pretty scatty testing here. I'm just putting it up, maybe the images and break downs will be interesting to someone, i dunno. There are a couple of test cases that proved interesting. #4 in the first image is probably the most surprising to me. I have to re test that one to make sure

Specular color material property seems to be overridden/ignored if a specular map is used in the normal map. < I think it does tint the specular color, very slightly if no specular map is used. But this needs further research and testing.

Diffuse map color and vertex color dull their respective colors if they are oposites. ie red and green. If they are same, then it tints the diffuse color. it's like a tinted color overlay. vertex color seems to interact with the ambient light color in some way. Needs further research, i should probably google vertex colors... anyway, vertex color may just be tinting/ coloring the diffuse of the object, in much the same way as the color map.

coloring emissive makes the object glow less. example. using a white glow map, but coloring the emissive green, produces less glow effect than using a green glow map and white emissve. quite obvious if you think about it.

diffuse color seems to interact with the look/color of the glow. vertex color as well. like it the object is green, or has green vertex colors, using a red glow will not glow very brightly.

Some research i did- I used a 3/4 textures for this experiment. A flat blank normal map with no specular channel. A solid bright green, solid red, and white. these doubled both as the diffuse and glow maps. cupled with some boxes with no vertex colors, some with green, and some with red. I am going to see what differences colored glow maps with white emissives, versus different emissive colors with white or no glow maps. (I also atempted to see if specular colors in the objects material actually did anything. So far that's inconclusive atm, but i think it's there)

results

Image 1 http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c85/lego-botz/other/GLOWMapInteraction.png

box 1.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: whitemat-      specular: red      emissive: greenvertex color: nobox 2.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: greenmat-      specular: purple      emissive: whitevertex color: nobox 3.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: whitemat-      specular: white      emissive: greenvertex color: no  notes: Same setup as #1. except that white specular is used. I cannot see the red specular color in action. thought #1 looks slightly less yellowed.. the red could be dulling that effect, thats what i get for playing with oposite colors...Also note #3 looks virtually identical as well< it has purple spec but the emissive color and glow is swapped. box 4.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: nomat-      specular: green      emissive: whitevertex color: nonotes: well that was a wtf moment. apparently specular color MUST be doing something unless i fubared that example up. Where is it getting that yellow coloring from. < needs further research.box 5.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: nomat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: red notes: the green diffuse and the red vert color dulls the glowing effect. so diffuse/vertex color seem to impact the emissive value in some way. box 6.maps-       diffuse: red      glow: nomat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: same this as #5 but the diffuse and vertex color is swapped. the color is slightly duller/ or it's emissive property is being [censored] a slight about more.box 7maps-       diffuse: green      glow: nomat-      specular: green      emissive: whitevertex color: greenNotes: i think i can see a very light green on the outer edge compared to similar tests, this is either due to the vertex color or colored specular. < not sure yet.box 8.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: greenmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greenNotes: its pretty green. the green vertex color and diffuse map seem to compliment each other without interfering with the emissive so much. so it's still quite bright. but it's very greenbox 9.maps-       diffuse: red      glow: whitemat-      specular: white      emissive: blackvertex color: rednotes: well it doesn't seem to glow without any emissive color box 10.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: redmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: this one is interesting, i don't think it glows much if at all. this means that the color in the glow map, if it's an opposite color, is canceled out by the vertex color and/or diffuse map. I this this is because of the way the game does a render pass and overlays the maps. its set up like luminosity... or something :Sbox 11.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: whitemat-      specular: green      emissive:greenvertex color: greenNotes: not very surprising. its very green. similar to 8, cept maybe slightly brighter and more definitely more greenbox 12.maps-       diffuse: green      glow: greenmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: same as #8. I really should have put all green everything into this one. would have really made a couple things clear. as well as another one with white in the specular.

Test 2 image http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c85/lego-botz/other/GLOWMapInteraction2.png

box 1.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: whitemat-      specular: white      emissive: greenvertex color: rednotes: pretty dull, it does still glow a little. If I jack emit multi up to 3-4 i bet it'll be glowing, < need to experiment. Seems vertex colors and emissive color don't have sunch an additive effect. box 2.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: greenmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: pretty straight forward. just seeing how vertex color and the same colored glow map work together. box 3. maps-       diffuse: white      glow: greenmat-      specular: gree      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: is that specular color tinting it more green? hmmbox 4.maps-       diffuse: white       glow: whitemat-      specular: red      emissive: greenvertex color: greenNotes: oposite to #2 so to see what difference swapping coloring in the emissive vs the glow map, and vice versa. i don't know what the red spec is doing. and i am unsure what it its even doing in there in the first place. box 5.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: whitemat-      specular: white      emissive: redvertex color: greennotes: mirrors #1, the vertex and emissive color are swapped around. box 6.maps-       diffuse: white      glow:    greenmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: rednotes: inverse of #1. just swapping the emissive color/glow map colors around. Using a green glow map and red vertex color appears to keep the objects glow to a decent degree.  box 7.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: green mat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: i think i already did this test...box 8.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: greenmat-      specular: green      emissive: redvertex color: Nonotes: this one is very interesting. not quite sure what to make of it. < needs a whole set based around this set up for testing.box 9.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: whitemat-      specular: red      emissive: greenvertex color: greenbox 10.maps-       diffuse: white      glow: greenmat-      specular: white      emissive: whitevertex color: greennotes: more green. 

Sage to me...

Thanks for sharing this! Going right into the notes, this is one I have struggled alot with (as I had to make alot of windows).

Cheers!

Kris

I will have to redo this experiment now I know how I want to set it up. then it should be clearer what does what. also atm the green diffuse map and green emissive color i was using didn't match. and neither were exactly R:0 G:255 B:0.. so there is probably skewing happening.