Israeli defence force merkava mk4 tank

[miles teg 1]

Well folks, me and Jewish Freak finally converted our Merkava Mk4 MBT from OFP.   So very soon we will release this and an IDF Magach 6 tank very soon.  In the APC area, we unfortunately still have a hold-up but hopefully we'll have a Achzarit APC for all of you soon as well.

Below are a few pics of the Merkava Mk4 in action:

"Ah...The smell of burning oil and human flesh...ain't war grand?"

Now I just need to make a version of the Mighty Bullet Sponge!!! Fear not, Bullet Sponge will return!

Bullet Sponge- "Takes a' lick'n, keeps on tick'n."

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[EricJ 742]

Is it me, or the turret bigger than the body, or should it be reversed? Like the body bigger than the turret?

[Strother 0]

the turret looks strange, I thought the merkava turret was flatter than that. I'm no expert though. Also it looks like it just when through a car wash.

[.kju 3241]

Interesting responses ...

Looks great Miles Teg - can't wait for more armored vehicles

[Dwarden 1124]

guess it's the angle ...

and maybe graphics setting

[miles teg 1]

As you can see the turret is huge on this tank. It is because of the large removable armor pieces that slope upwards in order to give it excellent protection from top attack weapons and RPG's fired from a rooftop or bridge. In short, it is perhaps the most heavily armored tank on earth. As for the textures, they were originally made by Bizaroid in a very dark brown color which I was only able to convert to tan. We had some olive green textures made by someone else, but for some bizarre reason, in ArmA, they come out all stretched. Nevertheless, in the future I may try to make them more like the IDF olive green color.

One thing I forgot to mention however is that this tank also has the capability to carry a small number of infantry (or extra ammo) in the rear cargo compartment. In the game we have it carrying four infantrymen.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Panda-PL- 0]

I think the lightnoing is the problem. The turret needs hard edges where it has them IRL - the place where shadow starts on photogramphs.

This is a tip for every moddeler: if you make a sharp edge on the model but keep all the faces smooth the normal calculations are wrong and the lightning looks awkward.

[EricJ 742]

As you can see the turret is huge on this tank.  It is because of the large removable armor pieces that slope upwards in order to give it excellent protection from top attack weapons and RPG's fired from a rooftop or bridge.  In short, it is perhaps the most heavily armored tank on earth.  As for the textures, they were originally made by Bizaroid in a very dark brown color which I was only able to convert to tan.  We had some olive green textures made by someone else, but for some bizarre reason, in ArmA, they come out all stretched.  Nevertheless, in the future I may try to make them more like the IDF olive green color.

One thing I forgot to mention however is that this tank also has the capability to carry a small number of infantry (or extra ammo) in the rear cargo compartment.  In the game we have it carrying four infantrymen.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

Ahh sorry, I was quite busy last night and used to the original Merkava, thanks!

[miles teg 1]

@ Jan. 01 2008,16:15)]I think the lightnoing is the problem. The turret needs hard edges where it has them IRL - the place where shadow starts on photogramphs.

This is a tip for every moddeler: if you make a sharp edge on the model but keep all the faces smooth the normal calculations are wrong and the lightning looks awkward.

Thanks for the tiip! I'll see if I can figure out how to do that in O2. I still need to add a shadow LOD and fix the turret rotation sound as well...but right now I'm just happy that all the proxies and animations are all fully working.

As soon as we have an APC ready, I will release another pack that will include the updated infantry, the Merkava Mk4, and the Magach 6 (M60A3 with blazer armor). That way the infantry will have a complete armor support package that will include a ride for them into battle.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[EricJ 742]

Select the turret and press "U" and you'll get sharp edges, and hit F5 for recalculating normals, so the shadows will look as they're supposed to

[CyDoN 0]

seems nice but i think u have to work it a little bit more before releasing it. it totaly looks is it out of ofp. with little work it ll be awsome

[Israelieagle 0]

freaking awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee nice job chris and jewish freak

[talc 0]

Ohh god yeah! cant wait to use it!

P.S do you have it in it's green cameo? like used in the seacond lebanon war?

[miles teg 1]

We did have green textues somewhere, but they were stretching for some reason on the model in the new O2.

So...I'm going to play around with those textures and see if we can get something to work...but I'm afraid that they were for a remapped model that I may have lost.  

But do not give up hope...   I will attempt to make our tan textures green....it may not be successful...but I will try.  

If any texture artists want to volunteer, PLEASE PM ME!!!

Cydon:  As for our addons looking like they are from OFP...sorry deal with it.   We are not addon experts and in OFP we operated purely out of the generosity of the rest of the OFP addon making community just as now we do the same in ArmA.

We have only one texture artist, but he is super busy and barely has time for our mod.   So unless you guys want to wait 6 months between releases or you help us find some texture artists, then you need to get used to the fact that our addons are mostly going to be either direct conversions from OFP or modified ArmA addons from other addon makers/mods that are modified with their permission.

Thats just the best we can do and I apologize for not being able to do better.  Trust me, I'm the first who would LOVE to see ALL of our addons look like the finest ArmA addons.  But when we're all working for free on this mod and have school, fulltime jobs, busy social lives, etc...  its just not always possible.   Also keep in mind that LoBo is, if I'm not mistaken, the OLDEST surviving mod from the OFP era.  In OFP we were pioneers with the first custom weapons models. We carried on the tradition in ArmA with Jewish Freak and SFC. ITZHAK creating the first custom infantry model for ArmA.   So please don't take us for granted.

We survive not because we are the best (which we definitely are not), but because we are the most practical.

Improvements in our quality is purely based upon the addition of new talented members into our mod as well as in the growing skillset of our current members.   For example I will try to fix those sharp edges and shadows mentioned earlier.  I am also going to try and do research into getting that nice "metallic shine" seen on BIS ArmA models.  

So we are not giving up on quality or improvements.  We just want to release working addons into your hands quickly and over time improve them with updates (as well as new addons).

In other words, we DO NOT believe in holding on to addons until they are "perfect". We believe on releasing them as soon as they are functional in the game and then only later improving them as time allows and when possible given our limited mod size.

Some ArmA players may disagree on this philosophy, but LoBo is based upon it and will only change that strategy if we get alot more talented addon makers in our mod.

In addition to us needing addon makers/texture artists, anyone who thinks they are awesome mission makers are welcome to make missions with our already released addons.  If you are really awesome, we will gladly include you as a full-time mission maker/beta-tester with full access to all of our un-released work in testing stages.  

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[.kju 3241]

Great statement Miles Teg!

Don't let yourself confuse my mindless people.

You don't have to apologize. You never will.

Quote[/b] ]We survive not because we are the best (which we definitely are not), but because we are the most practical.

If you don't like it, DO NOT POST or help them YOURSELF.

Regarding missions:

Release replacement configs along side with your excellent

addons Miles Teg. People will have good fun roaming around in

non realistic theme setup missions as well.

[miles teg 1]

Yeah actually were are thinking of, for right now, having a scenario that pits the IDF in a fictional war with the SLA.

The basic scenario is that the SLA government of Northern Sahrani is rounding up Jewish citizens and putting them into concentration camps and conducting mass executions and overall ethnic cleansing. The IDF decide to launch an invasion to occupy Sahrani and to assist the dwindling Southern Sahrani government that is rapidly losing territory to the SLA.

I already have several great missions almost finished for this campaign. I just need to learn how to get camera script coordinates for movie cutscenes as hitting the left CTRL key (using the camera.sqs script) doesn't work like it did in OFP.

Anyhoo... the work goes on!

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[HitmanFF 6]

I just need to learn how to get camera script coordinates for movie cutscenes as hitting the left CTRL key (using the camera.sqs script) doesn't work like it did in OFP.

Biki to the rescue

[miles teg 1]

Hurray Biki! And Hurray HitmanFF! Thanks buddy! I could have sworn that I had read that and I guess just never saw the part about clicking the left mouse button. Do'h! Ok...now you guys can look forward to some good movie cut-scenes in my missions.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Is there any chance you might do a Sho't any time? Or

is that too old-fashioned for you?

[xnodunitx 0]

the "metallic shine" you mentioned is the specular map, in Arma's case its a pink to white scale, think of it as a height map but in terms of light, white is the brighest, best used on grey paint free metal, and deep pink is the least refractive.

You will also want to look into normal maps as well to get of the more 3D effects to look even better, normal maps respond to the suns position like model parts do so it won't be lit like a normal diffuse texture with it applied, add the specular to it and you can pull off some neat stuff.

[EricJ 742]

Cydon:  As for our addons looking like they are from OFP...sorry deal with it.   We are not addon experts and in OFP we operated purely out of the generosity of the rest of ................................<snip>

Righteous post man!

[miles teg 1]

Col. Faulkner, yes sir, eventually we will convert our Sho't Centurion MBT with ERA on it (and without). Likewise I will make a version of the Magach 6 without ERA and with the old style smoke grenade launchers in order to simulate the M60 tanks of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

xnodunitx: Thanks for the info on the map types. I'm assuming this mapping is done in photoshop correct? If so I should be able to figure it out on the techniques for applying them. It sounds like a lot of fun and should greatly enhance our old OFP textures once I get the hang of it.

I just need to go look for a good tutorial that explains how to do the specular and normal maps.

Thanks everyone!

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Israelieagle 0]

there is a Hamas addon(and i won't bring it here) we could have used for playing arma with lobo if the hamas insurgents wouldn't fly in the air,go through walls and half stupid looking hands.

LOBO rules can't wait for the full version to come out already

[miles teg 1]

I really want to convert our OFP Hezbollah guys in here (as they were extremely accurate in uniforms, equpment, and weapons) but honestly I'm not sure because we got so much shit for making those Hezbollah guys from both Muslims and Jews each accusing us of supporting the other side. lol.

They kinda missed the whole point of the mod which was to show both side's perspectives.

I mainly liked our Hezbollah guys cuz they were TOUGH oppenents that really gave you a challenge if you played as in IDF soldier. Hamas would be ok also, but they do not have the heavy advanced weaponry that Hezbollah has and so are a little bit boring to play against. But maybe we will make some simple Hamas guys.

Until then...the fictional enemy is the evil SLA!!!! They are kiling Jewish civilians in ethnic cleansing on Sahrani and must be stopped! So for now, the IDF will occupy Sahrani.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[xnodunitx 0]

I'll be happy to find some for you.

Firstly you will need knowledge and practice of UVmapping, the orginal methods most of us used with texture stretching over the model in O2 won't work here, so I'll be adding a few of those for the just incase scenerio.

If you have a more advanced modelling program other then O2 then that will help however you can still UV map in O2.

I'm not sure of O2PE's method as I'v never tried it since I have 3dmax but worse comes to worse what you do is break the model apart, make sure everything is the right shape and flatten it out.

Do note you can squash some 'usually unseen' things such as the tanks belly and whatnot.

http://www.oman3d.com/tutorials/3ds/unwrap_uvw_mapping/

There is a basic tutorial that has the principals to follow.

Now for a view of the textures you'll be working with here is a preview.

http://www.bestofthebeast.com/gaspump/pump10.jpg

from left to right. UV Map, Diffuse, Normal, Specular. However in Arma's case the specular would be pink, best to do it in photoshop by having the specular and then adding a layer of pure pink soft light and then overlay or something along those lines.

Now on to normal maps.

You can make normal maps by two ways, one is by high poly mesh detail baked to a low poly mesh, examples.

http://www.poopinmymouth.com/3d/ns_voodoo_doll.jpg

http://www.inition.co.uk/inition....ols.jpg

Now there are several tools that can do this, some free and some not. However to avoid filling up this page anymore then this post is already going to take I will make it simple and provide a free one and a tutorial with it.

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/melody_home.html Free tool

http://reality.artificialstudios.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/NormalMapping

I never could quite get the hang of it for some reason but if you try it I hope you have better luck.

As good as baking is it is also more time consuming then simply painting on some grounds. In terms of a boxy vehicle such as most military vehicles and tanks, painting would be better.

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

This photoshop filter is great for certain things but I wouldn't recommend round objects quite as much, however it does a lovely job of converting 1 pixel dots into rivets. You can also adjust the light direction and depth of the normal map from X,Y and Z.

http://www.crazybump.com/ Crazybump is a tool I highly recommend, not only is it free but if used right it can do great things.

A thing to keep in mind with a normal map is its lighting color, to you it will look reversed so the light colors should be in place of the shadows.

Another thing to remember is that all programs (atleast that I'v seen) read normal maps "inverted", this means what looked 'pushed in' to you on the normal map will be pushed out in the game, always keep that in mind.

Specular is simpler depending on how far you go. While it is suggested that you make a specular map from a greyscale image of your origina diffuse texture (and darken it in the right place).

Don't be afraid to add more to it, some black or dark grey splotches to break up the uniformity but remember that its best to also coincide mostly with the diffuse texture, here is an example of how much specular can impact.

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/the_corridor/corridor_10.asp

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/the_corridor/corridor_07.asp

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/the_corridor/corridor_11.asp

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/the_corridor/corridor_12.asp

All in all the specular map is just as important as any other texture and model shading, depending on how you treat it, it can make what you do look excellent or horrid, a very shiny shiny tank for example (though those seem to be popular in games these days)

I hope that help.