http://forums.atomic-systems.com/viewtopic.php?topic=2795&forum=55&9

In case the link doesn't work in the future, I'm copying the info down right now :-)

I just tried this with an SD40-2 model I repainted, and I think for most times of day, this is the kind of effect that can be expected for most models (that aren't particularly round, etc.).  It is a nice, subtle effect, where from time to time, at certain angles, you'll get a bright and fairly convincing glint from the sun.  It's nice.  It would at least make a nice option. . .since I know you don't really want to release any more new versions until 6, maybe a script or something could do it.  Personally, I think something separate from the TS Wizard would be nice, because I got used to doing things the hard way, so I still don't use the wizard at all, and honestly I'd like to keep it that way  ;D

Forgot to attach the screenshot I was going to attach. Near the top of the loco you can see the glint on the dynamic brake blisters. The effect can be seen in many more angles on different surfaces, but this was the most dramatic I could find that lent itself well to a screenshot.  Just for info, I noticed significant effect on the visor-type things that overhang the cab windows, and on various surfaces of the body, although the glints were pretty angle-sensitive and fleeting, as should be expected.

I wondered how long it would take for this to be spotted by other forums (not very long)
- I don't think it's made it to train-sim.com yet - no one there has mentioned that specular lighting doesn't work.

troub - I'm already modifying my shape file manager to make the changes - will let you know when it's available.

it is an extremely simple change with aparently no side effects - the performace hit is negligable

I was about to e-mail Richard today to get it added to the 3DC output



Paul
(Decapod)

Oh, hey there!  The effect looks a lot better on those steam-type locos, but I like the subtle shininess it gives to less curvy things, too.  I assume this would work with just about any object?  It would make a great enhancement for a lot of static scenery items, too.  Good work, and thanks for finding it and sharing it with the community!

I see the issue, and I'll make the change if I can be assured it won't cause problems.

Has anyone ever seen this effect on a model included with MSTS?

Here is what I have in mind:

A specular value of <50% indicates "flat", 51-75 "shiny" >75 "really shiny". The negative is that anyone who has a value greater than that will get a different export with the updated version. I won't be able to add a new entry field to enable/disable this. BUT... one thing you need to know is this will be the average of a "group"'s specular value.

Richard

I actually have this half coded, but while I was writing the code I thought about this a bit more and am not sure I like this idea. These flags/values are used for other purposes as well. I can see why it is causing problems for MSTS.

Has anyone tried a highly specular model at night yet?

Richard

Hi Richard,

I have just completed a steam loco in fairly nice apple green finish. I altered the .s file in accordance with Paul's suggestions and it shines nicely in the sun and has no problems at night.

In the past I have had problems when the Specularity value in 3D Canvas was inadvertently set to 0 and a whole series of coal wagons I released 'glowed' in the dark, hardly correct for coal wagons which would not even shine in full sun :-)

Regards - Mike.

Yeah, the SD40 pictured earlier works fine at night as well. . .the moon causes some nice effects to the finish also. By the way, the value I used was -7, for the highest specularity, I think.

EDIT: oops, -6 is really shiny. . .let me go check on that. . .
EDIT2: "really shiny" works for me also in apparently all lighting conditions, although it looks odd for an SD40-2 to be so shiny

Richard,

this flag is turned off for the default track pieces - they have specular lighting enabled.

I have experimented for a few days and still no side effects.

Paul

I guess a couple of people have reported models that refuse to load. . .but we know that not everyone is very adept at doing these manual mods without breaking something  

I'll experiment with this a bit and let you know what I find out.

Richard

Hi Richard,
I,ve been using this mod for a few days now and have seen no bad side effects.

I,ve also uploaded a couple of engines (with the specular fix) to uktrainsim which have now been downloaded by about 80 people and have received no reports of any problems.

Cheers
Kevin

I've changed my mind on this. I don't want to do this at this time since there is a relatively easy way to do it manually. The problem is that I worry about breaking the existing functionality or increasing my support workload due to using an undocumented feature of TrainSim.

Also, there are issues with this. For example how would you create a model that is shiny, yet have parts that glow at night. Or an object that is shiny with translucent parts. This would mean using "000" for two sub-objects, which if I remember my export properly causes MSTS to freeze.

So, this will have to wait,

Richard

Hi Richard,

That's fine by me, it is simple enough to manually edit the .s files where necessary.

Regards - Mike.

Ok, thanks for giving it a shot, though! Also, now we have an idea of things to look out for (translucency and brightness). Thanks Richard!

I suppose you mean translucency, not including transparency. . .?  The SD40 model I posted has transparent cab windows, and from the .s file, it looks like the only sub objects are for the whole body, the bogies, and the wheels.  So the object with transparency (the body) is also shiny.  I assume it would be different if the windows were translucent?

Yes, translucency can result in a second sub-object. (or perhaps always results in a second sub-object. I forget the exact details.)

Richard

I've nearly finished changes to my Shape file manager that allow the changes to be made by selecting a few radio buttons agains the groups.
it will also allow changes to the darker shades (DrkShd and HlfBrt used by 3d Max textures)

So long as the group names are meaningful, the process should be straightforward.

The "bright" option (value -8 ) is completely seperate to the HiShine/LoSHine options (value -6, -7)

I'm still finishing a couple of other bits on the scaling of models side so it should be out by Saturday (I hope)

Paul

Hi again,

A small announcement - the Shape File Manager Version 2 is now available at www.uktrainsim.com

An explorer style interface for "adjusting" S files...

Options include
Compress/Uncompress S files (the updated newshape.bnf is required if the model has animations)
Edit with wordpad
Specular highlighting fix for uncompressed files - allows you to change the mode of any group to various shine/shade levels.
Scaling (with optional independant X,Y,Z) - so when real narrow gauge comes along we can scale all of Kevins lovely locos - now also scales sd/wag/eng file parameters and animations

It is written with Javascript/DHTML as an HTML Application - some anti-virus software may not like it, but it is safe to run (source code is viewable) it does disk and registry read/writes

the zipped file is only 8K so if you have trouble downloading, it's small enough for me to e-mail to anyone.

Regards

Paul

Paul,

That sounds good to me. I'll have to have a better look at it one day.

So, is it possible to have translucent-specular windows?

Richard