RFC: re-squared-dux ...

[Simon B]

Really smashing work Simon! Looks great! Are you going to put some hull lights and stuff on it, and some engine glows?
Re: smoothing on the turrets
These were done ages ago, and i think the workflow has changed since then - the way to do it now is to set the edges on your .obj file to either 'soft' or 'hard' (this is how it is in Wings3d, not sure how it's done in blender) before running it through the obj2dattex.py script (make sure you've got an up to date version of this script)

However, the way i did these turrets originally was to open the obj file in a text editor and look for the lines that appear a bit like this:

Code: Select all

g cube1_default
usemtl default

and type in s 1 between them, eg

Code: Select all

g cube1_default
s 1
usemtl default

save your changes then run it through the obj2dattex.py script, this probably just sets all the object edges to soft, doing it the proper way via wings will let you have both soft & hard edges on your object

Thank you - I'll try it out. FWIW: I am using wings3d too. Blender is massive overkill for constructing these low-poly models.

[JensAyton]

FWIW: I am using wings3d too. Blender is massive overkill for constructing these low-poly ;) models.

I’m kinda hoping someone will adopt a Blender-based workflow, since it allows detail baking (i.e. making a high-detail model and a low-detail model, and capturing the difference between them as effect maps). ZygoUgo experimented with doing asteroids this way, and I really liked the preliminary results.

[Kaks]

Ooh, fancy new Thargoid & Navy warships! Looking good!

[DaddyHoggy]

Oh yep - the navy ships should get the full(ish) treatment. Mind you, someone wanted to do a normal mapping for it?
Anyone beats me to adding the special effects for any one these craft, I'll use them. Just let me know.

But if you like this sort of thing, you'll love the thargoid upgrade that goes with it ... also in pre-release:
http://www.box.net/shared/vt3op4dsvv

Wow! Thargoids meets the Cylons! Most Excellent.

[Thargoid]

Must admit I'm not sold on them - they don't look alien enough for me - ironically possibly not organic enough (given the thargons are robot fighters). Nice ships in themselves, but they don't call out "alien" or "thargoid" to me.

[DaddyHoggy]

FWIW: I am using wings3d too. Blender is massive overkill for constructing these low-poly models.

I’m kinda hoping someone will adopt a Blender-based workflow, since it allows detail baking (i.e. making a high-detail model and a low-detail model, and capturing the difference between them as effect maps). ZygoUgo experimented with doing asteroids this way, and I really liked the preliminary results.

Blender was the first 3D modelling tool on the PC I came across - it's amazing - it's just so ruddy difficult to use - and if you don't use it for a week you forget most of the stuff you learned the week before and have to all but start again.

However, I watch The Elephant's Dream in awe of Blender's capabilities. (And the time and imagination of its creator)

[Simon B]

Must admit I'm not sold on them - they don't look alien enough for me - ironically possibly not organic enough (given the thargons are robot fighters). Nice ships in themselves, but they don't call out "alien" or "thargoid" to me.

As opposed to the usual octagon you mean?

But you are thinking a bit along my lines - I was musing that the default thargoids are sort-of explorer types and the real ships are more elaborate. The trouble is that organic-inspired designs eat up the poly count. Once I get the ultra-smooth effects worked out I can use them as a point of difference with the regular oolite ships... and use curves and ridges etc to suggest organic design.

[Simon B]

http://www.box.net/shared/sqgkvcda8l
As promised: glowing speculation. Note, this is still a testing ship and not really intended for players. Still, it is quite nice going into a firefight knowing you can take a few hits.


... the pre1.zip is no longer available.
I should choose more generic names and take advantage of theBox's "upload new version" thing.

(turrets still not smooth - grrrrr)

[pagroove]

But this ship looking Very tasty sir!

[Simon B]

FWIW: I am using wings3d too. Blender is massive overkill for constructing these low-poly models.

I’m kinda hoping someone will adopt a Blender-based workflow, since it allows detail baking (i.e. making a high-detail model and a low-detail model, and capturing the difference between them as effect maps). ZygoUgo experimented with doing asteroids this way, and I really liked the preliminary results.

render baking? Yes - overkill.

No way.

Not for a long time... no.
Absolutely not!

(Argh - stfit mngfgl sng ... bstd...) OH OK I'll look but don't expect much.

[Thargoid]

As opposed to the usual octagon you mean?

But you are thinking a bit along my lines - I was musing that the default thargoids are sort-of explorer types and the real ships are more elaborate. The trouble is that organic-inspired designs eat up the poly count. Once I get the ultra-smooth effects worked out I can use them as a point of difference with the regular oolite ships... and use curves and ridges etc to suggest organic design.

To some degree yes. The main thing that I find distinctive about the "classic" Thargoid ship (the octagon as you say) is that it doesn't have a definite direction - no streamlining and "forward face" if you understand me. Your ships here lose some of that, and in doing so get "humanised" for want of a better word.

I've suffered from this also with some of the alien craft that I've designed - I cannot say I've ever done one that I was truly happy with. They all seemed to end up with that same flaw too, compounded also by the fact I don't have your skill in ship design and texturing.

I guess I'm just too brought up on alien flying saucers whizzing around in all directions at random

[Simon B]

As opposed to the usual octagon you mean?

To some degree yes. The main thing that I find distinctive about the "classic" Thargoid ship (the octagon as you say) is that it doesn't have a definite direction - no streamlining and "forward face" if you understand me. Your ships here lose some of that, and in doing so get "humanised" for want of a better word.

What are you talking about: there's no "forward" on these either ... they have the same sort of symmetry as the classic thargoids and exactly the same as the thargorn.[/quote]

In the pre1 I have aligned the z-axis from top to bottom of the basic octagon ... while the classic has it aligned corner-to-corner. My idea is to have several versions of the same exact model with z-axis at different alignments so a bunch of them together behave inconsistently.

The bow at alienness is stuff like changing the metal texture and color, and putting the main color-scheme in the lights. You wouldn't think this ship is made by the same people who did the destroyer for eg. I think the glowing strips need to be narrower and more fluid though, that would help, but would probably require shaders to get it to work at a decent framerate. I'll see ... the final model may by quite different and I am pretty agressive about discarding designs so anyone likes this, keep a copy in archives.

I guess I'm just too brought up on alien flying saucers whizzing around in all directions at random

[Simon B]

But this ship looking Very tasty sir!

Dig the groovy way that grungy-metal texture I've been using feels the love when it's used for a specular map too... from this evidence I'll disregard advise earlier in the thread and do the rest of the ships that way.

Workflow as follows:

Glowmap:
I'm saving the glows as a greyscale texture ... I make it out of the glowing parts of the diffuse map: these have their own layers. Layers = good. So I copy the glow layers to an rgba texture and merge them to one layer, copy this layer, run the copy through a blur filter (this is for the fuzzy glow around the lights). Create a new layer at the bottom and paint it totally black. Merge all the layers - desaturate by lightness - color > mode > greyscale. This becomes a glowmap to be colored by emmission_modulate_color.

Specular Map:
Take the diffuse texture - the "normal one" you are used to, and desaturate it by "luminosity". Change color mode to "greyscale" and save it as something handy like myshipname-spec.png

Take the diffuse texture again, color > components > decompose > RGBA to get a new canvas with four layers: one for each color and a completely white one for alpha. Drag the specular texture you just made to this one, merge it down to the alpha layer, and select colors > components > combine to get a new RGBA image which will look like griff's weird ghostly textures. Save it as the diffuse map.

Tell the materials to use the rgba diffuse map as both the diffuse and the specular map, tell it to use the glowmap as emmission_map. That;s all I actually did. If you look in the textures folder of the OXPs you'll find some of the workflow (included because these are test OXPs and I want people to be able to fiddle about.)


So... against advise earlier in this forum, I'll do this for all the other re2dux ships.

If I recall correctly, the behemoth oxp used materials to add nameplates to some ships? I'll go look because that looks like a good way to add decals.

In fact - would it work to add a "dummy" oxp "player-mods.oxp" and all it adds is the player decal (in the textures folder) and maybe a player preferred color for changing ship color? (Maybe the illumination map can be used to change the paint-color via illumination_modulate_color or something definable by another package?)

[Simon B]

Update:

I've been powering through the re2dux sets adding specular and lights - look for the next update soon.
It's quite boring though, so I'm adding to the navy collection when I get too bored. Unimplimented efforts below:

(left) A std Viper cruiser done up in the navy style. (right) It occurred to me that the constrictor is a military ship and all my military craft have a distinctive "look". Since it appears once, and is experimental, I decided to go to town on it. Is it too much? Turns out to be too complicated to skin all in one go... but I'm nearly there.
(click on image for a bigger pic)

[DaddyHoggy]

I'm liking.