Version 0.7 Last Modified 29th July 2002
Assigning ENV Mapping and Transparency to Polygons
ENV Mapping
To use ENV mapping you will need to use ASE2W as specific ENV data is not stored in .prms (by this I mean ENV color, for .prms ENV color is set by MAKEITGOOD). ENV Mapping affects an objects glossiness i.e. the way it reflects light. The light "reflected" isn't a light at all but a bitmap in the \gfx folder of RV that appears like a spotlight.
OK, so how do you do it. Well ENV mapping is turned off for every polygon by default in -morph and so you must apply Smoothing group 30 to a polygon to enable its glossiness in the .w. For -ali ENV mapping is turned on by default and you must change the specular colour to 'black' (see note) on a per-material basis if you want to turn off this effect. The color of the ENV Mapping is also very important, if you use shades of gray you can diminish the apparent 'intensity' of the effect and using color can create interesting effects. Remember that like transparencies for -ali , ENV color is set on a per material basis, so if you wanted violet ENV for bitmap_a in one part of your track, and yellow ENV for the same bitmap in another then you would need to set up an additional Sub-material for the second color. The color is changed in the Sub-Material editing screen by changing the color of the solid color box next to the "Specular" parameter.
Note: If you set the ENV colour so that all the RGB values are all lower than 5%, ENV mapping will be disabled in -morph or -ali whether SG 30 is turned on or not.
Transparency
This is NOT the same as using black (RGB 0,0,0) pixels which are not drawn by Re-volt. Rather transparency can be altered to make an object partially transparent, like empty wine bottles, or CD cases or doodads or whatsits. You can also use transparency to make things almost opaque, like your finger or toe nails.
Transparency will work with both ASE2PRM and ASE2W.
To use transparency with the -morph switch means applying the appropriate smoothing group to a polygon according to the Smoothing Group Definition tables.
Using Transparency with -ali has already been eluded to. In brief you must go to your master material in the Material Editor, raise the number of slots available by pressing the "Set Number" button where the number of slots you make depends upon how many "levels" of transparency you want multiplied by the number of bitmaps you want to use these different transparencies with. Then, when you have empty slots, fill them up with the appropriate bitmap and change the opacity value for the sub-material to whatever you want it to be. UV map to selected polygons making sure that the material ID corresponds with the ID of the the transparent material you want to use in your material editor list.