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I'm not entirely sure that this would be the most suitable board to put this in, so, if a mod reads this and thinks it would be more suited to maybe the models and media section or the 3D section; please feel free to move it.

Now, on to business.

A while back, i was reading in the best ways to optimise games and the different ways to keep that all important loading time to an absolute minimum. I came across a website (can't remember which) but, i remember reading about a chap that had created an entire game from one 512x512 image. (normal, spec and illumination maps included)

This was all down to his modelling skills and inventive use of the UV Mapping!

That's right folks, 1 texture. at a resolution of 512!!

This got to me thinking how i could impliment this in FPSC and how much memory would be saved and how much it would increase the loading times......I am still to find out.

This is where this idea comes in.

I thought i would open it up to the community (those that can model) to see what inventive things people could come up with.

These are the ground rules:

* Only one single texture may be used (that does include the use of duffuse, normal, specular and illumination) So essentially you actually have four images to use!

* The image size of the textures must be no greater than 1024x1024

* It must all be your own work

* All of the media created must be presented in the form of a small level inside FPSC (doesn't have to tell a story, just something that people can walk around and look at the things you have done)

So,

1 texture (_D2, _N, _S, _I)
1 Level
2 Months
3 Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

The theme.............will be chosen by the people that comment.


That's all for now folks. I am still thinking about the prizes for this (it would be pointless giving away free models to someone that wins a modelling competition!)

This is to see how many people would be interested in taking part.

Please comment below with any questions or ideas.

Unfamillia

Sounds awesome. I'm keen.

Sounds interesting, and im very, very curious howmuch memory it will save! Great idea maybe ill give it a shot if i finish my current project in time.

~speedytzr

Pardon my lack of understanding here, I'm not that experienced.

How is this accomplished? How does the engine handle it?

Brian.

Hi Brian,

This is all accomplished during the modelling stages. When you are making your models, you will obviously be UV mapping the different sections of each model and it is up to you to use the textures as efficiently as possible.

If you had a texture that was only red and green but, you wanted some blue in a model you are creating, you can utilise the normal map and use that as your diffuse for that particular model. Or if you wanted some grey or white, you could use the Spec or illumination maps as your diffuse.

I'm not the best at explaining things as i always assume that people know what i am talking about (its a fault in my personality!)

If this doesn't make sense - which it probably won't - please feel free to comment again and i will try to explain it a little better!

OH, on a side note, if you were asking how the engine makes use of four images at the same time for a model. This is handled by each individual shader. It uses the diffuse maps (photo or hand painted colour image) as the main texture, then uses the normal map (RGB height information) to tell the lights what part of the images are raised or indented, to give a more realistic look. Spec maps are used to tell the shader which parts are supposed to be shiny or reflective then we have illumination maps (just black and white images) which let the shader know which parts should be illuminated, such as lights or glowing buttons etc.

If you already knew all of the above, i apologise! haha.

I will stop talking now.

Unfamillia

Yeah, I understand how 4 textures are used, but how is 1 texture used as D, S, N, and I at the same time? It seems like that's what you're saying in your first post.

Brian.

You see! I thought you would understand! haha.

What i mean is:

You have one texture to use, but, as part of that texture, you can also use the accompanying normal, spec and illumination maps. (so, you actually have 4 images to use to your advantage - D2, N, S, I)

So, during the modelling process, you will use the different sections of one of the images you have, be that diffuse, normal, specular or illumination, then you will obviously place your UV maps on the image, dressing your model as you wish.

I said that you can use the four images as i know people will want to use shaders in the final product to enhance the overall quality.

I hope this makes more sense.

Unfamillia

PS, I will get started on an entry to show people exactly what i mean. (I don't think i have explained things clear enough here) I should have a very simple example sorted at some point this weekend.