Problem with a texture for md3

(Lanz) #1

I’ve spent a lot of time lately to try and learn Max and have done a lot of tutorials in max and from the net, about modeling, uvw mapping etc. Max starts to feal easier for every day, but… (there’s always a but) I’ve been trying to get my textures for an md3 to work correctly. The problem is that it gets visible seems where textures meet… on distance. It looks alright up close but if I back up a bit they start to show up.

I’ve done a lot of things to try to get rid of this, all from using chilliskinner to apply the map to uvw unwrapping using planar mapping on each subface. I’ve also exported the texture using texporter and then using that texture to adjust the uv map better. Still that damn seem. I’ve used npherno’s md3 compiler adjusting normals, I’ve used md3fix to try and get rid of it and nothing helps. Well one thing work, if I add just one single color to the entire texture, I get no seems at all :???:. And I’m sure the texture is within the mapping coordinates.

I’ve read about that error message I always get with the Pop n fresh md3 exporter from 3dmax that I’m using that I can safely ignore it from multiple sites.

ASE is not an option since it’s not going to be static in-game.

Well I’m at the point that I think of giving up. At least I’m out of ideas.

The only thing I haven’t tried is to use a shader for it.

If more info is needed I can upload all the stuff later. Any help would be highly welcomed and I bet it’s a stupid n00b thing :slight_smile:

(evillair) #2

Make sure all your vertices are ‘weld’ together.

Select all vertices in [vertex mode] and use the “weld-> selected” on the tab panel. Leave the default settings. (0.01 or something)

I presume it’s a LOD problem since it happens when you’re far away.

Hope that helps.

(Lanz) #3

Thanks for the tip but it didn’t help.

Here’s the max file, the md3 and the texture if anyone would like to take a look at it:

http://www.rtcw-tf.co.uk/gib/mapping/lamp_model.zip

It’s just a lamp model I made to test this problem with.

(Shallow) #4

It’s to do with how the game renders stuff. To prevent the jaggy pixel edges you used to get in old software engines like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, 3D graphics cards sample multiple texels in the source map to determine what colour a given on-screen pixel should be - that’s why textures blur when you get close to them.

In your case, when you get far enough away from the model the texture sampling accuracy goes down a bit, so it is getting the black bits that surround the green parts of the texture. I recommend using a base colour that matches the painted parts of the skin. (The same goes for clipmapped textures like grates and stuff - make sure the background colour isn’t black, looks better IMO)

Also, you could try adding nopicmip to the shader, which should stop the engine mipmapping the texture at range. Dunno if this is still used in ET, but I imagine it is.

BTW, md3s don’t usually LOD with the exception of stuff like player models, it might be different for ET but I doubt it.

(Fluffy_gIMp) #5

I had a look at the model, there doesn’t look to be anything wrong with it.

But if I were to be picky, which I invariably am :twak: , I’d say the UV scaling is a bit odd, in that you haven’t UV’d every part to the same texture scale, which is generally a good rule of thumb to follow. When UVing I’ll apply a uniform checker texture to ensure that I don’t get any stretching but also to check that everything is UV’d to the same scale, now when you come to match up edges it’s far easier because all surfaces are mapped with the same pixel ratio. Of course there are exceptions to this, things like the inside of the lamp which you aren’t ever going to see in great detail you can UV to a much lower pixel ratio to the rest to get more space for the things that count.

In terms of model optimization, you could shave a fair few polys off the model. One area is the top of the lamp where the shade meets the sphere like shape on the top. Instead of having the shade and the top a seamless mesh you can break to top off to a sub-object and then weld the top verts of the lamp into a point. I’ll explain it with a diagram if you are really interested :blah:

So in conclusion… I think Shallow is right nopicmip is probably the solution.

-Fluffy_gIMp

(Lanz) #6

Many thanks for the help guys, I’m going to try it out now. And yeah I see what you mean with the weird uv scaling, I just did it so many different ways that I lost count on it and focus on the actual scaling. :slight_smile: I’ll also try that advice with removing those extra tris.

Thanks again.

(Lanz) #7

Just wanted to pop in and say that nopicmip solved the problem. I removed a couple of tris from it, remade the uv map and textured it. My first model ever is complete!

:banana:

Here’s a pic of it:

As you can see, I’m no texture artist but who cares? It was just a practice model anyway. :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the help guys, very much appreciated. :drink:

(Fluffy_gIMp) #8

I’m glad it’s all working now, it looks cool, nice job!

-Fluffy_gIMp

(Lanz) #9

Thanks :slight_smile: