Reflective Glass Tutorial by Obmar

Virtual Reflective Glass.

I have put together a basic folder to be used with this tutorial. Please download glass.rar and unpack to your models working folder in O2.

Folder contains 6 files

glass_ca.paa
glass_ca.tga (targa copy for editing purposes)
reflect_co.paa
reflect_co.tga (targa copy for editing purposes)
reflective_glass.rvmat (material file)
glass-pass2.rvmat (material file)

These files can be used as a basis to apply reflective glass effects to all your models.

Open the model you want to apply the reflective glass to in the o2.

Apply the glass texture to the polygons you want to be glass or transparent, you can use the texture I have made (glass_ca.paa) or any other glass texture you want to use for your model.

HINT: I normally seperate my mesh with the polygons I want to use as glass and give it a name in the “Named Selection” eg -glass. It is easier to work with when I apply the glass texture to the selection.

Now the texture is applied and the selection is transparent but does not look like glass yet.

Go to the folder where you unpacked the glass.rar file and open the reflective_glass.rvmat file with the Material Editor or by double clicking on the file. A Material Editor screen will pop up as seen in the image bellow.

NOTE: if you opened the file in the Material Editor by double-clicking on it you have to press File/Open and open the file in the editor again otherwise you cannot edit it.

Don't know why it does that but seems to be a glitch with the software. Scroll down to the bottom of the material editor and only change the following entries.

a: is the specular power you want for you glass. HINT: the lower the value the more reflective the glass becomes, play around with the setting using the slider to suit your requirements.

NOTE: do not change the stage config no 1 as this is the standard FresnelGlass setting used by the ArmA graphics engine.

b: Stage 2 is for a texture that will give your glass a reflective aspect of the environment around you. I have used the standard BIS one as bellow but you could actually make one to suit your environment.

This is also a good way to apply reflection to your models rearview mirrors. Just change the UV texture from the glass one to a non transparent mirror type texture.

Click in the Source Name field and select the reflect_co.paa file from where you placed it in your model's work file.

c: This is the link to a material file (glass-pass2.rvmat) with an alpha pass. You can look at that file but do not change anything as that is a standard setting. Click Browse and select the glass-pass2.rvmat file from where you placed it in your model's work file.

Save the file and close the material editor.

Open your model in o2 and select the glass named selection or the selection you want to apply the reflective glass material file to.

d: Click on the yellow folder on the right of the material field and select the reflective_glass.rvmat file from where you placed it in your model's work file.

Press Apply and then ok.

View the model with buldozer and there you have it lovely virtual reflective glass.

You can play around with the Specular Power settings as in step a: above to get more or less reflection off your glass.

Hope this tutorial helps and gives a little understanding of how the ArmA material files are applied.

This tutorial was originally posted to BIS forum topic. Thanks for Obmar to let us host the tutorial in this wiki.