jp-30 Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 Thanks guys. > Although we don't use to count the number of hours we're working for the MOD, its a constant improvement process I'm not counting either. That line was a joke. > I think we can add some more polys without fear, Well, I'm not a modeller (yet... I've done models for JK, but not for JO). The .md3's were delivered to me with the skinmaps by Darth Linux. I don't even know who made them, to be honest. But if the team decides any of the map-object models need higher poly versions, it's no problem for me to revise the textures to suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey S Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 I'm still pretty certain the exploding barrel is meant to be round. Having looked at the enlarged sprite you can clearly see that the bottom and top are rounded. Of course, with regards to framerate it might not be such a good idea to up the polycount, but I'm guessing the JO engine can handle a few more polygons as long as there aren't too many barrels in one area. Originally posted by jp-30: The model itself is out of my control, but remember this thing is going to be tiny in-game and a hexagon is a good enough approximation of a cylinder in this case. It's not quite as tiny as you think it is. If you compare it to a stormtrooper, it's about 1/2 to 2/3 the size, so pretty big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emon Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 My only complaint is that the textures lack some detail. By the way, why are you guys using MD3s when Q3Map2 and GtkRadiant support model formats such as OBJ, 3DS, or even straigh Milkshape3D (MS3D) files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fracman Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 simply because MD3 and GLM are the native formats of Q3A/JO and the other formats can be converted to MD3. For the items the file format doesnt really matter, therfore we keep MD3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emon Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 I meant for the props. MD3s are a pain in the ass to work with, especially with MilkShape. It's much easier if you can just click Save instead of bothering to make the QC and all that crap to get it into Radiant. Trust me, for map models, you don't want MD3. It sucks. For items, though, obviously MD3 is pretty much the only choice, or maybe it's GLM, I can't remember. JO doesn't render anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fracman Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 thanks for the info... that will help us to keep all the models in the level instead of seeing them dissapear in the net ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 22, 2003 Author Share Posted June 22, 2003 > My only complaint is that the textures lack some detail. Well as this thread is me showcasing my textures, it would be helpful if you perhaps be a little more specific so I can improve the ones you think are lacking. Beerpipes needs work, I know. Lit4 looks wrong. And some textures look odd in Milkshape (due to odd shading on the seams (see the Ashtray for example)- though I've just found if I apply a white ambient color to the model, it looks a lot better. Unfortunately I can't get md3view to be stable on my system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CortoCG Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 No more updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 22, 2003 Author Share Posted June 22, 2003 > Instead of sticking perfectly to the sprite you could make the skins like LEC would if they have the technology we have now. Ahh. I see. Well, I did embellish the cards somewhat, so I'm not adverse to doing that. I just didn't want to overstep the mark. It's hard to know if the reproductions are supposed to be as close to the original as possible, and I guess different people will have different philosophies on that. The way I see it is that where possible I should start by skinning the models to look as close to a 3D representation of the sprite as possible. Once I have the opportunity to view the finished skinned models in-game I'll have a better appreciation of their size, visibility and prominence in their respective levels. And then I (and others involved in the level / MOD) can decide if any of the object skins would benefit from additional enhancements and embellishments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CortoCG Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 Amen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 22, 2003 Author Share Posted June 22, 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazashi Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 That's a very nice job you've been doing with my models, it's good to see that the UV layouts haven't thrown you off After reading through this thread I decided to modify a couple of the models. The exploding barrel is now a bit rounder - the sprite did seem to indicate that there was a defined hexagonal structure, but given the information about its ingame size (having never actually played Dark Forces save for the first 2 levels) I thought it would be a good idea all the same to give it a bit more detail. Hopefully this has been accomplished without ruining the UV so the skin should still apply properly. Jp-30: lit4 might do better using a tga skin so transparency can be added, if you wants to give that a try then he can go right ahead. You also correctly guessed the layout with smalite2, the fluro structures are intended to be indented. I also had a look at increasing the detail of other things mentioned such as the chair, but I haven't had a chance to look at them ingame so I can't tell you whether the extra detail outweighs any performance hit (keeping in mind that not everyone is running a killer rig). LOD's were an option that hadn't been discussed, though if it ends up being possible to use for these models I'll look into it. Emon, you wouldn't like to give a little more info about Q3Map2? Such as all the formats it can use, its conversion accuracy, and whether LOD can still be applied (imported?) to these brush constructs? Bear in mind that I don't use Milkshape3D (can't stand the damn thing) to make my models, I export the MD3's from Lightwave in what turns out to be a much more efficient process. There's nothing wrong with that format, unless you make MD3's too small, or use them in animations, but I'm more concerned with avoiding the entity limit and issues such as item replacement/naming conventions. Thanks I'll try and get the rest of the models finished soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 23, 2003 Author Share Posted June 23, 2003 Woah! The Maker. That's a very nice job you've been doing with my models, it's good to see that the UV layouts haven't thrown you off Nah, they're all fine. The only tricky bits are that my art progam of choice, PSP8, doesn't have a decahedron, so those decahedron maps that need a "ring" or colour change take a lot of trial and error tweaking - but that's no fault of you or the UV maps. Oh, the diagonal ring on the hanglit was a bitch. Ended up being a sine-wave shape that maps as desired. After reading through this thread I decided to modify a couple of the models. The exploding barrel is now a bit rounder - the sprite did seem to indicate that there was a defined hexagonal structure, but given the information about its ingame size (having never actually played Dark Forces save for the first 2 levels) I thought it would be a good idea all the same to give it a bit more detail. Hopefully this has been accomplished without ruining the UV so the skin should still apply properly. Well, I still think the sprite's supposed to be hexagonal, for what it's worth. And it's no trouble for me to redo any skins if remodelled objects demand it. Jp-30: lit4 might do better using a tga skin so transparency can be added, if you wants to give that a try then he can go right ahead. Yeah, I know that. Will try and make the outer cyliner semi-transparent via TGA & alpha channel, though shaders are something I'm leaving up to Darth Linux. The thing looks like crap in Milkshape. I can't stand Milkshape either, but md3view crashes all 3 of my PCs, and I don't know of any other freeware / shareware programs that will act as a model viewer for me. Maybe I should use radiant or Blender? Any recommendations there? You also correctly guessed the layout with smalite2, the fluro structures are intended to be indented Cool! I'll try and get the rest of the models finished soon. No rush. I think I have a Gollum to skin soon. Also, one of the lights - smalit2 I think, you have a big inverted "L" cut out of it. I think you've misread the sprite. I've just made a 2nd skin for smalit1 which I think works much better. I'll post screenies when I get home in a few hours & show you what I mean. There are also 2 small glitches I noticed. 1. There's a small triangle "hole" in beerpipe, you can just see it as a black blob on the brass "faucet" end of the left pipe on the lower left screenshot, and as a grey triangle on the top-down view (upper right screenshot). 2. One of the 4 lugs in the brass lid of lobvalve1 is missing the top side (you can se this in the 6'o'clock position of the top down view in the screenshot. Nothing major, and probably nothing you'd notice in-game. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next batch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spsblue Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Hi. Wow! This is realy impressive work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 OK, so I had my butt kicked by Dave (in a nice way), and have been back skinning the rest of the long-awaited Talay props over the weekend. I've done (from memory - these names could be slightly wrong) cup1, cup2, tablelit0, wine, lit3 and sent them to Dave, and I've nearly finished frogbwl2 and frogbowl0 is taking a bit of time to get right. I'll make some showcase montages of the latest skins as I did earlier in the thread & post them here in the next day or two. It sure is nice to be out of hybernation. If there's still a private forum for the team, can someone please PM me with the details? I can't seem to reach the old one that was combined with df2e (is that mod project still active?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fracman Posted June 1, 2004 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Welcome back, JP, and thanks for your support. PM outgoing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 OK, here are a few of the skins I've just made. More to follow in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZBomber Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Holy Bejebus! Those are GREAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 Thanks, man - though the bulk of the credit for how cool the props look should go to the modeller, Kazashi. I'm not that happy with the frogbowl0 skin in particular, but it should be fine for the demo, and I can revisit it later if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 Another one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlicerDude Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Wow! That's amazing! Good work. One thing, though-for the cups, I see in the original sprites more of a clear cup with a blue or green liquid inside. Not that it really matters or that I'm necessarily even right about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share Posted June 3, 2004 Yeah, it can be a lot of guesswork to reinterpret a 64pixel x 64 pixel sprite. How do you interpret the band of blue or green above the black band, if you see the cups as clear, and holding blue/green liquid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlicerDude Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 I see what you mean. That band of color--perhaps it's the way that the light's shining through the glass and liquid--possible, but quite a stretch. What you did with it is great, and whether or not it exactly mimics the original, it certainly fulfills its purpose. Objects for the mod don't have to adhere exactly to the original designs anyway--how else would you add detail. Amazing. Now I've made two posts discussing a 3-d model of a cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HapSlash Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 The texture on the mines doesn't look like it quite fits in. It has a cell-shaded appearance due to the dark lines that make up it's edges. And while I know this isn't strictly a texture problem, but would it be possible to make the statues look a bit more like the Emperor,...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share Posted June 3, 2004 I figured in-game the thing would be pretty small, and the edging wouldn't make much difference either way. But, yeah, I can pull the dark edges easily enough on the mines. It looked a bit bland without them. I might try stitching instead and see how that looks. Are those statues supposed to be The Emperor? I thought they were just some generic dark jedi, but I can easily try a more Emperor-like face texture on it. (edit: duh, I see the file name "Emscu" would stand for Emperor Sculpture) How tall are they? 6-12 feet? I'd thought they were just some small statuette / idol sized things maybe a foot tall. Jeez I really need to play through the original DF again! Oh, and I'm having a play with the skin for this right now. What the hell is it, and how is it used? I just wanna know if there's scope for doing something a bit fancy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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