Modelling Issues..

from Sins Forums

Hi, ive been modelling for the since and ive got a little problem,

on my ships the Speculars and the refelction map simply dont show up, ive exported the model using Softimage XSI 6  Advanced, also the shadows dont smoothen out they jump from polygon to polygon and the ship is VERY bright on one side, and also when i export it in xsi it doesnt see the Point dummys ive placed, overall it looks like this...

 

modding
4,711 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
That is a normal map issue. Make sure your model has a normal map texture assigned, and also make sure the tangents have been generated for it. You can check that easily by opening the .mesh file in notepad and checking out the Tangent entries under vertices. If they happen to be all zeroes, then you don't have tangents generated. In XSI you do that by selecting your model, then going Property->Tangent.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
thank you, il try this later this afternoon when im home, what exacetly do the "tangents" do??

oh and the normal map is fine xD
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Tangents are used for lighting purposes. Specifically to allow the smooth light/shadow transition across the surface of a model, instead of polygon jumping you get when there are no tangents specified.

I had the exact same issue when I tried to import my first model, I'm quite sure that's the problem you're having.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
it worked man thanx :D, would u also happen to know how to add in Hardpoints for weapons etc without having to add them by text?
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Sure thing. You do that by using null objects in XSI (Primitive->Null). There are some naming conventions to be followed in order for the converter to recognize them though:

First add a null object called "rootpoint"

Then add nulls for "Center", "Above" and "Aura", after that you can add nulls for "Exhaust" and weapons, called "Weapon-0", "Weapon-1" etc.

However, since the converter strips the first five characters from the name of a null object, you have to name them so that there are any five characters prefixed to the name. So instead of "Weapon-0" you would name the null "aaaaaWeapon-0" or like I do "000-Weapon-0", "001-Weapon-0" etc. (only four characters because XSI automatically adds a "_" in front of a null name which begins with a number). This is also useful for having multiple nulls named the same (for example multiple hardpoints for the same weapon, or multiple exhaust points) since XSI does not allow two objects to have the same name.

Once you are done adding and naming the nulls, you have to open the Explorer (Alt-8) and drag all the nulls to the "rootpoint" null. Select them all along with your model, export and convert. That's that. :)
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
thanx man I owe you one :)
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
No problem, glad to have helped. :)