Halo 3 Marine and Bravo-Kilos

[morthon 152]

Hello, forum dwellers,

 

I have been super busy with school since forever (barely got to enjoy summer vacation at all), but that doesn't mean I have forgotten about the Brutes. It may be later rather than sooner, but this may be a thing soon! Very early WIP of brute spiker that I'm doing for a school assignment (yay loopholes)

 

 

Will probably be able to sneak the brutes themselves in as a school assignment too, who knows!

 

Cheers!

[morthon 152]

Update: Zbrush pass. I'm not gonna go too crazy with this, so I'm almost ready to call the high-poly done and start converting it for game-use. Some of the details will be added in with the textures.

 

[LykosMactire 298]

Update: Zbrush pass. I'm not gonna go too crazy with this, so I'm almost ready to call the high-poly done and start converting it for game-use. Some of the details will be added in with the textures.

 

"We must hurry, the brutes have our scent"

"Well they must love the smell of green"

[morthon 152]

"Well, they must looove the smell of BVLGARI."

[LykosMactire 298]

"Well, they must looove the smell of BVLGARI."

"Yeah! thats product placement right there!"

so are we gonna be expecting the brute assets to be in first contact aswell?

 

[morthon 152]

That is the plan, yeah. I prefer these kinds of mods to be unified so donation is still my preference. But to be honest, at this point I'm not entirely sure. Then again, it might also take another year before I manage to finish the brutes, so yeah who knows.

[morthon 152]

Update: Early substance painter pass. The blood was for trying out how it would look. And to remind you what will happen to you troopers out there when I'm done >: D

 

[LykosMactire 298]

Update: Early substance painter pass. The blood was for trying out how it would look. And to remind you what will happen to you troopers out there when I'm done >: D

 

BRUTE-al.

[morthon 152]

Update: It turns out Spikers are friggin huuge (81.7m) xD Kind of makes sense though, considering the Brutes are like 2.6-2.8m tall....

 

 

I kind of ran aground when trying to figure out how to do the custom hand animations for the weapon. If anyone could help with that, that would be great! I also think the textures could use a little more work, something feels off. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[LykosMactire 298]

I know covies cant hold their weapons one handed forever, its probably for close quarters, i mean we have seen elites two hand plasma rifles so brutes probably hold spikers two-handed now and then

[morthon 152]

I know covies cant hold their weapons one handed forever, its probably for close quarters, i mean we have seen elites two hand plasma rifles so brutes probably hold spikers two-handed now and then

They do so in Halo Reach.

http://halo.bungie.net/images/games/Reach/images/cutouts/e32010ff/full/Reach_E310_BruteMinor.jpg

I'm not sure which look I wanna go for in the end but I think the one-handed grip for the brutes would fit their arrogant and savage nature better.

I also think its possible for humans (and elites) to hold them two-handed while the brutes hold them one-handed, but I can't be sure until i start to experiment.

[LykosMactire 298]

They do so in Halo Reach.

http://halo.bungie.net/images/games/Reach/images/cutouts/e32010ff/full/Reach_E310_BruteMinor.jpg

I'm not sure which look I wanna go for in the end but I think the one-handed grip for the brutes would fit their arrogant and savage nature better.

I also think its possible for humans (and elites) to hold them two-handed while the brutes hold them one-handed, but I can't be sure until i start to experiment.

 

i dont think it would as the memory points for the hands

[morthon 152]

Basic proxy model to begin basic tests. I'm super excited! Here's a scale comparison. Brutes will be 2.60m tall compared to the vanilla soldier's 1.80m.

 

[haleks 8212]

This is going to be so awesome!

I really like the brutes, they're like the Orks from W40k : don't think too hard on strategy, just rush and stomp the enemy. They'll make amazing guys to fight against...

[hcpookie 3770]

Interesting thread.  So how are you going to deal with the animation "scale" which is set to the default "man" skeletons?  e.g. we looked into the "scale" issue w/ the Vietnam soldier in Unsung.  Typical Vietnam soldier is much shorter than the default "man" skeleton so really they should look almost like teenagers.  You can't alter the skeleton since all the animations will assume a certain "scale" of the animation, making it strange for any sort of vehicle entry or otherwise.  So what will the brutes' larger skeleton even be able to do without severe stretching?

[Macser 776]

There's only two ways to deal with it. Scale default animations if you intend to use them. RTMs override scale. Or, create a completely new set suited to the mesh.

[HorribleGoat 1473]

There's only two ways to deal with it. Scale default animations if you intend to use them. RTMs override scale. Or, create a completely new set suited to the mesh.

Scaling the RTMs might actually be possible in Object builder, but it might just be far more efficient to go for new animations straight up since the human skeleton does not that simply scale up into the Brutes form.

--Edit-->

I actually tried this with my ArmaWoman project and scaling the RTM frames is possible in OB, but the character then has to be of same proportions as a scaled up man and the mesh has to be made over that scaled skeleton for it to deform correctly.  

[LykosMactire 298]

Scaling the RTMs might actually be possible in Object builder, but it might just be far more efficient to go for new animations straight up since the human skeleton does not that simply scale up into the Brutes form.

 

Scaling the RTMs might actually be possible in Object builder, but it might just be far more efficient to go for new animations straight up since the human skeleton does not that simply scale up into the Brutes form.

it would, its just they would have far more civilized animations

[Macser 776]

That's the downside of course. They might look a bit strange in motion using the defaults. With current tools it'd still be a laborious task though. Even if you could set up a macro to semi-automate the process. But I guess you wouldn't need to do the whole set. Just the most commonly used ones would at least give you a functional unit.

 

Creating a custom set would definitely give you the most freedom. And again you could get a functional unit with a reasonable number of commonly used actions.

[haleks 8212]

That's the downside of course. They might look a bit strange in motion using the defaults. With current tools it'd still be a laborious task though. Even if you could set up a macro to semi-automate the process. But I guess you wouldn't need to do the whole set. Just the most commonly used ones would at least give you a functional unit.

 

Creating a custom set would definitely give you the most freedom. And again you could get a functional unit with a reasonable number of commonly used actions.

 

My thoughts too, we only want them to able to walk, crouch, run and swim and climb ladders. Obviously this guys won't fit in any current vehicle, so we don't need to bother with that.

[lumnuon 295]

My thoughts too, we only want them to able to walk, crouch, run and swim and climb ladders. Obviously this guys won't fit in any current vehicle, so we don't need to bother with that.

 

 I think they would have a hard time climbing the standard sized ladder aswell :lol: 

[morthon 152]

I think they would have a hard time doing literally anything! To be honest, it is a matter of concern to me. Would it be possible to restrict actions based on being of a different 'Man' class? Would it be possible to restrict weapon usage?? Too many questions!

 

I am planning to make a completely new skeleton with all new animations. This seems to be the best option and would avoid many potential problems. Luckily I am a third-year student 3D animator at the dutch College of Arts in Utrecht, so I have a lot of experience with animating. This is the sole reason why I dare to attempt this :P

 

I am having some problems with figuring out how this system works. Right now I am focused on setting the skeleton up correctly. I have a model.cfg that is correctly set up (at least I think) and a weighted mesh in O2. Looking at the example files I noticed two things that were interesting to me. If anyone knows more, please help! Otherwise, I'll just keep experimenting.

 

1. Definitions of what looks to be the skeleton in the memory LOD.

How do you set this up? It's not just points. I understand that its a combination of single points and dual-points representing axes. Do I have to place all of them manually and hope I perfectly align the points to the bones or is there some way to convert the existing skeleton? And where do I place a single point and where a dual-point? Does it even matter?

 

2. Something called a pivots model referenced in the example model.cfg.

Again, where does this come from? How do I set it up? How essential is it exactly? I understand its at least used for the ragdolling effect, but the example model.cfg notes that its used for hierarchical animation. Any clarification would be great.

 

I'll probably keep bombarding this thread with more questions as time goes on xD

[haleks 8212]

I think they would have a hard time doing literally anything! To be honest, it is a matter of concern to me. Would it be possible to restrict actions based on being of a different 'Man' class? Would it be possible to restrict weapon usage?? Too many questions!

 

 

I don't think you can restrict stock actions, but you could work around that with your own eventhandlers : with those it's easy to prevent brutes from picking up human weapons, using wrong animations or entering vehicles.

[LykosMactire 298]

I don't think you can restrict stock actions, but you could work around that with your own eventhandlers : with those it's easy to prevent brutes from picking up human weapons, using wrong animations or entering vehicles.

brutes are known for using human weapons, aswell as taking them as trophies (Seen in halo 2 when your playing as the arbiter and find the room full of human gear)

[Macser 776]

I'm not going to waffle on about the config side of things, as I lack solid knowledge in regards to the newer titles. But it looks like the system is the same. Actions calling states from within the relevant CFGMoves sections. They could be redirected to your custom animations, instead of redirecting using the state definitions themselves. Badbenson and McRuppert may have a more elegant solution for their raptors though.

 

For the skeleton I think you're best to simply use the default set up for any memory points. Handily you're dealing with an upright biped. Obviously arranged to suit the mesh.

 

I don't believe they're strictly linked to keyframed animations. Not that they aren't used. As far as I'm aware the points in the elbows, knees wrists and so on serve as pivots for procedural animations. So the engine knows how to offset the "skeleton" bones in what ever rtm is running at the time. As in when the character leans or looks up and down.The other points serve like nodes in other engines. Where they represent locations that spawn entities like particles or objects like grenades. Or leave footprints on the ground. Or tell the AI where to aim at the unit.

 

Some official documentation would really be helpful there. Guess-work is no substitute for solid info. :)

 

A single image with short descriptions on what each point does, exactly, would be enough.