FS 2004 Scenery ?

**tobob** · August 26th, 2009, 07:51

In GMAX, I modeled a facsimile of the house I grew up in. For some reason the textures are blurry when I first load up. After slewing closer the textures crisp up and seem to stay that way, but I have to get close before they will do that. And even then i feel they should be even more crisp. Is there any way to improve this?

Here's the texture sheet(1024 X 1024) I used. They were applied with UVW maps. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions about how to improve it. This file is converted to DXT1 in imagetool. Is DXT3 better? Or any other formats?

***falcon409*** · August 28th, 2009, 11:33

Originally Posted by tobob

In GMAX, I modeled a facsimile of the house I grew up in. For some reason the textures are blurry when I first load up. After slewing closer the textures crisp up and seem to stay that way, but I have to get close before they will do that. And even then i feel they should be even more crisp. Is there any way to improve this?

Here's the texture sheet(1024 X 1024) I used. They were applied with UVW maps. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions about how to improve it. This file is converted to DXT1 in imagetool. Is DXT3 better? Or any other formats?

It may be the mip maps that are causing the blurriness. I know that's true for aircraft textures and most probably what's causing it here as well. As far as what format. . .DXT3 is easiest on FPS but 32bit will render a crisper appearance, however it can affect fps, but in the way you're using this, you'd have to populate a lot of a local area with 32 bit textures before you'd see any effect.

**tobob** · August 28th, 2009, 13:11

Originally Posted by falcon409

It may be the mip maps that are causing the blurriness. I know that's true for aircraft textures and most probably what's causing it here as well. As far as what format. . .DXT3 is easiest on FPS but 32bit will render a crisper appearance, however it can affect fps, but in the way you're using this, you'd have to populate a lot of a local area with 32 bit textures before you'd see any effect.

Thanks for the response. I'm really getting into modelling scenery and aircraft, but still have alot of learning to do. I have been studying sites and absorbing info. It's addicting! I live in Michigan and don't see many addons for this state. So I figured I could make a smalllll attempt at improving it.

Do I still convert 32 bit images with imagetool(making it an extended bmp)? , or will saving as 32bit in photoshop/paintshop sufficient?
I was under the impression that gmax and fs2004 don't recognize the same formats.

How are DXT1 and DXT3 different?

tobob

***falcon409*** · August 28th, 2009, 14:03

32bit still must be saved through Imagetool or DXTbmp as an extended bmp. The difference between DXT1 and DXT3 is that DXT3 has an Alpha Channel, compressions are the same.

**tobob** · August 28th, 2009, 16:31

Thanks for the answers. It can be very confusing and I still have a lot to learn. Here's a screenshot of another project.

***falcon409*** · August 28th, 2009, 17:24

Very nice work. Is it GMax you're using? I have just never been able to grasp that, even after doing several tutorials, it's just greek to me, lol.

**tobob** · August 28th, 2009, 18:02

falcon409,

Yes GMAX. You know it's funny because I had no clue how to really use it until I messed around with FSDS and got the hang of that. Then I tried Milton's tutorial making a Cessna 162 and learned so much about gmax. It explains how to use various tools and techniques that I haven't seen in any other tut. And those techniques translate to all other aspects of modelling. Check them out in the design section when you get a chance. There should be a link to them at his site. Thanks again.

tobob