New to modding...I'm in need of a roadmap for completing an add-on.

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

I've just began learning how to 3D model. I do mainly aircraft, but I'm open to other units types also.

I use Blender and have two models completed, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

What steps do I need to complete in order to create moving control surfaces(do I set the armatures and moveable surfaces in Blender or in O2)?

How do I get the flight models in?

How do I set cockpits and player loading (cargo bays and sitting areas) areas for the units. Are they seperate models, if so, how do I tie them together, etc, etc.

I have absolutly no experience with this stuff, all I've just gotten comfortable building static 3D models in Blender...that's it. How do I get my model into Arma2 as a working unit?

Forgive me for being so high maintenance, it's just that I work 55hrs or more a week. I only get time to work on this stuff on weekends...I don't have much time to search all over and sift through tons of of info...I need well concentrated and explicit direction. If not, a week goes by between researching and everything gets lost and confused. I end up wasting half my weekend just trying to catch back up with what I thought I figured out the weekend before (it's bad enough I'm posting this a work)...my last 3D modeling problem (UV Textures) took 6 wks to resolve, I almost gave up, just to find that the solution was to select one feature over another...4 stinking button clicks.

I'd love to get a mentor(s) for this, but for now, I just need some good instrcutions to get me started in the right direction.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Cocoa-Jin

[STALKERGB 6]

Well the first thing you will need are the modding tools by BIS: Linky

And its probably worthhaving a watch of all these videos for a basic overview of Oxygen 2, Arma's model editor: Linky

As for actually being able to offer guided direction, I wouldn't be the best candidate with what you are after. Although there are certainly some on here who know much more about aircraft models than myself who will probably chip in to this thread at some point.

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

Well the first thing you will need are the modding tools by BIS: Linky

And its probably worthhaving a watch of all these videos for a basic overview of Oxygen 2, Arma's model editor: Linky

As for actually being able to offer guided direction, I wouldn't be the best candidate with what you are after. Although there are certainly some on here who know much more about aircraft models than myself who will probably chip in to this thread at some point.

Thanks for the linkage

[PuFu 4600]

there is a lot of work to do and a lot to learn to get a model from -insert 3d modelling software- inside the game.

You might wanna have a look over Blender Plug-in, it will make your life easier to move files to O2.

After that, you should have a look over A1 sample models , specifically over one of the fixed winged or rotary models similar to what you want to make yourself.

There is NO step by step tut covering all the aspects of creating an addon for A2, since that would be a pretty large job to do i guess.

Those OFP tutorials, even if they were done for an older version of O2 and game engine, might also help you out

Edited May 10, 2011 by PuFu

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

there is a lot of work to do and a lot to learn to get a model from -insert 3d modelling software- inside the game.

You might wanna have a look over Blender Plug-in, it will make your life easier to move files to O2.

After that, you should have a look over A1 sample models , specifically over one of the fixed winged or rotary models similar to what you want to make yourself.

There is NO step by step tut covering all the aspects of creating an addon for A2, since that would be a pretty large job to do i guess.

Those OFP tutorials, even if they were done for an older version of O2 and game engine, might also help you out

Thanks, i'll take a look at them.

[max power 21]

There's a number of possible steps to go through, but it sort of goes something like this.

Initial model
 |
 UV------------\
 |             |
LODs    Textures, Materials
 |
Named Selections
 |
Configs

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

There's a number of possible steps to go through, but it sort of goes something like this.

Initial model
 |
 UV------------\
 |             |
LODs    Textures, Materials
 |
Named Selections
 |
Configs

LODs I get, I assume it just creating lower poly versions of the same model (I think Blender has a way to do that procedurally).

But I'm not sure what Named Selections and Configs entails.

Is Configs refering to states...like normal and wrecks...or gear down and gear up, flaps out, doors open, etc, etc? Then of course, how are configuration changes animated? No one wants to see gear instantly appear out, or disappear for gear up.

Thanks for the input...I really appreciate the out reach of aid for what I assume is a constantly re-occurring question.

[jagheterjan 10]

Named selections are the way of telling the game engine which parts of your mesh are intended to do something special. This way you don't have to worry about which parts are to be named selections when doing the config work, but how they are acting ingame. This link holds info on how things need to be named and it also gives you an idea what each selection does ingame: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Translations. Having a close look at the sample models BIS provided should also get you a better idea how to work with named selections.

For the LODs, you might find that lowering the amount of textures/selections with each LOD also gains you a lot performancewise, more than just dropping the polycount.

Edited May 12, 2011 by jagheterjan

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

Named selections are the way of telling the game engine which parts of your mesh are intended to do something special. This way you don't have to worry about which parts are to be named selections when doing the config work, but how they are acting ingame. This link holds info on how things need to be named and it also gives you an idea what each selection does ingame: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Translations. Having a close look at the sample models BIS provided should also get you a better idea how to work with named selections.

For the LODs, you might find that lowering the amount of textures/selections with each LOD also gains you a lot performancewise, more than just dropping the polycount.

Good info here, I learned a lot from them...i have a strong idea how iy all works now. My only concern is how applicable the config scripting language for OFP is for ARMA2...can I apply the naming and config values from OFP to ARMA2?

[PuFu 4600]

fail cakes is not completely right / complete on with his post there:

1. the selection can be named as you feel like, in whatever language you want (minus a few exceptions). In fact in A1 and especially A2, those selections are in fact in english. But bear in mind that the configs need to take into account that. The translation link cake posted is great for translating and understanding existing addons and samples

2. LODs - the rule of thumb is each lower LOD vert number should be 50% of its previous. Cakes is true about the section count though. from biki - click spoiler

SECTION

Is created every time when there's need for the graphics card (GPU) to change parameters. This happens when information about each object, texture and material is read from the CPU or when bones limit is exceeded. The overhead for transmitting instructions between CPU and GPU then slows down the performance of scene-drawing, which could normally draw hundreds of polygons or textures.

The time it takes to render a scene depend largely on these factors:

a. number of vertices in the scene

b. textures - resolution and the number of times it appears in the scene are both factors. If the texture has transparency, even more calculations need to be performed.

c. number of sections in the scene

3. configs layout and inheritance from OFP to A1 to A2 is basically the same. Bear in mind we are talking here about model.cfg rather than config.cpp here. Those are not the same.

Hope it helps

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

fail cakes is not completely right / complete on with his post there:

1. the selection can be named as you feel like, in whatever language you want (minus a few exceptions). In fact in A1 and especially A2, those selections are in fact in english. But bear in mind that the configs need to take into account that. The translation link cake posted is great for translating and understanding existing addons and samples

2. LODs - the rule of thumb is each lower LOD vert number should be 50% of its previous. Cakes is true about the section count though. from biki - click spoiler

SECTION

Is created every time when there's need for the graphics card (GPU) to change parameters. This happens when information about each object, texture and material is read from the CPU or when bones limit is exceeded. The overhead for transmitting instructions between CPU and GPU then slows down the performance of scene-drawing, which could normally draw hundreds of polygons or textures.

The time it takes to render a scene depend largely on these factors:

a. number of vertices in the scene

b. textures - resolution and the number of times it appears in the scene are both factors. If the texture has transparency, even more calculations need to be performed.

c. number of sections in the scene

3. configs layout and inheritance from OFP to A1 to A2 is basically the same. Bear in mind we are talking here about model.cfg rather than config.cpp here. Those are not the same.

Hope it helps

This is good to know. Perhaps I'll start dabbling in the next week or so.

I'm going to need to try with some simple models to see how it works, but I look forward to it.

In fact, I'd like to see if I can add a new ordnance to the game. I've been wanting to add Napalm...I modeled a nice napalm ploom in Blender, maybe I can see how to model a simple bomb and then see if i can export the animated explosion into ARMA2.

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

Is it possible to make a vehicle with legs that are animated for walking...four to be exact (though six would be cool too)?

If not, could I make a four legged vehicle and then config it as a "person"?

[PuFu 4600]

yes, it should be possible, but unless you do the animation someplace else than O2, will not look the way you envision it now

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

yes, it should be possible, but unless you do the animation someplace else than O2, will not look the way you envision it now

Blender can do animations...but I'm not sure how to port over animations...I assume I have to bake the animation and port it over, but I'm not sure how O2 handles that.

If you are not careful PuFu, you'll end up having me attached to your hip. :bounce3:

[PuFu 4600]

Blender can do animations...but I'm not sure how to port over animations...I assume I have to bake the animation and port it over, but I'm not sure how O2 handles that.

You won't be able to do that mate, don't even bother. You'll need to do all the animations in O2 (at least the blender plug in available will not allow you to do that.

Btw, animations for vehicles is a bit different than for characters, but not by all that much.

If you are not careful PuFu, you'll end up having me attached to your hip. :bounce3:

Hope not, i need that hip of mine

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

You won't be able to do that mate, don't even bother. You'll need to do all the animations in O2 (at least the blender plug in available will not allow you to do that.

Btw, animations for vehicles is a bit different than for characters, but not by all that much.

Hope not, i need that hip of mine

Any ideas where I can go to get info how to pull it off?

[gutspuken 10]

Hello gents! Just got ARMA 2 for myself. I'm like Cocoa, would like to contribute. I'm going to add a highway hauler to game, and I'm going to do it well. I got the front end mostly finished in blender and figured I'd try a piece in budozer .

Model looks ok to me in Blender but O2 hates its guts! I'm done the entire hood that I want to animate swing down. I think I just need to fiddle with the exporter, I hope! According to Buldozer, the fender is all stretched out!

Anyway, that's MY problem. My real question is, when you get down to it, can you animate more than one object (in one animation) once they're in O2? or should I combine them in B-to-the-lender, and export the whole model as one p3d?

Edit:

Cocoa it sounds like you should turn the goat from the game into a vehicle!

[max power 21]

LODs I get, I assume it just creating lower poly versions of the same model (I think Blender has a way to do that procedurally).

But I'm not sure what Named Selections and Configs entails.

Is Configs refering to states...like normal and wrecks...or gear down and gear up, flaps out, doors open, etc, etc? Then of course, how are configuration changes animated? No one wants to see gear instantly appear out, or disappear for gear up.

Thanks for the input...I really appreciate the out reach of aid for what I assume is a constantly re-occurring question.

LODs means models of different resolutions but also special LODs like shadow volumes, collision geometry, viewblock geometry (so the AI can't see you through the model, fire geometry (what bullets can pass through, material properties, etc), hit points (which defines the areas of damage, like the engine), special resolution LODs for the pilot, gunner, and cargo areas, etc.

Configs refers to config.cpp and model.cfg.

Config.cpp configures what the unit you are creating is. Is it a weapon or a vehicle, what simulation type does it use, does it have crew, that sort of thing.

Model.cfg is the interface between the model and the program. It tells the engine about the model and defines what the 'named selections' actually are, and defines animations. So like, an animation that moves the flaps in a certain way might be triggered by the 'flaps down' event in game.

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

LODs means models of different resolutions but also special LODs like shadow volumes, collision geometry, viewblock geometry (so the AI can't see you through the model, fire geometry (what bullets can pass through, material properties, etc), hit points (which defines the areas of damage, like the engine), special resolution LODs for the pilot, gunner, and cargo areas, etc.

Configs refers to config.cpp and model.cfg.

Config.cpp configures what the unit you are creating is. Is it a weapon or a vehicle, what simulation type does it use, does it have crew, that sort of thing.

Model.cfg is the interface between the model and the program. It tells the engine about the model and defines what the 'named selections' actually are, and defines animations. So like, an animation that moves the flaps in a certain way might be triggered by the 'flaps down' event in game.

Thanks for the clarification. I saw that we could do pre-defined animations like landing gear extensions, but are you also saying that the Model.cfg can also be used to apply custom animations?

I'd really like to see what the process is for building and including custom animations for units.

[gutspuken 10]

Yes; super! I can't wait to LOD! :D

[PuFu 4600]

Thanks for the clarification. I saw that we could do pre-defined animations like landing gear extensions, but are you also saying that the Model.cfg can also be used to apply custom animations?

Yes, exactly. All custom anims for individual named selections can be written in model.cfg.

custom animations for units, that is a different story (.rtms)

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

I'd really like to get info on custom animations for units if it is possible.

Edit:

I just learndd what .rtm is. Now I need to learn how to rig the models for animations. I saw someghing about continuous, and I think, discreet animations.

I hope I can do a frame by frame animation for walking animations.

Edited May 22, 2011 by Cocoa-Jin

[max power 21]

You can do keyframe animations with linear interpolation with RTM animations (I'm pretty sure). The test will be creating animations with the tools provided.

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

You can do keyframe animations with linear interpolation with RTM animations (I'm pretty sure). The test will be creating animations with the tools provided.

I figure all I need is an animation for walking, turning while walking, and turning in place....how hard can that be?! ;)

That is a joke of course, i'm willing to take any advice anyone may have.

Edited May 25, 2011 by Cocoa-Jin

[Cocoa-Jin 10]

Regarding LODs, when doing view LODs for passengers and pilots/drivers, does the LOD have to be derived from the original mesh/LOD 0.00? Or can I build that (and any other LOD) from scratch?

Also, can I use LODs that dont match the LOD 0.00 in order to "fake" some mechanics? For example, place invisible wheels or tank tracks on the LOD for ground interactions (make it drive), but use animated legs on the LOD 0.00 and the fire LOD so the legs look to move the unit and the legs would take damage.