WIP: Stuff you are working on 2!

[DaSquade 0]

Well what i mostly do regarding RIS rails is:

*In the game model (highest res lods) i make the base rail solid often with the end ris tips attached. So one piece.

*Make all the additional ris tips single shapes, be it individual unwrapped pieces or duplicates and thus stacked on top of each other on the uv.

Part one (the solid piece without ris tips) allows you easier lod building and since it has less seams the unwap will be less deformed. With a few edge deletes and rebuilds you quickly have an 'old style' ofp ris (so no ris tips) for the lower res lods. The AS (ambient occlusion) texture will need some cleaning depending on the bake distance, but at least it is easy to handy once done.

Part two (the ris tips). In the past i tended to stock the ris tips, but that doesn't give you much room to character the gun in terms of wear as all details will be identical on all the tips offcourse. On the other hand you can always mix, have some stacked and have some individual pieces (maybe those that need more dedicated wear..optic area, corners).

As for the unwrap, basicly self-explaining imho. Like always have as less corners as possible, but try to keep deformation in controle. Personally i rather split something then get deformation. Like the ris tips i unwrap as you would unwrap a box (seams along all corners with the top as center with a cross unwrapped shape).

Ha, unwrapping suck big time but imho it is the step that needs to most concentration and time. I also always take the time to allign each edge that is possible, mean horizontal and vertical edges are 100% straight if they should...

Hope the explanation helped a bit (if wanted i can post a few pics). Not sure if it is 'the way' to do it, but worked for me on all my previous and current weapons.

*Just put your mind on zero and do it (some good music and a locked door helps a lot).

And like Pufu said, quality (-> read: pixel ratio) is often the key. I hate to do it sometimes, but often you need to upscale parts that need the detail and downscale parts that don't really need it. Like ironsights if they are part of the weapon, certain bolts, basicly all non linear stuff that can suffer from jiggy? pixelation. If you keep your texture art work in ratio, no one will notice the difference in pixel size but your work will look like it used high res texture sizes....

Edited August 20, 2011 by DaSquade

[khugan 24]

Thanks for the insights DaSquad and Pufu. I'll PM you guys if you are not bothered by me, so as not to in-cur the wrath of a moderator. :p

[max power 21]

When I stole this thread from Adumb I had intended it to be a thread about artistic development. I don't think the mods would strangle you for talking about art techniques...

[DaSquade 0]

Thanks for the insights DaSquad and Pufu. I'll PM you guys if you are not bothered by me, so as not to in-cur the wrath of a moderator. :p

No problem at all. If not mistaken Adumb make this topic years ago to show and LEARN from each other :) .

[ebanks129 10]

Mini Update

Wardak Province

http://postimage.org/gallery/9g5x48fpk/e4e17b50/

[Fox '09 14]

Hell yeah... needs more weed though. Looking sharp as usual

[khugan 24]

I'm completely remodeling the hand guards due to some poor topology that showed up when doing detail work and subsrufing. I was wondering, do you guys have an opinion on modeling the insides of parts that could possibly be seen from the back faces in game.

The hand guard is a prime example. Modeling the inside practically doubles the poly count, while a deeper extrude on the holes so that only the barrel can be seen might look odd as well.

Also wanted to say that using floating geometry for a normal map bake is a disaster on a model like a rifle. I think that technique is best left to walls and other flats. It picks up the backs of the floaters and puts the "flipped normal" color on random parts of the model that are near. This was a real bummer to discover.

[PuFu 4600]

@modeling insides: in your case, it is sort of needed. You could always duplicated and flip faces, but don't think that method would give you the wanted result.

@floating geometry. For floating geometry to work properly with a bake, the UVs need to be properly done (as in being able to actually project = perpendicularly the floater over the geometry).

Also (in max) the projection cage needs (most of the time) manual corrections as well as more attention given to the distance.

[khugan 24]

@floating geometry. For floating geometry to work properly with a bake, the UVs need to be properly done (as in being able to actually project = perpendicularly the floater over the geometry).

Also (in max) the projection cage needs (most of the time) manual corrections as well as more attention given to the distance.

I used a shrink wrap modifier set to projection in Blender to get the floaters perpendicular, but this cage you speak of may be the key. I will have to see if Blender has a similar feature. It sounds like something that would stop back face from showing up where they are not wanted. As far as I know there is only a value to set bias and distance, but even at 0 these artifacts show up.

[WingsOfDeath 19]

Harrier GR9

See here For the WIP Thread :- http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=124013

Recently I’ve been working on a Harrier GR.9 For Arma 2,

I thought I would post up Some Pictures of what I have so far.

Main Features:

New VTOL Syestem

New Texture

New Ordnance

There will be Several Variants of this aircraft including :-

C.A.S (Close Air Support)

G.P (General purpose)

Air-Air (Air to Air Combat)

More to Come soon!

NOTE: NOT FINAL PRODUCT

images are Bad Quality Due to BIS’s photo Size Restrictions :-/

Edited August 23, 2011 by WingsOfDeath

[max power 21]

Hmmm... what is the point of posting here if you have your own WIP thread? This thread is not for you to make an advertisement for your other thread.

NOTE: NOT FINAL PRODUCT

I should hope not. It is the WIP thread, after all. There is the Combat Photography thread for finished stuff.

Your images are way too compressed. A set of smaller, clearer images would have been better. It took me a few seconds to even see the aircraft in the first one.

At any rate, this thread is for artistic advice and you've given us very little to go on here. I do like the colour variation you have going on in the last close up pic.

Edited August 23, 2011 by Max Power

[DaSquade 0]

@floating geometry: i must say i haven't tried it and i think i will also never border to try it aswell. It just has to much side effects and needs a lot of tweaking...if you ever manage to fix it. But again, i'm pretty noob when it comes to normal map baking. I rather do high poly modeling for decent AS bakes that also serve good in the difuse texture.

Personally i still find the 'old school' bump map convertion (for text, bolts, logo's etc...) the best and fastest methode. I do use the high poly model capture for several other normal parts, but it needs to be setup perfect for good results.

Like some said, in the end, in bullodzer (game) the normal map is equal to 50% of the true output. So you can get away with slight imperfections.

Someone familiar with how things work and should look will spot it pretty easly (like i used to have an eagle eye for sharp edges :p )...

*At least you tried.

[PuFu 4600]

Khugan - the floaters needs to be perpendicular on the UVs. not on the geometry (which is equal in the case there is NO stretching/deformations in the UVs).

Other than that DaSquade is pretty accurate. Proper normal baking (especially with floaters) needs a properly UV mesh, and some headaches (at least in max). I was NEVER able to bake that never needed some touch ups in PS. I heard modo as well as maya have better and more precise baking tools (btw, i usually bake it at a higher resolution 8k for instance, then scale the image down in PS with bicubic one for some sort of supersampling effect

[max power 21]

I find xNormal quite nice for baking as well. It is not free from needing touch ups afterwards in my experience tho.

[khugan 24]

For anyone that might be curious about normal map baking using floating geometry rather than a complete high poly mesh, this is a good example of its basic use. It's also a great network of sites that covers both Max and Blender.

Here is one using a 'whole' high poly model.

[soul_assassin 1750]

I love floating geometry and generally anything that will save me loads of time and headache. Used it a few times and found that the results are no less perfect then when created straight on the surface. One very important trait of floating geometry is that copying parts also becomes easier.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

I find xNormal quite nice for baking as well. It is not free from needing touch ups afterwards in my experience tho.

This - XNormal is excellent, although some parts need toning down in my experience with ArmA unit models (i.e. between the legs especially).

[mondkalb 1087]

Heya, here's a little WIP of mine. It is - I know I know... - yet another building pack. But this time Kill Houses.

Features include breachable doors, rooms and halls wide enough to cope with ArmA's collision model, and breachable wall segments.

I am planning on creating a minimum of 5 unique buildings, and, depending on my time, maybe up to 9 different kill houses. This will probably be released together with a small training area of the size of Shapur or Proving grounds.

Also I am cooperating with some of the big Realism / MilSim units out there in the field to be able to tailor this addon straight to the needs of this particular aspect of gameplay.

:bounce3:

[oldbear 390]

I can use those on upcoming "BearRocks" island project :cool:

[lennard 447]

I find xNormal quite nice for baking as well. It is not free from needing touch ups afterwards in my experience tho.

I prefer 3dsMax for baking, but haven't really tested xNormal to it's fullest.

[JDog 11]

Mondkalb do those doors fall down when you shoot off the door lock? That might be more accurate for a battering ram or explosive charge :P

[mondkalb 1087]

I tried tying it to an actual rotation animation, but that didn't work down quite well, as you would "turn" the door with each shot a few degrees more.

So now, once a certain damage threshold is reached, the door disappears, and the door-on-the-ground object appears.

[ebanks129 10]

Heya, here's a little WIP of mine. It is - I know I know... - yet another building pack. But this time Kill Houses.

Features include breachable doors, rooms and halls wide enough to cope with ArmA's collision model, and breachable wall segments.

I am planning on creating a minimum of 5 unique buildings, and, depending on my time, maybe up to 9 different kill houses. This will probably be released together with a small training area of the size of Shapur or Proving grounds.

Also I am cooperating with some of the big Realism / MilSim units out there in the field to be able to tailor this addon straight to the needs of this particular aspect of gameplay.

:bounce3:

Very cool! excited for this:)

[mondkalb 1087]

Here's a new one:

[clawhammer 10]

Here's a new one:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/buldozer201108260143091.jpg/

Great work, cant not wait unitl i can put my feeds on your Testground.

Will there be a complete Training camp? With shooting ranges, baraks?

Edited August 26, 2011 by Foxhound
Do not quote images!