This utility is a helper function to convert your Specular Level bitmap into the Alpha channel of another bitmap.

NOTE: This tool is still in beta and is experimental. Usage of this tool is not recommended in any production environment. It will overwrite bitmaps, so make sure to use this only in testing and on non-critical files during those test. Please provide feedback!

Overview

In Source materials, you cannot simultaneously use $envmapmask (Specular Level) and $bumpmap (Bump). But you can use a Specular Level if you store the Specular Level in the Alpha channel of one of the following maps: Bump, Self-Illumination or Diffuse.

The purpose of this tool is an attempt to let you do that inside 3ds Max instead of having to composite the Specular Level into the Alpha of these in another application (like Photoshop, PHOTO-PAINT or Gimp).

Usage

1. Open Alpha Spec.
2. Select items in the scene that have materials.
3. Press the Update Material List button. Any materials that have both Specular Level and Bump/Displacement will be listed.
4. From that list, select the material you want to convert.
5. Choose the target map to send the specular to as an Alpha. Note the tool lists all of these regardless of whether the material has these.
6. When sure, click the Do It button.
7. A dialog to save the new bitmap appears. Save the new image as a TGA. Important: make this a 32bit image with Alpha Split and Premultiplied Alpha.
8. The new image is assigned to Specular Level and the target slot.

What Happens...

When you click the Do It button, the tool will:

1. Paste the Specular Level into the alpha channel of the target bitmap.
2. Save the target bitmap with this new alpha channel as a new image.
3. Unlink the current Specular Level map and Target map from the material.
4. Assign the New bitmap to the Specular Level and Target slot.
5. Display the resulting bitmap.

Considerations and Notes

As noted above--this tool is still experimental. Do not use this on important, critical or production files!.

Getting the Alpha

When you save the new TGA, make sure to choose 32bit, Split Alpha and Premultiplied Alpha. If you do not do this, you may not find accurate results.

Inverting the Alpha

There is a button in the UI to Invert the Alpha. That button does not yet work.

Until this function works, you can take these steps before running the tool.

1. Select your original Specular map in the Material Editor. Make sure you have the Bitmap map selected.
2. Go down to the Output panel for this map.
3. Click the Invert option.
4. Right-click this node (in Slate) and choose the Render Map function. Render this out as a new Bitmap... and assign this new bitmap to the Specular Level of the material before processing.