[WedgeBob]

Before I lay down one more sector or one more sprite in that project, I'm currently looking to see how we can implement FBX model imports and normal map texturing, so we can bring BUILD in line with more modern game engines, then I'll get modeling on some meshes to try that out.

[Besli]

Fox, on 01 July 2011 - 06:54 AM, said:

The XBLA background has at least 4 original 3d renders for the enemies, including the Liztroop.

I can count 5, with the dead one!

[Mark]

Sebastion said: That skyline does look great. But it doesn't make sense for the red lights to be there in the day time.



Maybe federal laws state that within so many miles of a major airport, any structure over a certain height needs to run lights 24/7 to account for limited visibilty situations such as fog or darkness from storm clouds etc...

Or maybe not.

[Plagman]

WedgeBob, on 05 July 2011 - 01:28 PM, said:

Before I lay down one more sector or one more sprite in that project, I'm currently looking to see how we can implement FBX model imports and normal map texturing, so we can bring BUILD in line with more modern game engines, then I'll get modeling on some meshes to try that out.

I suggest installing the HRP and looking at the .def files in there to see how to use models and normal maps.

[WedgeBob]

Plagman, on 05 July 2011 - 02:59 PM, said:

I suggest installing the HRP and looking at the .def files in there to see how to use models and normal maps.

Ah yes, I do see the normal maps, but the model format is MD3, not sure if Carrara 8 Pro or Blender export to that. I'll have to see if Hexagon will do something...I'm probably gonna pick up Hexagon and Bryce 7 Pro in another couple of weeks (to complete the DAZ Software Collection and interchange the models and scenes among those apps).

[Plagman]

I've never heard of any of these programs. The two supported pieces of software for EDuke32-ready MD3 export are 3DS Max and Blender. If any of the programs you're using can export to something Max or Blender can import without losing too much important stuff, then you should be good.

[Micky C]

Haha floating grass (you can see one of the sprites over the water for example)

[Tea Monster]

Looks like Hexagon will do all the modelling stuff. There is a dearth of export options though. You'd have to export as obj and either use Blender, Max or Misfit as an MD3 exporter.

Build is actually pretty good for an old engine. We have parallax maps and per-pixel lighting. It just needs a shed-load of optimization if you are you are going to push it.

[WedgeBob]

Plagman, on 05 July 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:

I've never heard of any of these programs. The two supported pieces of software for EDuke32-ready MD3 export are 3DS Max and Blender. If any of the programs you're using can export to something Max or Blender can import without losing too much important stuff, then you should be good.

Must be a lesser version of Blender (like 2.4x Series). I'm staying current with Blender with 2.57/2.58 64-bit(that version is waaay easier to use), but 2.5 has less formats to export to, from what I see.

Anywho, here's what I'm currently switching to, and I'm hoping that this app will be for the better (don't worry, I have the discount membership with DAZ, so I only paid the $385, think it was less than that with the monthly voucher):

http://www.daz3d.com...ils/?item=10608

Also, I have some video tutorials on this software:

http://www.amazon.co...09985852&sr=8-1

So after I learn a few lessons and model well with this, I'll certainly be willing and able to see how I can contribute.

[Tea Monster]

Xembie's MD3 exporter for 2.57 has been released. I've not tested it yet, but it's here

[Helixhorned]

Fox, on 04 July 2011 - 11:36 AM, said:

I just did some sprite work and created a daytime version of the LA sky

This is cool for many reasons. First, it's great to see that classic tiled skies are still being used. Second, because the blue colors are likely to change with the different palnums, you can have an assortment of skylines:
pal 21: LA sunset
pal 13: rainy LA
pal 14: green goo LA
...and so on

Also, this reminds me that there ought to be a way of defining multi-tile pskies from DEF, or something. Did I mention that many it's possible to have many of them in the same level?

[Hendricks266]

Fox, on 04 July 2011 - 11:36 AM, said:

I just did some sprite work and created a daytime version of the LA sky

That's pretty good! My only criticism is that the red lights don't belong in the daytime, and do you see where all those yellow lights are in the nighttime? Those are all windows, and they are in a grid (meaning some lights are off). A building like that with no windows is a very sad building indeed.

[Sebastian]

Marked, on 05 July 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

Maybe federal laws state that within so many miles of a major airport, any structure over a certain height needs to run lights 24/7 to account for limited visibilty situations such as fog or darkness from storm clouds etc...

Or maybe not.

They wouldn't be visible to the naked eye in the day time is all I'm saying.

[Tea Monster]

[zykov eddy]

Look great, Tea Monster

[Micky C]

What is it?

[Sobek]

Micky C, on 10 July 2011 - 02:48 AM, said:

What is it?

Reminds me of one of the alien ships from Stargate Universe;

[Muelsa]

[Danukem]

That's beautiful.

So you made low-poly or sprite versions of the trees, and you have them replaced by high poly versions when the camera gets close? I noticed it in a few instances because the profiles of the low/high poly versions did not match. It is definitely the right approach. The only thing I question is having things popping in. Personally, I think it would look better if everything had a low poly or sprite version that was always visible, instead of having stuff become visible or get generated on the fly.

[Fox]

That's quite impressive. Perhaps a little too ambitious for Build engine?

Either way, I guess to fix what DeeperThought said it would require Eduke32 to have gradual translucency (instead of just 66% and 33%).

[MusicallyInspired]

You guys do amazing work for this old engine.

[Simon_Croes]

This is amazing Muelsa! I never believed that it would run so smoothly. Great job.

[Mblackwell]

DeeperThought, on 15 July 2011 - 04:04 PM, said:

That's beautiful.

So you made low-poly or sprite versions of the trees, and you have them replaced by high poly versions when the camera gets close? I noticed it in a few instances because the profiles of the low/high poly versions did not match. It is definitely the right approach. The only thing I question is having things popping in. Personally, I think it would look better if everything had a low poly or sprite version that was always visible, instead of having stuff become visible or get generated on the fly.

The problem over that distance is you hit the object view limit very quickly. I had the same issue in my mod with the auto generated foliage which is why I fade it out and remove it over a distance. He's mitigated it slightly by having (much) less density but it's still an issue.

[Plagman]

Wasn't there already a member to set arbitrary alpha values and not just 33/66? Maybe I'm confusing it with something else.

[Danukem]

Plagman, on 15 July 2011 - 08:13 PM, said:

Wasn't there already a member to set arbitrary alpha values and not just 33/66? Maybe I'm confusing it with something else.

I think it was planned for Polymer but never implemented.

[Fox]

Well, I believe it doesn't need to be with just Polymer.

[Muelsa]

DeeperThought, on 15 July 2011 - 04:04 PM, said:

So you made low-poly or sprite versions of the trees, and you have them replaced by high poly versions when the camera gets close? I noticed it in a few instances because the profiles of the low/high poly versions did not match. It is definitely the right approach. The only thing I question is having things popping in. Personally, I think it would look better if everything had a low poly or sprite version that was always visible, instead of having stuff become visible or get generated on the fly.

it is only low poly model less than 1000 poly. and are simply replaced by sprites. As for the distance, I could increase it, so that the sprites are always visible. But this distance is planned to display the distance of polymer. You can not see the sprites appear or disappear with the polymer. This is temporary, the display distance will be controlled by the fps, if your pc is powerful enough all the sprites will be visible.

Fox, on 15 July 2011 - 05:06 PM, said:

That's quite impressive. Perhaps a little too ambitious for Build engine?
Either way, I guess to fix what DeeperThought said it would require Eduke32 to have gradual translucency (instead of just 66% and 33%).

too ambitious for Build engine? No... actualy, this runing on my laptop at over 40 fps. Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz 4.00 GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M

DeeperThought, on 15 July 2011 - 08:29 PM, said:

I think it was planned for Polymer but never implemented.

gradual translucency, (.alpha member) actually only works on polymer, and the last time I tried, it works only with the first group of the model (surface in 0. def). I also have a problem with the skybox in polymer, skybox with different pal does not work, and I need this to add the day / night effect.
and one more thing that could increase the fps rate. for models, make the opposite sides of the polygons visible, it could divide by two the number of polygons in a model, and also ensure that the normal maps works well on models without having to worry about the same texture coordinates. .. it takes too much time to get a good result.

[Micky C]

When you're changing the pal of the skybox, are you changing the pal of all the sectors at once? Or did you only try it out on a few? Because polymer can only support one skybox at a time, which means you can't use two different parallaxed tiles, or even the same tile with a different pal, because polymer will only render one of them, so the entire sky will appear to be the same even if half the ceilings have a different pal or tile.

[Muelsa]

Micky C, on 16 July 2011 - 02:40 AM, said:

When you're changing the pal of the skybox, are you changing the pal of all the sectors at once? Or did you only try it out on a few? Because polymer can only support one skybox at a time, which means you can't use two different parallaxed tiles, or even the same tile with a different pal, because polymer will only render one of them, so the entire sky will appear to be the same even if half the ceilings have a different pal or tile.

Ho sorry, your you're right, different pal works, one problem solved thanks.

[Geoffrey]

That's beautiful Muelsa! One thing I noticed though: the size of the floor and the models doesn't match. When you flew up I noticed that the floor textures had little darks circles on it, which I'm pretty sure are supposed to be trees. The models you use are easily ten times bigger