Maya 2016 - Specular Showing On Transparency

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm using files from a game and I'm currently setting up a specular for the character. The specular is based on a file that has the color map and the alpha of that map combined. So I'm using only alpha out when I'm doing node work.

Upon using the alpha, I'm setting up different ramps for levels of specularity on different parts of the character, but I'm running into this issue.

When I'm trying to set up the specularity for the metal parts of a character, the specular seems to be reading on transparent parts of the mesh as well, and I am at a loss of how to fix this. I've tried separating the alpha map from the color map and still get the same result. Also I am using a blinn shader.

I've been looking around for a solution for a while now and haven't been able to find anything. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

[damaggio]

The transparent parts on your map should be 100% black Ashley.

[damaggio]

...to go into Specular.

If this is for a game character you should not shade in Maya, use shaders  from Game engine.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Even with a setting of Full Transparency a Material like Blinn will enable Specular Shading (think of a glass surface still reflecting the sun).

As @damaggio said such things should be done with Shaders in the Game Engine.

As a workaround connect your alpha to Specular Color, this should lead to the desired result (at least in Maya).

[Anonymous]

Hello! Thank you for the replies.

I'm sorry, I should've specified (but was in a big rush when I made the initial post), but I am using extracted files (comes with body normal, body color, eyelashes, hair color, and hair normal) from player made characters from a game. I'm trying to do fan renders of said player-made characters from the game so I'm trying to replicate the game's materials as best as I can, and not trying to put it in a game.

This is the body color map, the alpha map from it, the body normals, and the normal's alpha map. The dog tags, which can be located on the top left corner of the maps, are 100% black. In order to have the transparency on the model (for stuff like the dog tags), I use the body normal map's alpha.

It seems that the game uses a series of ramp nodes on the alpha to get different values of specularity depending on what kind of clothing the character is wearing. And yes, I am currently using the body color's alpha channel on the specular color channel and this is the result I am getting when setting specific ramp settings.

I hope this is a much more clear explanation.

[mspeer]

Hi!

If you want to replicate a game engine inside Maya a Blinn Material may be not the best choice, but would work.

There are more Materials that may be better suited for Hardware Rendering , please read Maya Documentation / Online Help about Materials, espacially Shader FX and ...Shader