Getting glow to look right.

[Kyoske]

Well I am going to start using glow maps and mine just don't seem to glow right. I'm going for the look in this image here. But when I build a glow map its just very straight forward. I like the hazy effect and I'm sure I'm missing a setting or step of sorts.

[sinz]

What program are you using to display the glow, then I think you would get more help/direction/settings that will give you the look you want.

Xnormal has the use emissive glow option you could play with and it's probably more about your glow texture map then your settings.

Off Topic:
I felt bad I was supposed to help a user fix his up I didn't forget bud just lost track of time my bad :( but it was xnormals use emissive option :( and mess with the glow texture map.

I am new to glow as well and it has been pretty much abused on the DW4 mini challenge not on here but on some I tried not to abuse it but, I think if used correctly it can make a piece look really good.

[Beartastic]

Whether or not your glow maps look like that depends on the renderer. Some engines and renderers will do a post-process pass and any glow/superbright areas will get that bloom.

You could mimic this in photoshop, or try rendering your model in an in-game viewer like Unreal.

[Kyoske]

ya I was just playing with a bit of lighting 3ds max 2009. I will give these other programs a try. How much of a pain in the arse is it to import a model into the unreal engine,

[Hearshotkid02]

Its not incredibly difficult. Importing is easy, setting up the material can be tricky. If your character is already posed, then you can just import him as a static mesh(.ASE) and set him in a level/room. ModDB I know had some nice tutorials on the process not too long ago. I'll look and see if I can find you a link if I think of it in a little bit.

[Kyoske]

killer, I would appreciate that.

[Ace-Angel]

Yeah, that was me sinz...don't you dare talk to me for the next 10 seconds...
...
...
...
OK, no problems man, crap happens, I know that. You were busy, it's cool.

Anyway, to answer that: Shaders help ALOT in Max since even the Render Engine has...well, I don't know how to say this but no Tutorial or Forum I have visited that explains how to shows the Emission of a map without if being out of proportion.

In the Effects panel under Render, you have something called Blur. Use that to Blur your lights, but the problem remains that when you scale the model or distance the Camera, the the light 'halo' stays the same.
This mean a model up close might have 'halos' which are the size of the fist, yet when even you zoom out and the model is the size of an ant, it will still have 'halos' the size of a fist as the original image.

Use Xnormal anyway, it uses a common shader which all the engines use (CE2 and UE3) and while it doesn't have the customability (is that even a word?) and specifics of that game engine, it can be made so that is does by simply tweaking your maps.

Example: Xnormal likes using colored specular maps as opposed to white ones from other engines. This is because the current engine of XN handles Normals and Specs averagely and gives a very mediocre look. Add colors and it handles it much better.

[Pestibug]

http://www.lumonix.net/shaderfx.html

Use that for max, it turns your viewport into a realtime renderer with all the latest fancy shaders you can find in games. It pretty much features the same material setup as unreal and such.

Its handy if you don't want to mess around with a engine :)

[Kyoske]

wonderful wonderful. This is why I will be a GA die hard for the rest of my days. you all rock and ty so very much for the help. :thumb:

[sinz]

Thanks pesti I went to that page the first time but not noticing at the very bottom it says for free if your an individual or less than 2 employees, just add your e-mail and you get a temp download link which I think is freaking awesome!
I mention it because I overlooked it the first time.

Hope I can use it I got a crap graphics card / PC 5-6 years old now :( and the only time any shaders work is when I use Xnormal/Marmoset = no glow there thou :( here's to hoping.

[Kyoske]

in xnormal how do i add the opacity map ? i don't see a slot for it in the viewer ?

[Styx]

Kyoske: your texture must have an alpha channel. xnormal have no other way.

[Kyoske]

o and I tryed using the software from http://www.lumonix.net/shaderfx.html but after I installed it (and I installed it correctly) it errors out and wont let me load the program in 3dsmax 2009. yes I picked the right ver and folders. hell I uninstalled and tried all of them after I couldn't get it to work on my ver. below are the images of the errors when I try to load it under "rendering" in 3ds max. The first error comes up when I open 3dsmax as well.

[Kyoske]

ahh alpha gtocha, just made on and it works fine. ty. now to figure out whats up with 3dsmax ^__^

:thumb:

[Kickflipkid687]

I think that might be because you need to turn off the AUC or whatever in Vista..?

[Kyoske]

yup uac, works now. TY