I have a really simple model (An hexagon to be exact) which I want it to be the player colors. That means the whole model should be the player's color.
Now, to do this you mark the diffuse map to be "render alpha as player color". Done. It works.
But I also need this model to be transparent, as in, you could barely look at it, since it should act as some sort of "overlay" or just a tint to the map (but with the player's color).
I've tried several combinations of alpha masks (in the alpha mask map slot) swaping them with the diffuse, changing the render alpha only option and such and I haven't got the effect I want. At most I got the model to be completely invisible which is not what I want. If it worked like a normal alpha mask a gray tone should only make it transparent instead of completely disappearing.
I'll attach the model and textures I've been using to test.
Sentry! Thank you. I've been wondering which units used transparency but I couldn't think of any, I'll check them out.
If you've got any other units that use transparency I'll be happy to know them.
Not sure if you managed to solve this problem yet xcorbo, but the Dark Templar's cape is your standard alpha map transparency you're probably looking for. I did a solid tutorial up for someone perhaps in PM's on how to do alpha maps properly for transparency. It does involve the alpha map and having a cutout threshold of at least 1 IIRC. I'll do some digging around and see if I can find it.
Thanks for your reply, I did manage to figure out to get the transparency effect I needed (see attached screenshot for enjoyment). However I couldn't get the alpha mask working. I do remember the tutorial you made in your plug ins topics, it pretty much was: have an alpha mask and change the cutout treshold to something other than 0.
I didn't look at the DT because the cape is cutout, not exactly transparent like I needed so sentry worked better, I just forgot to post how I did it for future generations :P
Anyway, here's how:
Change all blend types to "add" (that is blend mode, emissive blend and layer blend)
Use your diffuse normally and have an alpha channel forthe player color, check the "Render alpha as player color" in the diffuse map settings, just take note that the darker the black (of the alpha layer mask channel) the more intense the player color will be.
Get an emissive map and have the alpha channel be exactly the same as the diffuse's alpha channel, except inverted cause in this case the blackest the color the more it will disappear.
I guess that this isn't really transparency as much as this is a "change layer render settings to add" which creates the transparency effect but either way the effect I acheived was the one I desired which is this: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7808/terrain013.jpg
Ah I see, you've done it to render them transparent with team colours. Very cool. Here was my solution for all those curious, in a PM to ezbeats:
I've noticed that M3 materials don't have an opacity setting exactly, none that I could discover anyway. This is strange as you would think a standalone opacity setting would be important to have.
All opacity seems to be controlled through maps alone. I'm not exactly sure on how alpha maps work, but I've noticed some trends in the M3 models that do use alpha maps. I recommend taking a look at the DarkTemplar.m3 cape as it is a really good example of how a transparency gradient is achieved through an alpha map in an M3. Another example is the warp blades in Zealot.m3. They are made transparent through their diffuse map alpha channel I believe. Practically every setting you can see in the previewer can be toggled in the custom Starcraft 2 shader in 3ds max.
So what I have observed is that this kind of transparency appears to be achieved through the 'Add' or 'Alpha Blend' kind of Layer Blend Mode, depending on how you're rendering your alpha. A cutout threshold of at least 1 seems to be needed aswell, which seems to control the degree that the alpha map affects transparency. If you import the Zealot.m3 with the correct materials and export it right back out, you'll notice the warp blades maintain their transparency. Not useful for what you want (a gradual fade out) however so I recommend you check out the DarkTemplar.m3 cape.
I'll attach some images that provide an example I did real quick with the DarkTemplar cape to illustrate how it's done. Hopefully they explain it.
Would you be willing to make a full tutorial on this, maybe? =<
I'm trying to get team colors onto a unit that doesn't normally have them, and I don't even know how you guys got the 'Starcraft 2 Bitmap' stuff Dx
I'll be more than happy to write a tutorial for you on team colors, as a matter of facts I am writing a sort of documentation for the M3 plug ins and hopefully help tons of people, I'll scrap up something real quick on team colors only and post it tomorrow.
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Does anyone have any idea how they work? :P
I have a really simple model (An hexagon to be exact) which I want it to be the player colors. That means the whole model should be the player's color. Now, to do this you mark the diffuse map to be "render alpha as player color". Done. It works.
But I also need this model to be transparent, as in, you could barely look at it, since it should act as some sort of "overlay" or just a tint to the map (but with the player's color).
I've tried several combinations of alpha masks (in the alpha mask map slot) swaping them with the diffuse, changing the render alpha only option and such and I haven't got the effect I want. At most I got the model to be completely invisible which is not what I want. If it worked like a normal alpha mask a gray tone should only make it transparent instead of completely disappearing.
I'll attach the model and textures I've been using to test.
why is your alpha a seperate texture? it should just be a channel on your diffuse.
It is, the _alpha was just a test I made to use the alpha mask map in the starcraft 2 material.
i can only suggest looking at the sentry model and the materials that have transparency.
Sentry! Thank you. I've been wondering which units used transparency but I couldn't think of any, I'll check them out. If you've got any other units that use transparency I'll be happy to know them.
@xcorbo: Go
Not sure if you managed to solve this problem yet xcorbo, but the Dark Templar's cape is your standard alpha map transparency you're probably looking for. I did a solid tutorial up for someone perhaps in PM's on how to do alpha maps properly for transparency. It does involve the alpha map and having a cutout threshold of at least 1 IIRC. I'll do some digging around and see if I can find it.
@NiNtoxicated01: Go
Thanks for your reply, I did manage to figure out to get the transparency effect I needed (see attached screenshot for enjoyment). However I couldn't get the alpha mask working. I do remember the tutorial you made in your plug ins topics, it pretty much was: have an alpha mask and change the cutout treshold to something other than 0.
I didn't look at the DT because the cape is cutout, not exactly transparent like I needed so sentry worked better, I just forgot to post how I did it for future generations :P
Anyway, here's how: Change all blend types to "add" (that is blend mode, emissive blend and layer blend) Use your diffuse normally and have an alpha channel forthe player color, check the "Render alpha as player color" in the diffuse map settings, just take note that the darker the black (of the alpha layer mask channel) the more intense the player color will be. Get an emissive map and have the alpha channel be exactly the same as the diffuse's alpha channel, except inverted cause in this case the blackest the color the more it will disappear.
I guess that this isn't really transparency as much as this is a "change layer render settings to add" which creates the transparency effect but either way the effect I acheived was the one I desired which is this: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7808/terrain013.jpg
@xcorbo: Go
Ah I see, you've done it to render them transparent with team colours. Very cool. Here was my solution for all those curious, in a PM to ezbeats:
I've noticed that M3 materials don't have an opacity setting exactly, none that I could discover anyway. This is strange as you would think a standalone opacity setting would be important to have.
All opacity seems to be controlled through maps alone. I'm not exactly sure on how alpha maps work, but I've noticed some trends in the M3 models that do use alpha maps. I recommend taking a look at the DarkTemplar.m3 cape as it is a really good example of how a transparency gradient is achieved through an alpha map in an M3. Another example is the warp blades in Zealot.m3. They are made transparent through their diffuse map alpha channel I believe. Practically every setting you can see in the previewer can be toggled in the custom Starcraft 2 shader in 3ds max.
So what I have observed is that this kind of transparency appears to be achieved through the 'Add' or 'Alpha Blend' kind of Layer Blend Mode, depending on how you're rendering your alpha. A cutout threshold of at least 1 seems to be needed aswell, which seems to control the degree that the alpha map affects transparency. If you import the Zealot.m3 with the correct materials and export it right back out, you'll notice the warp blades maintain their transparency. Not useful for what you want (a gradual fade out) however so I recommend you check out the DarkTemplar.m3 cape.
I'll attach some images that provide an example I did real quick with the DarkTemplar cape to illustrate how it's done. Hopefully they explain it.
Would you be willing to make a full tutorial on this, maybe? =< I'm trying to get team colors onto a unit that doesn't normally have them, and I don't even know how you guys got the 'Starcraft 2 Bitmap' stuff Dx
@Zetal: Go
I'll be more than happy to write a tutorial for you on team colors, as a matter of facts I am writing a sort of documentation for the M3 plug ins and hopefully help tons of people, I'll scrap up something real quick on team colors only and post it tomorrow.