Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2023 20:24:10 GMT -5
Hi! I'm a 3D art student who is looking to make some CC for the sims! I want to get familiar with the unique way TS4's texture maps are read. I was hoping someone who knows a little bit more could explain! In my experience, normal maps are almost always RGB maps. But TS4/S4S reads grayscale DDS images - why is that? Do they serve the same purpose, or is the reason they're done that way because the DDS images do something differently than an RGB image? (I also know that the diffuse map also has some shading on it to create an illusion of detail. Is there a reason they chose to use both of these instead of just a base color & a normal map?)
I hope that I explained my question well enough, it's hard to ask a question when you're not entirely sure if you're asking the right thing! Thank you for reading!
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Post by mauvemorn on Aug 14, 2023 0:34:22 GMT -5
Hi. To clarify, for ts4 normal maps do not have to be made in dds, they just need transparency. The reason for this is the channel re-arrangement.
Basically, it is a purple normal map but with re-arranged channels.
Red channel goes into the alpha/transparency mask, while the green channel goes into rgb.
As a result, you get something akin to a (more complex) bump map. There are lighter and darker areas that create an illusion of details, presumably at a lower impact on the performance of the game. This is certainly a reason as to why the diffuse map containing information from other maps. For example, ts4 CAS item cast and receive no shadows( and maxis ones don’t even have fine sculpted details to cast them). They also « reflect » a cube map instead of the real environment. The specular and normal maps are completely disabled on lower settings. So if shadows, details and minimal shine were not baked into the diffuse, it would contain nothing but a flat color, which would be fine in the rendering engines of 3d programs, but of course not in gaming, where every frame has to take milliseconds to render.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2023 17:46:57 GMT -5
I see, so it's because they needed more channels for a more complex map? Is there a specific way that I need to edit each of the channels on my normal maps to get them to work with Studio? From what I understand, you're saying that it's similar to the typical purple normal map, but with each of the channels meaning something different, yes? So I'd take the red channel from my original map and use it in the alpha channel, and the green channel of my original would be the same across the red/green/blue channels of the S4S map? Thank you so much for helping! :D
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Post by mauvemorn on Aug 14, 2023 23:46:50 GMT -5
Not exactly (in a way, this is an inferior normal map). More like they just wanted to recreate the effect normal maps give but through a greyscale image.
Yes, just like that. Red goes in alpha, green in rgb. The blue channel is almost white, so it is not used at all
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