I need a hand (help) for Alphas & Normals

[LupusHegemonia]

Greetings.

 

You may know my mods, you may checked them. Working on my last (Hotfile) "Forests of Dibella", I found that I could retexture another object, that "dirt-cliff" one.

So, I started and I made a very good (4K) replacement... but, I have an issue:

 

The alpha channel creates a bright "glow" on the texture - not the entire texture, just on the cliff's "bend" part.

If you check that dds texture (and its alpha), you'll see that there is an alpha that "covers" a lot elements of the cliff elements (dirt, rocks, etc) so to be better blended with many flora textures which continues. Usually, a grass texture continues from-to that dirtcliff object.

 

Most of these dirtcliff textures I checked (other mods), they have a SOLID-COMPACT alpha to that area (these small rocks, small leaves, to be left and be blended). My graph/texture hasn't many rocks or so, it has a lot DIRT (soil). So, I made a FADE-OUT alpha, a gradient fade-out from white (visible) to black (invisible)... Is this "fade-out" alpha CAUSING that "glow"?

(I'm not using ENB or weather mod. I want vanilla to testing my graphs).

 

...

 

Another issue I'm facing, is the normals. When I'm making a solid-compact object (like my Dawnbreaker sword or my Torch), I don't care - the normals looking fine. But, in my Pillow mod, which is a SOFT FABRIC MATERIAL (wool or linen)..., the normal gives "glow" - no matter how soft I'm making the normal (that pillow don't have alpha).

 

 

...ANY IDEAS to solve my issues, please?

[LupusHegemonia]

So... I don't think is the alpha channel (as I did it, with gradient).

Just checked the Vivid Landscapes "Cliffs" and I saw a similar alpha!!! And I assume, that texture is not "glowing" as mine. So... should be the normal?

[thumbincubation]

This is NOT my strong point, but suggest trying a "quick" new normal, to see if that is the problem.

 

What I would do is go back to the texture. Make your normal map the usual way, remove the alpha channel, make the normal with whatever scale you normally would, re-add the alpha channel. Then take your eraser tool. (GIMP I assume?)

 

If GIMP, what I do is double click the eraser. Change the "fuzzy" dot to a solid one and increase the size until the brush covers the entire texture easily. (You might need to zoom out some to make the texture a bit smaller on screen).

 

Change the eraser's opacity to about 94. Lower = shiny, higher = dull, but I have read that 95+ can cause unexpected problems, so I generally try to stay at 94 for "dull" items, 75-80ish for things like buckles.

 

At 94, when you erase, the entire texture should look as though it went blank, but that's normal. Export it as a unique file, with all your usual normal map settings, including "preserve alpha test coverage" and apply it to the mesh.

 

Go in game and see how it looks. If it's dull now, then you know what you have to work with. If it's more dull than you want, redo it, but bring it down to like 85, try again, etc.

 

Hope that helps. I'm sorry if that isn't what's causing your problem. I know a little about normals, but still some things that escape me.

[LupusHegemonia]

No, I don't using that GIMP - haven't, ever. I'm Photoshop-er.

 

OUAOU...!!!!!!! We actually.... ERASING the blue normal, with 94% opacity?????????????... In anything, any object?????????

[LupusHegemonia]

And what should I do, in Photoshop?

And if the image is LARGER?... I increased the eraser tool to...5000 (in Photoshop) and still can't cover the entire image.

[nightscrawl]

No, I don't using that GIMP - haven't, ever. I'm Photoshop-er.

 

OUAOU...!!!!!!! We actually.... ERASING the blue normal, with 94% opacity?????????????... In anything, any object?????????

 

No, thumb is suggesting to erase the alpha channel on the normal, not the normal itself. Almost all landscape textures need an alpha channel on the normal, or you will get the shiny/glow. As a reference for myself, I usually look at the default texture to see what it has.

[LupusHegemonia]

Aha.

So, perhaps that's the issue. As far as I remember (I'm not home now), the normal creates an "alpha" but is solid white page (so, total visible - bright). Perhaps THAT'S the issue! I'll check it.

[nightscrawl]

Aha.

So, perhaps that's the issue. As far as I remember (I'm not home now), the normal creates an "alpha" but is solid white page (so, total visible - bright). Perhaps THAT'S the issue! I'll check it.

Saving it in DXT5 creates a blank (white) alpha, but that doesn't do anything except inflate the file size. If you have a diffuse that does not have an alpha, it should be saved in DXT1 for this reason.

 

For the normals, you need an actual alpha map, or you can just fill it in with solid black if you don't want any shine at all. Again, just look at the default images to see. The default dirtcliffsroots01_n has an alpha map.

 

I don't know how actual alphas area created, but I can fake one by taking the diffuse, remove saturation (so it has no color), duplicate that layer, and then set that duplicate to multiply.

 

Then you just take that dark image and paste it into the alpha channel on the normal map.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/GRvfgpE.jpg

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by nightscrawl

[LupusHegemonia]

Thank you SOOOOO MUCH, you really-really REALLY helped me a lot!

[LupusHegemonia]

So... regardless if its a normal... if the diffuse (a tree bark) HAS NO ALPHA... the normal of that bark SHOULDN'T be saved with alpha (DX5), right???

Now I'm getting it - the normal map creation.