[Solved] Light Plays Poorly On Model

[cosmo007]

I have created a sword in blender that was originally comprised of separate objects that I then merged together. Things were going well until I textured and checked it out in game. The light seems to be rendered for each object separately and it looks very awkward. What can I do to fix this or prevent it from happening again?

Picture: http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5599/barbedsworderror.jpg

Edited May 30, 2011 by cosmo007

[DarkRider]

Do you have normal maps for your textures?

[cosmo007]

Do you have normal maps for your textures?

No, I haven't added them yet.

[DarkRider]

Normal maps dictate most of how light plays on a model. Add them and you should see a change for the better

[cosmo007]

Normal maps dictate most of how light plays on a model. Add them and you should see a change for the better

i added a normal map, but it did not fix the strange illumination problem. I will post another picture in a moment.

~EDIT~

Pic: http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8604/illum.jpg

Quick and messy normal map, but still shows funky illumination

Edited May 30, 2011 by cosmo007

[DarkRider]

Still looks like a normal map issue to me, a white alpha channel in a normal map will make the texture shiny. There's a simple test to see if it's your texture/normal or the mesh itself. Apply the texture textures\wood\woodpost01.dds to all of your texture slots for your weapon and test in game. Still shiny? It's the model. Normal wood texture? Your quick and dirty normal map is insufficient quality to produce the results you want.

[cosmo007]

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/3955/screenshot7on.jpg

Ya, it must be the model. I checked the settings I had in Blender to see if that part of the sword had anything different and I didn't notice anything. I tried rotating the object 180* and still no luck.

[ThomasKaira]

The better option here would be to check the niEmissiveProperty and niSpecularProperty for your models in NifSkope, and tweak them as you see fit. These two settings determine how much light and what color light the model emits from itself.

Start by setting them to full black and see if that helps.

[DarkRider]

The better option here *snip*

So you think you're better than me? I'm just kidding of course, good suggestion.

[WindmillTilter]

Should also check the vertex colours in nifscope. If the vertices on your crossguard are darker then the rest of them it will look like that. If that's the issue just set Has Vertex Colors to "no" on your NiTriStrips/NiTriShape.

WT

[cosmo007]

I found a niSpecularProperty, but everything appeared identical across the different objects. I looked at some Beth swords and they didn't even have that property so I tried deleting it, but nothing seemingly changed. I found an emissive color and a specular color and I set those to white then black, no change. I checked for vertex colors and that was set to false. I never found a niEmmissiveProperty though, so that might be an issue.

I hope the pictures demonstrate this, but when I am in game when everything is supposed to be illuminated (i.e. the sun hits the sword directly) the crossguard is shaded. When everything is supposed to be shaded (i.e. the sun is hitting the backside) the crossguard is illuminated. The backside of the object follows the same pattern but reversed. So, when the crossguard is shaded and everything else is illuminated if you look at the backside the crossguard is illuminated and everything else is shaded. The shading and illumination isn't inherently wrong. It just happens at the wrong places at the wrong times.

[ub3rman123]

Is your weapon double-sided (In and outside)? It could be that the faces are aligned to the interior on some parts. I had problems with that the first time I made a weapon.

[cosmo007]

Is your weapon double-sided (In and outside)? It could be that the faces are aligned to the interior on some parts. I had problems with that the first time I made a weapon.

I think that might be it... can you explain what you did to fix it?

[Artisanix]

I think that might be it... can you explain what you did to fix it?

in edit mode with selected faces:

CTRL + N recalculates normals outside

or

W 0 (press W then zero) flips them

[cosmo007]

Is your weapon double-sided (In and outside)? It could be that the faces are aligned to the interior on some parts. I had problems with that the first time I made a weapon.

in edit mode with selected faces:

CTRL + N recalculates normals outside

or

W 0 (press W then zero) flips them

Awesome! Thank you, that fixed the problem! Thanks to everyone for the help!

I also noticed that you can flip normals in Nifskope

[Meo]

Models should never have an "inside" unless it is meant to be seen.