[Q] Make mesh always bright, unaffected by lightsources?

[Roggvir]

I need this for a portal that has a texture of where it goes, and i need that picture to be rendered "as is" regardless of any lighting (or its absence) around it.
Even if the room is pitch black, the picture on that portal needs to look as is, with its pixels rendered as they are, without adding any light or shadow.

 

It is a window to somewhere, and the place "out there" doesn't care whether your room is dark or not, it has no effect on how bright or dark that place out there is.

Does it make sense?

 

So, how can i do that?
I tried googling, and i spent hours fiddling with shader flags in NifSkope and testing what it does in game, but i can't find how to do this.
And this should be doable - i mean there is no easier thing for a 3D engine than to render texture pixels as they are, it requires no additional effort, so it should be possible, but... is it?

 

Here are some pictures that hopefully help.
On the left is what i have, and on the right is what i need:

[̖̪.]

I'm not sure it will work... but maybe try to make Mesh to emitate color?...

Try with gray or white color... 

 

I remember that i was using this thing long time ago to make some blinking objects... so im 100% sure it works...

but idk. how it will work in your situation anywaa try ^_^

 

 

Ofc. i give here example on body ( but you can do it on any mesh you want )

[nilead]

I have no expertiese in nifscope, but assuming it is reasonably similar to other 3d software - making picture in the window emissive shall do the trick.

[Roggvir]

That won't help
Emissive can make the mesh brighter, but it also washes out the texture colors - the brighter you make it, the more washed out by its own "light" it will be.
And it won't prevent the mesh from being affected by surrounding light sources (until you raise the emit brightness to a point where you cannot tell, making the texture image totally washed out and unrecognizable).

 

[Roggvir]

For now i settled for setting the backlight flag on the mesh, and adding a light source behind it.

The portal texture colors hold much better than if using its own emit.

Unfortunately, it requires that additional light behind it, which consequently lits up evertyhing else in its reach (portal frame and floor), so the wall right behind the portal is now mandatory to shield the visible floor from the light.

 

I wanted the portals stand alone on their own, not having to have a wall behind them to hide that damn light.
So, i have a workaround, but i am still looking for a solution allowing me to do what i originally intended.

[Tlam99]

Dds with alpha channel

[Dorabella]

On 8/9/2020 at 5:39 AM, Roggvir said:

On the left is what i have, and on the right is what i need:

Do you have practice of photoshop?

[Roggvir]

1 hour ago, Lestat1627 said:

Do you have practice of photoshop?

No, but as you can clearly see, i have been born with an ability to use GIMP like no other man or woman in this universe.

 

1 hour ago, T-lam said:

Dds with alpha channel

Did you use a random word generator, or does the sentence have any meaning that relates to this topic?

[Tlam99]

5 hours ago, Roggvir said:

No, but as you can clearly see, i have been born with an ability to use GIMP like no other man or woman in this universe.

 

Did you use a random word generator, or does the sentence have any meaning that relates to this topic?

DDS extension is the type of images used in Skyrim. Alpha channel the part to mask.

Just google for it, I cannot generate more words for further explanations.

 

 

[Roggvir]

16 hours ago, T-lam said:

DDS extension is the type of images used in Skyrim. Alpha channel the part to mask.

Just google for it, I cannot generate more words for further explanations.

Ok, googled it, but i still don't understand how adding an alpha channel to the portal texture, would make the engine render the texture pixels as they are (because it doesn't!), without darkening/lighting/coloring the pixels depending on light sources withing its reach (because it doesn't!), or ambient lighting (because it doesn't!), or the lack of any light (because it doesn't!).
So, i urge you to please generate more words for the much needed further explanation.

[Tlam99]

1 hour ago, Roggvir said:

Ok, googled it, but i still don't understand how adding an alpha channel to the portal texture, would make the engine render the texture pixels as they are (because it doesn't!), without darkening/lighting/coloring the pixels depending on light sources withing its reach (because it doesn't!), or ambient lighting (because it doesn't!), or the lack of any light (because it doesn't!).
So, i urge you to please generate more words for the much needed further explanation.

You need to make the windows glowing, 5-10% might be enough, like the glowing eyes on vampirs are made.

with the alpha channel you can mask out the wall, floor. This part will then remain black.

to control the light/tint/strenght you can add colors to the rgb part of the DDS overlay. like a face tint mask, to prevent burned out colors.

You can even create 3d structures with the DDS if needed to improve the effect on windows.

To check it out, download a glowing vampir eyes mod and examine it. Basically it's the as your windows.

[Roggvir]

56 minutes ago, T-lam said:

You need to make the windows glowing, 5-10% might be enough, like the glowing eyes on vampirs are made.

with the alpha channel you can mask out the wall, floor. This part will then remain black.

to control the light/tint/strenght you can add colors to the rgb part of the DDS overlay. like a face tint mask, to prevent burned out colors.

You can even create 3d structures with the DDS if needed to improve the effect on windows.

To check it out, download a glowing vampir eyes mod and examine it. Basically it's the as your windows.

Aha, that won't work for me, because it needs glow shader, which cannot be used together with multilayer paralax - its one or the other, cannot have both, and the paralax is non-negotiable, i need it there.
So, this is a no go, but thank you anyway.

[Tlam99]

1 minute ago, Roggvir said:

Aha, that won't work for me, because it needs glow shader, which cannot be used together with multilayer paralax - its one or the other, cannot have both, and the paralax is non-negotiable, i need it there.
So, this is a no go, but thank you anyway.

you need a 2nd mesh, just a small part of the window, like pubic on a body 

[Roggvir]

3 minutes ago, T-lam said:

you need a 2nd mesh, just a small part of the window, like pubic on a body 

I don't see how that can work...
The mesh that is the "window" showing the texture of where the portal goes, requires multilayer paralax shader for ...well, for it to have a paralax effect.

This is so the portal doesn't look like a completely flat painting, but displays the portal texture with some depth, having different perspective depending on from where you look at it, as shown on the following video:

How would a second mesh solve anything?
The texture is on the mesh that uses the paralax shader. Adding another mesh, which is not using paralax shader, because its using glow shader instead, cannot do anything usefull for the first mesh that has the paralax shader and is showing the portal picture.

[Tlam99]

25 minutes ago, Roggvir said:

I don't see how that can work...
The mesh that is the "window" showing the texture of where the portal goes, requires multilayer paralax shader for ...well, for it to have a paralax effect.

This is so the portal doesn't look like a completely flat painting, but displays the portal texture with some depth, having different perspective depending on from where you look at it, as shown on the following video:

How would a second mesh solve anything?
The texture is on the mesh that uses the paralax shader. Adding another mesh, which is not using paralax shader, because its using glow shader instead, cannot do anything usefull for the first mesh that has the paralax shader and is showing the portal picture.

Nice btw.

How about a transparent mesh layer without any structures, but glowing.

If it is placed behind, the effects and paralax should not be disturbed.

I tested something similar on a cup filled with whitewine.

Wanted to see the wine also on tables in dark edges and the bottom of the cup.

I didn't have the paralax problem, but the transparent wine worked also as lightsource.

 

 

[Roggvir]

3 minutes ago, T-lam said:

How about a transparent mesh layer without any structures, but glowing.

If it is placed behind, the effects and paralax should not be disturbed.

I don't understand, can you desribe it in more detail?

[Tlam99]

4 minutes ago, Roggvir said:

I don't understand, can you desribe it in more detail?

Use the same mesh as your portals, remove any structures and make it transparent and glowing instead paralax.

Like an glasplate emitting light.

 

[Roggvir]

2 hours ago, T-lam said:

Use the same mesh as your portals, remove any structures

I dont understand this, what "structures" am i supposed to remove?
What do you mean by "structure"?

Besides that, i also do not understand what is it all supposed to do?

Maybe i should clarify...
The whole thing are two separate static objects:

- metalic frame

- "door" which is using the multilayer paralax shader with texture of the destination.
So, what am i supposed to do with which of these objects and what is it supposed to achieve?

[Tlam99]

7 hours ago, Roggvir said:

I dont understand this, what "structures" am i supposed to remove?
What do you mean by "structure"?

Besides that, i also do not understand what is it all supposed to do?

Maybe i should clarify...
The whole thing are two separate static objects:

- metalic frame

- "door" which is using the multilayer paralax shader with texture of the destination.
So, what am i supposed to do with which of these objects and what is it supposed to achieve?

I will give it a try on a nif I have for picture with a coating.

Added to BSefffectshaderproperty in addition BSlighingshaderproperty.

but no good result yet.

It might be a way, as you can attach a texture DDS to it which can be set to glow with this lightingshader

LOL, come to the same point as Tobi descripted.

 

[Tlam99]

22 hours ago, Roggvir said:

I dont understand this, what "structures" am i supposed to remove?
What do you mean by "structure"?

Besides that, i also do not understand what is it all supposed to do?

Maybe i should clarify...
The whole thing are two separate static objects:

- metalic frame

- "door" which is using the multilayer paralax shader with texture of the destination.
So, what am i supposed to do with which of these objects and what is it supposed to achieve?

Bright does not mean light. A sheet of paper remains black without light.

If there is no light from outside or inside and the gate is not allowed to emit light, everything remains black.

The only way I see to prevent washout during day and have a illuminated gate during night outside is doing it with a script.

Like dancer lightning if the lightlevel falls under a certain point.

 

[Roggvir]

10 hours ago, T-lam said:

Bright does not mean light. A sheet of paper remains black without light.

If there is no light from outside or inside and the gate is not allowed to emit light, everything remains black.

The only way I see to prevent washout during day and have a illuminated gate during night outside is doing it with a script.

Like dancer lightning if the lightlevel falls under a certain point.

 

Thats all pretty obvious (except the thing about bright <> light, because on the contrary, that is what "bright" means).
Btw. i dont want to have "illuminated gate during night", i want the engine to render the pixels of the portal texture as they are, with constant value and brightness.
And i don't mind them to get washed out in daylight at all, i was talking about the colors getting washed out when using own emit (as one of the ways how to ensure the texture will look bright when in darkness without any lights), which happens with own emit even in pitch black darkness - that is a completely different situation.

Scripting the light won't help, i don't want to use any visible light to lit the portal - you could see that the light comes from a point in front of the portal, which makes no sense and looks dumb.

That is why i settled for using the backlight flag on the mesh and a light hidden behind the portal - and there is no point scripting that, you adjust the parameters of the light so the portal looks ok in the lighting conditions that exist in that room, and that's it.

 

Still not exactly what i wanted, so if anyone has an idea how to achieve what i describe in the first post... this topic is still unsolved.