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OleBoy
November 23rd, 2014, 13:58
Until recently I have not messed with the specular.

So I went over to FSdeveloper for a bit of research pertaining to them. I did not find my answer. However, I'm sure the answer is there if I dig enough. Which I'll do if necessary.

I'm hopeful someone will pop in here. Maybe explain colors/saturation, principals, the effect it/they have in relation to the spec map itself. What key areas/colors benefit most to enhance depth to pull out form and details best.

Mind you, I've been playing around doing my own thing with different ideas in Photoshop. :encouragement: for positive results.

Lane Street
November 23rd, 2014, 14:53
Specs are so cool.

The challenge with giving you specific info is that what works for one model doesn't for another. It all depends on the material settings the developer used.

If I may be so bold as to self-promote, do you have the LDR Navion installed? I see that you do, nice paint, don't you love that tail?

If so, you might look at a couple repaints I did for that model, in particular N2357 and N628NV.

Load them up on a sunny day, slew up a thousand feet or so and spin them around in Spot View. Watch how different light angles bring out the specular.

You can look at the textures to see what I did.

You can also look at the teapot in the SDK for info about textures. Look at the FSX Materials section in Environment Kit\Modeling SDK.

Then go experiment. Nothing like trial and error.

Here are download links to those 2 repaints-

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=184&id=17804

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=184&id=17932

Also, Chris Brisland (EagleSkinner) has a couple posts at Avsim that I have referred to in the past, forgive the formatting loss in Avsim's old posts-

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/358139-texture/

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/370071-question-about-chrome-and-spec-layers/

cheers,
Lane

OleBoy
November 23rd, 2014, 19:47
I may have read some of the threads over at Avsim. Other places also. Most times when I search for info, if things get long toothed and off topic, I'll generally seek other venues for the answer. I've never been one to like threads of that type. FSdeveloper is generally where I go for in-depth digging. :encouragement:

I'll check the links you provided for a bit of reading and keep experimenting. And download your repaints for a snoop, Lane. :untroubled:

Thanks for the pointers and directives.