Lighting effects

[zandoria]

I had an idea today, and I don't know if it would be possible to do with the new Ink Effect SDK, but I thought I would throw it out there:

I would like to render a normal map for objects from my 3D program, as well as a a diffuse color map. Then with a greyscale image representing an area of light(and it's intensity). I would like to use the normal map image to calculate lighting based on the X,Y of the center of the greyscale image.
From what I understand, the Red and Green channels of the normal map image represent X and Y vectors of the surfaces (in the image), so I wonder if it is possible to calculate the intensity of light over any given pixel, based on the normal and grayscale image and apply that shading to the diffuse image.
The goal would be to fake interactive lighting on the objects, just using images created from 3D models. Does this sound like something that could be done (even "in theory") using the Ink SDK???

[zandoria]

I had an idea today, and I don't know if it would be possible to do with the new Ink Effect SDK, but I thought I would throw it out there:

I would like to render a normal map for objects from my 3D program, as well as a a diffuse color map. Then with a greyscale image representing an area of light(and it's intensity). I would like to use the normal map image to calculate lighting based on the X,Y of the center of the greyscale image.
From what I understand, the Red and Green channels of the normal map image represent X and Y vectors of the surfaces (in the image), so I wonder if it is possible to calculate the intensity of light over any given pixel, based on the normal and grayscale image and apply that shading to the diffuse image.
The goal would be to fake interactive lighting on the objects, just using images created from 3D models. Does this sound like something that could be done (even "in theory") using the Ink SDK???

[BrashMonkey]

sounds like a really cool idea. I hope someone takes on the challenge of making it a reality.

[BrashMonkey]

sounds like a really cool idea. I hope someone takes on the challenge of making it a reality.

[RedHades]

Well, as I understand it, you wouldn't be "faking" interactive lighting, you'd be "doing" realtime lighting.
I'm not saying that it's impossible to script in MMF2. You can probably render this with the Overlay object, using a normal map rendering script. But then ink effects aren't possible with it. And the big problem is doing it with a decent frame rate.

[RedHades]

Well, as I understand it, you wouldn't be "faking" interactive lighting, you'd be "doing" realtime lighting.
I'm not saying that it's impossible to script in MMF2. You can probably render this with the Overlay object, using a normal map rendering script. But then ink effects aren't possible with it. And the big problem is doing it with a decent frame rate.

[FoxBlitzz]

You know, normal mapping actually exists as a DirectX blend mode from my experience in working with 3D graphics. I think it is very possible to make as an ink effect in MMF2.

[FoxBlitzz]

You know, normal mapping actually exists as a DirectX blend mode from my experience in working with 3D graphics. I think it is very possible to make as an ink effect in MMF2.

[RedHades]

The ink effect wouldn't be the problem. Just combining a Subtract image for shadows with an Add image for speculars would work. The problem would be rendering those two separate images according to the normal map and the 3D light position.

[RedHades]

The ink effect wouldn't be the problem. Just combining a Subtract image for shadows with an Add image for speculars would work. The problem would be rendering those two separate images according to the normal map and the 3D light position.