I try to add some reflections to an object, but I don't want the reflection to kill off all the color of the object, even though it should be fairly reflective. Therefore, I try to work with an alpha channel in all the images to make part of the reflection cube mab transparent.

This doesn't seem to work... now, am I doing it wrong or is it just not working for reflection cube maps?

As far as I know, white for opaque, black for transparent.... I tried both ways, no change visible.

EDIT: also, while testing it I noticed that I don't see reflections at all in my built game. What do I do wrong?

reflection intensity is taken from specular map intensity only

Quote:EDIT: also, while testing it I noticed that I don't see reflections at all in my built game. What do I do wrong?

you're using simple renderer or different data files or data paths

This is the renderer I use:

When I look at the mesh with the selected material in the model editor, I see reflections. When I place the mesh in the world editor, same mesh with the same material, I don't see any reflections. No reflections when I hit "play latest build", and no reflections in the built game in visual studio.

I know I used the right material, so what else could I have done wrong?


EDIT: Damn, it was my stupid mistake. Seems selecting a different material for the mesh in the world editor is not doing what I expected. After I selected the changed material in the mesh editor and hit save, the reflections started to work everywhere.


Other question then: what happens If I have an alpha channel in my reflection cube map, with some areas being transparent. Do they get ignored for reflections?

And is there really no possibility to have glossy areas without reflection and glossy areas with reflections on the same object? Makes using reflections on a "combined" object really hard. For example, I have ruby-like materials on the same object / material as metal-like. Both should be glossy, but the rubies should not be reflective (or at least only slightly), as a ruby absorbs more light.

I might give dialing down the glossiness of the rubies a try though. maybe the highlight will still be pronounced enough with less specularity.

(05-11-2012 08:06 AM)Gian-Reto Wrote:  Other question then: what happens If I have an alpha channel in my reflection cube map, with some areas being transparent. Do they get ignored for reflections?

alpha from reflection is ignored

Quote:And is there really no possibility to have glossy areas without reflection and glossy areas with reflections on the same object?

yes there is, please check my previous post, you need to have specular map provided where the intensity of specular map is applied to intensity of reflections.

Okay, I get it. for what I tried to achieve, I need different materials at least. I assume 1 material = 1 Drawcall, so each additional material will cause at least one additional drawcall (which, according to different sources, is much worse than increasing the ploycount, at least up to a certain degree)...

That means I either get accurate materials with all the bells and whistles (as many materials as needed for the different material categories (Metal, Skin, Rubies / Translucent, etc), or a high-performance character (as few materials as possible), right?

Back to the drawing board for my character I guess....