What work goes into making a vehicle model for use with Arma 3?

[Housesparrow 8]

Is it possible to use a second UV map for the bump mapping with the current Arma 3 engine? 

 

And, are animated vehicle doors necessarily considered to be a separate "section" each?

Afaik, Arma 3 vehicles shouldn't have too many 'sections', though I have no idea what impact that number have and what number is acceptable.

[PuFu 4591]

Is it possible to use a second UV map for the bump mapping with the current Arma 3 engine?

You can use as many UV sets as you please, but i really see no reason to use another UV set explicitly for normals map

 

And, are animated vehicle doors necessarily considered to be a separate "section" each?

no. sections for ArmA is in direct relation to draw calls and have no direct relation to individual mesh parts. An additional section is created per texture and material file. The lowest amount of "sections" per .p3d file, for a mesh that has a single diffuse texture + a single associated rvmat is 3.

 

Afaik, Arma 3 vehicles shouldn't have too many 'sections', though I have no idea what impact that number have and what number is acceptable.

there is no hard limit. The less the happier. sections are the primary concern in terms of optimization but by no means the only one.

[Housesparrow 8]

Anyone having experience with Nvidia's NormalMap photoshop Filter for use with modding Arma 3? I tried it out and it seems I can perhaps make some nice looking rivets this way, with 2D only (without baking 3D geometry into some 2D map texture).

 

With some gaussian blur over the paint tools, I can easily create something like this:

 

 

1) Paint 66% white dot onto "50%" gray

2) Paint 100% black dot onto center

3) Use gaussian filter x4 to smooth it

4) use the Nvidia filter 

 

I suppose the rivets would have to be a little smaller I suspect.

 

For resizing photos, to better control the end result, I like using Fusion 8 (free software, with some limitations for 4K stuff iirc) that has a rescale node with several different filters. Works great when making images/logos for web. I am thinking that using Fusion 8 could *perhaps* also be beneficial for when making normal maps somehow, though exactly how is unclear to me.

[PuFu 4591]

it's been a while since last time i used nvidia filter (2008 i think). These days most people i know use a combination of HP to LP bakes and Quixel Suite (ndo) or Substance painter.

 

In any case, based on your original post, i was under the impression you only need help with injecting into the engine. As i said, normals map can be created in a number of ways. 

[Housesparrow 8]

I have zero experience in creating normal maps so any help is appreciated.

[PuFu 4591]

I have zero experience in creating normal maps so any help is appreciated.

google should have all the answers based on the software you are accustomed with

[PuFu 4591]

nice!

 

However, although I am an expert modeler, the non artistic technical challenges would be a show stopper for me

i so i guess not an expert modeler anymore then?

[warden_1 1070]

Some examples of your previous work would be helpful. If you are a good modeller it is better to link up with other people who can texture and config so that you can focus solely on models.

[R0adki11 3945]

And with that i think we can close this :padlock: