Gloss Texturing
by Banshee · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 12/11/2004 (7:29 am) · 4 replies
Overall I would call myself a ok modeller, I can very detailed high and low poly models, but I tend to fail when it comes to texturing. I find it easy to UV map models to how I want them I just find it hard creating realistic textures on things like players and vehicles.
Anyway, my question is.
What is the best way to make paint textures on cars?
Environment maps look nice if they are at a low level (10%) and just add that little touch but is there some way I can make the material look glossy?
Take a look at this picture and see how the car has gloss where the car hit it, how would I can about emulating this look (its doesn't have to be in real time, just so the car looks nicer).
http://www.368s.com/photos/photo000541_medium.jpg
Anyway, my question is.
What is the best way to make paint textures on cars?
Environment maps look nice if they are at a low level (10%) and just add that little touch but is there some way I can make the material look glossy?
Take a look at this picture and see how the car has gloss where the car hit it, how would I can about emulating this look (its doesn't have to be in real time, just so the car looks nicer).
http://www.368s.com/photos/photo000541_medium.jpg
About the author
#2
Oh and nice picture, I like it
12/11/2004 (7:56 am)
Does the engine support spherical environment maps?Oh and nice picture, I like it
#3
12/11/2004 (9:19 am)
Both Torque and TSE support environment maps. Torque uses spherical environment maps, TSE can use cubic environment maps. This is a property you'd set in MAX or Maya.
#4
If you search for Fresnel you should be able to come up with some good descriptions of how to make it work. I believe a game called Project Gotham Racing used a Fresnel effect to make their cars look super-real.
-Spencer
01/17/2005 (3:59 pm)
Hey Banshee, to get a nice, realistic looking paint job on a car, you might want to look into what's called the Fresnel (pronouned freh-nell) effect. Basically, on something like paint (or human skin), if you look at the surface at a very sheer angle, you'll see a full-on reflection, almost like a mirror. If, on the other hand, you look at the surface straight on, at an angle closer ro perpendicular to the surface, the reflection will be muted. Only metal, like chrome, relflects the same amount in every direction, and if your reflection map is set up that way for car paint, your car will look fake. You can use ramp shaders to take into acount the view angle, and give you this Fresnel effect. If you search for Fresnel you should be able to come up with some good descriptions of how to make it work. I believe a game called Project Gotham Racing used a Fresnel effect to make their cars look super-real.
-Spencer
Torque Owner Roger Bacon
i'd stick to the environment map method and keep trying different maps.
to do something like the image you posted, your best bet is to put as little shading in the diffuse(colour) texture as possible. its okay to have -very- slight painted shading to simulate normal lighting. ie surfaces facing upwards will be slightly lighter than surfaces facing downwards.
then, its a case of playing with environment maps im afraid. a spherical map might be able to do a fairly decent job, but ideally you'd want to use 6 maps in a box, (like a skycube)
and in the best case sceneraio, render 6 images as textures from the position of the car to get real time reflection. :)
this one was done with a single spherical environment map.
its not as shiny as your example as the env map is fairly low contrast. if you wanted more obvious white specular highlights then just draw one or two bright white blobs on the env map :)