"New kid, in town..." at the AC3D ranch

SignGuy169 · 31st October 2009, 06:08 AM

Lisa;

Perhaps I should rephrase 1 query so we don't talk at cross-purposes re ambient setting for textures (or materials if so termed that in AC3D).

Yes, I did find setting for new materials and ambient setting that you spoke of - thanks - but not sure if applicable in this instance as I am using existing textures.

1) If (for example) you create a cube, slap a texture (like wood or stone) on it, export it as an Ogre mesh & then open the material file for the mesh you just made in Notepad, what I need for making Ogre models that I really hope can be done within AC3D, should read like the below item, describing in this case an item brought in from another 3D app wherein I could readily adjust ambient setting on this texture - for a window frame, in this example.

ambient 1 1 1 0.996078
diffuse 0.737255 0.737255 0.737255 0.996078
scene_blend alpha_blend
alpha_rejection greater 0
cull_hardware none
cull_software none
texture_unit
{
texture BROD3.JPG 2147483647

But in AC3D if I texture an item, use it as part of the same mesh, the material file for that item/texture reads:

specular 0.2 0.2 0.2 1 128
alpha_rejection greater 0
cull_hardware none
cull_software none
texture_unit
{
texture SG44.JPG 2147483647

You can readily see the difference, and The Big Question (for me) is: can I within AC3D get ambient setting of the texture itself (wood/stone/what have you), cranked up to 1? "Brightness" of a texture really is key here & what I'm after. IF I can do this in AC3D, I'll be a True Believer, I promise. ;-)

2) Re booleans, textures: again, I am doubtless doing this wrong I hope, as if AC3D always or often disturbs a texure on something when performing booleans, then the app has it wrong *** and I am not taking potshots at AC3D but if my very old truSpace can do this with no sweat, I have to assume that AC3D a much newer app can do it too and hence, I assume dipstick newbie here still has the technique wrong.

If I make a cube, I then select Poly, Flat, 2S; do a normal Subtract operation... and then I find usually that the texture's messed up. Have even tried several choices re Booleans, in case I was going at things sideways (and trust me, it wouldn't be the first or last time that I gaffed).

I did get a basic fireplace, primitive chair made, but gave up on Booleans and just Grouped the items together in order to keep textures intact.

3) Scale: ah, still bit lost here. Did find arrows you spoke of near Size, Move operations. And you said, correctly about the normal gaming scale used, and hitherto (in The Other 3D App) I had set World Scale to metres and Ojbect Scale to Feet or I could easily flip over to check something in Inches, if making small items. So, if 1 is 1 whatever I want as you prev. said... is there just a permanent "sense of" scale that I can set in AC3D, and forget about it thereafter?

*** OK -- very sorry about all the idiot questions all at once, but if you can help - thanks, and I will cook and clean for you, whatever you like, to get some help for The New Kid. LOL!

Many, many, many thanks,
SignGuy169 (Pat)

lisa · 2nd November 2009, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignGuy169

1) IYou can readily see the difference, and The Big Question (for me) is: can I within AC3D get ambient setting of the texture itself (wood/stone/what have you), cranked up to 1? "Brightness" of a texture really is key here & what I'm after. IF I can do this in AC3D, I'll be a True Believer, I promise. ;-)

To clarify again... are you using the Orge mesh exporter, or an OBJ exporter?

If it's Ogre mesh directly, I don't know enough about that exporter to answer the question.

If you're using OBJ, try this exporter instead of the built-in:
http://www.independentdeveloper.com/...n-poser-export

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignGuy169

2) Re booleans, textures: again, I am doubtless doing this wrong I hope, as if AC3D always or often disturbs a texure on something when performing booleans, then the app has it wrong *** and I am not taking potshots at AC3D but if my very old truSpace can do this with no sweat, I have to assume that AC3D a much newer app can do it too and hence, I assume dipstick newbie here still has the technique wrong.

AC3D does, indeed, have trouble with booleans sometimes. There are a few things you can do to improve it, such as avoiding coincident vertices, but most people on the forums seem to avoid them in general.

There's an alternate knife tool you can download from supercoldmilk.com that's pretty good for cutting holes. Most other boolean operations can be worked around with merge, weld and create ordered surface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignGuy169

3) Scale: ah, still bit lost here. Did find arrows you spoke of near Size, Move operations. And you said, correctly about the normal gaming scale used, and hitherto (in The Other 3D App) I had set World Scale to metres and Ojbect Scale to Feet or I could easily flip over to check something in Inches, if making small items. So, if 1 is 1 whatever I want as you prev. said... is there just a permanent "sense of" scale that I can set in AC3D, and forget about it thereafter?

Hmm. Perhaps it would be more clear to say that AC3D is "scaleless". A unit is whatever you are inclined to say it is, there is no specific settings for feet/meters/etc.

SignGuy169 · 3rd November 2009, 10:33 AM

Lisa,

Thanks again for your reply.

Am using AC3D Ogre mesh exporter; but leave that aside for now: I'd try to do everything in AC3D (rather than using several apps as I had done) if possible; that depends... the big question is, after assigning a texture to an item, can I or can I not within AC3D then set that texture's ambient setting to 1? Gotta' have that for Ogre meshes, else a model's too dark - almost black, actually.

Thanks, SignGuy169 (Pat)

31st October 2009, 06:08 AM	#1
SignGuy169 Junior Member Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14	Re: "New kid, in town..." at the AC3D ranch Lisa; Perhaps I should rephrase 1 query so we don't talk at cross-purposes re ambient setting for textures (or materials if so termed that in AC3D). Yes, I did find setting for new materials and ambient setting that you spoke of - thanks - but not sure if applicable in this instance as I am using existing textures. 1) If (for example) you create a cube, slap a texture (like wood or stone) on it, export it as an Ogre mesh & then open the material file for the mesh you just made in Notepad, what I need for making Ogre models that I really hope can be done within AC3D, should read like the below item, describing in this case an item brought in from another 3D app wherein I could readily adjust ambient setting on this texture - for a window frame, in this example. ambient 1 1 1 0.996078 diffuse 0.737255 0.737255 0.737255 0.996078 scene_blend alpha_blend alpha_rejection greater 0 cull_hardware none cull_software none texture_unit { texture BROD3.JPG 2147483647 But in AC3D if I texture an item, use it as part of the same mesh, the material file for that item/texture reads: specular 0.2 0.2 0.2 1 128 alpha_rejection greater 0 cull_hardware none cull_software none texture_unit { texture SG44.JPG 2147483647 You can readily see the difference, and The Big Question (for me) is: can I within AC3D get ambient setting of the texture itself (wood/stone/what have you), cranked up to 1? "Brightness" of a texture really is key here & what I'm after. IF I can do this in AC3D, I'll be a True Believer, I promise. ;-) 2) Re booleans, textures: again, I am doubtless doing this wrong I hope, as if AC3D always or often disturbs a texure on something when performing booleans, then the app has it wrong * and I am not taking potshots at AC3D but if my very old truSpace can do this with no sweat, I have to assume that AC3D a much newer app can do it too and hence, I assume dipstick newbie here still has the technique wrong. If I make a cube, I then select Poly, Flat, 2S; do a normal Subtract operation... and then I find usually that the texture's messed up. Have even tried several choices re Booleans, in case I was going at things sideways (and trust me, it wouldn't be the first or last time that I gaffed). I did get a basic fireplace, primitive chair made, but gave up on Booleans and just Grouped the items together in order to keep textures intact. 3) Scale: ah, still bit lost here. Did find arrows you spoke of near Size, Move operations. And you said, correctly about the normal gaming scale used, and hitherto (in The Other 3D App) I had set World Scale to metres and Ojbect Scale to Feet or I could easily flip over to check something in Inches, if making small items. So, if 1 is 1 whatever I want as you prev. said... is there just a permanent "sense of" scale that I can set in AC3D, and forget about it thereafter? * OK -- very sorry about all the idiot questions all at once, but if you can help - thanks, and I will cook and clean for you, whatever you like, to get some help for The New Kid. LOL! Many, many, many thanks, SignGuy169 (Pat)

3rd November 2009, 10:33 AM	#3
SignGuy169 Junior Member Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14	Re: "New kid, in town..." at the AC3D ranch Lisa, Thanks again for your reply. Am using AC3D Ogre mesh exporter; but leave that aside for now: I'd try to do everything in AC3D (rather than using several apps as I had done) if possible; that depends... the big question is, after assigning a texture to an item, can I or can I not within AC3D then set that texture's ambient setting to 1? Gotta' have that for Ogre meshes, else a model's too dark - almost black, actually. Thanks, SignGuy169 (Pat)