This post is mainly directed @Marcel Offermans @Tuttle but if anyone else can add some input it all helps After doing wipers for the Aussie Legends cars Ive been flooded with request to help with other peoples wipers. So I'm guessing everyone is have this problem and can't work out why and asking the guy who got it working. What I have noticed is I get different results where the smear animation doesnt match the chl2 UVs In the past week I've done 2 cars. The first car just fell into place (I used the same UVs for chl1 and 2 and then changed chl1). The 2nd car I could not get the wiper smear animation to show on the windshield but I could see it on the rear window. Even though chl2 was mapped correctly it appeared it was using the chl1 UVs. After really thinking about what I have done differently to the first car the only thing I could think of was I mapped the chl2 UVs first then changed the chl1 UVs. So I moved chl1 UVs to chl3 (so I could save them) then moved chl2 UVs to Chl1. I tested in dev and smear was now in postion. So I then moved the chl3 UVs (the old chl1) back to chl1 and all is working. So can @Marcel Offermans @Tuttle confirm that this is either a bug or the correct procedure is to map the chl2 UVs first before chl1. I don't understand why it should matter which UV is done first but doing chl2 first (but saving chl2 to chl1 then remap chl1) is the only way I can get it working for me!
Hi, I'm not sure I understand what you are reporting, but the process is easy, and does not have bugs in it afaik; Map UV/Ch1 for your diffuse, and use this for both Windscreen shaders (Inside and Outside), for the Stages 1 (diff),2 (spec) and 3 (cube). Map UV/Ch2 for the rain effect (as per guidelines), and use this for both Windscreen shaders (Inside and Outside), only for the Stage 4. If Ch1 does respect the Rain mapping requirements, you can copy that on Ch2 and reuse it. The order you follow to map these UVs, doesn't really matter, that is 3Ds Max procedures. If you are getting issues, could be some wrong step in 3DsMax, but that doesn't link to our shaders.
i wonder if anyone has gotten a workflow working in blender with the windscreen effects, i have the above problem and never could solve it in blender.
I have no such problems as you describe and i map the channel 2 as last, because the original mapping in most cases don't matches the correct positions of the windows, that is needed to get everything working. So i keep the channel 1 mapping and remap the channel 2. What i else do is, that i set the first 3 texture stages to explicit channel = 1 (as shown in the picture) in the texture rollout and the 4th stage texture to channel 2. Maybe that helps.
It must be a bug in my max. I do know how to follow the tutorial. I have successfully done 15 car windows. I have to follow a certain process to get it to work. The next car I do Ill document and take pictures to show what's happening for me.
Do you have a dialog window about moving/abandoning the UVs when you switch channels in UnwrapUVW? Should press 'abandon'.
Yes and yes My UVs are correct. I have set chl2 first though otherwise it doesn't work. I have tried on to different PCs with same results.
@Nibiru Do you use 3DSMax 2012 32 or 64 bit and have you some patches or program updates / fixes installed?
I use the 64 bit version with also 2 patches (sp1 + sp2), maybe that makes a difference. Maybe i am wrong, but wasn't there said somewhere, that only the 64 bit converter was updated?
Not sure maybe @Tuttle can confirm. Ill test the 64bit and see if it makes a difference on the next car
OK and if it still don't works with channel 1 mapped as first, you maybe could upload the max scene with the needed textures, that we can try to export it on our machines, to see if it makes a difference.
We do update both 32 and 64, but as I said, we do not have any bug that does reproduce what OP is reporting. Feel free to send me a sample of that scene to see if I can repro locally.
I have put some pics together to show what happens for me. All I did was setup the materials following the tutorial, and map chl2 UVs. This is my material for inside. This is my material for outside. Theses are the UVs for chl1 Theses are the UVs for chl2 This is the inside window looking good This is the outside not good So I used my procedure and moved chl1 UVs to chl3 (to save them) then moved chl2 to chl1 collapse stack. Unwrap UVs again and moved chl3 to chl1. This is the result windshield looking good.
It seem to be the exact same problme as i reported here: https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/rain-effects-on-windscreen.59533/ Solution for me is in the last post But i got the stong feeling that there are a few issues with the tutorial posted in the dev guide. I never got the vertex illumination to work correct. Rain streaks on the side and rear windows were never affected by the color i used. Maybe @Tuttle could take a look at the guide so see if there is something missing
It is the same problem but your solution doesn't work for me any more. I have found a solution that works for me just using 3dsmax. I was sharing my findings and see if the devs can shed some light on it.
My experience with the vertex illumination colors is a bit different. If i leave it white, the streaks work properly on the front and side windows, but not on the rear window. There they move horizontal when the car drives. When i paint the vertex illumination, like it is said in the devguide, the stripes move properly (downwards) on the rear window too, when the car drives.
I don't know guys, I still can't repro any of the problems you are having there. Also, our artists are following our guidelines, on a daily basis, and on a very large field of car projects, and we have/had no internal reports about the issues you are getting. It's not that we are doing things differently than you guys, we do follow exactly the same steps, and everything seems working as expected. Not saying you are doing wrong, but as for everything in a debug process, if we can't repro a problem, we can't see it. @Bernd what you are reporting suggest me you are not following all the steps about creating and editing the raindrop_desc.json. This stuff is covered in the Chapter 1.2 of the RainFX guidelines.
Sorry, i don't understand what you mean. I have talked about the windows and as far as i have understood it, the raindrop_desc.json effects the movement of the drops on the carbody only. And for the windows, the movement of the drops is defined by the proper mapping and vertex illumination colors. This at least is what i have understood when i did read the devguide.
