The DTS Material List

The DTS Material List on the Materials panel of the exporter GUI displays a list of all Blender UV mapped images (textures) that are found on all meshes in all exported layers of the Blender scene.  The UV/Mapped images in this list are exported as DTS Materials, with the main uv mapped image being used as the diffuse (main) texture.  For more information on how this list is populated, see DTS Materials - Creating DTS Materials using Blender Textures

The DTS Material properties

The DTS Material properties are located on the right hand side of the materials panel.  These options apply to the currently selected material in the DTS Material List to the left.  If no material is currently selected, the DTS Material options are disabled and will not react to mouse clicks.

From top to bottom, left to right, the material properties are:

Selected material label

The material options title is a text label that displays the currently selected DTS Material from the DTS Material list. The options below the material options title apply to the currently selected material.

Self Illuminating Button

This option causes a DTS material to always render at full brightness in Torque. DTS Materials that are flagged as self-illuminating are not affected by in-game lighting conditions and appear to "glow".  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Self Illuminating Materials for more information.

IFL Material Button

The IFL Material option is used to flag a material for use in an IFL material animation. Setting this option for a material will cause the material to become available for use when creating IFL animations.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - IFL Materials for more information.

Translucent material controls

• Translucent button - This option is used to control whether or not the currently selected DTS material will render as translucent in Torque.  The main (diffuse) texture for translucent materials must contain a proper alpha channel. These textures are usually saved in the png file format, but TGA files can also be used.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Translucent Rendering and the note below for important information.
• Additive button - If enabled, this option causes a material to be rendered using additive blending in Torque. In this rendering mode, the RGB values for each pixel in the texture are literally added to the RGB values of whatever is behind it. An additive blended texture will therefore be fully transparent when black (color 0,0,0) and white or fully opaque when white (color 255, 255, 255). There is no need for an alpha channel in transparent additive textures.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Translucent Additive Rendering for more information.
• Subtractive button - In this rendering mode, the RGB values for each pixel in the selected texture are literally subtracted from the RGB values of whatever is behind it. A subtractive blended texture will therefore be fully transparent when black (color 0,0,0) and black or fully opaque when white (color 255, 255, 255). There is no need for an alpha channel in translucent subtractive textures.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Translucent Subtractive Rendering for more information.

Enabling either the Additive or Subtractive option will cause the Translucent option to be automatically enabled. Additive and Subtractive are sub-options of translucent, and will not work unless translucent is also turned on. The Additive and Subtractive options are mutually exclusive. Enabling one will disable the other.

Important (!) Note:

• Photoshop does write out proper alpha channels when saving png files.  99% of problems with translucent materials are caused by photoshop.  This problem can be remedied by using an older version of the SuperPNG plugin, which can be found here: http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/Editing_Beginner/Tools/SuperPNG . This problem can also be solved by re-saving the image files using the Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), which can be found here: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/.

Mipmap and Mipmap Zero Border Buttons

The Mipmap button controls whether or not mipmapping is enabled for the currently selected DTS Material. Mipmaps are normally padded with a border. Enabling the Mipmap Zero Border option causes mipmaps to be generated with no border. If neither option is enabled, no mipmaps will be generated or used for the material's textures.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Mipmapping for more information.

SWrap and TWrap buttons

The SWrap and TWrap options are used to control the texture wrapping mode for the currently selected DTS Material. Both SWrap and TWrap are enabled by default. The SWrap setting determines whether or not the material's texture(s) repeat when the U/V Coordinates go outside of the image bounds (0 to 1) horizontally. The TWrap setting determines whether or not the material's texture(s) repeat when the U/V Coordinates go outside of the image bounds (0 to 1) vertically. Horizontal and vertical refer to the UV image itself, as viewed in Blender's UV/Image editor window, not to the actual orientation of the textures on a mesh.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - SWrap and TWrap flags for more information.

Detail Map controls

• Detail Map Button - Enables a detail map texture for the currently selected DTS Material.
• Detail Map Texture pull-down - Allows for the selection of any loaded texture as a detail map for the current material.
• Detail Scale control - Allows for scaling of detail maps. Note: Although the DTS file format supports this feature, Torque sets the texture wrap mode incorrectly for scaled detail maps, causing them to "smear" where they would normally repeat.  A fix for the problem can be found here (see comments).
  

See DTS Materials - Material Options - Detail Maps for more information.

Environment Mapping controls

The Environment Mapping button is used to turn on environment mapping for the currently selected DTS Material. Environment mapping causes the material to take on a "chromed" or reflective appearance.  The texture that is "reflected" by an environment mapped material in Torque is determined by the seventh texture in the sky.dml file for the loaded mission. This texture cannot be set on a per-shape basis in stock TGE. The reflectivity control is used to adjust the amount of reflectance. The amount of reflectance is also influenced by the alpha channel of the main material.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Environment Mapping for more information.

Advanced Material settings

The advanced material settings on the material panel of the exporter GUI are hidden by default. Clicking the "Show Advanced Settings" button will cause the advanced settings to become visible.

Important (!) Note: Use these advanced settings with caution! See notes on the individual options below.

Reflectance Map controls

The Reflectance Map controls are used to select a reflectance map texture for use with the current material. Although the DTS file format supports this feature, reflectance maps are only partially implemented in TGE.

Reflectance maps are used to decouple the reflectivity (see environment mapping) of a material from the alpha channel of the material's main (diffuse) texture. This is useful in cases where you want to use the alpha channel of the main (diffuse) texture for something else, such as transparency or specularity.

See Also: DTS Materials - Material Options - Reflectance Maps

Bump Map controls

The bump map controls are used to define a bump map texture for the currently selected material. A bump map texture is designed to be used as a "fake" embossed bump map in Torque. This feature of the dts format is not supported in stock TGE.  See DTS Materials - Material Options - Bump Maps for more information.