Tutorial BAM TGA for "Shadow-maps"

[Paolo]

Ok,many people, still do not know that there is the possibility, to load "shadow-maps" in TGA.
In this way, you avoid waiting for the long loading of a table, and in the greater probability even a crash of Fp.

After creating your "shadow -maps" as below (an example)....in your script.

xBAM.ShadowMap "Bu8", 1200 , 2 , 3.0, 2.5, 2, 0.5, 0

You,go in menu Bam,in "shadow -maps",choose your "bulb / light" and one by one, save it in TGA as photo below.



After saving all your "bulb / light" you have created your TGA file, take it and load it in "Texture Manager" in Fp.




So you have created the "shadow-maps" in TGA


Note,please.....
if you change the name or version of the table, you have to recreate the "shadow-maps"

Resources by wild

pinballnirvana.com

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Speaking as an FP-idiot, what is "TGA," please?

 

[Paolo]

TGA= Targa......"Truevision Graphics Adapter" or "Truevision Advanced Raster Graphics Adapter".....is a transparent image file, such as png....fp it does not support PNG.

Now, Rav, with Bam, use this extension to facilitate certain functions in Fp loading them in "Texture Manager"

TGA for shadow-maps.or TGA for Bam -model.......

 

[AnonTet]

I was one that did not know about this.

Just as a note, FP saves the .tga in the same path as the table file.

 

[TerryRed]

Great Guide.

You only need to "Save as TGA" once after all your shadowmaps are configured the way you like (no need to Save as TGA for each bulb/light). "Save as TGA" menu option saves all the ShadowMap settings for all lights at one time.

One thing though...

Note,please.....
if you change the name or version of the table, you have to recreate the "shadow-maps"

You can name the shadowmaps TGA any name you want as long as it ends in -shadows. It doesn't need to match the name of the table's filename.

For all my table updates I just name it:

Shadowmaps-shadows

...and this works every time even if you rename the table filename afterward.






Also... keep in mind if anyone updates the table layout / components afterward in the future.... they need to remove the -shadows TGA, and recreate a new TGA file, and add it to the table again to reflect any changes made to the table layout.

 

[shiva]

You do know setting fpxUseShadowMaps=1 to 0 turns off the shadow maps in JG.

As to doing a map, I'm having problems with that so someone else can create it and post it here.

 

[GeorgeH]

One experience I have learned is the TGA in the texture manager can stop working when you change the script. Of course, you can expect that if you change the values for the shadow maps in the script. For me anyway, the TGA seems to stop working sometimes even when I make changes in the script that are unrelated to the shadow maps. For this reason, I always add the TGA file as the last step in a table mod.

@shiva I might be able to help you a little bit. I can't change values for the shadow maps in the BAM menu. When I do, everything on the table turns dark. I don't know why. I always add the script from my previous table mods and make changes to shadow maps in the script. I don't use the BAM menu at all except when creating the TGA file. I have found that the values I used on Space Shuttle tend to work on many tables. Then you usually only need to make changes to "Brightness" and "Spotlight Range". "Reflection" needs to be set to "0" unless you have a black area on the playfield texture and even then you need to set it low.

Be aware though that there are some playfield textures where shadow maps will not work no matter what settings you select. Rav says it has to do with how much contrast is on the playfield texture. I think it also depends a lot on whether the playfield has large areas of solid color where the shadows show up better. A lower ambient light level also helps to make them show up better also.

I learned one trick from Slamt1lt on slingshots. He always positions 2 bulbs used for the shadows directly in back of the 2 metalic strips on both sides of the kicker. It makes for nice shadows.

That is the extent of the tutorial I can provide. The rest can only learned by doing.

 

[Paolo]

You do know setting fpxUseShadowMaps=1 to 0 turns off the shadow maps in JG.

excellent thing, the fact that you can disable them, but I don't see the usefulness, I mean if it's a matter of pc performance, then you should also disable the "newrenderer", for those with a low pc.......it's just a thought!

As to doing a map, I'm having problems with that so someone else can create it and post it here.

what kind of problems? it's easy to create.....

 

[Zobou]

@TerryRed
I noticed that the halo of light passes through the TGA models. Do you have the same problem? Does it come from the models themselves or from the graphic configuration in Fp

 

[TerryRed]

@TerryRed
I noticed that the halo of light passes through the TGA models. Do you have the same problem? Does it come from the models themselves or from the graphic configuration in Fp

It's a limitation of how they need to rendered handled in FP-BAM. It can't be avoided. Those models also can't be hidden under the playfield either as they will pass through it when reflections are enabled.