FN FAL / Rhodesian R1 - Have LP + textures where to go from here?

[gfelton 84]

Hey all, recently finished a Rhodesian R1 variant of the FAL. I made, from the ground up, the HP, LP, and textures. That said, I really want to get this thing into ArmA 3 so I can practice the workflow to hopefully make some mods in the future. I've got all the models but I just don't really know what to do from here. Here are some pics of the gun:

 

I worked in Max, Substance, Photoshop, then renders were done in Marmoset. I really want to go the extra mile and get this thing into Arma and I'd appreciate any help you guys could give me. If there are any videos or articles I could read on the process and workflow, I'd be greatly appreciative. Thanks for reading :)

 

Oh and sorry for the large images, I thought the forum would resize them automatically :/

[R0adki11 3949]

Moved your thread to the correct section of the forum ;)

[veles-zv 176]

looks nice I would make the hand guard cutouts black fading in instead of that green color just so it looks like there is a shadow. I like the type 1 receiver used, and the grenade sights, but the only thing I would change to make it perfect is to add more verts on the sights because these parts are going to be seen all the time and its the main focus point when in use. 

[gfelton 84]

Moved your thread to the correct section of the forum ;)

Thanks! Sorry about that

 

looks nice I would make the hand guard cutouts black fading in instead of that green color just so it looks like there is a shadow. I like the type 1 receiver used, and the grenade sights, but the only thing I would change to make it perfect is to add more verts on the sights because these parts are going to be seen all the time and its the main focus point when in use. 

I really appreciate this feedback because I didn't get this on some of the other forums I was using. I had actually originally intended to use the Type 1.5 upper but the part where the upper meets the gas piston/barrel housing gave me a lot of trouble when it came to topology. As for the rear sights, I will look into possibly re-UV'ing them with a subdivision or two so the hole isn't octagonal. Is there a good number of cylindrical segments to keep in mind when working on iron sights?

[veles-zv 176]

Thanks! Sorry about that

 

I really appreciate this feedback because I didn't get this on some of the other forums I was using. I had actually originally intended to use the Type 1.5 upper but the part where the upper meets the gas piston/barrel housing gave me a lot of trouble when it came to topology. As for the rear sights, I will look into possibly re-UV'ing them with a subdivision or two so the hole isn't octagonal. Is there a good number of cylindrical segments to keep in mind when working on iron sights?

all depends on what you want to achieve.  and depending on how small the hole is and how much it takes part of the screen anywhere from 16 and up is good. 20 to 24 might be the best in this case, I always use cylinders which are divisible by 4 starting from 8. so 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 and upwards are ideal. I think besides that the Front sight ears need to smoother especially on the top facing the rear. what is great to remember when making your model is to account for what will be seen and what will not be seen or if, only for a small amount of time. parts of your model which will not be seen as much can have small texture spaces and less detail to improve performance, parts such as the bolt face of a closed bolt weapon, the internals of the weapon again if its a closed bolt not exposed to sight. the front part of a hand guard, pistol grip, trigger, bottom of the rifle things like that. 

 

how many tris do you have? most rifles in arma are from 12 to 14 typically of course you can always go higher up to 22 without the use of proxies but I wouldn't because many of these rifles will be on the same scene all at once. 

 

also any particular reason as to why you use 3ds max? i was once a user of 3ds max then I switched to blender and im more then happy with it. 

[road runner 4344]

Very sweet looking weapon, won't take much to get it into the game, just make a couple more lower ploy LOD's.

save it as an FBX

import it into O2

rescale reposition (for all LODS)
Add the required proxies from the samples weapon

 

save it as a .p3d

 

Write a model.cfg

Write a config.cpp

 

create an addon through addon builder

 

sit back and drool once it's in game..

 

@ velez-zv perhaps the OP has more time using 3d max and is more comfortable with the layout and features.

As a long time Max user, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot get into Blender, the whole starting from scratch just doesn't appeal to me, I know you can set the controls to max default, it's the whole, old dog new tricks thing hahaha, I also have Maya, and can't get

into that either.

 

I also have used photoshop for over 20 years, so it's the same with trying to use GIMP, or Substance Painter ( I REALLY want to know how to use that software)

 

Same thing with using the mouse in photoshop, over using a tablet ( can't get into that either)  sometimes the change is the hardest ;)

[gfelton 84]

how many tris do you have? most rifles in arma are from 12 to 14 typically of course you can always go higher up to 22 without the use of proxies but I wouldn't because many of these rifles will be on the same scene all at once. 

 

also any particular reason as to why you use 3ds max? i was once a user of 3ds max then I switched to blender and im more then happy with it. 

I've got ~17k tris at the moment which feels like a good middle ground.

 

I use Max because I feel like the software is a really good blend between almost a CAD approach to modelling and an artistic one. This, I feel, gives me the most control of what's in my viewport. Also when I was a wee lad I used model in Cinema 4D which had some of the shittiest modelling tools I've ever used and I think I might just be super appreciative to have some real tools to work with lol. Even though it has gotten quite bloated over the years, it is really powerful if you take the time to learn it. I've only been using it for around 4 months but even those few hundred hours have allowed me to become pretty proficient with my workflow. It's definitely got a high learning curve due to the UI and the logic behind how the software works but once you get over that initial hump you'll be able to get started on whatever you want with little hindrance.

 

@ velez-zv perhaps the OP has more time using 3d max and is more comfortable with the layout and features.

As a long time Max user, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot get into Blender, the whole starting from scratch just doesn't appeal to me, I know you can set the controls to max default, it's the whole, old dog new tricks thing hahaha, I also have Maya, and can't get

into that either.

 

I also have used photoshop for over 20 years, so it's the same with trying to use GIMP, or Substance Painter ( I REALLY want to know how to use that software)

 

Same thing with using the mouse in photoshop, over using a tablet ( can't get into that either)  sometimes the change is the hardest ;)

You'd love substance if you've been using PS for that long. The logic is the same, the layer system is the same, the masking system is exactly the same. Honestly it's so much fun to just jump into substance and work, I've caught myself just spacing out playing in substance for hours on end when I really need to get some work done, haha. Though when it comes down to software, they're really all just tools to get a certain result. Just make sure you can export your final product in the right final format lol. I've never tried getting into blender though, doesn't catch my eye as much as say MODO does.

[x3kj 1247]

1) first make yourself known with what LOD are required in arma

2) cross reference with rifle sample p3d (steam library-> tools -> A3 samples)

3) create LOD and import into p3d (either using fbx or .3ds)

4) convert your textures to A3 compatible images (SMDI, AS) and create rvmat

4) create model.cfg (use sample as template) for animations  - also check wiki

5) create config (again, sample as template) for ingame use - also check wiki

 

17k is too much for LOD 0, but can be used for 1st-Person view (View Pilot LOD). The max that vanilla weapons use is 10k (most rifles/machineguns use ~6-7k). More important is the amount of different textures however. 1 texture set (Diff, AO, Spec, Gloss, Normal) is optimal.

[gfelton 84]

1) first make yourself known with what LOD are required in arma

2) cross reference with rifle sample p3d (steam library-> tools -> A3 samples)

3) create LOD and import into p3d (either using fbx or .3ds)

4) convert your textures to A3 compatible images (SMDI, AS) and create rvmat

4) create model.cfg (use sample as template) for animations  - also check wiki

5) create config (again, sample as template) for ingame use - also check wiki

 

17k is too much for LOD 0, but can be used for 1st-Person view (View Pilot LOD). The max that vanilla weapons use is 10k (most rifles/machineguns use ~6-7k). More important is the amount of different textures however. 1 texture set (Diff, AO, Spec, Gloss, Normal)

Read through all the wiki pages concerning what you put there and all I have to say is damn. I just hope it's not as complicated as it looks.

Some questions I had though regarding things I didn't have to read about to understand:

 

- Does a gloss map simply define the intensity of the visibility of the cubemap/HDR or does it do something differently?

- Would a modified Metalness or a modified Roughness map make for a better or worse specular and why is that?

 

Thanks for all this info though, it's been really useful. I'm honestly excited to dive into modding, there's so much stuff I've never considered in this process and I'm honestly fascinated by the entire thing.

[x3kj 1247]

roughness map is equivalent to gloss map. You just might have to invert it (black in arma means rough, white is smooth) - depending on how your program outputs it. Metalness is useless in Arma, as it only uses "legacy" shaders, instead of PBR.

There is a problem with this however - there are no balanced values for different materials and the glossness/specularity are linear, instead of exponential. That means if you have say glass in the same texture as gravel for example, either one will be too shiny or the other not shiny enough (or both bad). The "range" you can achieve with one material is not great enough due to the linearity. For similar materials this shouldnt be an issue. For vastly different ones you would have make different rvmats for different materials (glass is usually an extra one. All other are in the main texture). In your case it should not be an issue, but its important to keep it in mind.

 

You have to adjust specular/gloss modifier values via the *.rvmat material textfile (where you specify all the settings for the super shader), which amplify/reduce the values that are in the SMDI map (red=white, green=specular, blue=gloss). Use the rifle sample as a template again.

[gfelton 84]

- snip -

Awesome, thank you so so much! This is really useful. I'm kind of busy atm but I will look into the process and set up everything I need, then update this thread with some progress. Again, thank you! :)

[gfelton 84]

Doing my best to keep up with research into how the logistics of the ArmA toolkit actually works (something I normally do when learning a new software package) while also finishing some UV'ing on another project. I'm aiming to complete texturing of that other project so this coming week I can bang out some work on this guy. Have also considered going back into substance to re-work some textures as I recently came across some good color photos of some Bush War equipment. Anyways, expect cogs to start moving soon!

[road runner 4344]

From a personal opinion, you should add paint to the rubber butt plate  as well, and weather it accordingly, as the whole weapon would be spray painted, and also add more wear onto the pistol grip.

Looking forwards to seeing this in the game

[gfelton 84]

From a personal opinion, you should add paint to the rubber butt plate  as well, and weather it accordingly, as the whole weapon would be spray painted, and also add more wear onto the pistol grip.

Looking forwards to seeing this in the game

Yeah, gave that some definite consideration this time around. Though the original reason I kept it as a rubber piece was to give some contrast between the polymer and rubber.

[john111 76]

ArmsCore mod may want themhttp://armscor.blogspot.com.au/

 

https://www.facebook.com/ARMSCorMod/

[gfelton 84]

ArmsCore mod may want themhttp://armscor.blogspot.com.au/

 

https://www.facebook.com/ARMSCorMod/

That project they're working on looks pretty neat, I'd love to help them out if they need it.

 

Edit: Found their WIP thread and PM'd the man in charge. Thanks for mentioning them to me! :)

[petracephas 29]

That project they're working on looks pretty neat, I'd love to help them out if they need it.

 

Edit: Found their WIP thread and PM'd the man in charge. Thanks for mentioning them to me! :)

Hey @terminal_ for some reason I can't reply to your PM.

Please join us on our public discord channel and we can have a chat. I'd love to work with you and get this into ARMA. (Public channel so anybody else welcome also)

https://discord.gg/0rmnuH96bUhd8ann