Interior/DIF Specular Bug

#1 I'm not sure if this is the same, but there is a fix for specularity posted here:

www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=76412

#2 Have you used this bugfix?
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=76412

Edit: beat me to it!

#3 Lol.. I think I have, but I will verify

#4 Yep, it is there

#5 Could this be a case of DIFs not automatically having Ambient Occlusion?

I know someone made a resource on DIF AO, I remember reading their blog.
And here it is from my bookmarks: www.garagegames.com/blogs/66653/15080

Read through all of that and any accompanying links and see if it helps. I haven't tested it personally, I'm working on other priorities at the moment.

#6 It should have nothing to do with AO, but more to do with normals on the dif walls or something with light angles.

I've got a few more things to test though, but so far I can't seem to find anything in particular

#7 I don't think spec shows up if the face is in shadow - no lighting on the face, no way to calculate spec angle. DIFs don't reflect ambient light - probably because there is no ambient light, it's ambient colour to simulate shadowing.

#8 No idea if this helps but I found this on TDN.

Quote:
Attenuate Back Face
The material property attenuateBackFace (bool) reduces the bump highlights that can occur on surfaces facing away from light sources. This feature should be used carefully and only on objects with small surfaces, as using it with large surfaces (like interior surfaces) can cause reduced lighting intensity.

tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/TorqueShaderEngine/LightingSystem/Shader_Gen_Features

#9 AttentuateBackFace reduces the bump highlights, but there are none to reduce lol..

But I just got in from work, so going to keep looking

#10 This looks like an engine bug, as I have grabbed the Barricade demo and am seeing similar issues with spec not showing, by moving my view just a hair to one direction and the spec goes away (shoudln't do that)


i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/byteasc/screenshot_001-00001.png

Looks okay there and this is mild example

i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll136/byteasc/screenshot_001-00000.png

And Spec is gone! Although, I am still in same position and yes, the eye vector has changed, but not so much that it should've made spec go away. It is much worse on that tower, but that screenshot was good enough :p


Edit: I also ran some of the frames thru-spec and it seems like it is double rendering the same Interior with the same textures. One that is "proper" then a 2nd time with just diffuse/bump which is what is overridden there. It makes me wonder if there is something going on with normals in the engine

#11 The link that was posted here by Jaimi McEntire fixes this issue.

#12 No, I already have that fix in, as I said.

Not to mention that fix is mainly for issue with lighting on bottom and not the top, although since its "light" in general, it would've fixed other spec bugs, except this one

#13 @Helk. No I think this is different. That bugfix sorts out the vertical facing problem in sunlight, I think it's just that surfaces in shadow don't get any specular and the normals look faded because they don't have a lighting angle to reference. (And without spec highlights normal mapping has nothing to contrast against)

Quote://from TDN/torque/lightingsystem/renderingeffects/
make sure that specular highlights face a visible light source when placed in levels, otherwise the effect looks faked

Having just reread that page I probably quoted it out of context - but I know what mean......

Edit: A pic to illustrate
Faces in direct or partial sunlight receive spec and bump, faces in total shadow receive no spec and thus very little bump (it is there but you have to squint)

dang, thought that was 800x600 and would fit..