Random WIP 2006-2011
Moderators: MR.D, Moderators
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
- Posts: 3742
- Joined: 24 Aug 2004, 08:59
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
- Posts: 3742
- Joined: 24 Aug 2004, 08:59
The problem with sexy, yet generically TA-ish models like those is that I think lots of mods will want to include them simply because they're so good looking.
One of the biggest criticisms I have of some (not all) of the TA rebalance/unit pack mods is that they tend to be 'value added' in design, and just heap everything together without really considering whether they really need anything, so what you get is a large amount of feature creep that results in messy gameplay, unused units and confusing unitlists.
Excuse the off-topic rant, they're all very pretty, MR.D. I just wish you'd come do some more SWS stuff - your Y-wing was hot :)
One of the biggest criticisms I have of some (not all) of the TA rebalance/unit pack mods is that they tend to be 'value added' in design, and just heap everything together without really considering whether they really need anything, so what you get is a large amount of feature creep that results in messy gameplay, unused units and confusing unitlists.
Excuse the off-topic rant, they're all very pretty, MR.D. I just wish you'd come do some more SWS stuff - your Y-wing was hot :)
I suck at the texturing stuff though, for basic texturing and plain metals I do ok, but SWS needs a more classy and worn feeling to the textures, something I'm not good at..
Modeling and doing the unwrap I could do for days on end, I just find texturing a pain in the arse in general and pretty much hate doing it ^^.
Modeling and doing the unwrap I could do for days on end, I just find texturing a pain in the arse in general and pretty much hate doing it ^^.
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
- Posts: 3742
- Joined: 24 Aug 2004, 08:59
Did I mention we need modellers and wrappers too >_>
Anyway, despite what you said, I still think your y-wing texture was excellent, and it'd be a shame to waste your talents. We can also set you onto imperial stuff, which needs more clean-cut textures, but if it's not your cup of tea, then no-one can make you do it.
Anyway, despite what you said, I still think your y-wing texture was excellent, and it'd be a shame to waste your talents. We can also set you onto imperial stuff, which needs more clean-cut textures, but if it's not your cup of tea, then no-one can make you do it.
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
- Posts: 3742
- Joined: 24 Aug 2004, 08:59
Nah, I scaled your Y-wing down from 1024 to 512 with out significant loss in quality, and that was a lot more heavily detailed and greebled then any of those.
You'll lose the very fine detailed feeling for the textures (literal material textural qualities, not the map), but the general feel will still be there, and the feel is all you need really, for an RTS.
Ideally though, if I'm going to be sizing down to 512, I generally work at 512, because you get less caught up in details that will never be seen, and what you are looking at in your mapping software is a far more accurate representation of what players will see, so you can draw and fake things appropriately.
You'll lose the very fine detailed feeling for the textures (literal material textural qualities, not the map), but the general feel will still be there, and the feel is all you need really, for an RTS.
Ideally though, if I'm going to be sizing down to 512, I generally work at 512, because you get less caught up in details that will never be seen, and what you are looking at in your mapping software is a far more accurate representation of what players will see, so you can draw and fake things appropriately.
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Pressure Line
- Posts: 2283
- Joined: 21 May 2007, 02:09
nah i was just bored, and playing netstorm. liked the look of it, and decided to model it.bwansy wrote:Pressure are you trying to make a Netstorm mod?
I think that game has neat ideas but terrible gameplay (mainly because of the difficulty of properly lining up towers and being unable to micro units), but it would be nice in Spring.
if i was to make one, it would be an adaptation of, not a direct port.
Somebody PM'd me, asking if PURE was, er, not moving along, or something, because I haven't been on the Forums for about a week.
No
Artillery Shell. A heavy, stompy robot with an artillery cannon. Originally, this model (by Guessmyname) was one of the candidates submitted for the role of the Soldier (my original concept was very, very vague), and while I felt that Keithus's design was a better fit for the Soldier, this excellent model turned out extremely well in its intended role. This was, bar none, the hardest uv-map I've ever had to assemble- even more work than the Heavy Shell. Lots and lots and lots of small bits, each demanding enough texture-space to look good! The end result, however, justified the work, I think.
This is yet-another of my ancient (over a year ago! heavens) concept pieces, originally slated for a future version of NanoBlobs that never happened, that has made it into PURE. In PURE, this is a scout aircraft, capable of performing reconnaissance over enemy lines and providing targeting data for other Shells, Tanks, and Craft. Very useful unit- its addition to the game design really helps make late-game play work. Visually, this design is more-or-less ripped from the latest ultra-modern military design concepts for stealthy cruise missiles and ramjet-propelled theater-range missiles, although I admit taking considerable artistic liberties
This is, personally, my favorite design of this bunch, drawing on Starfox and anime sources. This is the Interceptor- a defensive aircraft. Originally, I got a model from Guessmyname which felt a bit like a Cylon Raider in the newer TV series. I started off messing about with it, but was having trouble reorganizing it in a way that satisfied all of the design requirements, and somewhere along the line, I made one of the side pieces, that when twinned form the two "engines / gunpods". Liking the radical feel of that design, I kind've proceeded hodge-podge, and this was the result
This is the new LaserCannon, replacing the previous one. The original design was Guessmyname's, but I pretty much gutted his central section and turret assembly, whilst keeping the lower parts and the gun / greebles, in favor of a taller design concept, with a shape that is more in keeping with the overall design flavor (i.e., harsher lines, more square surfaces, more deliberate angularity). This skin looks OK, if not super-awesome, but it is really transformed by reflectivity- I was rather happily surprised by how nice it looks in-game.
Ah, yes, the Bomber. Reskinning it was a fast way to remove its overall ugliness from the game, and it looks a LOT better in-game as a result. I also fixed all of the problems with the mesh, reducing its polycount to well under 500 tris by collapsing lots of wasted vertices... trust me, you didn't wanna see the old wires, it was embarrassingly poly-heavy...
Now, this has probably the most interesting story behind it.
First off, you folks almost didn't get to see it- ever. I built the mesh, but Rhino's mesher did an incredibly poor job of producing an optimized mesh, so I had to collapse large amounts of it by hand. After optimizing, I took it from nearly 1000 tris to just over 300... 304, IIRC. Most of the suck was in the turret, which has a lot of very weird angles, etc.
Then, when I tried taking the now-optimal mesh into Wings, to unfold, it wouldn't take it correctly, and kept borking, because I'd unlinked most of the mesh edges, and Wings doesn't like meshes that are welded, but have areas that do not share vertices. So, I was forced to use UVMapper Pro.
Finally, I got it mapped out, using planar maps, except for the body and treads, which thankfully Wings could unfold, and then spent almost three hours painting it, I got a phone call from a family member, and in the midst of the call, trying to vaguely jack with final export of the files, etc., I over-wrote the last version with the "Colormap" (my term for Texture2), literally wiping out all those hours of work, irretrievably! After some commiseration with my much-confused relative, I then found that, by some lucky chance, the last screen-capture from UVMapper Pro was still in the Clipboard... allowing me to see the texture on the model, as well as a view of the completed skin, but with lines over it, and compression artefacts. However, with this as a guide (if I'd had to remember it, it would have been impossible- I have a poor visual memory, and as you can probably see, some of this required very distinctive combinations of textures and technical techniques), I rapidly rebuilt it... and about 1 hour later, it was done... again!
At any rate, I am usually quite anal about saving and such, but the distraction was apparently more than I could handle- lesson learned, thankfully without losing the design entirely, which would have been a pity
No
Artillery Shell. A heavy, stompy robot with an artillery cannon. Originally, this model (by Guessmyname) was one of the candidates submitted for the role of the Soldier (my original concept was very, very vague), and while I felt that Keithus's design was a better fit for the Soldier, this excellent model turned out extremely well in its intended role. This was, bar none, the hardest uv-map I've ever had to assemble- even more work than the Heavy Shell. Lots and lots and lots of small bits, each demanding enough texture-space to look good! The end result, however, justified the work, I think.
This is yet-another of my ancient (over a year ago! heavens) concept pieces, originally slated for a future version of NanoBlobs that never happened, that has made it into PURE. In PURE, this is a scout aircraft, capable of performing reconnaissance over enemy lines and providing targeting data for other Shells, Tanks, and Craft. Very useful unit- its addition to the game design really helps make late-game play work. Visually, this design is more-or-less ripped from the latest ultra-modern military design concepts for stealthy cruise missiles and ramjet-propelled theater-range missiles, although I admit taking considerable artistic liberties
This is, personally, my favorite design of this bunch, drawing on Starfox and anime sources. This is the Interceptor- a defensive aircraft. Originally, I got a model from Guessmyname which felt a bit like a Cylon Raider in the newer TV series. I started off messing about with it, but was having trouble reorganizing it in a way that satisfied all of the design requirements, and somewhere along the line, I made one of the side pieces, that when twinned form the two "engines / gunpods". Liking the radical feel of that design, I kind've proceeded hodge-podge, and this was the result
This is the new LaserCannon, replacing the previous one. The original design was Guessmyname's, but I pretty much gutted his central section and turret assembly, whilst keeping the lower parts and the gun / greebles, in favor of a taller design concept, with a shape that is more in keeping with the overall design flavor (i.e., harsher lines, more square surfaces, more deliberate angularity). This skin looks OK, if not super-awesome, but it is really transformed by reflectivity- I was rather happily surprised by how nice it looks in-game.
Ah, yes, the Bomber. Reskinning it was a fast way to remove its overall ugliness from the game, and it looks a LOT better in-game as a result. I also fixed all of the problems with the mesh, reducing its polycount to well under 500 tris by collapsing lots of wasted vertices... trust me, you didn't wanna see the old wires, it was embarrassingly poly-heavy...
Now, this has probably the most interesting story behind it.
First off, you folks almost didn't get to see it- ever. I built the mesh, but Rhino's mesher did an incredibly poor job of producing an optimized mesh, so I had to collapse large amounts of it by hand. After optimizing, I took it from nearly 1000 tris to just over 300... 304, IIRC. Most of the suck was in the turret, which has a lot of very weird angles, etc.
Then, when I tried taking the now-optimal mesh into Wings, to unfold, it wouldn't take it correctly, and kept borking, because I'd unlinked most of the mesh edges, and Wings doesn't like meshes that are welded, but have areas that do not share vertices. So, I was forced to use UVMapper Pro.
Finally, I got it mapped out, using planar maps, except for the body and treads, which thankfully Wings could unfold, and then spent almost three hours painting it, I got a phone call from a family member, and in the midst of the call, trying to vaguely jack with final export of the files, etc., I over-wrote the last version with the "Colormap" (my term for Texture2), literally wiping out all those hours of work, irretrievably! After some commiseration with my much-confused relative, I then found that, by some lucky chance, the last screen-capture from UVMapper Pro was still in the Clipboard... allowing me to see the texture on the model, as well as a view of the completed skin, but with lines over it, and compression artefacts. However, with this as a guide (if I'd had to remember it, it would have been impossible- I have a poor visual memory, and as you can probably see, some of this required very distinctive combinations of textures and technical techniques), I rapidly rebuilt it... and about 1 hour later, it was done... again!
At any rate, I am usually quite anal about saving and such, but the distraction was apparently more than I could handle- lesson learned, thankfully without losing the design entirely, which would have been a pity
Last edited by Argh on 07 Oct 2007, 23:27, edited 1 time in total.
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SwiftSpear
- Classic Community Lead
- Posts: 7287
- Joined: 12 Aug 2005, 09:29
