Does OFP need an LCAC?

[Scrub 0]

Just an update, the primary model has extra detail for textures, which I'll be making tonight and over the weekend.  I'm testing imports from 3DS to Oxygen tonight too.  Might be easier than I had first hoped. anyway, If you all are interested, here are some dev pics.  

Scrub

[sniperuk02 0]

very nice

[Monkey Lib Front 10]

Monkey Lib - i take it you like the Griffon TDX2000(M) then? Operated by 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines out of plymouth, UK....

nice bit of kit that  

Yes i do

Hopefully someone will make one to go along with my ever so fabulous Marines

[Messiah 2]

Monkey Lib - i take it you like the Griffon TDX2000(M) then? Operated by 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines out of plymouth, UK....

nice bit of kit that  

Yes i do

Hopefully someone will make one to go along with my ever so fabulous Marines

well, i it goes with our fab marines (lol)

who knows, we may see a working hovercraft in ofp - good luck guys

[sgtkill 0]

and the u.s marines  

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

I don't what units it'll go along with, as long as it can carry all sorts of VEHICLES!!! LCACs are supposed to be big-stuff ship-to-shore ferries! OFP has lots of unit-carrying boats already, but no vehicle-carrying ones... and THAT'S WHAT'S SORELY NEEDED!!!

[Scrub 0]

Buzzard, (I'll put it as gently as I can) they DO have troop modules... Sorry.  

But,  I promise I'll really really push to get as many vehicles as possible on deck.  OK?  

Anybody need anything in particular on the test bed?  Now's the time to get it in if you do.

[Scrub 0]

ARRRGGHH! O2 stinks!

There, I feel better. O2 is crashing on my system at startup.

Re-install does not help. No help on the O2 troubleshooting forum. Only someone who has the same prob, and no solution posted. Can someone take my textured model (when it's done) and finalize it in O2 for me please? I'm at my wits end.

[Asmodeus 0]

Greetings Scrub!  

Very nice model you've got there, and I must say I'm interested in this project.  However, time is very short for me lately.  

I will contact the rest of the Everon Cartel crew and see if they are interested in this too.  I'll let you know.

I may have missed it but have you posted the poly counts?

Talk to you soon.

*edit* I'll try to have a look at your O2 problem soon too, I've surely run into a fair share of things in my time. *edit*

@ Romolus

We may be able to do the texture application, lod's and the beginning .cpp if our help is needed and everyone agrees.  

At this point I'd say my involvement in this project hinges on whether or not it will be able to support transporting vehicles, so I'm glad to see your post!  

Asmo

[Romolus 0]

@Scrub:

Just had a look at the pics you posted and I have to say that it's really a nice model.

Allthough there are many details modeled that are better done with textures, like the grooving on the driver's cab and the fine surface details on the turbines behind it (both sides). You will need those additional polys on the rubber hood.

It's important to optimize the model of the hovercraft and loose as many polys as possible since the vehicles that will be attached to the craft will allready add quite much to the polycount themself and probably make it lag if you model all those details.

@Asmodeus:

Don't hesitate.

I made the offer and so that hovercraft will definately be able to transport vehicles once it's setup and textured.

I just don't want to spend weeks on the scripting work and then it won't ever be released because of missing textures or LODs.

I'm working on this cargo idea for allmost a year now since the release of the BAS MH47 cargo and I planed to put it into the desert vehicle pack that got scraped now, so it will definately work

[Scrub 0]

Gentlemen, I am humbled.  Thanks for the support.  

Asmodeus & Romolus, I've worked it out, the poly counts will be quite small for something of this size.  I've only upped the detail for creating textures.  I make the base textures as well as I can, including RL accents and texture layers, then put them on the detailed model.  I flat light the scene, and render images from a fixed ortho position (top, left, right, bottom & angles like on the command cabin).  Then using contrasting light, render the same images.  In Photoshop, the flat image is the base texture, with the contrasting one faded in over (around 30%).  I then apply the complete texture to the model face as a single piece  (hope it transfers from 3D Studio).  It's a lot of work, but adds quite some depth to a very low poly model.  I'm a bit busier than I expected (got a lot of projects in this week).  But will get some substantial progress in this weekend.

Asmodeus, I just re-read your post.  Should I wait on the textures to see if your Cartel will do it?  Or do you need them to place in O2?  I'll dumb-down the model for placement  either way.  Please let me know If my focus should be texturing, or finishing the model (air cushion, railings, lamps, etc.) and prepping it for application.

Romolus, Do you need anything from me (model-wise) for the scripting of gates, doors and vehicles?  Anything that will make it easier?  

 Also, just a thought along the lines of the BAS chopper scripting.. It would be nice to only allow the ramps to lower, and the vehicles to be released, when the LCAC engine is off (or destroyed).  And when the engine turns on, the vehicles found in the X,Y area of the deck (center point and bounding-box offsets?)are 'mounted' in order (FIFO, sequential, whatever is easiest).  The ramp action would be realistic, it puts the moving vehicles in the most stable position, and gives go/no go control to the LCAC driver, as it should be  ..   Just brainstorming.

**edit

Lower detail superstructure.. 2670 polys, will lower more (no round features!)

http://img11.exs.cx/img11....MG]

**/edit**

Please give me a no-lag poly target to shoot for. That will greatly speed things up.

Thanks again everybody.

[Messiah 2]

for something of that size, and you'd only expect one or so at a time to frequent the screen, i'd say a maximum of 9000 pollies... the lower, the better as always - you can deffinatly cut out alot of the detail you've done with the modeling (as has been said) and get that model to around 7000 i reckon, maybe 8

[RTR_Commander 0]

Our model of the LCAC is 5124 and that has a fair amount of detail. Have used it ingame on my pc and there seems to be no lag from that. But thats without textures and may have some more detail added to it.

[Scrub 0]

Yup, there were a lot of round surfaces on the model, I'm hunting them down and replacing them with faceted polys, think I can get each superstructure down to about 1700 - 2000 range, the deck should be around 1000 or so, depending on how much detail we want.

**Edit** 2234 and 2540 polys respectively on port and starboard super structures. Will keep optimizing till complete model is acceptable. Starting on deck next. Keeping a poly budget for railing and accutraments after optimization.

[Messiah 2]

railings can be done using textures remember, although thats at the extreme of poly cutting

[spm1138 0]

Always wanted a LCAC so yes keep going!

It looks like the UMSC has one which transports stuff in VBS judging from a pic on the following page.

http://www.ctcorp.com/capability20.html

Given all the scripting would be the same i would have thought there is no reason why something similiar wouldnt work in OFP

The LCAC is definitely in VBS1.

Quote[/b] ]

US Marine Corps - This pack adds models for all current USMC small-unit weapons, current uniforms, ground weapons, MOUT facilities, and most systems in the Marine Air / Ground Task Force (MAGTF) including the AAAV, AV-8B, LCAC, LAV, HMMWV and MTVR.

(MTVR is a kind of truck).

[Scrub 0]

Quote[/b] ]Messiah Posted on July 23 2004,20:12

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railings can be done using textures remember, although thats at the extreme of poly cutting  

Not sure what you mean.  Is it a bad thing to model in railings?  

[Crowley 0]

If you had to cut polys that much, a railing can be as simple as a single face with large transparencies for what would be large open parts on a more detailed model. Railings are simple enough, I don't think you'd need to go that far to cut polys.

[Messiah 2]

Quote[/b] ]Messiah Posted on July 23 2004,20:12

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railings can be done using textures remember, although thats at the extreme of poly cutting  

Not sure what you mean.  Is it a bad thing to model in railings?  

well, depends how may parts to the railing there are - if you're making them round, then round objects carry alot of faces - square railings will ease the polly count, and a double sided face with textures is the lowest u can have

[Scrub 0]

Thanks, I keep forgetting about 0 thickness surfaces, they are handy,though not very satisfying in a solid object. I'll try to model the railings with square, straight extrusions so there are 2 poly's per face. That way there is a little body to them. Sound like a good balance?

[Scrub 0]

Well folks, here it is sofar... (polycount first)

Starboard Superstructure - 2000

Port Superstructure - 1858

Deck (including ramp winches and railing) - 1192

Aircushion - 1088 (can lower a bit I'm sure, but looks good for poly count)

Port and Starboard Plenum (ducts) - 930 each (total 1860, can really be lowered.  Will work on)

Front Ramp - 12

Back Ramp - 28

Grand Total ---- 8038

These are the models in the assembly. No doors yet, no cabin features, rudders or rotors.  All those may add another 500 total.   I can lower detail more, if the texturers will make up for it.  I believe I can knock about 800-1000 more poly's out of the models without too much trouble.

Questions,

1- Does the model need to be one piece? or can I leave it as seperate bodies in my export from 3D Studio?

2- How should I handle the rotors?  Seperate models, one detailed, one disk shaped?

Just a thought.  Will a helo config work? Scripted to not fly over 1-2M?  LCAC's do float/fly (kind of) like a chopper.  The engine starting could be the flag in the script for ramps up / inflation (lowered dammage level).  

*edit*

There are simple poly's in these images, (in 6 places, some misplaced ), that will function as air intake nettings, so there is detail under these faces as well, might be better served in O2 as 0 thickness surfaces.  Either way, they are seperate bodies and can be removed. */edit*

The pics----------------

At this point I would probably be wise to wait for everybody to tell me what they need to continue.  

Later,

Scrub

[Romolus 0]

What I would need is an editable model (3ds max file is fine too, doesn't need to be p3d) to place the cargo proxies for the scripts.

[Scrub 0]

PM me a place to email it, and I'll get it off to you.

LCAC.3DS - 164Kb

Let me know any scaling issues (unless you want to correct yourself).  Should I use 3DS values for feet (or meters)?  Or is there a strange scale export factor to use?

I believe the LCAC deck is 81 feet long.

Thanks

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

Looking great so far, Scrub, way to go!

[Messiah 2]

the model looks beautiful, but there are a couple points....

The cabin windows need a face to place window textures on

There are some small lumps and bumps you've decided to model into the model, where they could be replaced by textures with the same effect

those are all minor points tho, as 8000 pollies for that detail in a model is very very good (about what i said, hehehe) - one major point tho, the helicopter class... if this thing hits a tree, it will explode, no 2nd chances, no armour levels to set, it will explode due to the nature of the helicopter class.

to make it realistic, you'll need it sliding around like a bitch until the player gets used to the controls, they are not easy things to drive at any stretch of the imagination, so avoiding tree's is not the easiest job.

just some food for thought.