/2004 (12:43 pm)
Wow. Looks like I got the best of the best here to respond. Thanks everyone!Jim
#8
06/04/2004 (2:27 pm)
Joe, Clark and Mark are correct. Torque is precise in its texture coordinates, mip-mapping causes the problem you describe if you do not provide sufficient bleed-zone on your textures. This is something artists with almost every engine have to compensate for.
#9
And it really is worse then other engines I have worked with. I learned to work around it and it isn't a problem for me anymore, but i remember this being a pain in the ass. It doesn't show up in max or milkshape (same for 3D engines.... even shockwave displays it correctly, but you have to increase the detail in the exporter or you get the same result, so that's why I assumed it was the same thing with Torque), but after export there are lots of seams.
06/04/2004 (3:13 pm)
Hmmm.. if it is mipmapping, then why is it visible at close range. Doesn't mipmap kick in at a certain distance? And it really is worse then other engines I have worked with. I learned to work around it and it isn't a problem for me anymore, but i remember this being a pain in the ass. It doesn't show up in max or milkshape (same for 3D engines.... even shockwave displays it correctly, but you have to increase the detail in the exporter or you get the same result, so that's why I assumed it was the same thing with Torque), but after export there are lots of seams.
#10
06/07/2004 (2:03 am)
Advice I got at CGTalk, posted by EricChadwick:Quote:Using black backgrounds around the textures is NOT a good idea, typically a newbie method, I guess since the texture sheet is more visually appealing this way. But in-game, the texture is resized multiple times to make "mips," smaller versions of the texture that help reduce aliasing in-game as the surface gets farther away. When it is resized down, the black starts to bleed into the texture area, so you get black halos on your models as they recede. Not good. Best to fill the unused texture space with colors similar to the used areas, then when scaled it won't be so obvious.
Torque Owner Very Interactive Person
I don't understand why you still get black seems after getting rid of the black and after changing the uvw's.