How to apply gradient-esque lighting to textures

HMC · 12:54 PM

First of all, note the following:

This effect in particular will only be viewable by the person with the modified datafiles. Movies created using it will appear without it on another person's computer. You should really only use it if you're recording a video file. Also, this will affect every scene in your movie, so if the lighting is coming from one direction, there won't be a lot you can do to change that. This can be important if your movie has a lot of different environments.

Now for the tutorial:

First of all, go to Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3D Movie Maker and backup your 3DMOVIE.CHK. Just copy it and rename it and stick it somewhere so you can put it back when you're done.
Open the editable 3DMOVIE.CHK in Pencil.
Find the TMAP and click View/Edit.
Export to BMP. I would export two so that you have one as a base and one to edit freely.
The BMP is 256 colors and displays 3DMM's standard palette from left to right. You can, however, modify the vertical size of the image as much as you want. 3DMM will take the colors starting at the topmost row and go down. Thus, colors closer to the light source will be at the top and the colors farthest from the lightsource at the bottom. (The way that works best for me is to darken and lighten sections of the image in Photoshop and then apply 3DMM's palette) Thus, if you edit the BMP to look like this:

The result will look something like this:

You can also apply other cool things to it for even more interesting lighting:

Hopefully it's self explanatory. Just make sure you keep backups of your edited datafiles and just experiment.

Other interesting things:

Since the solid colors in Frankie's expansion aren't really textures, they will not be affected by the lighting, which can actually be good.
This does, however, work on the Doraemon actors, and actually looks pretty cool.

Michael Sandford · 10-02-2007, 03:19 AM

* face melts *

Gorosaurus · 10-02-2007, 04:27 AM

Please please please change your .chk file back to the normal after you are done with this! This process changes how everything looks on your 3dmm screen, and as soon as that is not in line with what a director has created, the results can be very troublesome.

Only use this for curiosity's sake and to record as AVIs.

Denny Betterman · 10-02-2007, 05:33 AM

Holy CRAP

What fun!!

10-02-2007, 01:40 PM

It's really too bad that this is one of those things that you can't really do to a large-scale and release the movies with this freely. However, at least we've got something for AVI or YouTube releases.

Cubert · 10-02-2007, 04:31 PM

I really, really suck at Pencil, and like I'm having trouble importing my new palette. Am I right in trying to re-insert the new palette over the old 3dmm.pal?

edit: no wait never mind

Liam Brocklehurst · 10-02-2007, 05:12 PM

We should all back up our 3DMOVIE.CHK's and just find some way to distribute the .chk with the movie...

Molotov · 10-02-2007, 05:21 PM

I recommend not to make the gradient too dark as in HMC's example, as I reckon the lighting looks a little too sharp. Cutting a good chunk of the lower part of it off looks pretty awesome, however.

Bloodslay · 10-02-2007, 07:14 PM

I copy the 3dmovie.chk file or whatever, thing is after I import it with pencil... I don't get anything, the tmap/bmp is blank. Any help? Anybody??

Cubert · 10-02-2007, 09:23 PM

You'll have to give a little more detail.

Pozin · 10-03-2007, 12:05 AM

uggggghh! how do i edit the bmp in photoshop? i know this is stupid, but its in indexed color and i cant edit it right and then i turn it into rgb color and edit it but then i put it back into index and load it into pencil and it comes out totally screwed up!

Pozin · 10-03-2007, 12:10 AM

no dude its not self explanatory
when i change the image size and import it back (im assuming thats what you do)
it comes in screwed up

HMC · 10-03-2007, 12:23 AM

Just edit the palette in RGB mode and re-index-color it by importing this palette file. Also, I said you can change the size of the image VERTICALLY.

Pozin · 10-03-2007, 12:27 AM

thanks

Bloodslay · 10-03-2007, 11:27 AM

A little more detail okay.

Right first I get the 3DMOVIE.CHK and Copy & Rename it (Put it on my desktop) I try opening the file on my desktop with pencil, the tmap is empty! I try with the original in my 3d Movie Maker folder but that is empty too.

Anybody know whats happening?

Pogo · 10-03-2007, 09:48 PM

Fun thing to try: Cut the pallette down to two lines. Make the bottom one 50% darker than the other one. Two-tone shading looks BRILLIANT on the Doraemon characters

Liam Brocklehurst · 10-04-2007, 01:31 PM

Someone should start a thread for people to post their palette's in, then we can pick the best ones and make some sort of pack?

Bloodslay · 10-04-2007, 01:36 PM

It would also be nice if I could get some help with my problem editing the palettes!

Jesterfoot · 10-04-2007, 05:26 PM

were we ever able to change the direction of the lighting?

Demented Ferret · 10-04-2007, 05:56 PM

It'd be pretty easy to make a mega pack of all of the light sources from other scenes/angles, replacing the overlay/3d content with black/nothing respectively. If anyone's gonna do it, it'd be good to have the direction and location of the light shown on the thumbnail of the scene or camera angle.

I apologise for the lack of terminology, I haven't used pencil in years.

Kevitus · 10-05-2007, 12:25 AM

It would be so much easier if this could be used as a expansion...

Sarat · 04:40 PM

I edited it into something like this

Sarat · 10-05-2007, 04:27 PM

After adjusting the light,now how do i activate it ?

Jim Raynor · 10-05-2007, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liam Brocklehurst

Someone should start a thread for people to post their palette's in, then we can pick the best ones and make some sort of pack?

I second that.

Bloodslay · 10-05-2007, 08:38 PM

I open 3DMOVIE.CHK in pencil and it says TMAP - 0, any help?

10-02-2007, 02:58 AM	#1
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	How to apply gradient-esque lighting to textures First of all, note the following: This effect in particular will only be viewable by the person with the modified datafiles. Movies created using it will appear without it on another person's computer. You should really only use it if you're recording a video file. Also, this will affect every scene in your movie, so if the lighting is coming from one direction, there won't be a lot you can do to change that. This can be important if your movie has a lot of different environments. Now for the tutorial: First of all, go to Program Files\Microsoft Kids\3D Movie Maker and backup your 3DMOVIE.CHK. Just copy it and rename it and stick it somewhere so you can put it back when you're done. Open the editable 3DMOVIE.CHK in Pencil. Find the TMAP and click View/Edit. Export to BMP. I would export two so that you have one as a base and one to edit freely. The BMP is 256 colors and displays 3DMM's standard palette from left to right. You can, however, modify the vertical size of the image as much as you want. 3DMM will take the colors starting at the topmost row and go down. Thus, colors closer to the light source will be at the top and the colors farthest from the lightsource at the bottom. (The way that works best for me is to darken and lighten sections of the image in Photoshop and then apply 3DMM's palette) Thus, if you edit the BMP to look like this: The result will look something like this: You can also apply other cool things to it for even more interesting lighting: Hopefully it's self explanatory. Just make sure you keep backups of your edited datafiles and just experiment. Other interesting things: Since the solid colors in Frankie's expansion aren't really textures, they will not be affected by the lighting, which can actually be good. This does, however, work on the Doraemon actors, and actually looks pretty cool.
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	Last edited by HMC : 10-02-2007 at 12:54 PM.

10-02-2007, 03:19 AM	#2
Michael Sandford Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 919	* face melts *
Michael Sandford Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 919

10-02-2007, 01:40 PM	#5
Manny Cav Posts: n/a	It's really too bad that this is one of those things that you can't really do to a large-scale and release the movies with this freely. However, at least we've got something for AVI or YouTube releases.
Manny Cav Posts: n/a

10-02-2007, 04:31 PM	#6
Cubert Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4,990	I really, really suck at Pencil, and like I'm having trouble importing my new palette. Am I right in trying to re-insert the new palette over the old 3dmm.pal? edit: no wait never mind
Cubert Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4,990

10-02-2007, 05:21 PM	#8
Molotov Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 4,858	I recommend not to make the gradient too dark as in HMC's example, as I reckon the lighting looks a little too sharp. Cutting a good chunk of the lower part of it off looks pretty awesome, however.
Molotov Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 4,858

10-02-2007, 04:27 AM	#3
Gorosaurus Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 16,146	Please please please change your .chk file back to the normal after you are done with this! This process changes how everything looks on your 3dmm screen, and as soon as that is not in line with what a director has created, the results can be very troublesome. Only use this for curiosity's sake and to record as AVIs.

10-02-2007, 05:33 AM	#4
Denny Betterman Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,531	Holy CRAP What fun!!

10-02-2007, 05:12 PM	#7
Liam Brocklehurst Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,143	We should all back up our 3DMOVIE.CHK's and just find some way to distribute the .chk with the movie...

10-02-2007, 07:14 PM	#9
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165	I copy the 3dmovie.chk file or whatever, thing is after I import it with pencil... I don't get anything, the tmap/bmp is blank. Any help? Anybody??
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165

10-02-2007, 09:23 PM	#10
Cubert Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4,990	You'll have to give a little more detail.
Cubert Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 4,990

10-03-2007, 12:05 AM	#11
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193	uggggghh! how do i edit the bmp in photoshop? i know this is stupid, but its in indexed color and i cant edit it right and then i turn it into rgb color and edit it but then i put it back into index and load it into pencil and it comes out totally screwed up!
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193

10-03-2007, 12:10 AM	#12
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193	no dude its not self explanatory when i change the image size and import it back (im assuming thats what you do) it comes in screwed up
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193

10-03-2007, 12:23 AM	#13
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715	Just edit the palette in RGB mode and re-index-color it by importing this palette file. Also, I said you can change the size of the image VERTICALLY.
HMC Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 8,715

10-03-2007, 12:27 AM	#14
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193	thanks
Pozin Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,193

10-03-2007, 11:27 AM	#15
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165	A little more detail okay. Right first I get the 3DMOVIE.CHK and Copy & Rename it (Put it on my desktop) I try opening the file on my desktop with pencil, the tmap is empty! I try with the original in my 3d Movie Maker folder but that is empty too. Anybody know whats happening?
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165

10-03-2007, 09:48 PM	#16
Pogo Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,228	Fun thing to try: Cut the pallette down to two lines. Make the bottom one 50% darker than the other one. Two-tone shading looks BRILLIANT on the Doraemon characters
Pogo Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,228

10-04-2007, 01:31 PM	#17
Liam Brocklehurst Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,143	Someone should start a thread for people to post their palette's in, then we can pick the best ones and make some sort of pack?

10-04-2007, 01:36 PM	#18
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165	It would also be nice if I could get some help with my problem editing the palettes!
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165

10-04-2007, 05:26 PM	#19
Jesterfoot Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 7,470	were we ever able to change the direction of the lighting?

10-04-2007, 05:56 PM	#20
Demented Ferret Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 16,248	It'd be pretty easy to make a mega pack of all of the light sources from other scenes/angles, replacing the overlay/3d content with black/nothing respectively. If anyone's gonna do it, it'd be good to have the direction and location of the light shown on the thumbnail of the scene or camera angle. I apologise for the lack of terminology, I haven't used pencil in years.

10-05-2007, 12:25 AM	#21
Kevitus Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,542	It would be so much easier if this could be used as a expansion...
Kevitus Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,542

10-05-2007, 09:55 AM	#22
Sarat Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 246	I edited it into something like this
Sarat Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 246	Last edited by Sarat : 10-05-2007 at 04:40 PM.

10-05-2007, 04:27 PM	#23
Sarat Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 246	After adjusting the light,now how do i activate it ?
Sarat Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 246

10-05-2007, 08:38 PM	#25
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165	I open 3DMOVIE.CHK in pencil and it says TMAP - 0, any help?
Bloodslay Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 165