MainSailor's Textures (for Procedural Parts) - VERSION 2! (Now with more history) 5th of April 2016

[MrMeeb]

1 hour ago, MainSailor said:

More like the original PFairings shapes? I think I could put something together like that. In the meantime, the original Gamma ones are still up at http://bit.ly/fairingbeta, but those are the ones that require Firespitter and I'm not super happy with how they came out.

Actually, come to think of it, I might be able to just write a new config that uses the new textures and defines the new parts with the shape definitions from the pFairings shapes.

Oooooh they look cool  thanks! I love all the textures and your interstage has already snuck it's way into my Energia II

 

[MainSailor]

2 hours ago, MrMeeb said:

Oooooh they look cool  thanks! I love all the textures and your interstage has already snuck it's way into my Energia II

 

That's great! If you can post pics, I'm going to put together an album of player generated ships when I do the next release.

The reason I don't like the fairings I posted was because either FSTextureSwitch or some weird combination of factors was compressing the textures I built for the pFairings. When I do plain ones without the texture switching, they look great. Not sure why, and I never really dove into it. Not that many folks have downloaded the fairing pack, so either I'll drop them into the main pack as separate textures without FS or just release them separately. In the meantime, I'll be working on updating the 'new' textures with the pFairings default shapes and releasing those through the beta link. I'll let you know when they're up (probably Monday, since all that stuff is on a different computer ).

In the meantime, you could also check out Gryphon's pFairings textures, that's who I stole borrowed the Soyuz fairing shape from. The only reason I'm using that is as a placeholder to test the way the textures respond with various shapes/curves, and that one just happened to be a good shape. I've also been using cBBp's KOSMOS URM fairings, which I love...I might be playing with those shapes as well in the next couple of releases.

 

Also, Europa is coming. I started working with the textures this week but got pulled into another project. I don't currently have CS at home so it'll be Monday/Tuesday at the earliest before I can get those up.

[MrMeeb]

18 minutes ago, MainSailor said:

That's great! If you can post pics, I'm going to put together an album of player generated ships when I do the next release.

It's the main black tank that would become hidden by the nose cone  

Here's an album where you can clearly see it:

_{And another pic just because I'm super proud of it :3}

[MainSailor]

On 3/15/2016 at 4:41 PM, MrMeeb said:

Is it possible to get a conic fairing and egg shaped fairing for you pFairings textures. They're really nice (and I'd love more *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*), but the shape is a bit awkward for some uses  

OK...I rebuilt the pack. I wrote the configs so that all the new fairings use one common model (not that the mu file for the fairings is particularly large, but I like optimization) and all three types use the same black or white texture (again, optimization.) This contains the 'classic' Egg and Conic shapes from the Procedural Fairings pack. More shapes probably coming shortly (including a shape like the Atlas 551 fairing that I have been testing.)

You should delete your Black and White folders in the Fairings folder, because this re-writes the structure that the Black and White Soyuz fairings use from the beta pack. Otherwise If you're only using the Firespitter ones, you can still drop this in as those will remain unaffected (although eventually they'll all be pulled together into one release.)

Here's the link!

[Phineas Freak]

Now that you mentioned pack rebuilding, is it possible to move the Soyuz textures inside one of the sub-folders? it tickles a bit my OCD...

 

[MainSailor]

4 hours ago, Phineas Freak said:

Now that you mentioned pack rebuilding, is it possible to move the Soyuz textures inside one of the sub-folders? it tickles a bit my OCD...

 

The Soyuz pParts or the fairings? The pParts will be in it's own folder in the next pack release (as part of the general restructuring.)

 

Honestly though, since I've never gotten any feedback on those, I might just move them to their own release and take them out of the core zip. The new release will be designed to be far more modular however.

[MainSailor]

I just saw Tyler Raiz using Gamma textures:

That's the SRB-X and IUS textures. 

 

Also, I may look in to expanding textures for pFairings since a lot of the RO folks use that for engine fairings.

[MrMeeb]

3 hours ago, MainSailor said:

Also, I may look in to expanding textures for pFairings since a lot of the RO folks use that for engine fairings

Please do! The more high quality pFairings textures, the better  

[Phineas Freak]

@MainSailoroh, sorry, i should be more specific! I was talking about the PP textures but judging from your reply, it won't be an issue anymore.

+1 for more PF textures, we lack in this department (especially if you try to mix and match the various PP textures with the PF ones).

[MainSailor]

21 hours ago, MrMeeb said:

Please do! The more high quality pFairings textures, the better  

I've unfortunately been sick the last couple of days so I haven't been at work to...work...on anything. But I think I'm going to port over (at the very least) the interstage series since (duh) that's what they were designed to look like. Will probably also do something that matches the same base white as the 'historical' series I've been doing so that you don't see that pFairings 'dirty gray' in the middle of your shiny white rocket.

 

20 hours ago, Phineas Freak said:

@MainSailoroh, sorry, i should be more specific! I was talking about the PP textures but judging from your reply, it won't be an issue anymore.

+1 for more PF textures, we lack in this department (especially if you try to mix and match the various PP textures with the PF ones).

Heh no worries. Yeah the original pack was basically a monolithic download. One cfg and all textures in the same folder. The new pack will be divided up so if you don't use Gamma, say, you can delete that folder with it's own standalone cfg and it won't affect the other ones. So choose your own adventure, so to speak. I'll be moving out the historical textures into it's own release, they basically got put into 'Essentials' because that was just the working folder I've been using for the beta pack. Essentials should be just the pieces that are kind of multi role: Interstage, Charcoal, Ringed White, and maybe the ends. I'm also going to be working on an end texture that isn't just the solid grey (which now doesn't match any of the other greys/blacks used in the pack) because that was a placeholder from the original release that has never gotten replaced.

And I totally agree with you about mixing and matching. I hate using some of the part pack engine fairings because it ruins the perfectly designed color scheme I've designed for them . I have only really kind of played around briefly with using pFairings for engine fairings since it always seemed really redundant, but since I'm playing at 10x scale, I'm finding I need to place more engines under stages to make them have a decent TWR. Although I will say SpaceY's multi engine adapters have been a life saver so far! 

 

And I know everyone is probably tired of hearing, but Europa is still coming. I'm still fussing on whether or not I want to keep it minimalist to match the historical ones or actually have a metal-looking texture. I have a cool texture I built for a non-KSP project that might work well...just have to see how well it would tile/wrap. I just haven't had a chance to work on anything since last Tuesday.

[MainSailor]

Hmm.

I'm not sure it looks 'metally' enough. Thoughts, opinions?

[Svm420]

Is it shiny? hard to tell from the SS

[MrMeeb]

1 hour ago, MainSailor said:

I'm not sure it looks 'metally' enough

I agree...it doesn't look as metal as it should. Is there a way to put some pseudo-shiny into the texture?

[MainSailor]

16 hours ago, Svm420 said:

Is it shiny? hard to tell from the SS

 

14 hours ago, MrMeeb said:

I agree...it doesn't look as metal as it should. Is there a way to put some pseudo-shiny into the texture?

 

No it's not really shiny or anything. I'm disappointed with how it looks right now 

pParts has a 'shininess' variable that can be changed, since I just wanted to at least drop it in the game to see, that screenshot didn't have any applied. I'm currently working on the base metal texture though. It looks great when I apply it to other objects, but for some reason, wrapped around that like that it just looks grey and not like stainless. Will update when I can though.

[MrMeeb]

I think it looks good, it just doesn't have the look it's supposed to. Keep working at it!  

[MainSailor]

On 3/25/2016 at 8:10 AM, MrMeeb said:

I think it looks good, it just doesn't have the look it's supposed to. Keep working at it!  

Agreed. I think the zebra pattern came out great, just the metal doesn't look 'metal' enough. I haven't had a chance to get back to this, maybe this afternoon.

[Phineas Freak]

@MainSailorwhat values do you use for the "shininess" and the "specular" parameters? For example, the Atlas texture from PP uses "0.05" and "0.6, 0.6, 0.6" and it looks really shiny in-game.

[MainSailor]

3 hours ago, Phineas Freak said:

@MainSailorwhat values do you use for the "shininess" and the "specular" parameters? For example, the Atlas texture from PP uses "0.05" and "0.6, 0.6, 0.6" and it looks really shiny in-game.

For that screenshot, shininess parameter was not enabled, but testing later didn't make it noticably more so, at least in the VAB.

Specular I think is 0.5, 0.4, 0.4 which matches some other parts.

I think what's letting it down is that my metal base texture doesn't look reflective, it looks like milled stainless:

 

...when it should look more like polished aluminum:

 

 

Which is why the Atlas pParts texture looks so good, because it has these reflective rays baked in. I just need to map out a gradient that emulates this look.

Edited March 30, 2016 by MainSailor

[Enceos]

Hi @MainSailor,

I saw you had problems with making metal texture shiny. You heard of Specular Maps right? They bring out the feel of the material. All the scratches become reflective when light falls on them, all the dirty footprints become visible. Specular maps are stored in the Alpha channel of the texture and are grayscale. The whiter the color the more reflective that part of the texture will be. PP can change the tint color. By default it is metallic gray (close to white).

Here's the Specular map of my long hazard tank texture:

Btw, do you use Photoshop or Gimp? I'd love to give you my source .psd file of this tank. Everything is just a magic of blending layers.

[MainSailor]

1 minute ago, Enceos said:

Hi @MainSailor,

I saw you had problems with making metal texture shiny. You heard of Specular Maps right? They bring out the feel of the material. All the scratches become reflective when light falls on them, all the dirty footprints become visible. Specular maps are stored in the Alpha channel of the texture and are grayscale. The whiter the color the more reflective that part of the texture will be. PP can change the tint color. By default it is metallic gray (close to white).

I figured there was some kind of elfin magic going on, I just haven't dug way down into it enough to look at it. I'm a graphic designer by trade, but most of my work goes to press/web so I don't often deal with stuff like game textures. DDS was a steep learning curve for me.

2 minutes ago, Enceos said:

Btw, do you use Photoshop or Gimp? I'd love to give you my source .psd file of this tank. Everything is just a magic of blending layers.

I do use Photoshop, that'd be excellent!

3 minutes ago, Enceos said:

Here's the Specular map of my long hazard tank texture:

Awesome! Thanks man!

[MainSailor]

cough cough (updates) cough

 

 

If you're coming from one of the beta packs, everything should work the same with the exception of the Ceres which has just been renamed to Saturn Multibody. All other textures & shapes should still work (they are just moved into the brand new folder structure.) I'd completely delete your existing MainSailor folder and drop this one in.

Edited April 5, 2016 by MainSailor

[MainSailor]

The 2.0 release contained an updated Europa, with an improved (but still not 'it' texture), for those that at least want to start using it. I'm getting closer on the shiny gradient.

 

Thanks to @Enceos however, who recommended a process for specular maps, I will be revamping that texture to make it look even more like real metal. When I get time where I can actually use Photoshop for something other than work, I'll be trying out some of his tips.

[CobaltWolf]

1 hour ago, MainSailor said:

The 2.0 release contained an updated Europa, with an improved (but still not 'it' texture), for those that at least want to start using it. I'm getting closer on the shiny gradient.

Thanks to @Enceos however, who recommended a process for specular maps, I will be revamping that texture to make it look even more like real metal. When I get time where I can actually use Photoshop for something other than work, I'll be trying out some of his tips.

 

I've recently started adding specular maps to my textures, it's amazing how much of a difference they make.

[MainSailor]

Now added to SpaceDock: http://www.spacedock.info/mod/487/MainSailor%27s%20Textures%20%28for%20Procedural%20Parts%29

 

This also means that official CKAN support is coming (thanks to @politas)

 

Updated Europa with speculars is coming soon, I messed around with Enceos's psd file today and already learned a bunch.

[MainSailor]

Procedural Fairings textures do not tile and do not stretch well