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Topic: Q3 - Smoother shading on edges?

ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-01-2006 03:48 AM

Is there a way to get smoothershading on edges in Q3, like when you use smoothgroups in 3DStudioMax or Hammer? Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about.

I would like the lighting to be more smooth on angles in world geometry. Can you maybe write a shader to smooth it out?

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$NulL
The Afflicted

Joined: 27 Mar 2002
Posts: 793

Posted: 12-01-2006 05:03 AM

Add these to the main body of a shader:

q3map_nonplanar
q3map_shadeAngle 120

120 is the cut off angle for smoothing between faces. 120 should be enough for that model, but if your still getting harsh shading you can try raising it.

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Silicone_Milk
Immortal

Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 2205

Posted: 12-01-2006 06:21 AM

That's news to me.
Good to know!

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498

Posted: 12-01-2006 07:00 AM

Is that a model? You should be able to just use smoothing groups in MAX or whatever modeling program you use and it'll work in Q3.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-01-2006 02:22 PM

It's an .ase model, generated from a .map file with q3map2. Seems shaders don't work with .ase models, all I get is a fullbright model.

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498

Posted: 12-02-2006 07:17 AM

Shaders will work with ASE models. See the archives sticky link here:
http://www.quake3world.com/ubb/Archives ... 26044.html?

But like I said above, you shouldn't need a shader if all you want to do is get smoothing to work between vertex lit models.

shadeAngle will only work with lightmapped geometry anyway, and for something small like this, you probably don't want it lightmapped.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-03-2006 11:32 PM

obsidian wrote:
Shaders will work with ASE models. See the archives sticky link here:
http://www.quake3world.com/ubb/Archives ... 26044.html?

But like I said above, you shouldn't need a shader if all you want to do is get smoothing to work between vertex lit models.

shadeAngle will only work with lightmapped geometry anyway, and for something small like this, you probably don't want it lightmapped.

Is there a way to make geometry or .ase models vertex lit instead of lightmapped?

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Black_Dog
Grunt

Joined: 12 Aug 2005
Posts: 61

Posted: 12-04-2006 01:20 AM

Models will be vertex lit by default. You lightmap them by compiling with -meta and adding the keyval "spawnflags n" (n=2, lightmapped; n=6, lightmapped and autoclipped) to your model entity.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-04-2006 02:18 AM

Black_Dog wrote:
Models will be vertex lit by default. You lightmap them by compiling with -meta and adding the keyval "spawnflags n" (n=2, lightmapped; n=6, lightmapped and autoclipped) to your model entity.

When I compiled without any shader and just textures, my .ase models were all fullbright. I then added in the shader that it should be compiled with -meta, and now it's lightmapped. Are you sure .ase models are vertex lit by default? Because they weren't lit at all for me. Maybe I did something wrong.

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498

Posted: 12-04-2006 08:12 AM

Yes, models are always vertex lit by default. Generally speaking, small models with relatively large number of polygons should not be lightmapped. Vertex lighting in these cases will actually look better and reduce memory usage.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-04-2006 09:10 AM

obsidian wrote:
Yes, models are always vertex lit by default. Generally speaking, small models with relatively large number of polygons should not be lightmapped. Vertex lighting in these cases will actually look better and reduce memory usage.

Well, as I said mine were fullbright by default. Either you are wrong or I am doing something wrong. I have a feeling of the latter.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-04-2006 10:01 AM

Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange.

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seremtan
Etile

Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 34899

Posted: 12-04-2006 10:23 AM

why don't you just use gmax with the md3 export pipeline? that way you can have all the smoothing you want

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Shallow
Veteran

Joined: 09 Feb 2005
Posts: 167

Posted: 12-04-2006 04:18 PM

Really, you should always import exported .ase models into a model program and clean them up before using them as a mapobject. Q3map2's .ase conversion is damned useful but it's an automatic process, so there is only so much it can do - .ase's straight out of it will have way more submeshes and verts than they need too. And of course no smoothing, as you've discovered. Human intervention will give a much better end result.

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obsidian
I'm the dude!

Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498

Posted: 12-05-2006 07:42 AM

ALMighty wrote:
Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange.

If the model was lightmapped, you will need to recompile to see the changes. Lightmaps are stored in the BSP.

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ALMighty
Extreme evil

Joined: 02 Mar 2002
Posts: 1637

Posted: 12-05-2006 08:36 AM

obsidian wrote:
ALMighty wrote:
Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange.

If the model was lightmapped, you will need to recompile to see the changes. Lightmaps are stored in the BSP.

Yeah, I did that. Duh.

The thing is, I want everything to look consistent so that's why I've resisted using md3's. I have tried having one of those already, and I didn't like how it looked, it looked like it didn't fit in somehow. I should try doing that again though, because it was some time ago and I think I didn't render the texture right that time.

Thanks everyone for the help.

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Quake3World.com | Forum Index | Level Editing & Modeling

Is there a way to get smoothershading on edges in Q3, like when you use smoothgroups in 3DStudioMax or Hammer? Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about. I would like the lighting to be more smooth on angles in world geometry. Can you maybe write a shader to smooth it out?

Add these to the main body of a shader: q3map_nonplanar q3map_shadeAngle 120 120 is the cut off angle for smoothing between faces. 120 should be enough for that model, but if your still getting harsh shading you can try raising it.

That's news to me. Good to know!

Is that a model? You should be able to just use smoothing groups in MAX or whatever modeling program you use and it'll work in Q3.

It's an .ase model, generated from a .map file with q3map2. Seems shaders don't work with .ase models, all I get is a fullbright model.

Models will be vertex lit by default. You lightmap them by compiling with -meta and adding the keyval "spawnflags n" (n=2, lightmapped; n=6, lightmapped and autoclipped) to your model entity.

Yes, models are always vertex lit by default. Generally speaking, small models with relatively large number of polygons should not be lightmapped. Vertex lighting in these cases will actually look better and reduce memory usage.

Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange.

why don't you just use gmax with the md3 export pipeline? that way you can have all the smoothing you want

ALMighty wrote:Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange. If the model was lightmapped, you will need to recompile to see the changes. Lightmaps are stored in the BSP.

Is there a way to get smoothershading on edges in Q3, like when you use smoothgroups in 3DStudioMax or Hammer? Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about.

I would like the lighting to be more smooth on angles in world geometry. Can you maybe write a shader to smooth it out?

Add these to the main body of a shader:

q3map_nonplanar
q3map_shadeAngle 120

120 is the cut off angle for smoothing between faces. 120 should be enough for that model, but if your still getting harsh shading you can try raising it.

That's news to me.
Good to know!

ALMighty wrote:
Hmm, now when I deleted the shader I can't recreate what I first got with the fullbright models. Now they are lightmapped even though I deleted the shader file. Strange.

If the model was lightmapped, you will need to recompile to see the changes. Lightmaps are stored in the BSP.