GAZ 3937 Vodnik

[VXR 9]

3 questions: is there a way to tell bulldozer to show the edges(like outlines)? cause the model is hard to see atm... and does flashpoint care about non-planar faces??? i read in a different thread that it is ok to have intersecting geometry in opf - is that true (could save lots of tris...)?

Morning..

I do not think it is possible to let buldozer show lines on the edges.. You can make the edges look sharp by sharpening the model in OË›.

Your model looks perfect, and the amount of faces is also perfect for OFP.

I would suggest to release the higher poly model in Armed Assault. Then you have more time to work on both the models.

[cl10k 0]

Hi everyone,

no updates for you this time, just some questions...

first of all - yes i checked the search and yes i read most tutorials that were linked here BUT my eyes and my patience aren't the best anymore...

ok here we go: is there a restriction regarding the uv-mapping? i exported a 3ds-file from my application (MAYA) textured (32bit tga) with automatic mapping (6 sided mapping - i assume there is something similar in max...) but i' m just to stupid to load my textures into o2 (followed exactly brssseb's tuts and some similar ones but they don't cover my problem exactly)  

i read somewhere here in the forum that it seems to be possible to break your model into pieces and use planar mapping - nooooooo that would be horrible - as i am to lazy for that (too many tiny faces...)!!!! so is there really a restriction regarding the way i am doing my uv-mapping?

so please, i would be very grateful for every hint about importing already uv-mapped models (3ds) into o2...

[LoTekK 0]

O2 imports the UV mappings without a hitch. If it didn't, I wouldn't even have bothered with modelling for Flashpoint.

If you mapped your mesh before importing, all you need to do now is to select the appropriate faces per map (if you split up your UV map sensibly this shouldn't be an issue), and hit "E". This will bring up the face properties dialogue, where you can, among other things, assign the texture of your choice.

[cl10k 0]

hi lotekk  

hmmm i tried that 1000000000 times  

my texture is called "textuu.paa" (converted with textview)and it is on my desktop - also the 3ds file is there... when i change the path under "face properies" it insists in "Tguy\textuu.paa" - wtf is tguy?

so i select the whole model, press "e" and set the path - but still grey faces in bulldozer

is it maybe a problem that my material in maya is called "lambert4" i use only the "textuu.tga" as a color map and i am sure that my uv-coordinates are exported correctly...

btw i hate learning oxygen - it was hard enough to learn maya...  

is there maybe a tutorial i have overseen covering the process of importing an already mapped model?

...

as i said in cgtalk - love your tiger

[LoTekK 0]

O2 gets a bit finicky about paths, from what I remember of my own teething problems. Try creating a directory for your GAZ within the O2 directory (O2Light\GAZ, for example), and drop all of your assets in there. Textures, 3ds mesh (though this one's not really necessary).

Try assigning the texture again, and see if that helps.

[cl10k 0]

thanks for your suggestions , will try that later cause i'm too angry now with oxygen

[blackjack-VS- 0]

hey cl10k! first i should say, u made a nice choice for addon project. that vehicle pics from the other thread, shows a dam good looking vehicle, and very versatil. by this time of ofp age is hard to see a fresh vehicle like that one.

i saw your last update sample image and got kind of scared with the polycount...you didnt made any interiors so far and the polys are around 3500... i predict at least 500 more for interiors..and thats a low guess.. so i really think you should start cutting polys by now.

its funny to see that your path in the 3d world was the oposite of mine...you first learn serious modeling with a powerfull tool, then learned how to use ofp editing tools. i started by playing ofp,then o2+config files, then went to try 3dmax. looks like both roads tooked us to the same place (ofp).

i would like to ask you and the other modelers(i made a thread about it but havent got any solid answer, so i'm sory for asking that here), about the way ofp deals with 3d objects. the polygon versus faces. in both maya/max we can model in editable mesh or editable poly. like i did in my current project, you modeled with editable polys. if u ever noticed, in o2 there's a squarize and triangulate option. if u open a poly model there an make a triangulate to all mesh, your face count will almost double. if u then squarize the face count will go to the same value that poly version has. this is still a dilema to me...which one of this is the TRUE face count??? i hope u can clear me on this subject...

About the texturing...i think u should give a try on a software called deep exploration. with that tool u can open all the possible avaiable 3d file format that exists and save it as 3ds file. then u can import to o2. my advise is to make some experiences (like u mentioned u did) with some simple cubes and cylinders (or something simple like that), then give it some textures on maya. play around with unwrap tools, cylindrical mappings, and see what happen when u open it on o2.

from my experience with max, i had some weird results when i play around with some texturing features. for example i creat a cylinder, then aplly a cylindric uv map on it. then i apply a texture to it, make sure it uses same uv channel from uv map. so with this simple settings, if i play around with uv scale (squeeze or strech) of my texture or even with the uv map scalling, then when i see results in o2, i dont have any distorcion... its just a 1.0 scaling factor (so no scalling at all).

so again make some experiences first, before u start the real texturing.

i hope this can help you somehow, and feel free to ask whatever u need here or by pm.

Good luck with your project, i'll keep my eyes on it.

[jagy. 0]

3500 faces are fine if he make good LODs. Interior in first lod didnt needed more than 500 faces i think. Nice model cl10k

[LoTekK 0]

@Blackjack:

Typically the tri count is considered the "true" face count, since tris are the lowest primitive available to display, and a quad, for example, is going to get split into two tris once it hits your GPU.

[cl10k 0]

hey blackjack - i guess all roads lead to opf  

to your question:

i am not sure about the difference between editable mesh or editable poly - the last max-version i tried was 3.0 and one of them - i think editable poly - was newly introduced at that time so no experience with that...

regarding the polycount - i think it is usual in opf-modelling to count in verts (why is still a miracle to me) or tris (used to that) - allthough i never tried the triangulate/squarize option in o2 there is the same option in maya and i assume also in max. i can't directly export 3ds-files - have to use a converter (polytrans) but the import into o2 fails if i haven't triangulated in maya before... i am not sure if i understood your question completly but both are the true facecounts - one is the facecount in quads and one in tris (one quad can be devided into 2 tris...) therefore it is clear that your "tri-count" is double your "quadcount"... i think counting in tris is so popular among gameengines because graphic-cards

only handle tris (somebody correct me if i'm wrong) and therefore even if you model in quads they will be triangulated by your graphic-card to be calculated... but usually if people speak about poylcount in opf they refer to tris...

i hope this was of any help to you!! feel free to pm me for further questions (asking makes people smart... thats why i ask so much - i need to get smarter )

...

i heard about deep exploration (sounds nasty...) but it is simply to expansive

my best friends father is an architect and he lets me use his pc to convert my stuff into 3ds with polytrans ....

...

i think i dont want to talk about my own polycount i reached 6700 tris and 3850 verts now - will have to optimize drastically

but please for the sake of my own ego - btt  

edit: damn those two were faster then me - translating takes time...

[blackjack-VS- 0]

thank u guys for the confirmation...ofp "eats" tris not quads... that makes me wonder why the hell is the squarize in o2 then!?!

and just to let u know, editable mesh is modeling with triangles, and editable poly is modeling with quads/square faces. so if u model a cube with polys u have a face count of 6. if u do the same cube with editable mesh u have 12 faces (6faces x 2 triangles per face).

so as i presumed u really have to make a face lift to your model... and remember such kind of vehicles like jeeps, are usually (ab)used in ofp missions. so having a high poly model wont really help ofp playability (aka lag). from your last mode update, there's lots of detailed parts u modeled, that can be disguised with a good texturing.

good luck , and ty for the fast answers.

[LoTekK 0]

@ Jan. 18 2006,22:05)]from your last mode update, there's lots of detailed parts u modeled, that can be disguised with a good texturing.

Case in point: your last update had a lot of tiny, barely-noticeable bevels around the edges of the body. Now, bevels are cool and all, assuming you've got the budget, but the way you've used the bevels is rather wasteful, considering they'll add nothing to the silhouette from anything further than arm's reach, if even that far. tiny bevels like that will be much more efficiently represented with good texturing. A simple example to illustrate:

Left or right; which edge is bevelled?

[cl10k 0]

ok you got me !!! i think the right one is really beveled... but all those beveled edges just added ~ 200 tris to the whole model. the idea was to use them just for the first lod - the second lod will already have sharp edges with textures doing the job. the reason was that sharp edges (in closeup) look very unnatural. the opf lightmodel is too simple to achieve a convincing effect - it looks too artificial with textures when lighsources are moving... but i kept a version without bevel.

sharp edges is what i always hated about rt-engines... i am too used to model without considering polycount  but i will learn sensei  

but i see your point and i fear that you are right ...

my problem are the handles, please dont tell anyone but those 9 handles have eaten  more than 2250 tris - i need to cut those. i tried it and i think i can go down to around 1000 tris for them - there are some more details i could cut back resulting in loosing ~ 650 tris.

also i think that its a good way to model freely without too many restrictions and optimizing that later...

but critics are always   !!!!

edit: ha the grandwizard of optimization strikes again   - reached 4600 tris by just reducing the handles  

i also completed the interior of the "passenger cabin" and started on the drivers cabin

[cl10k 0]

again some small progress

reduced polycount a bit - but there's still enough room for optimization - wheels and lamp are still temp

and i'm also not sure about the interior - how do they get 9 soldiers in the back ?

[sniperuk02 0]

Looks nice.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

This might help:

Vodnik Rear

Rear Interior

Looks like you could fit 8 people in the back, and 1 person behind the driver.

[LoTekK 0]

Coming along real nicely. I see some wasted polies here and there, but you've done some nice optimization so far. This oughtta be fun to see.

[cl10k 0]

Thanks @everyone!!!

i already had those pics - atm i'm searching for pics of the interior of the drivers cabin... but thx anyway

@lotekk which one was the beveled egde??

[LoTekK 0]

@lotekk which one was the beveled egde??

Oh, right, forgot about that completely.

Uh, crap. I think it was the second one. I actually can't remember. Fairly sure it was the second one. o_O

[cl10k 0]

Hi folks, me again with some questions...

1. Is it possible to have more then one  lod for the damaged car? i would like to model some nice detailed destruction for closeups and some less detailed lods for bigger distances ...

Wilco's Destroyed BRDM 2 - is it possible to use such a detailed model?

2. There is a light on top of the driver, is it possible to animate it (rotation...)  via the action menu??

3. Is it possible to find out how a car was destroyed? (rpg, mg..) or at least how "hard" the killing hit was? I would like to make at least 2 damaged models - one destroyed by smaller weapons and one for rpg attacks... but i have to know first if it's possible

4. Which camo would you like to see?

  Plz choose one

@lotekk you are right regarding the bevels. I tried the car ingame and those bevels where barely noticable. already deleted...

[oOoIoOo 0]

Du kanst mehr als 2 Scheinwerfer machen, aber animieren geht auf keinen Fall!

Ach ja, du suchst doch sowas hier:

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Hi folks, me again with some questions...

1. Is it possible to have more then one  lod for the damaged car? i would like to model some nice detailed destruction for closeups and some less detailed lods for bigger distances ...

Wilco's Destroyed BRDM 2 - is it possible to use such a detailed model?

2. There is a light on top of the driver, is it possible to animate it (rotation...)  via the action menu??

3. Is it possible to find out how a car was destroyed? (rpg, mg..) or at least how "hard" the killing hit was? I would like to make at least 2 damaged models - one destroyed by smaller weapons and one for rpg attacks... but i have to know first if it's possible

1. Of course, LODs are a common property that all p3d models share, regardless of their use ingame. The functionality of resolution LODs is simple, every p3d file loaded in OFP will transition to the highest detailed LOD it can while maintaining good performance, which is related to distance. This is a standard, hard-coded process that's just about as basic as gravity.

2. Intravehicular movement of significant model parts and functions are allways a problem. Some things can be fixed to animated selections, while others will just remain anchored to their relative position if you attempt to move them with an animation. I'm almost positive (I can confirm it with a simple test) that lights are one of the things that cannot be influenced in midgame. However it may be possible to simulate it with good old scripting. I can offer my skills in scripting if and when you need assistance with it.

3. Again, it can be done with scripting, more specifically eventhandlers. These should not be incorperated until everything else is done, slight config.cpp modification is required, but it is better to complete the vehicle before this kind of scripting is applied. In other, more complex cases, scripting and modeling must be worked on simultaneously, but this is not one of them. And I offer assistance with this as well when the time comes.

4. Not really much concern to me at this point, however some people choose to include several different camo schemes. But that depends on the person's texturing abilities.

oOoIoOo, I hardly understand any German, but I can see your intentions are good. However this is an English forum and the rules are properly enforced, and I know that language barriers can be a real hassle, but because of them we need to have a standard, and here it happens to be English.

[cl10k 0]

Hey Kyle thank you for answering my questions!!!  

please let me refer to my first question again. I know the basics about lod's and i wonder Why is everybody using ugly models for the "damage"geometry when you could have a model like Wilcos "damaged BRDM2. I assumed that there is some kind of restriction (maybe a very low polycount or something) but please again: i can use whatever model i want for the "damage"-geometry?!? And this damaged model can have different lod's for keeping the performance good?!?

So the world will be saved from ugly brown destroyed tanks?

How can this be done? conventional like normal BIS models just with more detail to the responsible LOD or do i need to replace my original model at the moment of destruction?

dont get me wrong... but sometimes its hard for me to get the point clear in english

about the lamp: i imagined something like "use searchlight" in the action menu and then you can use the light similar to a mounted mg...

Also it would be fantastic if you could help me with the scripting cause i dont have a clue besides brrssseb's tutorials.

   

and there is a second seat in the drivers cabin...

But finishing the model(s) will still take some time... i haven' even started on the textures yet and will try and optimize all the lods for having good performance ingame!

[Big Dawg KS 6]

The best way to go about making a "wreck" model is to take the finished vehicle (textures allready applied), save it as a new p3d, then take a virtual baseball bat to it. Just tear off parts and move them on to the ground, bend things, break things, replace glass textures with broken glass, and swap the rest of the textures with damaged ones that have bullet holes, burn marks, etc...

This not only saves you a lot of work, but the wrecked model will look just like the intact one, only wrecked. And, if you wanted, you could even keep the cargo proxys so that you can put dead or wounded crew inside of it.

And the only ugly wreck models I've seen are BIS's, and those are ugly because of the low quality so not to consume resources, in fact all of the BIS models and textures are very low quality compared to what we see in addons today.

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

Fantastic work so far, cl10k!!!

This is truly going to be excellent!! As for the camo jobs, I think the ones presented in the second and fourth pictures of your line-up would be the best!!