Core Construction Vehicle +1

[smoth]

still too much gradient on the construction lines:

Fuck it this bullshit with the truncated links is annoying...*link removed*

Construction stripes are solid bands of color.

[MR.D]

Says who?

[smoth]

says everyone who uses caution stripes in industrial use.


make them flat, Otherwise they look like very dim flourescent lights.

[Warlord Zsinj]

They are much better, but I still think they should be darker and more cloudy/dirty. Remember they're probably painted on, not an actual element; so they're likely to be frayed and clipped, showing the metal underneath; the black might have steel showing through, and the yellow might have some dirt showing on it.

[MR.D]

The difference is this, I don't want them muddy or dirty, I want them visible at long range so you can identify it as a Construction unit even at a glance.

[Warlord Zsinj]

With the contrast between yellow and black, you can spot it a mile away, dirty or not.

[Saktoth]

The difference is this, I don't want them muddy or dirty, I want them visible at long range so you can identify it as a Construction unit even at a glance.

Yes please. This is the most important thing for a unit in an RTS. To hell with dirt and greebles, visibility is what matters otherwise the model is useless for visually representing the unit.

[rattle]

Looks like good contrast to me.

[MR.D]

Show a zoomed out picture of it, then tell me what stands out.

I'll be willing to bet that at zoomed out distance, you won't even be able to see the checker on those wings, or if they even have yellow on those spots at all.

[SecurE]

I agree that sharp contrasts and different colour can be extremely useful to identify a unit, something that is unfortunately often ignored. Ultimately the most important identifying feature of a unit however, is the shape, at least if we are assuming that you want a "realistic" variation of colours. In other words, if you aren't using extremes when making your textures where unit A is yellow, B is red, C is black, D is white and so on, then shape is what I believe will end up being the most important defining feature at a distance.

You automatically get the shape from TA, obviously, which often is quite good (although not always). I do feel that as a general critique of your texture so far is that you were missing out slightly in colours because of your exclusive use of green camo earlier and the grey metal.

Either way, I do think the plates on the side look quite out of place. Construction stripes don't ever use gradients either, at least as far as I'm aware.

[MR.D]

Well besides a few touch ups, this is pretty much the final texture.

I'll be working with Rattle to get the scripts released together with the final model and texture as a package, instead of doing a dual release.

The Core logo's are in a place that will be easily scrubbed if the logo becomes an issue with any mod, I left it on there for now.

I should have slapped one on the Leveler too, but there wasn't many good places to put it on that unit

Enjoy.

[smoth]

9001 times better! thank you for fixing the con markers!

[ILMTitan]

It reminds me of a ghost-busters trap for some reason. Not saying that is good or bad.

[MR.D]

Lol its funny how the things we grow up with reflect on us subconsciously

I think you're right though , the doors slightly resemble the ghost trap from the movie.

Mine looks better tho

[Saktoth]

Looks like good contrast to me.

Oh wow way to chose totally the wrong map, the lighting on that map makes everything, models, ground, etc really blue. Its pretty but it kills contrast. Either way, i hate to say it but the SWS units have that same im-just-a-grey-blob-at-distance problem that prettymuch every s3o ive seen (ingame) has, despite the indisputably gorgeous texture work (And dont get me wrong, in terms of expertise and artistic value its probably the best in spring).

then shape is what I believe will end up being the most important defining feature at a distance.

This is important, yes. However, you wont be able to see the shape if it blurs into the background or if the texture on the whole is noisy or muddy. Having a lot of contrast in the texture defines the outlines of the shape of the model. It must also be distinct against corpses and similar units (raider and gator has been a problem in CA), as well as units of other teams (where teamcolour comes in, which again has been a problem with mr.D's models in CA).

Anyway, im getting tangential, this model looks really good, cant want to see it in game.

[smoth]

Oh wow way to chose totally the wrong map, the lighting on that map makes everything, models, ground, etc really blue.

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it is a NIGHT map... but if you look, they are only 10% blue-er also, dark screen on a WHITE background looks much darker by comparison. :evil:

[clumsy_culhane]

Really nice work here yet again Mr. D. I really like the not so garish yellow stripes. I disagree with Gota, i think the boxy shapes of TA are kinda cute, and should be preserved

/me looks forward to seeing it in CA.

[Argh]

I really like the final greebles for the interior, that came out really well.

Only quibble with the final polish is that the fake-light areas (cockpit, the "nano tubes" (btw, I think the blue/yellow joke is hilarious, it'd be even funnier if one of them was teamcolor + glow) probably need some airbrush glow on the surrounding surfaces in the appropriate colors, and matching touches on the glowmap (just use a seperate layer, fill with red 220 on the coloralpha version) to feel perfect. But as quibbles go, that's incredibly petty, it's a darn neato constructo-thingy

I really like the rework on the color of the metal plates for the final version, too- adding just a hint of blue was a great move

Oh, and on the "controversy" about what details show up... if you turn on AF to at least 4X and AA to 4X (I force it with nHancer, when running Spring now) you'd be really amazed how much detail shows up, without really destroying performance. On that last tank I did, you can clearly see the rear "engine" areas, the headlights are still clearly seperate, etc.

Stuff like different values next to each other (er, "contrast") plus different hues really makes an area jump out. At typical zoom levels, the "dirt" that everybody seems to think is so important at screenshot zooms... is just shading, and blacklining.

[Warlord Zsinj]

Heh, Saktoth, that's why you should use the icon system we specially designed so that you can easily identify your units from a distance

My opinion on the texture is that the nanolather is very cool, but for a 'construction unit' this unit looks far too clean. If I were doing it, I'd make it a lot dirtier, with more scratches, more darkened areas, etc. I'm sure even constructing with nanobots would be a largely dirty exercise with plenty of dust and and other abrasive happenings. I would also make the striped pattern darker and tattered; but I guess it's an opinion thing.

You can see a shot of that striped pattern from a bit further away here. Same dark map though. I mean, most people would identify items by silhouette/profile and shape at a distance, rather then yellow stripes. The reason why I have included yellow stripes on that unit is mostly for the use of new players who can identify that it is a "support unit", not a combat unit (something I've tried to carry as a motif throughout the SW:IW textures). Further, as I said, we've got a radar dot system in place where modders can provide plenty of control in terms of UI from a distance, allowing players to identify their units at range using radar dot UI. I know when I'm playing competitively I'll generally have my unit view distance turned down very low for ease of control. I only turn it off when I take screenshots.

[rattle]

the SWS units have that same im-just-a-grey-blob-at-distance problem that prettymuch every s3o ive seen (ingame) has

What I've seen with my own three eyes looked pretty decent from playing distance.

Anyway, let's not derail this too much.