Can decal textures be used with BZII?

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I figured out how set up transparent image areas by setting certain areas to be transparent while other areas are completely opaque using the default white alpha transparency to make some decal textures for my models. It's the same method used to delete the background for unit icons only applied to model as a skin of sorts. Is there a limit/problem associated with causing a framerate overload using a lot of these types of texutures. What about using a lot of bump maps would that be a bad thing performance wise? Tanks BNG.

[mrtwosheds]

No.
The clear bit of the texture will make the rest of the model transparent and look awful.

Useful for making plants though.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Okay, thanks MTS. I've been playing around with texture painting at work, but I'm still trying to get a handle on doing decent textures for my models. I used a technique the other day to make a cool side track set of wheels by making a mock model section complete with wheel objects and did a screen grab of the piece to convert to a BMP texture, and it looked very nice when I applied it to the otherwise flat sided track tread_ part. For some reason though the image always needs to be flipped as my modeler applies textures upside down.

I also am trying the same thing with the model itself by copying the model several times in the workspace to get front, back, left-side, right-side, top, and bottom views prior to doing a screen grab. I'm also leaving and open section at the bottom so that I can import the side track BMP into the same single image. Thia method should allow for using a single texture file for the whole model instead of 2 single files.

I wonder if I can apply a emboss effect on the wheel image to give the wheels some depth of field simulation? Only drag is the multiple colored wheels would have a strange silvery gray look as the embos thingy seems to display things this way. Afterwords, I colud just repaint the resulting image with color again. Geeze...this texture painting stuff is a ton of extra work.   

[mrtwosheds]

Sounds like a really hard way of producing textures, get a decent graphics program (photoshop is probably the easiest to get hold of) load it up with plugins and spend a fare bit of time just fooling around with it to find out what stuff does, use textures and images found on the web as "raw material" to get you started.
There are also several programs for making "procedural textures" around, these can be quite complex and loaded with incomprehensible jargon instead of help files, but can produce some nice results.

[Zero Angel]

If you create a surface on top of where you want to put the decal then UVMap that surface to the decal texture, it should get around the problem with using alpha transparancies for decals.

[mrtwosheds]

You could. But its allot better to paint it on the skin.
I assumed he meant decals as in a flag or logo marking on a ship that could be changed without changing the ship model. A second skin as it were.

[General BlackDragon]

Yeah I think that can be done because the glow skin should be applied over the normal skin. If the glowskin has a certian part on it that is A: different then default and B: set to opaque in the alpha. Though I could be wrong, and the game might only pay attention to the alpha channel and apply it over the stock texture.