RFC: re-squared-dux ...

[Simon B]

I'll admit to having become bored with the Neolites but I was struck by a comment that one of the advantages was that the neolites still looked good on simple or no shaders .... and I got to thinking about simple re-skins again.

Naturally I cannot just reskin any more ... and went back to basics, making simple modifications to the classic models, and keeping very close to the original shapes rather than trying to imagine the most complex form that could possibly have been oversimplified to the forms we are used to. I decided I'd concentrate on textures that would be good no matter what ... and minimize shaders. Grabbed a shot-glass a a bottle of Jamesons, and set to work.

...

Morning comes and I've completed the entire classic ship set - so I'm obviously onto something.
I note however that the obj files that come with trunk are for a different bunch of ships to the dat files. This means that I have some ships to redo ... if there is a demand for this sort of thing. Specifically the adder, asp, and moray are wider than the ones in the game ... probably others too.

However, to test them out I put together some vipers. (There's an OXP waiting for hosting someplace.) Here's a taste:



Since the existing textures are all <shipname>_redux, and this re-does those, then these must be re-re-dux which is re-squared.

I figure I'd supply either a static-glow map or a specular map in the alpha-channel ... allowing for good-looking ships with only one texture.
IMO - the griff effects that work best in terms of in-game experience are the paint and decal stuff, along with fancy glows ... so I could add another texture for that. Let me know what you think.

[Cmd. Cheyd]

If you need hosting space, I'm already mirroring most of the rest of your OXP's... I can this one.

[curtsibling]

Those vipers look splendid!

[DaddyHoggy]

Nice work Simon!

[CheeseRedux]

Speaking as one who never seems to tire of seeing different ship designs, all I can say is yes, yes, and more yes!

[Simon B]

For the Vigilante - if someone wants to script it to do something other than the standard bounty-hunter, please do ... I'll probably get fed up and script special transmissions like "You're the disease, I'm the cure." and so forth.

I figure I'll put the re2dux ships in a a set of oxps rather than one big one and name them so they don't conflict with any of the others. People who want to use them exclusively can suppress the original set. It also allows me to be less strict on implimentation. I can also start putting some of those experiments online too - y'know, the Starfire and Sarsoarer? You should be able to see from above that I have tried to keep the successful elements of the neolite style and added a few ideas stolen from inspired by Griff. As always, critical feedback is encouraged.

BTW: how well do the lights work on Griff's vipers?

Another taster - links to be posted soon.



This approach comes from discussions with Griff around how to do a fer de lance ... it is a very difficult ship to sort out as it is neither one thing nor another. The boxy ships seem to work well with some sort of ribbing but each time I have tried something like this it ends up looking like a stocking-and-suspenders fetish

Of course - I could just emphasize this effect with a bondage-themed fdl - all black-rubberish straps and fishnet?

Griffs attempt has ended up with a pointy-er ship, which looks more like a slimmed-down Python ... the usual result is either a total revamp (a-la neolite fdl) or just a bald paint job (a-la fdl-ng).

NOte: I'm postig thumbs these days after I had to suffer through a dailup connection. Is there a way of getting images side-by-side (in a row) on this board?

[Star Gazer]

Is that a real walnut finish? - most suitable for such an up-market craft!!

[Simon B]

Its an odd effect isn't it? It started out as a rusty texture ... but after color-to-alpha (white) and grain-merge it goes distinctly walnutty.
But it does not quite make it ... I suspect the high back is what actually gives the trouble - here's another go, more restrained, only taking a small liberty with the model ....



The brown is supposed to be another kind of metal ... as in the Boa:



... this one uses the original boa as a base model, but I think it is a tad on the fat side compared with what actually appears in the game these days. Here's all the freighters together:

[Simon B]

Vipers in the game


A selection of fighters...


Miscellanious...



... all these craft have actually been tested out in the game (except for the second fdl above - made that last night) - however, I accidentally overwrote the shipdata.plist making a vipers oxp, so I'll have to recreate it - tedious! Stay tuned ...

Still looking for comments re the shader plans - which do people prefer for the fourth channel: glows or specular?

[Simon B]

Link to red2dux project on box.netExperimenting with box.net ... does this work:

[DaddyHoggy]

Link to red2dux project on box.netExperimenting with box.net ... does this work:

Yes! (downloading now)

[Pluisje]

Still looking for comments re the shader plans - which do people prefer for the fourth channel: glows or specular?

If you only use one map, I prefer glow over specular. Mostly because glow is more visible. Specular is more sophisticated, but if it's either one or the other, glow is the way for me.

[Griff]

Fantastic work Simon, the colour schemes and paintwork designs you come up with for all your ships are really great! I'm voting for glowmap for the unused texture channel too, you could do everything with oolite's materials then, howeverm if you do decide to go with shaders then i suppose you could always use one of the colour channels from the texture as a specular intensity map, it wouldn't be a spec map you could control in any way but it may be enough to break up the highlight and get a slightly gritty metalic feel to the surface

[Simon B]

Hi Griff - looks like glows it is then ... is it worth strobing the side lights on the vipers?

I plan on adding one more texture and using shaders - but initial distribution will be just the one.

[Griff]

is it worth strobing the side lights on the vipers?

The vipers in my normalmapped ships oxp do this using the shader code from Ahrumans 'Freaky Thargoid' oxp (the long tower on the top of the 'con-stores' in the Your Ad Here oxp use the same technique), it's quite a nice effect but not as immediately noticable as doing it with 'flashers' (like the built-in vipers do)