strange x-ray/ghost effect through surfaces

[JDog 11]

Ok I have no idea what to call this but its been plaguing my carrier's island for quite a while and now its also doing it to my sea sparrow. I think it only does it in OA/CO, not in A2. Problem: I can see the silhouette of geometry inside of other geometry. I really have no idea what's causing it, and I've never seen it in other models. Only thing I know is that turning off Post Process eliminates the problem. Hoping someone can take a shot at this one and put me on the right track.

On my carrier's island, you can see the silhouette of the staircase inside the island from the outside. In these images you can see the silhouette of the missile inside the launcher:

Edited August 18, 2011 by JDog

[dm 9]

Looks like it might be related to the SSAO the engine does in OA?

Does your stuff have shadow volumes?

[[aps]gnat 29]

LOL .... that is a cool effect !

.... shame its unwanted.

Whats the original format of your textures?

How many bits to the format, 24, 32?

How did you convert those texture to paa?

Is the missile part of the same p3d?

[JDog 11]

-The launcher has a shadowVolume. One box for each 4-cell launcher (perhaps because the missile is within the shadowVolume box?)

-Original format: .tga 32-bit

-Converted with TexView2

-The missile is part of the same .p3d just for viewing/testing right now. Don't know if it will be in the end, probably not I'm guessing (first time making a turret). I don't think that's the problem though because you can even see the geometry that's connected to it, 2nd image, above the missile, more ghosting.

Edit: Tried putting it in as a different .p3d, still happens. And even if the missile's not there, can still see the inner parts of the model with the effect. Also, removing the shadowLod entirely does not solve the problem either so must not be a shadow issue.

I'm thinking it's something to do with the textures. If I remove the textures and keep the .rvmats, the problem is gone. Soon as I put the textures back on, it reappears.

Edited July 19, 2011 by JDog

[[aps]gnat 29]

Just a thought, save the file as 24bit

Do you not let O2 convert the texture for you?

It will if Buldozer preview is running.

Might also be channels in your as / smdi etc textures.

[JDog 11]

Heh never knew it would convert it. I suppose I tell it to use the .tga files then? I'll try that, and the 24-bit approach. I don't have any as textures, just diffuse, normals, and smdi. But like I said, with the rvmats its fine, its only when I put on the _co it messes up.

---------- Post added at 10:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------

Solved: Even though it was "just a thought" haha, converting it to 24-bit instead of 32-bit fixed both the x-ray effect, as well as shadows not having been cast on the object either. Thanks guys, now I gotta apply this to part of my carrier also!

[[aps]gnat 29]

Good to hear

Bonus = smaller files ;)

[JDog 11]

slightly off-topic but instead of making a new thread:

im just starting to learn rvmats and stuff now. i have nohq and smdi for the turret but what shader do I use if I want to make something use only smdi? going by this page i don't see one for JUST smdi. for example if I want the catapult lines on my carrier to be more "shiny" than the deck itself.

[max power 21]

slightly off-topic but instead of making a new thread:

im just starting to learn rvmats and stuff now. i have nohq and smdi for the turret but what shader do I use if I want to make something use only smdi? going by this page i don't see one for JUST smdi. for example if I want the catapult lines on my carrier to be more "shiny" than the deck itself.

Try using a normal map + smdi rvmat, and using a procedural texture for the normal map.

#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,1,1,NOHQ)

[rksl-rock 1301]

Just for future reference. This ghosting is caused by the Alpha channel.

The only difference between a 24 and 32 bit tga is the Alpha channel. Either delete the alpha channel completely and save as 32 bit (the program will then make a completley white channel) or fill it with a solid white 255,255,255 colour.

[JDog 11]

Having this issue again, and I can't figure it out. And I can't use the previous method because this time I actually WANT some transparency. If the alpha channel is all white, it works fine and looks fine (minus the transparent section of course). As soon as I put in some black for the holes, the whole things starts strobing with that weird effect again. I've tried deleting and remaking the alpha channel, I've tried doing it in Photoshop instead of Gimp, I've saved in both programs, tried letting O2 convert instead of TexView2... nothing's working. Oh yea and no LODs other than the res lod, and no rvmats.

Managed to fix a transparency issue I was having on some chain link (different issue, was like white edges around the transparent sections that grew with distance) by either Move Top or Sort Alpha. Don't know if I can use Sort Alpha to try that on this dolley though.... it's infinitely more polygons than that gate (2 polys) and it seems like it's going to take a VERY long time to do.

Edited August 12, 2011 by JDog

[JDog 11]

Still haven't figured this out. I must be doing something horribly wrong though because I've never seen another addon have this problem. Playing around with viewport options with Soul Assassin's toolbox for max, I seem to get the same problem when turning on Ambient Occlusion. Here are shots in-game with and without Post-Process:

Maybe relevant info to anyone who thinks they can help:

- That whole shadow effect I'm pretty sure is a silhouette of the geometry behind the faces you look at. 99% Sure the artifact is because the dolley is not having shadows casted on it, whereas the missile behind/inside it is.

- The texture is 32-bit TGA file made in GIMP converted with TexView2.

- This model/selection has ONLY a diffuse map, no materials.

- The UV mapping has a lot of stuff that share similar parts of the texture overlapping one another. This might be an issue if I had an ambient shadow/occlusion map but don't think it would affect it if I dont, not sure.

Dreadfully looking for help figuring this out once and for all.

ADD: Here's what it looks like in Max. Pretty sure its NOT supposed to do this:

81Ksv2x6Ndo

Edited August 19, 2011 by JDog