Resource Links

[MilesPrower]

really nice video tuts thx. I only can recommend the uvw unwrap workflow video.

[tron00]

I'll start with the picture.



I made a brush in the foreground that was a dirty glass texture. I used the VTF "glass\urban_glass_03" because I liked the look but called the VMT urban_glass_04.vmt and used the code below.

LightmappedGeneric
{
$basetexture "glass\urban_glass_03"
$surfaceprop glass
$translucent 1
$nocull 1
$envmap env_cubemap
$envmapmask "glass\urban_glass_03_ref"
$envmaptint "[1 1 1]"
$crackmaterial "glass\offwndwb_break"
lightmappedgeneric_HDR_dx9
{
$envmaptint "[.35 .35 .35]"
$crackmaterial "glass\offwndwb_break_hdr"
}
}

Then behind that one, I made another brush and made it a func_reflective_glass entity. I textured it with a new VMT with the code below and called it reflectiveglass001.vmt

"lightmappedreflective"
{
   "%tooltexture" "dev/flat_normal"
    $surfaceprop glass   
   "$refracttexture" "_rt_WaterRefraction"
   "$refractamount" "0"
   "$refracttint" "[.5 .5 .6]"

   "$reflecttexture" "_rt_WaterReflection"
   "$reflectamount" "0"
   "$reflecttint" "[1 1 1]"

   "$fresnelpower" "0"
   "$minreflectivity" "0.8"
   "$maxreflectivity" "1.0"
    $crackmaterial "glass\offwndwb_break"
   
   "$normalmap" "dev/flat_normal"
   "$bumpframe" "0"
}

It's cool because it reflects everything but there's some technical reason it cuts off the head of the player looking into the mirror.

I seem to recall the only reason I did the first, glass layer was because when you shoot the second layer it didn't act like glass. Play around with it, and have fun.

tron

[Qmaster]

Hmm....this would work better in HL2 because there isn't a player model that would get chopped off. Thanks for this!

How expensive is it though, could you put it in a large room (to make it look larger)? Would it cause any slow down? You could test this by using cl_showfps 1.

[tron00]

I made a hallway with floor to ceiling mirrors on both sides. It stayed 60fps on my system.

[zim*]

http://www.northcapestudios.com/blog/?p=45

I haven't tested the export feature yet but I was successfully able to import a .smd file.

(Running Vista Ultimate - 64bit SP2)

Edit:
Tried importing a model along with a texture which took about 4-5 minutes and spammed the output window but worked fine.

[AlexG]

Thanks for the link zim. Very good tutorial.

[Qmaster]

Thaaaank yoooouuuuu!!!! :d

[shawnolson]

My work on Wall Worm Model Tools finally tapered off and gave me time for another tool I've been wanting for a while... and one that I'm sure some of you will love: Sky Writer - Render HDR Skies in 3ds Max and Compile straight into Source.

I just released it tonight... so it's still at an early phase and needs testers to share feedback. Make sure to read the docs first.

The UI:

[Qmaster]

There's a typo...it should be 4096 not 4069. Just FYI. Looks pretty cool! I'll definitely be using that in the future.

[shawnolson]

Thanks... fixed in current download.

[dJolt]

Same here, brilliant idea. <3

[shawnolson]

The tool is at Version 0.12 and includes some minor bug fixes and a new control for bitmap gamma output.

Also, here's a video giving an overview of worflow and usage.

[jack_500]

This was really educational, I only knew the basic of the illusion of choice, but now I learned far more.
Thank you for sharing this with us

[MikeZ]

Not to detract from all of the great knowledge here, I wanted to mention a site that I love that has GREAT tutorials!

I am not sure if it has been mentioned but I did try and search and came up pretty dry.

Visit www.3dbuzz.com

You will need to sign up for an account but not a big deal and really worth it!

The tutorials touch on multiple Unreal technologies, UNITY 3D, Maya, and a LOT more so be sure to give it a look!

[keithgarry]

3dbuzz is amazing. This is where I began my programming quest.