Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Gloss maps explained

  1. #1

    Default Gloss maps explained

    I posted this in another thread, but it occurred to me that every skinner could use this information.

    Gloss maps have several color channels, they are used as follows:
    red = specular sharpness, how spread out the highlight is, metal should have a narrow / low / dark value, plastic or shiny wood a higher value.
    green = specular level, how shiny the highlight is, higher is brighter. Metal should have a high value, shiny plastic less, matte (bark, cotton) should be black on the green channel.
    blue = cloth dirt mask, gets combined with info from the game about dirtiness for the specified model and the default dirty map (color and alpha), the higher, the dirtier it can get.
    alpha = faction color strength, more alpha means the faction color gets more priority over the diffuse color.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Gloss maps explained

    I'd figured out all of them but blue, thanks! Just out of interest, does the game actually ever use the blue channel? I'm pretty sure I've never seen dirty uniforms.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Gloss maps explained

    I don't know, I got this information from the shaders, so the game could use it, if it sets the dirt level for units, the textures seem to have enough blue in them... It might be pretty hard to see the dirt btw, there aren't really splashes of dirt, it mostly makes units darker, so unless you're comparing a unit of soldiers to another that is not dirty you simply might not notice it.
    Last edited by just; April 12, 2009 at 11:53 AM.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Gloss maps explained

    i'm actually in front of my first landunit and try to make the gloss-map fit to the new diffuse.

    You wrote, that in red channel metal should be darker, but looking at the used gloss-maps, it seems to be that CA just make a grayscale from the diffuse, with very low contrast for this channel. the lightest parts are the uniform buttons, which are obvious metall...

    Hm... paralel to typing this i just checked some more gloss-maps and it seems, while the original were made with much less work, than the new ones. There it is the other way round and the metal is darker than other parts...
    Bladerunner
    Koeniglich Preussische Marine
    Sealords Virtual Fleets

    Sealords Minimod: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=274322
    Sealords Total War Mod: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=246265

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •