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"Multi" Textures

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:25 pm
by Tim.
I exported a few of the vehicles from Halo 1 Xbox; and some of the textures included a 'multi' version. For example "Warthog Multi.dds" I was curious, what are these 'multi' versions for and can they be used with 3dsMax to enhance the texture quality in some way?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:27 pm
by p0lar_bear
A multipurpose bitmap helps define how shiny an object is, what parts of the base map change color depending on teams, and what parts of the bitmap give off light.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:28 pm
by Tim.
I see. How can I use this in Photoshop or 3dsMAX?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:31 pm
by p0lar_bear
Tim. wrote:I see. How can I use this in Photoshop or 3dsMAX?
I don't think the bitmap can be used in 3dS, but I may be wrong. And in photoshop, to modify it, it works like this:

Red Channel defines shinyness
Blue Channel defines color changing areas
Green Channel defines self-illumination ares.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:33 pm
by Tim.
So then, how can I merge the normal bitmap and the multipurpose into one texture?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:30 pm
by p0lar_bear
Tim. wrote:So then, how can I merge the normal bitmap and the multipurpose into one texture?
You can't. The multipurpose and base maps are two different bitmaps. The Halo engine references the multi bitmap in a shader to make the necessary reflections, lighting, and color changes.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:31 pm
by Tim.
So they are useless outside of the Halo engine? What about if I wanted to make renders with 3dsMAX?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:26 pm
by p0lar_bear
Pretty much. 3D Studio Max lets you go all of that kinda stuff manually in the Material Editor.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:51 am
by Tim.
Alright thanks.