Advice on Making Glass Window and Transparent Window

[Humpty]

G'day Guys,

Yes I've googled and searched. I find a lot regarding breaking glass with the spout etc. and I find a lot that has nothing to do with actual windows and more to do with an applications window or microsoft windows OS. (hard word to search i guess).

Basically I want to make a window. How do I make it look like a glass window but be transparent?
Yes I will want to break the window, but for now I'd like to just make it.

If we travel down that path I've not yet sorted out how to make Alpha masks nor how I am meant to save them s a BMP for import with an alpha mask.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[bernie]

Much easier to use actors for the models then you can use either png or tga or dds format for the texture. Milkshape and Equity support those formats and will build the actor for you with transparancies and you dont have to mess around with apha masks.

[Humpty]

You all may hate me for saying this but I really don't want to mess around creating actors for anything at this stage in the game. I followed a milkshape tutorial and my gun looked nothing like thiers, and god forbid when it came to making the girl. ...Too much time was spent on her boobs, so I started from scratch and did the waste down starting with the thigh and I totally stuffed that up too!

I would like to leave the whole actor creation thing until such a time that I **need** to make my own actor.

Already with your suggestion I am thinking that I will have to make a few with different sizes for diff sized windows etc.

Any other suggestions? or even a really good tutorial on alpha masks. I have and prefer corel photo-paint, I don't have photoshop and **will not** go the illegal road. I don't have paint shop pro however I did DL and install Gimp2 for windows and I also have it on an Ubuntu VM, but I couldn't understand the alpha tutorial I had for it (and I'd never used gimp before).

[GMer]

Well Humpty, making an actor for your window would yield the best results.
I remember when I made an actor, how long it took: going through the tutorials, experimenting, asking about gmax...
The thing is, you are better off just making a few little projects for fun before starting your big project. Brainstorm some things that you would like to do then just do those little tasks. They can be as simple as learning how to export an actor, how to make a tga using gimp, or making a simple script.
I highly recommend learning to use GIMP. It's free and uses python for its plug-ins, so you can find a ludicrous amount of them it you look. I also take the free (and legal) route when it comes to game making. It has been a few years since I've started, and just now I'm finally getting to an idea. Realityfactory may be easier than other engines, but even so, making a game is not easy. You have to walk before you can run.

[bernie]

Yes Gmer that about sums it up I wont go the illegal route either. The two main things you NEED to be able to do before making a game are Modleing and texturing. Models are used for almost everything and its the best way to go by far. You shouldn't really be using BSP geometry for anything other than collision detection and a few basic animations (doors etc). Cut brushes should NEVER be used they cause too many problems. For Texturing Gimp is as good as any and as Gmer pointed out its free. The interface is a bit messy but its improving with each release. Paintshop pro is very good but its around $80 now and since Corel took it over its not as good as it used to be.

[Humpty]

Cut brushes should NEVER be used they cause too many problems.

I didn't know we had any other options (apart from maybe building a hollow box out of 6 individual solid brushes.

Please expand.

[GMer]

A cut brush does what you think it does, instead of adding a brush, it cuts the shape out any intersecting brush. You may think that it would be easier, but it can just cause more problems, like level leaks, texturing abnormalities and such.
Much like what bernie said, use Brushes to detect collisions and get a basic picture of what the level will look like, then make actors for the actual visual aspect of the level.
This tutorial may help. It is for the Unreal development kit, but the skills presented here are (thankfully) meant to be transferable.
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categ ... torial.php
Keep practicing when it comes to making 3d models. I can't make realistic people, so I find royalty-free 3d models to work from, and modify them accordingly.

[Gamemaker]

The easiest way to make window is:

1. Make a simple brush with a glass-coloured texture on it.
2. Select the 'Window' under the brush type section.
3. Press PageDown, so the brush turns purple.
4. Check the 'Transparent' - box.
5. Change the 'Transparency Value' to like 100.
NB! 255 is fully-visible alpha level. If alpha is 1, the brush is totally unvisible. AND alpha = 0 = 255.

That's your first window


@Gmer - WorldOfLevel Design is the best website I've found & I have also learnt there a lot... Like eleven-day-mapping, which you can also read about on my webpage

[QuestOfDreams]

If we travel down that path I've not yet sorted out how to make Alpha masks nor how I am meant to save them s a BMP for import with an alpha mask.

BMP files do not support alpha masks. You need to use TGA files for this task (at least for level geometry).

I'm using Corel Draw/PhotoPaint myself and it can do pretty much everthing that Photoshop can do. Once you have figured out the equivalent functions in PhotoPaint you can use most tutorials written for Photoshop.

[Humpty]

Currently I am using "rfPack.exe" to pack the TXL file. I was using "TextureImageConverter.exe" to convert images to appropriate BMP but found I had more control doing it in photopaint.

Question: Are TGA files compatible with "rfPack.exe" or do i need to use a different path to get them in my txl file?

(I've already at an earlier stage worked out that photopaint can export as TGA.

[GMer]

You add a .tga file to the .txl file the same way you do a .bmp file.

[santipi]

The easiest way to make window is:

1. Make a simple brush with a glass-coloured texture on it.
2. Select the 'Window' under the brush type section.
3. Press PageDown, so the brush turns purple.
4. Check the 'Transparent' - box.
5. Change the 'Transparency Value' to like 100.
NB! 255 is fully-visible alpha level. If alpha is 1, the brush is totally unvisible. AND alpha = 0 = 255.

That's your first window


@Gmer - WorldOfLevel Design is the best website I've found & I have also learnt there a lot... Like eleven-day-mapping, which you can also read about on my webpage

Im gonna hug you!

[Gamemaker]

don't... in case you're not a girl, you know

[megatop]

GameMaker I here u used to use gamemaker do you still have expierece with it?

[Nighthawk_0973]

Since gamemaker isn't RF, I recommend moving this topic to a series of PMs, before QoD locks the topic, which isn't nessecary.