Vader model

[sithlord-II]

as per request, i started up this forum for the vader model i am currently working on, as the previous one was... becoming odd

 

right now i am in the process of setting up the skeleton

next shots i post shall be ingame

right now i have to finish capping the model ends for the decaps, etc

and making sure the model deforms correctly

then i'll make the LOD models, not sure whether to create 2 or 3 lower detail versions of vader

once i have something tangible to show, i'll put it up here

well back to work

[CheshireKat]

Thanks Sithlord. It's a bit more civil in here. Hope all is going well. I heard you got part of it ingame or something. Is that right?

 

Anyways, thanks for posting in here. I'm curious to see more progress.

[Madjai]

are you doing any custom animations, like a different taunt, jump, swing or something?

[gonk-raider]

Ahh, a bit more civl..Thats most certinaly true but only in the eye of the beholder

[sithlord-II]

i was able to get vader's helm itself in place of kyle's head

now i am in the process of putting all of vader into the game, first into multiplayer as a new mesh, then into singleplayer if possible as enemy AI, if just for an enemy drone

skeletal setup is about 70% complete now, the rest is just touching up

details, details...

[gonk-raider]

hows the cape situation?

[*Darth Vega*]

we'll be able to play as vader in singleplayer right? it would just require replacing something or whatever?

i wanna play as Vader in singleplayer:D

And i am glad you're doing this sithlord:fett:

 

And yeah I hope you can get a cape to work

[DaJo Kesea]

Sith Lord,

 

I wish I had the time and patience to do what you are doing! Kudos! :-) I, myself, am a perfectionist whenever I can get the ball rolling, and one thing I noticed about JKII overall is it's visual realism!

 

Please let me know where I can go to view the latest screens of your model and the textures you are using. I know you are now in the in-game development phase, but I'd like to take a look at what you have done so I can add my two cents, that is, if my two cents would be worth anything to you!

 

I'm a graphic artist professionally, and I have taken a few 3D classes at the Art Institute in Philadelphia. I'd love to aid in whatever way I can through these message boards to getting your model to a realistic calibur that really shines in the game. (Literally!) Making light reflect off of Vader's polished armor would add so much realism, it would be scary. Also, I know that the cape is a daunting task since material has alwas been hard to build, even in 3D design for movie production (where you can use many more polygons), but if you can manage to achieve the effect of material being taken by the breeze as the model lands and moves, that would be fantastic. You might even get a job at Raven if you figure out a way for Vader to get somewhat tangled in the darn thing during all those spin moves! (I'm not a Raven scout, though, so don't quote me on that.)

 

One more thing: I've never seen Vader move as fast and do as much acrobatics as the Jedi in JKII. It will be interesting to see how realistic you can get Vader to look doing side spin jumps and the medium style special move. Don't be discouraged, though! I applaud you for taking on such a daunting task with such a rough crowd of Star Wars fans. Everyone seems pleased with your efforts so far, so keep it up! And please, lead me to those screens.

[spacermonkey]

DaJo Kesea, thats something interesting I hadnt considered - vaders animation. Because the gla (the humanoid animations that all the models use) was built in xsi, its not likely that many people will be able to edit it. But what sith lord might be able to do is go through the animations - watching them in the glm viewer and then simply change the frame numbers in the models animation script so that, in effect he could have Vader moving but not being as acrobatic as the other characters. Definately something he should consider.

[Ha_Lecter]

Sorry,

but what about a real good Darth Maul model, is it possible too? And I wanna to tell that the Downloadsection on jediknightII.net doesn't work. (7.46 pm on 4/28/2002)

[cabraswel]

I haven't read this whole thread, so forgive me if I'm incoherent. But I noticed someone mentioning Vader not being quite so acrobatic as everyone else. Wouldn't it be a good idea to use the Stormtrooper's animations for robotic/heavily armoured characters such as Vader, Boba Fett, and maybe those scary Red Imperial Guards? They all ought to move in a similar manner and in the heat of battle, some similarity won't matter too much.

[DarthFreak]

Cabraswel, that's a good idea, but i wanna ask sithlord something.. is there any way to deal with the xsi format and changing animations? 'Cause raven released the sdk, there should be a way to create new animations, I think.. just my 2 cents, i'm no modeler or skinner at all

[CheshireKat]

All of the Animations are the same. Stormtrooper does all the acrobats that everyone else does.

 

As far as doing custom animations, you need Softimage from what I've heard, so I doubt you'll be seeing many custom animations.

[sithlord-II]

ok little progress report

i got vader to export to a glm file, textures all show up

for some reason within modview everything is inside out, i can't remember how to fix this, i ran into this problem modeling for max payne, guns and chars would turn inside out for no apparent reason. I don't want to force it to 2-sided as it will create unnecessary overhead.

Custom animations are most likely a bust, i'll be taking a look though through the cfg scripts for the animation setup in order to see about replacing certain anims, etc

i'm still at the very start of getting this guy in, i'll most likely be working on it for the next week straight. As is, i have the cape inthere, intact, right now its simply bound to the skeleton and it deforms with the legs and body. Not a cape exactly but its not a sheet of plywood, either. The neck and torso deform properly now, head is not an issue either - shoulders are my next little task, the elbows and wrist deform properly but... ugh i must have spent 2 hours toying with the skeletal setup, with no luck

right now if i were to post any progress screens of the import, it would be pointless as some stuff lookss.. quite odd

oh well i'm getting there.

For the taunts, i'm figuring out which ones to use, and for his breathing, i'm still working out a solution to that. I want to create it as an ambient noise given off by vader, still might be possbile without having it loop over the lightsaber sound.

rest assured i am working on vader, i'm a bit discouraged by this lack of progress on the shoulders but its coming along

i would like to add shine to his helmet, armor and shinguards too, i'm looking into using shaders for that, as well as for the lights on his chestbox and belt-boxes

[gonk-raider]

Anyway to ask raven to put a few tips your way to accomplishing your goals?

[Madjai]

yea they really need to make getting models into the game more user-friendly.

 

can you put up a front, complete image of him in whatever program you use, i havent seen the complete version yet.

[DaJo Kesea]

Yes, I'd sure like to see a completed version, even if it's just a screen from within 3D Studio Max. The last screens I saw, the face mask still had a few artifacts in the cheeks, and the face itself appeared too large, with not enough neck. Somewhere on here somebody posted a diagram of Vader's mask (black and white outline) that I thought was pretty accurate. Please note that the base of the helmet (helmut?) should come farther down the head model as a whole than the chin.

 

Good job when you initally removed the blues in Vader's face and took away some of the smokiness on the texture. 3D Max may have been generating some of that effect by its forward light. Shines should be really simplisitc. I know that the dome on Vader's helmet is very glossy, which yields small shine marks. The smaller the highlight usually means the higher the specularity. Just a shading tip. A nice sharp specular highlight in the eyes would be nice, too, and you can use the shadowtrooper as a reference for this if you want.

 

Keep up the good work. You'll get it done right, I know it!

[DaJo Kesea]

Sith Lord,

 

Whoops...I led you wrong, man! Just checked a couple pictures of Vader, and the lower part of the helmet does not come down past the chin at all. Sorry. But the tips of the tapered base of the helmet do come down to the base of the chin (tusk area), and then then it slopes backward and down until it's level with the collar

[Zonk]

Have u tried to flip normals in max?

So that u have 'inside out' is in max

[ZXLink]

Ooh ooh! Use the "I find your lack of faith in the force disturbing" line for the taunt! If only you could make that play when force grip was used... *imagines Vader saying that every time he grip/sabered a storm trooper* That would kick ass. *goes back to killing troopers*

[sithlord-II]

i haven't tried flipping them in max, i believe there is a way to fix this without resorting to this method but i haven't found it yet, it has to do with how the file is exported

will let u guys know when i have a fix

[Daynor]

i think the "you don't know the power of the darkside" from ESB said by Vader to Luke would be a great taunt

[*Darth Vega*]

Thing about a taunt like that is it will get very old after hearing it for the umpteenth time.

But then again almost all taunts would. I'm very excited to hear that you're going to try to get his breathing sound to be ambient, I hope you can pull it off.

[gonk-raider]

eh, All too easy hands down

[patriotbryan]

Impressive....most impressive. There is the essintial Vader Taunt