Search

[cailius]

Hey first off just want to say thanks for developing such a great tool.

I'm currently trying to use Hammer for an architectural visualization project. I have a small building modeled in 3DS made out of many objects, and I would like to specify textures for two mirrors.

I know that within Hammer there is a technique for making a block and applying the reflective glass texture and function for creating realtime reflections, but the geometry I would like to apply these settings too is within my model.

Any suggestions? I've looked far and wide across the internet, anything reflective seems to come from creating geometry fully within Hammer.

Thanks!

[wallworm]

Good question.

Reflections in materials are dependent on a VMT parameter called $env_map. Wall Worm material exports will set that flag if you check the Reflectivity checkbox for a material or apply a Specular Level bitmap.

Then, the materials will reflect the nearest cubemap (or the cubemap texture desginated in the VMT). At the moment, WW does not control a user-specified env_cubemap (but it is something I hinted in the changelog recently that I am adding). I will add support for rendering out the cubemap inside Max soon (as it is simply going to hook into the existing Sky Writer code that creates 2D sky cubemaps).

Of course, that is not "realtime" reflections as it does not account for dynamic things in the scene (like players, moving entities). For that level of reflectivity, you may need to investigate more. Perhaps there is some VMT command or a specific shader to use. I'm expecting Gulli to add more to that specific question when he reads this thread.

[cailius]

Awesome thanks for the reply.

I'm quite familiar with working with cube maps from my render engine of choice and experience: Cryengine 3, but it's incapable of doing a detailed realtime reflection like source, or even like many old game engines could do (there were realtime reflections in even Deus Ex). I am aware that cryengine has added some realtime reflection support recently, but it's really inadequate technology at this point.

I'll look into these VMT settings. I know there is a special shader that'll produce realtime reflections, but so far you can only apply it to brushes made in hammer, not static props. Worst case scenario I could make just these mirrors in hammer separate from the model, but they're attached to a part of the building that moves and I was hoping to animate them.

If you're curious look up a shack called The Cabanon designed by french architect Le Corbusier, his window shutters had mirrors on them.

Thanks