Questions regarding the creation of Billboards and Static Trees

[Dimom]

Good afternoon! First of all, I want to thank you for your hard work on improving this amazing game (for me, this is SKYRIM LE). I have been using your app for several years, and it really makes Skyrim more beautiful. Bravo, brilliant work!

 

Now about my questions…

 

1. I can't understand the math of ShiftX and ShiftY in billboards…

1. X1=473, X2=-378. ShiftX=(X1+X2)/2=(473-378)/2=47.5
2. Y1=-479, Y=309. ShitfY=(Y1+Y2)/2=(-479+309)/2=-85

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Question 1: did I understand correctly?

 

        2. For my billboards, I created normal maps using the program xNormal 3.19.3 (x64).

 

Question 2: Should I follow the rules for creating billboards voiced in the video from GamerPoets, for billboards with normal maps:

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                  Or allowed as I did (Off Lighting):

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      3. Utility ..\DynDOLOD\Docs\trees.ultra\tools\re-uv\re-uv.bat optimizes meshes very well, but removes the alpha channel from the leaves.

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Question 3: is it possible by editing the re-uv.txt avoid deleting the alpha channel from * _passthru_lod.nif files?

 

        4. I can't figure out how to create rules for trees... When using re-uv.bat files in meshes are not changed *.dds and *_n.dds on *lod.dds and *lod_n.dds.

 

Question 4: Is there more detailed information (the one that you have in the set of DynDOLOD I studied) on creating rules for trees. Perhaps you have already discussed this in detail on the forum?

 

P.S.1. English is not my native language, so there may be spelling errors.

 

P.S.2. I've been doing modding for a long time, but I haven't reached the level of 3D modeling yet, so I apologize if my questions seem stupid to you…

 

[sheson]

1. ShiftX/Y/Z from the billboard.txt is added to the position of a tree reference.

 

2. when illuminating a 3D model for normal map there should be no indirect light, only one direct light sources from left, top, right, bottom.

 

3. I'll have to look into that and see if it can simply keep the alpha block

 

4. Rules for DynDOLOD are about defining which object should have object or dynamic LOD and use which LOD model level for with LOD quad level. Running LODGen direct or via a bat does not use these rules. 

There is no need to create or define LOD textures rif they are just a simple resize. DynDOLOD will do that on the fly now. I only updated the hybrids shipping with DynDOLOD Resources SE for Skyrim Special Edition, though.

 

We discussed trees 3D or billboards a few times before, but it seems you might be not asking the correct question about "rules". However I also keep updating DynDOLOD-Trees.html from time to time.

[Dimom]

1. ShiftX/Y/Z from the billboard.txt is added to the position of a tree reference.

I understand that. I can't figure out how billboards accurately target tree positions... Well, I'll deal with it.

 

 

2. when illuminating a 3D model for normal map there should be no indirect light, only one direct light sources from left, top, right, bottom.

And I understand that.    There's no other way to do it. With normal map, billboards are awesome. Thank you very much. I probably didn't exactly ask the question...  I had in mind disabling lighting when creating a diffuse map for Billboard . (*.dds, not *_n.dds)

 

 

4. Rules for DynDOLOD are about defining which object should have object or dynamic LOD and use which LOD model level for with LOD quad level. Running LODGen direct or via a bat does not use these rules. 

In re-uv.txt spelled out a link to re-uv-miniatlas.txt with an example for the example tild.nif and everything works well for this file. That is, treeoaktrunk02.dds changes to treeoaktrunk02lod.dds. For my files, following the example of the test, I was not able to achieve this result. But if you say that it is no longer necessary, very well.

 

Once again, and many more times, THANK YOU ARE. Bow to the ground.

[Dimom]

In my merged file on the environment merged 4 mods for changing trees. There is almost no vanilla left, so your files are not suitable for me (neither the checksum will match, and sometimes the trees themselves), so I decided to create my own 3D static trees (not hybrid ones). I puzzled myself, and now I'm figuring it out   .

Edited March 22, 2020 by Dimom

[sheson]

Without any shifts the exact bottom center of the texture is placed at the position values defined on the reference. If the full model has z vertices below 0.0 than that delta should be the ShiftZ.

Best to create textures so there is not need to **** x or y. That might mean empty pixel spacing on one side to keep the trunk centered.

 

Oh yes! If a billboard has a normal map texture, then the diffuse should have no lighting at all or maybe very minimal indirect lighting depending on your tests.

 

Ah, so you mean the lines in re-uv.txt and not DynDOLOD rules. Sorry for the confusion.

The miniatlas.txt / texture replacement is only needed if you create a dedicated LOD texture that repeats the texture (tiles) with TexGen for example.

If the LOD model works correctly with the full texture already then no need for that step anymore. As a bonus it will continue to if the full texture is later replaced.

[Dimom]

Well, I intuitively (logically) turned off the Lighting and the result was quite fine with me. In extreme cases, I can darken/highlight in Photoshop or use the DynDOLOD Lighting Tree tool..

Good. So far, everything is clear, except for Question 3. Thank you very much.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Dimom

[Dimom]

Greetings!

I continue to deal with ULTRA trees… I'm having a problem generating DynDOLODx64 with the treelod=0 option enabled. At first, everything goes well, but after some time of work in the lodgenx64 window, generation stops happening. It stops at a certain Cell and does not go any further. This can happen for hours…

 

Before generating, I did the following:

1. 1. From the log file dyndolod defined all the necessary tree models for creating static models (210 pcs.).
2. Copied them to a folder ..\Data\DynDOLOD-Source.
3. Using ..\DynDOLOD\Docs\trees.ultra\tools\re-uv\ re-uv.bat created optimized models.
4. Using NifScope, removed parallax (Shader Type to Default, Shader Flag2 – took down the paralax flag, removed the texture parallax effect).
5. Deleted some Shapes (the roots of trees, snow, etc.)
6. Using NifScope from the full models added in the optimized model NiAlphaProperty, where did i find it necessary (mostly foliage)
7. Adjusted NiAlphaProperty – Threshold to 35/80/112 (which fit better)
8. Optimized in NifScope (Spells – Optimize – Remove Unuzed Strings, Spells – Sanitize – Reorder Blocks, Spells – Batch – Update All Tangent Space)
9. Checked the optimized model  to Nifscan.
10. Changed the file names, instead of * .nif  to *_passthru_lod.nif.
11. Using TES5Edit by script DynDOLOD_CRC32Gen.pas generated static model files.
12. Launched a generation DynDOLODx64 with a flag TreeLOD=1 (to instantly check availability for all models of static trees)
13. Launched a generation DynDOLODx64 with a flag TreeLOD=0.

 

Questions in the following:

1. Are my actions to create static models correct?
2. Is there any way to find out what the generation is "stuck" on?
3. Could it be due to technical issues (I have 8 GB of memory)?
4. Should the Shapes names of static models match the Shapes names of full models?
5. Can delete some Shapes in static models to optimize them?

 

P.S. I apologize for my bad English....

[sheson]

1. No idea without actually looking at a NIF file.

2. Probably, look at the log / command prompt window.

3. No information about memory usage was provided.

4. There is no such requirement. If there would be such a requirement it would be part of the documentation.

5. Less triangles, vertices etc. is always better for performance and resource usage.

Edited December 16, 2020 by sheson