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Hey all. Does anybody have any knowledge about DDS textures with Bump/Normal maps included in them? I've got the tools from nVidia's website, and have managed to export a simple texture sucessfully. It's RGB channels are a faint blue-grey noise pattern, whilst it's Alpha channel is simple black metal panel lines on a white background. The exporter is all set up to get the Height data from the Alpha channel. Now, I'm ASSUMING that this all ends up with some form of the bump map built into the texture. Am I right in thinking that, for starters? And if so, how do I access it in DBP? The reason I don't want to use the standard SET BUMP MAPPING ON command is that I want to use several individual images with bump maps on the same model (if anybody ever made units for Total Annihilation, think of it's archive of textures, but with added bump maps, and you've got it). Unless there's another way to do it, but with the above command you can only specify one image as the bump map as far as I can see. Something to do with Texture Stages perhaps? I think I read somewhere about a relationship between those and DDS files... Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Wolf

I'm not entirly sure what you're asking, BUT, you cant texture ONE object with TWO images in DBP. But i'm not sure about bump mapping and how that works...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, unless the object is PRE-textured with multiple images. Then it works fine Which is why I'm wondering/hoping about DDS textures and their internal bump maps. The plan is to be able to load all the images I want to use into textures in MAX, then apply them to the model as and where needed. So I could have seperate armour plate and tank tread textures say, which I could use on all my models without having to create a specific skin for each individual model. Can do this already with regular textures, but wouldn't be able to bump map... I suppose really what I'd like to know is how to access the bump map data in a DDS file

Wolf

I too am not completely sure what he's asking (there's a lot of info there and it doesn't all seem make sense to me...) but I think I see what you want to do. Which nVidea Plugin is it?

You can texture induvidual parts of your model if you divide it up into limbs in a modeling app and use the texture limb command, however there is currently no way (that I know of) to apply different bump maps to different parts of the model. I don't think it's possible to access the different textures contained in a DDS file in DBpro. You may be able to get around this by not having a whole model as such but a series of models which you load in DBP,texture/bump map apropriately and then join them all together into a limb heirarchy.

May I suggest using set blend mapping on instead of the Set bump mapping on command, using blend mode 24 as this will respond to all scene lights instead of just light 0.

http://jessticular.dbspot.com/index.php?nav=dbhelp&command=149

hehe sorry guys, I know I do things weirdly, it all makes sense to me, and actually works (surprisingly), but then I'm strange... How it basically works, is that in 3DS Max, as you know you can load in bitmaps as the texture for each material you apply. So say I have an armour texture, a tank treads texture, and a shiny metal texture for the gunz, all as discreet, seperate BMP's on my hard drive. I can load each of these up into a seperate material in Max, apply them to the correct parts of the model, export the model, and load it up in DBP, and as long as those three BMP's are in the same folder as the model, it will display as I textured it in Max, with shiny metal on the gun barrels, tread on the treads and armour on the hull, even tho they are seperate images. But yes, if I then use the TEXTURE OBJECT command to apply an image to it, it would dump the single image over the entire model, and to the best of my knowledge the only way to reverse it would be to use the TEXTURE LIMB command, as you say.

I'm using nVidia's DDS Format Exporter, version 7.83 for Photoshop.

Yeah I was afraid of what you say tho jrowe. About not being able to access the different sections of a DDS file. I'd thought about the possibility of loading it as seperate models for the various parts and joining them, have done it in other projects successfully, but it would result in a LOT of component models and code to assemble them, and as I'm having a crack at an RTS it's sadly not practical

Thanks for the advice on the blend vs bump mapping too, if I decide to go with Bump Maps I'll use Blend Mode 24 instead, cheers

If anyone finds a way to enable DDS bump maps tho, please let me know!

Thanks all!

Wolf