[Spiker]

I'm busy at the moment. I just watch some random tutorials before going to sleep but I will resume it again soon.

An experienced artist would be able to create a compliacted model (with rigging, animation and textures) like cycloid emperor for example in about one day. And no I'm not kidding, and what's more funny tweaking it takes more time than creating it from scratch.

[SchoeteCitie]

Spiker, on Jul 10 2010, 02:58 PM, said:

I'm busy at the moment. I just watch some random tutorials before going to sleep but I will resume it again soon.

An experienced artist would be able to create a compliacted model (with rigging, animation and textures) like cycloid emperor for example in about one day. And no I'm not kidding, and what's more funny tweaking it takes more time than creating it from scratch.

Idc if you take 2 months to finish it as long as it doesnt get..D-N-F'edO_O.. i'm fine

[necroslut]

Tea Monster, on Jul 10 2010, 10:19 PM, said:

This brings us back to a similarly old point. Why didn't someone just take the model into a 3D proggy and just scale up the front of the barrel?

Wouldn't that look weird when reloading it?

[Master Fibbles]

Well, I think MD3s are all vertex animated so you can make it change shape as it is propped up to cock. The difficulty is getting it to look correct at the FOV. The entire process involves a lot of work and I, for one, appreciate the work put into it. I don't mind the current shotgun but if Spiker can produce a higher quality one and get the animation to work right, I am all for it.

[Night Wolf]

necroslut, on Jul 11 2010, 08:25 AM, said:

Wouldn't that look weird when reloading it?

Wait.... this is asuming that this shotgun with even reload ... remember this is Duke Nukem 3D ... the shotgun is magic and reloads itself

[necroslut]

ozz, on Jul 11 2010, 08:01 AM, said:

Wait.... this is asuming that this shotgun with even reload ... remember this is Duke Nukem 3D ... the shotgun is magic and reloads itself

I meant the cocking.

[Tea Monster]

I've not studied the anims closely, but one trick is to use a different model for the cocking. You would stretch out the main one, and switch the models for the cocking one in the def file.

[necroslut]

Tea Monster, on Jul 11 2010, 10:36 AM, said:

I've not studied the anims closely, but one trick is to use a different model for the cocking. You would stretch out the main one, and switch the models for the cocking one in the def file.

But wouldn't that cause a noticable "jump" when switching between them?

[Stabs]

that new alien trooper model has some issues, it has a jerky death animation and its skin is way to bright , It goes pitch black at 37 most sprites go pitch black at 27 - 28 max

[Gambini]

I second this ^

The model looked pretty cool in the screenshots but in game i just missed the old one.

Also: Why monsters still loop the shooting animation when they´re standing? is that so hard to fix?

[SchoeteCitie]

necroslut, on Jul 11 2010, 01:40 AM, said:

But wouldn't that cause a noticable "jump" when switching between them?

Uhmm you scale up the model when you walk with it then the shoot animation then the cocking animation goes upwards right? you stretch it a bit each animation it goes up, then it looks more real?
(ehmm if you dont understand me nvm i guess..)

[Night Wolf]

#0316



.....Revised ......
Added more depth to broken parts.

#0360


#0361

[Parkar]

Tea Monster, on Jul 11 2010, 10:36 AM, said:

I've not studied the anims closely, but one trick is to use a different model for the cocking. You would stretch out the main one, and switch the models for the cocking one in the def file.

Actually I was experimenting with this when I decided to make a new shotgun altogether (which I never got around to though). Anyway, You just need to scale the thing after it's animated and it should look ok. Might run into problems with polymer down the road though with shadows etc not looking right. But you probably won't know for sure if that's an issue until after you try it.

The best option is of course if the engine would support rendering the hud models at custom fovs. This is the most common trick used, usually the guns are rendered at say 45-60 while the world around 75-90. Since the guns are placed very close to the camera, cover a large part of the screen and have some part that goes behind the camera the stretching is more obvious than on the world.

Edit:

Roma Loom, on Jul 10 2010, 06:07 PM, said:

Some games just use stretched down HUD weapon models to make them look normal, some games render HUD weaponry with FOV that's lower than world's FOV. STALKER weapons are stretched down by the depth axis that's for sure because I've ripped a scene via 3D Ripper.

Actually that's probably just the side effect of 3D Ripper assuming everything is at the same fov. You get the whole world scaled along the depth axis if it rips at a different fov then the game renders it at, the guns are probably just rendered at a lower fov.

[NightFright]

SVN build #136 committed. Changes:

> Updated: #360, 361, 363

[Tea Monster]

The only way to find out if it works is to try it.

I've found that the most time-consuming part of modelling isn't the modelling, the texturing, or the animating, its the constant arsing around with getting the def's right. Especially for HUD models.

On that note, just saying that I've pretty much finished the HUD pistol. I'm just tweaking the textures. Parkar has given me his latest hand so I'll put them together and see how they work out. I probably won't be releasing it just yet as the HUD lighting isn't ready. I will be releasing an improved pick up pistol in the next week or so.

[Hendricks266]

Does said hand include separate flesh textures from the weapon as what plotted on the HRP to-do?

[Tea Monster]

Hendricks266, on Jul 16 2010, 10:36 AM, said:

Does said hand include separate flesh textures from the weapon as what plotted on the HRP to-do?

Should be no problem. Just needs handling the same way that Duke and the Jetpack are.

[Spiker]

After a few days off I worked on it again. I think I'm getting there, am I not?

[Tea Monster]

That looks like it is developing nicely. Still needs a lot more detail.

[Night Wolf]

It's looking better...
the trigger and handle look a little odd.
try making the inside area of the trigger more oval shaped like in the picture of the real gun.

[Gambini]

@Spiker: Keep up the good work, from the last time i checked this thread to now, your model improved a lot and it´s close to the quality the game would need.

Keep in mind that the second cannon is where the shells are stored and therefore it´s thicker and a little bit shorter than the above one. Also you should add grips and mold details to the sides of the handle.

[Tea Monster]

Latest texture on the pistol. I've gone for a lot darker feel to match the original sprite. I've made the grip a lot more modern looking.

[Night Wolf]

Tea Monster, on Jul 19 2010, 06:42 AM, said:

Latest texture on the pistol. I've gone for a lot darker feel to match the original sprite. I've made the grip a lot more modern looking.

Looks pretty cool, I think it could use a little more detail however, the grip part looks like a blurred texture, I would make it more a detailed texture for that part
is the grip part rubber?

Edit: maybe a more grainy texture similar to this?

[Spiker]

This time I've decided not to follow all your suggestions. Instead I've made it like the original (hopefully). The rest goes on the texture so no bitching.

Out of curiosity I've scaled it down extremly on depth axis to see how it would look. Hopefully this akward shape will be possible to animate

[KillerBudgie]

Holy cow. That looks fantastic!

I bet when that's done. It'll look the bee's bollocks!

[Night Wolf]

Shotguns coming along pretty well, the perspective looks pretty spot on.
The back part still looks a little odd, it seems a bit sharp in tems of angle, maybe it needs more polys?
The top back part of the gun has a line shape as seen in theres sprites, few other details too
or are you planning to add these details in via normal mapping?


I'm getting this feeling like the back part is thicker in the sprites, but this could just be the angle?

can we see a screen shot of the whole model too?

[Tea Monster]

It looks good, but I'd put a lot more detail in there. There are all the slots and panels on the back of the gun. If you check out the photos that were posted earlier, there are a lot of screws and other details. Also there is the nuke symbol.

[Spiker]

Thanks for the tips, comments, and the tutorial. But seriously Tea Monster do you think that adding these very little details like screws will change anything? (Actually when I was speaking with Roma I told him that sooner or later they will tell me to model screws, and I was joking then ). Somehow I have a feeling that it won't be noticable at all especially after applying a texture and a normal map. I think it won't make any difference even if you stared at it from a very close range, which noone will.

However I may be wrong. I would like to hear some explanation/justification of this. Also would like to hear some more comments on this problem from other guys who know the stuff. Of course if it's really beneficial I will add this.

Edit: Abut the tutorial: Funnily enough I used the same technique to model the holes on the heat shield. However I've discovered it myself

[Master Fibbles]

The texture should include the screws etc. I think TM is talking about making a very high detail mesh with all the details that is used to bake a normal map on.

[Spiker]

Mr.Flibble, on Jul 19 2010, 11:06 PM, said:

The texture should include the screws etc. I think TM is talking about making a very high detail mesh with all the details that is used to bake a normal map on.

Yeah, he needs to clarify this because I'm getting confused. Because I'm talking only about low-poly version all the time.