L3DT users' community
Large 3D terrain generator

Request for DDS Alpha Map Export

It doesn't hurt to ask...

Request for DDS Alpha Map Export

Postby lmaceleighton » Sat May 10, 2008 3:21 am

Aaron I was wondering if you wouldn't mind putting a DDS exporter into the Alpha map export. I would like to be able to have all 8 of my maps into 2 DDS textures on export. This would save me a step to photo-shop, because PNG doesn't seem to hold the alpha channel right, in any program and the DDS seems to work better with shader work anyway...thank s for listening:)
User avatar
lmaceleighton
Contributing member
 
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:39 am
Location: Bangor, ME(Veazie)

Postby Aaron » Sat May 10, 2008 11:36 am

Hi lmaceleighton,

Thanks for the request. The latest developmental build (v2.5.3.14), now on the downloads pages, includes DDS support for RGBA alpha map exports*. Please let me know if there are any problems.

because PNG doesn't seem to hold the alpha channel right, in any program


Can you provide examples? I use PNG's alpha layer support quite a lot, and I've never had a problem with it, in any program (well, except 'paint.exe').

Oh wait: I just remembered that when using RGBA alpha maps, most programs won't render them 'correctly' because the alpha layer is usually interpreted as meaning opacity rather than transparency, and this means the images will look weird in most programs. See this thread for an explanation of the difference. Note this doesn't mean there's a problem with PNG; it's a problem caused by a difference in the definition of the alpha layer for RGBA alpha maps and for regular alpha-layered images.

and the DDS seems to work better with shader work anyway.


Okay, but you should be aware that DDS is lossy, so you may find weird artefacts in your final alpha map once it's been DXT1'd. This is why PNG is the default; it's perfectly lossless in RGBA mode.

Best regards,
Aaron.

* Note RGBA alpha maps are only supported in L3DT Professional and L3DT for Torque. L3DT Standard can only export single-layer (8-bit) alpha maps.
User avatar
Aaron
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3696
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:41 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Postby lmaceleighton » Sat May 10, 2008 6:28 pm

Guess Ill play with getting the PNG to work, I didn't realize that DDS have Data loss, it always seemed to work good with my blend-maps..but oh well thanks for the quick reply you always so good about that!! Ill let you know how it all works out;)

EDIT:

Umm... I guess I dont know what to say, I opened Paint.net instead of Photoshop because on the GG forums people were saying that SuperPNG and the old PNG format had question to their saving methods or somthing...so anyway I exported my DDS's as PNG in .net and they worked great just like the DDS did...thanks!! Heres the results:

Image

If you look over in the left hand corner, are those the type of artifacts you were talking about, it only happens from a distance and were there when I used DDS, though maybe there coppeid over the problem because these PNG's were made from DDS's???
User avatar
lmaceleighton
Contributing member
 
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:39 am
Location: Bangor, ME(Veazie)


Return to Feature requests

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests