Adventure in texturing, probs using reflect and trans

[Weescotty]

Heres the problem I ran into -

Had a nice faded prop texture using an alpha layer on the prop_hs texture.

But needed the reflective canopy enabled.

So I did the usual and defined the texture in FSDS as reflective, adds an R after it.
i.e. WSAI_PC9_T,R
But this is only in FSDS the ACTUAL texture stays named as WSAI_PC9_T

Problem -
It now used the props alpha channel as a reflectivity map .

FSDS 3 has real probs with textures.
NEVER EVER EVER EVER use either of these two options within FSDS 3 -

a) When adding the texture, never check the reflective option.
b) On the part properties, never check the "uses transparent texture" option.

Only ever use the reflective option from within makemodel when compiling.

As long as you define a material within FSDS and set it less that 100% opaque it will treat the texture alpha channel as transparent.

Naming -
For relfectivity to work this way texture must end with _T
For tranparency to work NO _T


So in the case of my PC9/T6 -

Main texture which includes the canopy reflective part -
WSAI_PC9_T

Texture for blurred high speed prop -
hs_prop


2 materials in FSDS-

One for the glass is described in another thread

For the prop disk - diffuse color = 192,192,192,100
All others at 0

[aerogator]

Thanks, Kev for sharing this with us. This is great info. Some of it I understand now, but will have to digest the rest. I save all of these tips in notepad form in a folder in FSDS entitld 'How To'.

[Weescotty]

Your welcome.

Summary -

NEVER EVER EVER use the "use transparent textures" on a part within FSDS

and

NEVER EVER EVER when adding a texture in FSDS use the "Reflect (File Must include an alpha channel)" option.

Instead -

For transparent -
a) Make a material in FSDS that has the Alpha set to 100 on the diffuse color.
b) Do not use a _T at the end of the texture name.

For reflective -
a) When compiling check the Reflective option in Makemodel
b) Use a _T at the end of the texture name (as usual).

Obviously both textures will require an alpha layer to control the amount of transparency or reflectivity.