Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

3 Dimensional Chat / 3ds max lightmapping a level?

Author
Message
prasoc
16
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2008
Location:
Posted: 28th Aug 2009 23:14
I made a level (see attached) and am wondering what I should do to lightmap it (like what you can do with 3d world studio). There HAS to be a way to lightmap it :S


Your signature has been erased by a mod

Attachments

Login to view attachments
heyufool1
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Feb 2009
Location: My quiet place
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 02:42 Edited at: 29th Aug 2009 02:43
if you have 3d World Studio you could just import it there then light map it, but I don't know how to in 3ds Max.

Games are like life, they should never stand still.
zeroSlave
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Jun 2009
Location: Springfield
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 03:27
"1) Bust open 3dsmax. Make sure your scene is fully textured all under map channel #1. You can mix textures, as long as all the textures are UVW mapped/unwrapped under channel 1.

2) Add in lights. Set up the shadows exactly as you want them to be on the shadow map, do some quick renders from different angles to ensure the enviroment looks like you want it to with the current lighting.

3) Once you're happy with the lighting, combine all the meshes you want affected into one big mesh (you can always break it back up later). You can do this by putting an edit mesh modifier on an object, the use the "attach" tool to add all the mesh pieces together.

4) Once the scene is one mesh, make sure you have the mesh selected and hit the '0' key, or go to Rendering -> Render to Texture.

5) Inside the window that just popped up, locate the Output scroll. Click on the Add button. This will bring up a list Texture Elements. Select shadow map. Hit the Add Elements button.

6) Scroll down a bit more (still inside the Output scroll) and choose your texture size. I find that 256-512 is a good texture size for shadow maps. Once you've got that, scroll back up to the top of the window and find the Output Path field under the General Setting scroll. Select the folder where you want the texture to be created.

7) Hit render. Note that the resulting image that comes up is *not* the final rendering, it is a preview (this one does not have an alpha channel). The actual texture is located in the file path you saved to. Max just shows you that sample render as a preview of its progress.

8) Now you have your lightmap texture, all that's left is to assign it to the mesh. Close the Render to Texture window and check out the side bar where your modifier stack is. there will be an Automatic Flatten UVW modifier added to the stack. This is the UVW mapping you want to use.

9) This next step is unnecessary, but I highly recommend it. I say this coming from years of experience with this tool. The automatic UVW modifier is a bit different than the normal unwrap modifier and sometimes Pipeline does not export it correctly, so it's always best to use a normal Unwrap UVW modifier. Simply hit the Save button under Parameters tab in the Automatic Flatten UVW that was added to the stack. Save the UVW file. Delete the Automatic Flatten UVW off the stack and now add a Unwrap UVW modifier. Hit the Load button, and load back the .uvw file you just saved out.

10) Now that you have loaded back the UVW data, set the Map Channel to #2 (this is vital). All that is left now is to apply the texture in the material editor. Add your texture infomation to the first tab in a Blitz3d material, and make sure it is set to channel 1. Then, add the shadow map that you rendered out earlier to tab 2 in the blitz material. Make sure that one is set to channel 2.

And that will do it. Export it with pipeline and you will have a perfectly lightmapped scene all done from within 3dsmax. "

I got this off another website. Haven't tried it, but it sounds like it would work!

There's something in this room that makes you can't speak well.
JLMoondog
Moderator
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Jan 2009
Location: Paradox
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 03:28 Edited at: 29th Aug 2009 03:31
Setup your lights and render to texture? I think that's what Max calls it..though I haven't used Max in years.

Edit: ...CM beat me too it

bond1
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Oct 2005
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 03:43 Edited at: 29th Aug 2009 03:44
Coughmist is right on the money. I used to do this all the time for Director's Shockwave format. Works like a charm, and you have the added benefit of being able to use ALL of 3ds Max's lighting tools, rather than using a game engine for lightmapping.

----------------------------------------
"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
zeroSlave
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Jun 2009
Location: Springfield
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 09:00

I was looking for a solution to this earlier while I was at work(bored), and that's what I found. I was just surprised that someone asked for this so quick after my discovery and was happy to share!

Still haven't tried it, but according to bond1, it works rather well!

There's something in this room that makes you can't speak well.
prasoc
16
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2008
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 11:31 Edited at: 29th Aug 2009 14:24
Will it work if I set up clay modeling lighting effect on it (AO) ?

EDIT: I just had a look at that tutorial, but am wondering how to apply the lightmap to the actual level (the tut was made for blitz3d). Thanks for the tutorial though its a great help


Your signature has been erased by a mod
bond1
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Oct 2005
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 16:12 Edited at: 29th Aug 2009 16:15
What's your final format? Generally speaking, you need your models to contain two sets of UV coordinates. One set of UV's has the regular diffuse texture coordinates, and the second set contains the lightmap coordinates, and usually the lightmap is multiplied over the diffusemap by the game engine.

----------------------------------------
"bond1 - You see this name, you think dirty."
prasoc
16
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2008
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2009 16:58
Its in .X format (3ds can't export to dbo), so I will need to use a shader then?


Your signature has been erased by a mod
Cheese Cake
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Dec 2006
Location: At the bakery
Posted: 31st Aug 2009 11:26
Just one question if i may.

Would this also work with FPSC? Normally i use this for baking normal maps.
And sometimes to make my textures.

Cause than i could make some fun stuff.

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-24 23:53:58
Your offset time is: 2024-11-24 23:53:58