Excited about Gundam? (56k warning)

[smoth]

(BEFORE ANSWERING POLL read thread first!)

As time has come along gundam has had a slow and steady progression. Initially all work was designed to look good in the total annihilation engine. This texture treatment while very nice in the TA engine:



However, in true 3d it looks like ass:



However, in order for gundam to look fairly uniform I had to make the textures also cartoony. This is not very nice looking. So I have the slow process of improving the model textures.

Old models

getting a New treatment


and the old ta texture styled models are getting a complete revamp:



Recently I had the chance to play DW:gundam on an hd tv and I realized that my models are actually more detailed and generally cleaner. This is huge to me, before this I had thought my work was of poor quality. So now I am excited to return to gundam and feel a new fervor. I intend on continuing my work and I have new excitement and zeal for my project now.

While this is actually fairly old and some of you may have seen it, I want you guys to get a taste of the look to come:






I am going to be away from the forums for a few days and I wanted to see what the community felt about the future work.


so is anyone else excited? please, let me know your thoughts!

[SinbadEV]

I'm not sure if "excited" is the right word but I voted that way, I am interested in the progress and happy to see it moving forward but am not emotionally invested in the progress aside from the general positivity I feel for anything that forwards the palatability of the spring project.

Also, yeah, it looks awesome... if I liked Gundam as much as I likes Star Wars I would be excited.

[Forboding Angel]

It has come forward by leaps and bounds over time.

I will be really excited to play it in the new verison of spring now that the storage tags for commanders are actually working properly.

It will make the resourcing scheme in gundam 300% better. As always, I look forward to seeing your new explosion effects as well

[zwzsg]

The first transport plane looks much better than the second one. It is cleaner, the shape and textures are much easier to make out, ...

I guess you attempted to go for a gritty realist with the second one, and am quite chagrined by this decision.

Please keep your nice & clean texturing style.

Also, you hope you don't fall into the ever-remodelling/retexxing syndrom, that already plagued a certain modder of our (but nearly no-one else here) acquaintance. I'd rather have you finish Gundam then get working on a new project I did not mention Tower Defense! Oh cr*.!, than remaking an already fine product for ever and always and again.

[BaNa]

This is huge to me, before this I had thought my work was of poor quality.

Smoth, when I tried out gundam, I was amazed by the quality of models and textures. It seemed like the best-looking Spring mod to me at the time of play. You should be proud of it.

[Neddie]

I've always been down with Gundam.

[Argh]

The first transport plane looks much better than the second one. It is cleaner, the shape and textures are much easier to make out, ...

I guess you attempted to go for a gritty realist with the second one, and am quite chagrined by this decision.

I have to disagree with that. The technical quality of the second skin is markedly superior to the first one, all considerations of "realism" aside- the lines are cleaner, because of preshading with bevels, among other things, and the preshading on the body of the aircraft, suggesting curvature, is nicely executed. It'd be a vast improvement, even without the touches of dirt and wear that can be seen on the working surfaces, like the bottom of the box.

Nor would I argue that it looks "gritty" in any sense. PURE's stuff looks gritty and very dirty- it's what I like. Gundam's stuff is faithful to the anime sources, but is starting to look reasonably believable, without feeling like it's covered in muck and dirt. I think it's the right balance- a gentle change in hue here and there, suggesting some dirt and wear without being egregious, plus better preshading, is a reasonably good depiction of what you wanted, and I think that it looks great in the screens provided.

[DZHIBRISH]

Awsome.
TBH i'd play Gundam alote if someone would host it.
Host it more and more people will learn of it and learn to enjoy it.
If you want to retexturize i think top priority is buildings =,i really didnt like the textures on most buildings.
GL

[smoth]

Interesting responses.

Zwzsg, I am trying to preserve the good details at a distance still. The gunperry at a distance actually reads a bit cleaner thanks to the better teamcolor map and the highlights added some nice overall shape to it at a distance. The old texture caused it to look really flat on some areas. The grime though, does blend away at a distance. No worries, I learned my unit painting from the table top realm. One thing that I carried over was the use of things are are more apparent up close.

I will not be spending time going backwards z, no worries. Most of the work to update the models and textures will be to give them a proper true 3d replacement to those old hole ridden 3do files :). Some units will only require tweaks, the new rx78 is going to get a bit of a touch up and I will likely add more hightlighting to the gelgoog so that it's form is more visible at a distance.

Even so, lets see units that are next for update, the dom is coming up after the next federation vehicle. After the dom, I will be adding a few new structures and units along with texturing some units.. I will not say what else is planned as I love surprises but expect some other things to come.

Gundam is not gonig to get hung up in that rinse and repeat cycle of doom. A lot has been done and there is still much to be done. I have a pretty long list of units that have not even been modeled yet and some that still cannot be done thanks to the lack of a proper melee weapon.

2/3 days until my return, keep up the interesting responses and feel free to disagrea or agrea with the direction I am going, I intend on going this way reguardless but I will try and consider and be certain to address and concerns that may be held. :)

[emmanuel]

Do not quote without contribution. This is a standing violation of policy from this moment forth, unless countered by an equivalent act of moderation. - Neddiedrow

[Scikar]

Whee, I do love when the size of the page doubles and the amount of content doesn't increase.

As far as that transport plane goes, I can see the improvement in the second one but there is a loss of contrast in some of the detail, so the container looks a bit more plain. But the smoothed edges do look much better.

[Felix the Cat]

I'm not sure if "excited" is the right word but I voted that way, I am interested in the progress and happy to see it moving forward but am not emotionally invested in the progress aside from the general positivity I feel for anything that forwards the palatability of the spring project.

Also, yeah, it looks awesome... if I liked Gundam as much as I likes Star Wars I would be excited.

Describes my feelings well.

I don't like anime, but I'm excited that an established and good-looking Spring mod is making even more progress.

[smokingwreckage]

Not personally into Gundam, but HOT DAMN those are some nice models and textures. Quality work. Thumbs up!

[udm]

The new textures certainly look better. I like the use of noise (I assume you used noise?) to create a more metallic effect. Looks good, keep up the good work!

[clericvash]

I like gundam, but this mod doesn't really interest me, and tbh, the plane still looks cack.

[smoth]

Whee, I do love when the size of the page doubles and the amount of content doesn't increase.

?


Click for larger image.
click for video.

The new textures certainly look better. I like the use of noise (I assume you used noise?) to create a more metallic effect. Looks good, keep up the good work!

I am using a few custom patterns that are really good for noise. The random noise filter was never to my liking

I like gundam, but this mod doesn't really interest me, and tbh, the plane still looks cack.

Explain.

[KDR_11k]

Whee, I do love when the size of the page doubles and the amount of content doesn't increase.

?

Emmanuel made a post consisting only of a quote of your first post.

[SinbadEV]

Whee, I do love when the size of the page doubles and the amount of content doesn't increase.

?

Emmanuel made a post consisting only of a quote of your first post.

Oddly enough I think it might have been meant as a compliment like "OMG HAVE YOU REALLY LOOKED AT HOW INCREDIBLY AWESOME THIS IS!!!"

[SwiftSpear]

Jesus smoth, this is an incredibly pretty mod...

[clericvash]

Explain? Well look at the plane, it just doesnt look right, it looks a bit misformed, it looks pretty out of shape to be honest and looks really bland and kinda booring, need "sprucing" up a bit.