http://realitychess.altervista.org/actor_reflection/
At the bottom of the document you will find a downloadable .DOC version.
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Actor Reflection Tutorial
This tutorial assumes that you have an intermediate-advanced knowledge
about RF functionalities, that you know how to skin and export an actor
from Milkshape, that you know how to build an Actor using ActorStudio.
Pre-Requisites:
1) Milkshape3D (or any 3d modeler that can export to RF)
2) Photoshop (or GIMP, an editor that can create 32bit tga)
Texture Creation
First, let's start creating the texture of the reflection effect in
Photoshop. Create a new image using this parameters (RGB colors / Transparent Background).
using a brush with a white color paint a shape (I choose an 'X'). then
apply a blur effect.
You can easily set the tranparency of the image againt the invisible
background using the 'Opacity' and 'Fill' slider.
When you are satisfied by the result export as 32bit tga image.
Model Setup
Open your model in Milkshape3d. Select the part of the model over which
you want to see the reflection effect. In this example I want to apply the
reflection only on the body of the car. Then apply the 'Duplicate Selection' command.
Scale up the duplicated part. The scalng factor depends on the
dimension of the object. I used a little factor (1.01).
Go to the Material Section and create a new Material. Apply it to the
selection and assign to this mateiral the reflection texture we created
before. Now check the SphereMapping button and rename the material in way that its name begins with SM0_ (Genesis3d will aply a spheremapping
to this material).
You should crearly see the reflection effect moving the perspective
view.
Now comes the odd part of the work. Replace your tga reflection texture
with another bmp image. Choose a random one.
Export as bdy, and compile the act file.
Fix the TGA
Launch tga2gebmp2.exe and open your act file. The list of you material will appear.
Choose the material you have setup for the reflection effect and then
click on 'Replace selected'. Now you can choose the original tga
texture we created before. Click 'Save changes' and exit.
The End Result
If all goes ok you should see the effect opening your act file in the
Viewer.
Variations
You could use any image as reflection texture. You simply have to find
the right balance between the alpha of the image and the spheremapping
effect. In the following case I use the same sky texture I'm using in
the Skydome of my level.
I don't need to recompile anything. I can simply replace the texture
material using tga2gebmp2.exe
This is the result in the Viewer.
Credits are due to the the patience and devotion of GD1 and SpyreWolf.
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Federico Pitto @ 2006
http://realitychess.altervista.org/actor_reflection/
