WIP British 4 Rifle Soldiers

[Pathy 0]

Awesome! :D

[STALKERGB 6]

Hello! Been a while...

Right, well, first things first. This "update" below isn't my main project at the moment, I'm currently working on something that has yet to be publicly revealed (mysterious I know!). So the progress isn't exactly going to happen at break-neck speed with this...

BUT!

As I pledged in my 3 Rifles release thread, I have decided to completely remake my British Infantry, that means mainly models and textures but basically the whole addon is being looked at again. The main reason for re-doing it is because the Brits have sort of settled on much of their new kit so I actually know what I'm aiming at. If you look at a modern picture of British Infantry and then at my current version of my 3 Rifles although they look similar, they are by no means accurate.

Anyway, so far I have been focussing on the upper torso area of my model. By that I mean the body armour/neck/upper arms (or at least, these are the areas that I've changed so far). Now although it's not much below is a quick shot of some changes, the NEW model is the one WITH the HELMET:

-The shape of the Body Armour has been changed, has been made to look as though it isn't welded onto the soldiers shirt. (especially the area around the shoulders)

-Rounded off some of the sharp edges that shouldn't really be there on the Body Armour.

-Made the Armour more bulky overall (hard to see in the pic). Made the shape dictated more by the armour plates rather than closely following the soldiers body shape.

-Have angled my arm pockets as per the cut of the new PCS style uniform, on the old model, my pockets were straight.

-Added a collar to the neck area consistent with something you'd find on a UBACS in place of the weird "tube" on the old model.

-Have added bulkier trouser pockets but these WILL CHANGE as I think the PCS cut uniform has them at an angle unlike my ones.

Still the rest of the arms to do and the legs. I'm currently doing a new MTP texture too which will hopefully look ok.

So, as always, any comments, questions or requests pertaining to my WIP/addon feel free to ask. Hopefully will post as often as I can, even if it's only a small change.

Cheers

Matt

Edited September 10, 2011 by STALKERGB

[slatts 1978]

I'm currently working on something that has yet to be publicly revealed (mysterious I know!)

will it ever? :rolleyes: (expects angry reply from who im talking about :p )

but the new stuff i looking good :)

[RabidStoat 39]

Oooo! Please tell me these will make AII before AIII comes out?!

[STALKERGB 6]

It's done when it's done

:)

Although yeah I do hope to have these out in ARMA2:OA but the long term goal was/is to create something that can be transferred over to ARMA3 without too much editing. Obviously the extra features will need to be incorporated but still...

EDIT: Oh and if I get time, I'm gonna try and write tutorials on the stuff I'm doing but like I said, it's if I get enough time.

Edited September 10, 2011 by STALKERGB

[RabidStoat 39]

WOOO! Lol wasn't trying to push for a date, just a little concerned I'd miss out on the update to one of the addons I use the most ;) I doubt my rig will run AIII anytime soon....

[STALKERGB 6]

Lol wasn't trying to push for a date

haha I know,

Well, my computer will struggle to play ARMA3 at good settings but I think it'll work, to be fair mine struggles with A2 at times...

I'd have imagined that seeing as it is an update (although a major one in theory) it will still be quicker than starting completely from scratch so with a bit of luck it will be out before A3. Anyway if it isn't I'll do my best to release something for A2 before moving over to Arma3.

[PTV-Jobo 820]

will it ever? :rolleyes: (expects angry reply from who im talking about :p )

I hope that mime under your bed keeps you up tonight! :p

[Binkowski 26]

you sir, are legit.

[STALKERGB 6]

Right well I'm trying to keep to my own mandate of updating people when I get anywhere with my stuff. So today, it's textures.

Or more specifically, the basic camo swatch for my units. As a few other people will agree with (looking at you Goos!) trying to replicate MTP is about as fun as banging your head against a wall. At least with Multicam there are very big photos you can use as swatches but for the British Multi-Terrain Pattern there are very few good photos you can actually use for a texture. Normally, what I like to do is find a good picture and paint over it so that I have the pattern's shape but without any colour variation or creases etc that I won't need. Because of the lack of many decent images, this was annoyingly hard for me lol! Now the difficulty with MTP and Multicam is that unlike a lot of patterns, the colours blend between each other. So you can't just have one shape all green and one shape all brown so to speak. I found with MTP if you have seperated the shapes into layers (in this case most of the DPM shape) then using a soft edged brush you can mix the colours together quite well.

I would say, this is FAR from complete, just a preliminary version to get some suggestions about colour balance and shape really.

Now as you can see with my first attempt, it seemed to be too brown when put on the soldier, looked ok in photoshop but the green colours were a bit too scarce. I felt the black was too black as well.

My second attempt is hopefully looking a bit more like the real thing, as you'll see there are just far more DPM shapes adding to the green-ness of the pattern. I've also toned down the black so it fits in a tad better. EDIT: Looking at it now, do you think there is to much white?

Pretty much the only image I have been using is the one below, it's far from great but I have managed (I hope). As you can see, my brown is slightly toned down from the one below because it tended to dominate the pattern.

Anyways, like I've said, this is only my first two attempts at MTP so any suggestions are very welcome. If anyone has any questions about anything feel free to ask. :) Also, excuse any errors in my typing, it's 2:25am and I need sleep.

Cheers,

Matt

Edited September 15, 2011 by STALKERGB

[Fox '09 14]

the second test looks excellent, although I'd make the pattern a bit darker if anything.

[road runner 4344]

Looks good mate :D

[valhallanguines 10]

Oh thank god! I cannot wait for this!

[rikjuuh 10]

can anyone tell me the difference between these guys and the british 3 rifle guys?

[da12thMonkey 1943]

can anyone tell me the difference between these guys and the british 3 rifle guys?

They were just released for ArmA 2 under the name 3 RIFLES instead of 4 RIFLES; which is what they were called during development.

I imagine some corrupting influence (not naming any names ;)), probably managed to convince Stalker to change their battalion just before they were released.

[rikjuuh 10]

ok thanks.

[STALKERGB 6]

I imagine some corrupting influence

Well if anyone has any good offers I can change the name again :p

Anyway, now that I have a decent internet connection at uni I thought it was about time I stuck up an update. Mainly been UV mapping bits and bobs of my infantry, done some modelling work on the legs too but not a lot.

The MTP on the pics below has not changed since I posted the sample image, so basically don't expect it to stay the same, there are still a few more things I want to do to it. Right, well all comments/questions welcome :)

Larger

Larger

Cheers

[R0adki11 3949]

looking impressive!

[lennard 447]

Looks great Stalker!

Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff :)

[road runner 4344]

I suggest erm 5 SCOTS addon :D looking good bud, very good indeed, is there any way you can UV Map the arm pockets seperately to allow unit Flashes on one side and the ISAF/Afghan Flag/patch on the other?

[da12thMonkey 1943]

is there any way you can UV Map the arm pockets seperately to allow unit Flashes on one side and the ISAF/Afghan Flag/patch on the other?

I was going to suggest just such a thing.

Problem is that you wouldn't be able to have proper normal maps, specular maps etc for the custom arm badges so they'd look a bit flat - IIRC hiddenselectiontexture only works with diffuse textures and not materials.

The Rifles make a good regiment for the default appearance because they don't wear a regimental TRF on their right sleeve like many units do - it makes for a good generic appearance for British units, with minimal arm badges.

Of course there's still the formation badge on the left sleeve (usually Brigade insignia), and some of the Commando-qualified blokes in 1 RIFLES wear 'Army Commando' shoulder titles on each arm as part of 3 Cdo. Brigade.

--

Good work Matt - Osprey looks pretty mega.

[road runner 4344]

Yeah thought at as much, still if anyobe can, Stalker can, but what a great addon if you could switch out unit formation flags on the fly ;)

[rhaggan 10]

Well if anyone has any good offers I can change the name again :p

I suggest the Royal Irish :P

Although would it be possible to have TRF's and Brigade Flashes as seprate set textures?

[STALKERGB 6]

With regards to TRFs etc I'll certainly have a look at doing it, imagine it's more than possible to be honest. Anyway, thought I'd post 2 more pictures, nothing has changed since you last saw the model other than the fact I bothered to load up Arma2 to take the shots :) Oh and I actually added the pouches I'd done. No materials on the model yet but thought it would give people an idea of how things are looking. Again MTP is as it was with changes pending. Not sure how much work I'll get done for the immediate future as I'm really struggling to (for lack of a better way of putting it) keep my eyes in focus when I'm staring at a computer screen, been annoying me for the last week or so. A pain in the ass when I'm trying to write an essay, anyway... here be the images:

Larger

Larger

As always, comments/suggestions/criticisms welcome...

Cheers

Matt

[sabre 244]

A few things that stand out to me are that I think your pattern is still abit too large and still very DPM.

I think the pinky brown is abit strong, not enough of a green tone to it and no darker browns.

I think there is too many verticle shapes in your one. While there is verticle shapes in MTP it seems to be prodominately horizontal flowing shapes.

Hopefully doesn't sound harsh, just observations :)