Decal Issues

[+Baltika 85]

I'm trying to work out a system for BoB Campaign so that squadron codes and A/C letters are assigned for all squadrons to a base skin. So far, it looks promising.

 

Here's an example of a flight with "generated" markings:-

 

 

 

But, I'm getting artefacts on the underside of the plane, which disappear when I remove my code/letter decals:-

 

 

 

And this just looks a bit odd (check out the leg of the tail wheel):-

 

 

 

Anyone know what's going on with the decal artefacts, and how I can fix it? I have made sure that there is plenty of space round the edges of the lettering, so I don't think this is the stretching issue.

 

Cheers,

 

Baltika

Edited February 26, 2008 by Baltika

[+Gocad 26]

I'm trying to work out a system for BoB Campaign so that squadron codes and A/C letters are assigned for all squadrons to a base skin.

 

Hey, this sounds familiar.

 

Back on topic, I did see similar artifacts when I was tinkering around with the decal placement on the Spitfire, i.e. a fuselage roundel bleeding through the engine section. Barely noticeable, but it could be seen.

 

IIRC, it's a model issue and I don't think you can't do much about it. I think something similar has come up before and that was the explanation...at least according to what I remember.

 

capun is probably the only one who could give you a definite answer.

 

Btw, is the fuselage roundel a decal or part of the texture?

Edited February 26, 2008 by Gocad

[+Baltika 85]

Hey, this sounds familiar.

 

Btw, is the fuselage roundel a decal or part of the texture?

 

 

Yes, the whole concept arises out of our discussion on skins, squadron codes, etc. As I said, seems to be going Ok.

 

For the Hurri, the roundel is part of the base skin. Squadron codes and letter codes are separate decals.

 

Gramps has made a skin for the A-team Brewster Buffalo where the letter code, roundel and squadron code are all part of the same decal. That comes in handy (eg for Burma Air War) as I don't have to spend hours unpicking the base skin, and can just create a new decal.

 

I see you have already implemented this on your various Spit skins - great work there

 

Sounds like I'll just have to live with the oddity. I don't notice it so much in a dogfight

[+Bongodriver 20]

I have seen similar too, I didn't realise the TGA decal had to have (I think) at least 3 pixels width of alpha around the entire border and I was getting a similar effect.

 

Not sure what exactly is causing your problem though.

[+Florian 394]

I guess this Decal bleeding effect results out of the way the model was exported to LOD file. There are two ways to do so. One with decals and one without. The export option with decals, eliminates this bleeding effect most of the time, but on somehow, you get a notable performance drop on such models.

Like Gocad said, there is not much you can do on that. Of course, it´s just a guess by me, if it´s something different, there might be a solution i´m not aware of.

[+Gocad 26]

I see you have already implemented this on your various Spit skins - great work there

 

Fun fact: I had made those squadron decals (about 60, mostly Spitfire, but also a few Typhoon units) before I began to do those skins. I'm tempted to say that the skins exist because of the decals and not vice versa.

[+Dave 2,322]

I guess this Decal bleeding effect results out of the way the model was exported to LOD file. There are two ways to do so. One with decals and one without. The export option with decals, eliminates this bleeding effect most of the time, but on somehow, you get a notable performance drop on such models.

Like Gocad said, there is not much you can do on that. Of course, it´s just a guess by me, if it´s something different, there might be a solution i´m not aware of.

 

Yep that is the problem as Amok described. Its the lesser of 2 evils. Exporting with decals makes the models more likely to CTD even with the flightengine.ini trick and as he said a performance drop. But you get nice decals. Not a good trade off really.

[Wrench 9,848]

There's decal bleed on the Spit and Hurris...there's a couple of 'open' meshes on all of them.

Just something we have to live with.

 

(hurri should be on starboard side, approximated the engine cowl panel?? Spit is similiar, IIRC)

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Baltika 85]

Thanks for the info, all.

 

Funnily enough, the issue is much less pronounced on the standalone 303 Sqdn skin I posted recently, and doesn't appear at all (so far as I can tell) on the "stock" 242 Sqdn Hurri 1 skin.

 

I will play around with positioning etc to see if I can make it go away, or at least reduce it a bit.

 

Cheers,

 

Baltika

[Guest capun]

There are a couple of fixes but they have to be done in the 3D model

 

- Weld vertices and smooth. Sometimes you have adjacent polys but their intersecting vertice have not been welded. IE, there are two vertices where only one should do it.

 

- Run an STL check and see if there are errors, open faces, double faces, etc, Fix them

 

- Look at the area that has the bleed, select the polys and detach them. Now you have two meshes, you need to link the new mesh properly. Check the new meshes to be sure they are ok and there are no Normals issues

[FastCargo 412]

Run an STL check and see if there are errors, open faces, double faces, etc, Fix them

 

(Raises Hand)...

 

What's a STL check?

 

FastCargo

[Guest capun]

In 3DS Max

 

- Select a mesh

 

- Click on the drop down toolbar called Modifiers

 

- Select Mesh Editing

 

- Select STL Check

 

STL stands for StereoLitography, what this does is checks that the mesh meets the STL file format that is used to create a phisical model. This model must have all the surfaces fully closed. There are checks for Open & Multiple edges and for Double Faces. You can select the edges or faces with problems, then you go an fix them.

 

ArmourDave gave me this tip quite a while ago, you run the STL check also when you have shadow issues. Like those shadow lines going from the plane to the ground.