EVE Technology Lab

Anyone having trouble translating the latest .black files? I think they have jumbled them up again?

Hm I hope you are right. I have the gut feeling CCP just completely changed the Black file format again and comes 4th of December it'll stop working on TQ as well.

Bests,
Andares Sol

Hmm okay so i guess we need to find a way to reopen the files then

Well...I'm not confident it is necessary...we got all we need sans a few ships, but with fairly standard color schemes to them from existing racial styles.

Unless you didn't archive....in which case if anyone wants any pre-patch BLACK files, let me know.

AK

hmmm as you can see here:
http://black2json.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/24909

it should working ... but ... Andares didn't release exe .. so you need to get the code, get VS express(should be for free) and compile program :)

Hey guys,

As suggested by Selvin,
I downloaded VS Express for Desktop (Free, but requires registration to get a key). Downloaded the source code from here: http://black2json.codeplex.com

Then tried to compile. Got an error "Unable to read manifest 'Properties\app.manifest'.
(It can't read it because it doesn't exist. Not sure why it's referencing a file that doesn't exist..)
But it spit out what appears to be a functional executable anyway, which was located in:
(project folder)\obj\x86\Debug\Black2Json.exe

I successfully converted res/dx9/model/ship/talocan/frigate/ta_f1.black
\:D/

...just wanted to share a (partial) success!

hmm i did manage to pull some data and convert a black file for the venture.

this is what came out.

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/9876/venturetest.jpg

i will upload the propper render tomorrow as for some reason the submask isnt correct. or not propperly used for the main body

Sorry i didn't think it's a good idea to do a release on the day CCP puts the changed format on TQ and things stop working. Something along the lines of "Here great new release, and by the way it doesn't work anymore!" didn't seem to be such a grand idea *grin*.

OK, but as it looks like various people have different backups of different stages of Black files, i can do one of course.
The latest change i got from Selvin on 4th of December is checked in, so i'll make a release of that one.

Ah yes and the Roc Wieler change to output a formatted Json is also in. Thanks!

Edit: Here you go Black2Json v1.2.0.0

Bests,
Andares Sol

great work with the TriExporter and the Black2Json Tool. They've been a great help to get some models into maya. I'm pretty new to this but thanks to everything posted around here and those tools i've been able to get the models including colors right. but when it comes to reflections i just cant figure out how to interpret the values given in the black/json files...

Has anyone figured out yet how the specular factors, specular curve, reflectivity factors or fresnel factors are supposed to be used?
I'm using maya for my renders and while its been pretty easy to get the models, colors and lights correct, i just cant figure out how the hell the specular and reflectivity values have to be used. i havent found any materials that would have 4 values at specularity, reflection or fresnel.
can anyone give me a hint as to how set those up? currently i'm trying to get the brutix right and tried multiple things already. while some have worked fairly well for the brutix (t1 version), every time i try them with the t2 version (astarte right now), it just doesnt look right at all. the specularity and reflections dont look like they should... i'd really appreciate some help. I know many use blender or cinema 4d and if you dont use maya i'd still be interested in how you guys implemented the specularity and reflection in the program you use, it still might give me some clues to how to get it right in maya.

thanks in advance, i hope some of you guys still check this thread every now and then :D

my main problem is that i dont know how to add a specular curve to any of the maya shaders i have. From the imported ".fx" file i at least know that the specular curve is an RGB color (which i still find quite odd since the values for the specularcurve are a lot higher than 1.0, which is the RGB range eve uses in the json files..) at least if the import worked correctly. unfortunately the shader doesnt seem to work when i apply it to the model, which is why i'm using normal maya materials instead. so i suppose i need an option in my shader where i can set a color or map for the specular settings. The problem is the only option that supports this is the "specular color" which i currently use for the specularmap of the pgs file.

But when i just multiply the specularmap with the overbright colors of the specular curve for each mask, i just end up with a green and yellow brutix... I'm very new when it comes to reflections and specular and i don't know how i could get the specular curve into the shader.

currently i'm using a phong material, so the only other option for the specular settings is "cosine power" which is just a number. Another option would be Phong E which supports specular color, whiteness (can be a map), roughness and highlight size. but when i tried using the specular curve as whiteness i just get really bright green and yellow highlights on the ship caused by the overbright colors when i for example use "80, 250, 0.6" of the mask specular curve as the corresponding RGB values (range 0 to 1) for the whiteness values of the mask...

i just have no idea how to handle the values of the specular curve of the json files (same goes for the reflection values but maybe that'll get clearer when i understand what this "specular curve" settings are). Unfortunately i couldnt find any shader with "specular curve"...

what exactly is a specular curve in max (or the program you use) and which values can be set? am i right that those values in the json file have to be used to get an RGB color for each mask (where the "normal" range of the rgb values is 0 to 1) or how do these values translate into something useful?