How to set a bitmap up to alpha.

[ItsMeTerror]

How do I set a a bitmap up to alpha to know to be see through?

I mean how to do it in gorilla

[ghostofhalo]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but whenever you make the alpha layer in Photoshop, anything that is black will be completely transparent. Anything white will be solid, so I would assume everything in between (grays) is the opaque percentage.

[ItsMeTerror]

I know that much, I mean how do I make it recognize that in the shader?

E: Like a fence thats has holes that you can see through if you get what i mean. I have the texture made. I need to know what shader and how to set it up.

[ghostofhalo]

Well, are you trying to make the object have a glass like appearance or do you want the object to have transparent areas?
If you're trying to do a glass like object, make it a shader_transparent_glass. You can change the material type so it doesn't sound like glass. I don't think there's much else to do to it. Try looking at other glass shaders (chillout.map has one). There might be some kind of number that changes the actual transparency percentage.
If you're trying to make an area transparent, like I said, add a black area to the alpha layer in photoshop. Doesn't really get that much more simple.

EDIT: Then you want the second statement I added. Take the bitmap in Photoshop and add an alpha layer to it. Select all the areas you want transparent and switch to the alpha layer. Use the fill tool (or paint all over the top of it) and those areas will be transparent when you compile it. I forget how to make an Alpha layer however. I think you click the layer and add a layer mask to it.

[ItsMeTerror]

Ok Ive got that working now Im running across open edges on planes. Which the fence texture is on. How do I set it up to be collidable and render too but not create errors?

[Zeph]

It's in the HEK Tutorial. control+f is your friend.

[ItsMeTerror]

Ive figured it out I'm going to have to make the faces render only then over that im going to have to place player clipping and whatnot. I'm a dumb ass, but its been ages since Ive tried to mess with HCE

[ghostofhalo]

You don't need player clippings. In the model file (in 3DSMax or whatever you use), change the material name to "<insertnamehere>%". The % symbol is a modifier that forces the material to be double-sided. As far as I can remember (it's been a while), this also makes it have collision.

[ItsMeTerror]

%

Two sided property. This flag or shader symbol when applied to a material that is applied to a face or surface renders both sides of the surface instead of just the side that the normal is facing.

There is no collision with that. Thats why it's giving me errors. I only get the errors on the planes.
If I recall all those other planes in people maps that are plants that have this two sided property. If this property consumed collision then why can I walk through the plants? Ill continue this conversation in the morning
goodnight.

[ghostofhalo]

Well, there's also a modifier for no collision. When water is created, it's named something like "water!#". "!" is the modifier that removes collision and "#" is the modifier that adds fog. Whenever I create a ladder in maps, I name it "ladder%^" being double-sided (%) and climbable (^). So either climbable adds collision or double-sided does. I fail to see how I can climb a ladder I can walk through.

EDIT: Getting back to your tree thing, the leaves are probably named "leaves!%" so they can be walked through and yet can be seen from both sides. I'm not too sure about it though. All I know is when I'm too lazy to make collision (early stages of a tag), I save a copy of the model, change the material names to the same thing with a "%" on the end, and compile that as collision. It works just fine.

[itszutak]

I believe that unless specified, every geometry in the game is player collidable. That includes two-sided objects.

[ItsMeTerror]

Ok well if it is collidable then why is it giving me open edge errors?

[kid908]

u should make the plane the exact size of the window. delect the polies that intersect the planes. and remake the face with the plane. that should work.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n211/kid908/tut-1.jpg

[ghostofhalo]

You're probably getting the open edge error because it's attached to some geometry. Simply detach it from the geometry and make sure the areas it was attach are still welded together. You should get open edge errors even after doing this, but it should still compile. 3DSMax is just telling you what errors are in the scene, not the final JMS file/in-game model.

[demonmaster3k]

set the shader's property to double-sided in guerilla (that's how they got the glass on the Warthog to work)

[ItsMeTerror]

No it wont compile a structure because of the errors I have one last thing I'm going to try if it doesn't work then I don't know.

E: When I name the materials I have to put % or whatever symbol in the name, so when I go to compile the jms it makes shaders with whichever symbol in the name like say (%fence) but when I go to change the name of the shader and recompile the jms I cant because it doesnt detect the shaders but I dont want the symbols apart of the name, if there is no way around this then ill deal with it.

[Roostervier]

Okay, forget the material. Go into any shader_model and make sure alpha tested is checked and double sided is checked. Problem should be solved.

e:

Also, just make the geometry a plane.

[ItsMeTerror]

Rooster thats the problem. The geometry is a plane. Im getting errors from it and I need it to have collision and be 2 sided.

E: BTW this is part of a level NOT SCENERY!

[Roostervier]

Um, that is why you set the material up to be the shader I told you to make the above modifications to. Did you even try it? I'm trying to help you here.

[ItsMeTerror]

Sorry for double post ok, but Ive got it exporting now with no errors. I had the plane a separate object from the level that was attached to the frame which was the problem.

Now its not doing all the shaders
it did all but 1 do I just go customly and create new one?

[ItsMeTerror]

Ok sorry for the double post. I have it in sapien but everything but one minor thing isnt working. Its not see through, I have alpha tested marked in shader though..

[ItsMeTerror]

Comon people help me out here. It doesnt want to allot it to be seen through even though I have the alpha tested checked. Whats wrong? Do I or do I not have to have an alpha in my texture? Ive looked at textures that have alpha like beaver creek ladder I have everything set up right so I mean what do you thinks wrong?


Here is the photoshop file with alpha, the setup of the shader and it in sapien.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9692/asdfasdfex2.jpg

[Timo]

When you open up the .bitmap, can you view your alpha?

[Roostervier]

Oh yeah, don't forget to change the .bitmap so that it has explicit or interpolated alpha and recompile. Didn't think of that at all.

[ItsMeTerror]

Its working now, well so what would you think if I was to model the chain link mesh? and barb wire if I kept it to about 3 or 4 polys in circular width? Im not going to have a big mass of fencing its only like a little area thats the fence is gonna be copied maybe 6 times.

[SnaFuBAR]

no, that's dumb.

[Patrickssj6]

Could it be that the texture on the wall is from my website? xD

[ItsMeTerror]

The textures are from the interweb but Idk if its your site.
Im making my own, I just have them as place holders.


E: Im going to make the plane that the "fence" textures on im going to make it to where it has a hole that someone blasted through it with a nade. Which that hole is going to lead to "cant tell you part" of the level :D

E: I may end up contra versing this map to H2V also For better graphics end.
I have been working with HCE shader's the past few days and, Ive found a few things that many people would never use as a part of map. Like Height, Detail, a lot of stuff that only Sunny Ive seen so far release and have part of their map.

[SnaFuBAR]

The textures are from the interweb but Idk if its your site.
Im making my own, I just have them as place holders.
Just like all those other ones?