WIP: stuff you are working on!

[BadBenson 0]

Quote[/b] ]Will you make those models enterable?

i won't make those two lil huts enterable cuz they're really small. would just cause more polies for no reason. but of course i'm gonna do some bigger houses which will be enterable. but i think i'm gonna add ladders to some of the lil huts so snipers can use the roofs

[bravo 6 0]

Quote[/b] ]Will you make those models enterable?

would just cause more polies for no reason.

hum.. it wouldn't lag things too much.

In other hand if you do it enterable, you will provide more options for hiding and cover, not to mention more options for the mission makers.

Good luck.

edit: typo

[BadBenson 0]

sure i get the point. but those huts are really small so i thought it wouldn't make any sense cuz it's just 1 or 2 sqm. btw they were already enterable. i just closed the door . we'll see...if u think it's useful...

btw another version (more fps-friendly) of my wheat field.

i reduced the polycount without losing depth. don't worry about the wheat standing military straight. i just didn't screw the new version up to make it look more random yet. and if can handle setting up the model right in o2 it'll be a good possibility to hide as u can see...

1

2

3

btw: sry for bombing this thread with my screens...it's just so much fun to run around on the island and make some postcard fotos

[bravo 6 0]

you should know that those kinda plants are terrible if you fight against the AI. They will be able to see you through those..

Anyway they look nice

[opteryx 1562]

you should know that those kinda plants are terrible if you fight against the AI. They will be able to see you through those..

Not if you add a view geometry LOD.

[bravo 6 0]

you should know that those kinda plants are terrible if you fight against the AI. They will be able to see you through those..

Not if you add a view geometry LOD.

of course, duh.. ( don't know why i didn't remember that)

[ezechiel 0]

Can you release an independant addons ? Before the map release ?

[Stewy 1]

Quote[/b] ]btw: sry for bombing this thread with my screens...

Bomb away mate, I love looking at the pics, the map is looking great!

...or start your own thread, whatever floats your boat I guess...I'm not a Mod

Great stuff

Stew

[bionic 10]

Good work GodHammer

And another pic of the work i have done on the Leo this time i will show you the different Lods.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

@ bionic

Got a face count on those lods?

[bionic 10]

@ bionic

Got a face count on those lods?

To be honest i don´t really cared about the polycount in first place because this was (is) a personal project. So maybe it will be a little overkill when i release it but hey its better then nothing

I imported all Lods in O2 and triangulated it the face count can be seen in the screenshot. As i have seen i have to work a little bit more on Lod 4 maybe the difference between Lod 4 and 5 is to big.

Greets

[pathetic_berserker 4]

 As i have seen i have to work a little bit more on Lod 4 maybe the difference between Lod 4 and 5 is to big.

the rule of thumb where you halve the number of faces on each lod would say yes.

but I think youll find that in game you wont notice the difference with lods that far out. So maybe look for details on lod4 that wont be seen.Good work.

[modemmaik 53]

Q showed me a very intersting thread once: Model data to judge...

Also the hint to merge textures is worth a try  

Anyways, having only a bunch of textures makes rvmat's easier to handle.

BR,

mike

[Panda-PL- 0]

Some experiments with normal map and low/hipoly model.

I use the normal map (derived from hipoly) to add rounded edges to lowpoly sharp edges.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

@Panda[PL]

Would you mind posting a pic of the wireframe for your M16a4

The vid looks nice, actualy better than nice. But would be a little more informative if we knew the difference.

I'm very much thinking about using this method for one/some of the projects I'm planning especialy as the quality it produces should fit well with Arma2. And its going to take me till the release of Arma2 to get my head around around it all.

[modemmaik 53]

The method is pretty easy to adapt. I use it for OFP-conversions to generate  basic bumpmaps by blender.

Simply copy the areas you want to map to a new p3d, export this using the O2 release candidate's export .3ds function. Import this into blender and use the instructions given in the link above to generate the normal map. The baked render places the bumpmaps into the correct area, so you only have to copy and paste the baked renders into your nohq texture.

example blender generated bumpmap

[Panda-PL- 0]

Nope, I use Xnormal. And I think he wasn't asking for basics.

But would be a little more informative if we knew the difference.

Sure.

Although Xnormal renders will look a bit better than ingame I'm affraid. Xnormal preview is really top notch.

Basically, besides adding detail (the letters BTW are actually in front of faces - I added text, inverted the faces and deleted half of them so that only the ones you see remained ), I simply add two edges on the sides of the hard edge and then make it soft.

Schematically:

http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wiprh1.jpg

I think you'll understand just by looking:

Lowpoly:

Hipoly (notice how normals are interpolated in those new faces created):

http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif' alt='wink_o.gif'>

The trick is not to move the original edge at all. This way ray casting is accurate ("seams" are little visible).

And you get smooth interpolation of normals near the edge.

This works well with flat/cylinder surfaces.

The normals on the surfaces behind those new faces remain the same - because by dividing a flat surface with edge we get perpendicular normals (just like if we set an edge to Sharp the normal at the edge will be perpendicular to face).

I am sorry for this a bit longish post. :/ I got a bit intomath.

[nephilim 0]

oh my oh my..

that low polymodel is somewhat unoptimized :P

also, that hipoly model might have nice beveled corners... but some parts arent round at all, eg around the magwell/trigger guard.

this only leads to the normal map basically "copying" the lowpoly structure, whereas it could immitated a nice and round structure.

did you add a turbosmooth to that hipoly or did you bake the normals out of that directly?

the soft thing edge will work only to an extend.

if your LPO´s (low poly object) adjectant polygons have an angle that exceeds 45° (depens on how the actualy arma engine is programmed) you no matter what will get normal errors even if you applied a normal map.

so either you leave out such details and apply the hi-poly derrived normal onto a simpler surface or you bevel the LPO´s edge where it necessary and only to an amount that helps to get rid of the normal error.

i can illustrate that if its bit hard to understand.

[Panda-PL- 0]

that low polymodel is somewhat unoptimized :P

I used BIS as a base. :P It had many edges bevelled allready. Plus they have a habit of using less solids but making them more complicated. Kinda as if they were making the model in engineering package and then imported.

Well, I'm definitely no pro and I do not plan on becomming one (I ahve a different career path planned), so this time I just said "oh well".

If I was making the model from scratch I would probably give it more attention. :/

Quote[/b] ]also, that hipoly model might have nice beveled corners... but some parts arent round at all, eg around the magwell/trigger guard.

I might still add a lot of things. By "not round at all" you mean "and they should be"?

I get what you're saying about the magwell, but I'm not certain if by trigger guard you mean the cube right under the trigger.

Quote[/b] ]this only leads to the normal map basically "copying" the lowpoly structure, whereas it could immitated a nice and round structure.

agreed. The reason I tried to smooth the edges was because normal map was so damn flat and it seemed like a damn waste. That plus game lightning doesn't really do the trick (that dreaded inside-long-triangle interpolation).

Quote[/b] ]did you add a turbosmooth to that hipoly or did you bake the normals out of that directly?

Did I use What?

X normal doesn't seem to have such option.

Quote[/b] ]if your LPO´s (low poly object) adjectant polygons have an angle that exceeds 45° (depens on how the actualy arma engine is programmed)

Actually, that angle seems to be close to/or 90 degrees, according to my experience. The reason I came up with not moving the hard edge is precisely because if I bevel the edge the ray casting(along lowpoly normals)+normals' interpolation causes normal map on both faces to reach the ~90 deg limit - and the lightning is totally screwed up (that is, there is allways a line of shadow on one or other side of the edge).

Also notice the normal map contrast does not rise after conversion - which would suggest there is not scalling of values.

Forgot to add: thanks for hints.

Another thing I forgot to say: the 3pp model will be reduced alot. I plan to use different maps and textures (half the resolution, new normal map to fit different mesh) and a smaller polycount model for resolutions lods (no holes in Ris, less round and stuff). So I wasn't paying attention to polycount much and ended up with 8k.

[BadBenson 0]

HIDING DEMO

hey guys...this time just a crappy demonstration vid on how u can use the wheat to hide yourself. i already made some intresting tests (including suppression addon and other AI enhancements) which show that the AI is using the wheat field almost perfect in firefights. that means that they go prone to hide and once in a while they stand up or crouch to engage and shoot. thx to the suppresion addon the AI fires at the position they saw u the last time or the direction the sound of the shot came from. it's still all alpha(or whatever) but it's already BIG fun.

the video i posted just shows the possibility to be unseen even if the AI is just some meters away from u which will make some kickass stealth missions possible. unfortunatly i'm a total noob on video capturing and compression stuff. so excuse the vid's quality.  

BTW: the russion specop just has a identityproblem based on a lil bug of that addon .and if u see lags...don't worry my pc is oooold

[max power 21]

All crits are welcome.

Larger versions of these pics are available in my Picasa Album.

[BadBenson 0]

i think u have to flatten the roof a lil bit. but overall a nice clean modeled car...like it

[pathetic_berserker 4]

@ Sep. 12 2008,16:49)]Nope, I use Xnormal. And I think he wasn't asking for basics.

LOL, well yes and no.

Blender is my 'noob wants to learn this stuff but doesn't want to part with cash' tool and seems to serve the purpose brilliantly. But I did already have my sights set on using Xnormal.

Thank you Panda[PL], nephilim, and modEmMaik.

All usefulll tips to arm myself with

Cheers

[DaSquade 0]

Quote[/b] ]plaintiff1: All crits are welcome.

Looks like a very nice clean model .

Maybe some unneeded edges (marked in red).

Also maybe have the inner part of the tires in one face although polycount if low enough to keep it like it is.

PS: Maybe the back has an unneeded edge aswell (the edge defining the numberplate area). I would keep the numberplate geo, but work to the corners of the chasis. I don't see it contains any extra 3D. Same for the door, although i could be wrong.

[nephilim 0]

@plaintiff

theres too much going on for an exterior lod.

all the gauges and knobs can be saved up for normal maps and texturework for a 3rd person view.

as and 1st person lod, the interior detailing is too low.

i also dont like the tires too much..

they dont have a real volominous feel about them.

also the tire caps can be optimized by merging pairs of verts on the 2nd row.

other than that, its a nice clean mesh.