Simviation Forum - Using DTXBMP

Nov 15^th, 2011 at 5:25am

gypsymoth Offline
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I've added RAF roundels to the wings of Mike Stone's Curtiss AT9 Jeep & saved as
Extended 256 colour & the shine remains.
I've saved the fuselage after adding red/white/blue fin flashes as Extended 256 colour but the shine has gone & it's now a dull grey. Can someone tell me why? How do I get the shine back?
Thanks.

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Reply #1 - Nov 15^th, 2011 at 3:59pm

Club508 Offline
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If you mean reflecions, use alpha channels on the regular images. (T#) the closer to black in an area, the more reflection that area will have. the closer to white in an area, the less reflection there.

If you're talking about specular shine, add an alpha channel to the specular image the same way as to the regulars. (T#_spec)

And save them as a Extended Bitmap DXT3 or DXT5.
FSX and FS9 both read those quite well, and I've heard if you save as DDS, you may have to deall with all sorts of like flipping issues or something.

Hope it works! Wink

If you didn't understand all of the above, export the alpha channels from the original and save them as a bitmap (if the originals were DDS, you'll probably have to flip it vertically before you save). Then open your textures, and import the alpha channels and then save as Extended Bitmap DXT3 or DXT5. Wink

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Reply #2 - Dec 22^nd, 2011 at 4:13pm

OpsMHS Offline
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Hi!

I was doing a repaint project for the ND AW109 Helicopter and figured a little trick out with High Definition results because some of the image textures were coming out blurry. To fix this I saved my DXT texture 'without' MipMaps and it comes out much clearer. Try this and you will be surprised at the higher quality of output. One note though it is not recommended for using in some of your interior images because of night time and the different lighting effects.

Cheers!

- OpsMHS

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Reply #3 - Dec 27^th, 2011 at 4:13pm

garryrussell Offline
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If you want higher quality do not save in DXT3 or DXT5

Save as 32Bit 888-8

The DXT formats are compressed and can lose a fair bit especially in graduated tints which can become stepped and details added to metal finishes can get lost if it is fine detail

DXT compression was vital in the past due to limited power but most computers now have more than enough to handle the uncompressed formats.

Only compress if performance can't handle the larger files

I've not used DXT compression on main airframe maps for about six years

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Reply #4 - Dec 27^th, 2011 at 6:24pm

Club508 Offline
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garryrussell wrote on Dec 27^th, 2011 at 4:13pm:

If you want higher quality do not save in DXT3 or DXT5

Save as 32Bit 888-8

The DXT formats are compressed and can lose a fair bit especially in graduated tints which can become stepped and details added to metal finishes can get lost if it is fine detail

DXT compression was vital in the past due to limited power but most computers now have more than enough to handle the uncompressed formats.

Only compress if performance can't handle the larger files

I've not used DXT compression on main airframe maps for about six years

Now THAT, I never knew. Thanks! I had aways been getting annoyed of that giant pixelation. Tongue

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Reply #5 - Sep 17^th, 2012 at 9:49pm

ATA VP Offline
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I use DXTBMP as well. I ALWAYS save my textures in the 888 format. I've noticed in the past before I started doing this, textures would become broken sometimes and if you had a white fuselage with the grey seams (only 2 colors here) other color blocks would show up adjacent to the seams. And also the seam would become discolored. Discovered using the 888's by accident. Just my experience.

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Reply #6 - Sep 21^st, 2012 at 1:52pm

garryrussell Offline
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What you described is typical of an image that is compressed to DXT3 especially if it has been done multiple times.

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