Miscellaneous Models

[Psawhn]

I should probably help out more with the little stuff that needs doing.




Here's a fuel tank for the aircraft.

.blend: https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~djetowns/public_html/misc_files/UFO_AI/fuel_tank4.blend
.tga: https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~djetowns/public_html/misc_files/UFO_AI/FuelTank.tga

[Winter]

I should probably help out more with the little stuff that needs doing.




Here's a fuel tank for the aircraft.

.blend: https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~djetowns/public_html/misc_files/UFO_AI/fuel_tank4.blend
.tga: https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~djetowns/public_html/misc_files/UFO_AI/FuelTank.tga

Hey, nice work, I like it.

Regards,
Winter

[Psawhn]

SHIVA Cannon API Rounds:




The first image is using different polygon levels and a 128x128px texture. You guys can pick which is best. I can also work on putting them into a chain if you want.

The second is a fancy render that I felt like doing.


The switch from API to HEI is as simple as recolouring those bands, haha

[BTAxis]

I like them! Nice job.

[Winter]

SHIVA Cannon API Rounds:



The switch from API to HEI is as simple as recolouring those bands, haha

Very nice work, my friend. Obviously the highest-poly one looks the nicest, but maybe we can use the others in a sort of LOD arrangement if we're incorporating graphical air combat in detail.

For the HEI rounds, I suggest changing the blue tip to orange. A belt would be handy as well, but I don't know how many polies that would be with the best one.

Regards,
Winter

[Psawhn]

The belt is exactly why I went for differing levels of detail. Personally, I think the second-last one (288 tris) looks like the best compromise between detail and polycount for a single round, but it's still much too high if you wanted a 3D model of a whole ammo belt in the game - the first or second models would be best for that.

(Of course, the render models are 10830 quads each, but it looks sweet, if I do say so myself. )

I tried out blender's Multires feature for the "different" models. It was handy in that I could develop one high-res model incrementally, and changes would propagate to all other levels of the model. I also used it so the UVMaps would match up in each different version - something I couldn't guarantee if I made separate resolutions of the mesh.

And here's a render of an HEI version. Orange-tipped, and with an extra red stripe, to denote it's higher explosiveness. Mwa ha ha. Or something.

I'll start working on an ammo belt.

Edit: Helps if I post the image:

[Winter]

Yes please.

Regards,
Winter

[Psawhn]

Huh, how the heck can an aircraft (even the tiny Stiletto) pack 10,000 rounds of ammo per gun?



Turns out the feed is linkless, so no belts or chains, haha. So I decided to go for an ammo 'barrel,' like on the GAU-8 used on the A-10.

I've measured out the dimensions, though. The dual-ring scheme I use means the barrel is about 1.4m in diameter, and can hold 5040 rounds with a depth of 1.8m. That's only half of the specified 10,000 rounds, though. (And it's still 5 times the 1174 rounds held by the A-10!). It seems way too big to fit even one on the Stiletto, much less a potential three. (Never mind doubling its length so it actually holds ten thousand rounds.)

If I just use the compact inner ring, then the radius is nearly halved to 0.72m, which makes for a more manageable load (but still silly on the Stiletto ) and the ammo storage is nearly quartered to 1440 rounds with a storage depth of 1.8m.

I could maybe work on both, which allows the player to choose the large capacity for medium/heavy hardpoints and 5x the staying power, or the smaller which improves airspeed, fuel economy, weight, and fits on smaller hardpoints.

Edit: Of course, the simplest option is just to show a single bullet to the player, and abstract away this stupid ammo storage .

[Winter]

Huh, how the heck can an aircraft (even the tiny Stiletto) pack 10,000 rounds of ammo per gun?



Turns out the feed is linkless, so no belts or chains, haha. So I decided to go for an ammo 'barrel,' like on the GAU-8 used on the A-10.

I've measured out the dimensions, though. The dual-ring scheme I use means the barrel is about 1.4m in diameter, and can hold 5040 rounds with a depth of 1.8m. That's only half of the specified 10,000 rounds, though. (And it's still 5 times the 1174 rounds held by the A-10!). It seems way too big to fit even one on the Stiletto, much less a potential three. (Never mind doubling its length so it actually holds ten thousand rounds.)

If I just use the compact inner ring, then the radius is nearly halved to 0.72m, which makes for a more manageable load (but still silly on the Stiletto ) and the ammo storage is nearly quartered to 1440 rounds with a storage depth of 1.8m.

I could maybe work on both, which allows the player to choose the large capacity for medium/heavy hardpoints and 5x the staying power, or the smaller which improves airspeed, fuel economy, weight, and fits on smaller hardpoints.

Edit: Of course, the simplest option is just to show a single bullet to the player, and abstract away this stupid ammo storage .

I think you're overestimating the size of the round, here. Have a look at a 20mm Vulcan round: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:50BMG_size_comparison.JPG

It's not much taller than a stick of RAM which you can hold between forefinger and thumb. You can't tell me that two of those stacked end to end are anywhere near 80cm. Your thickness calculations are also a bit overestimated, methinks.

Still, I'd be fine with changing the SHIVA mag size to 5040 total for all guns (though I don't know if this is possible in the code yet).

Regards,
Winter

[Psawhn]

You're right, my estimates were, uh, overestimated.

In that picture you gave, I used the size of the golf ball (about 42.7mm) to estimate the size of the 20mm round (170mm long). My estimates based on my model's dimensions gave a length of 225mm. I also did most of my calculations for a single-ring barrel, and I just doubled that (including the margins I gave for the center and outside, doh) for the dual-ring barrel. (I also overestimated the margin I need between rings, and for the outside.)

Revised estmates give about 800-900 cm diameter for a double-barrel, and half that for a single-barrel. That's definitely better than 1.4m.

My width isn't off by quite as large an error - the 20mm round looks like about 28.8 (let's call it 30) mm, and my estimates gave 35mm. Using those figures, and increasing the length of the barrel to an even 2.0m, one can fit about 6500 (6533 precisely). We can probably bump it up to 6540 to account for extra bullets in the conveyor belt, and make it a nice even number.

Of course, the weight of that many bullets isn't insignificant, but we can probably say that the late 21st century engines and materials are strong enough to account for that.

Edit: More work on the drum, this time with some rails to lead the ammo into/out of the drum.

[Winter]

You're right, my estimates were, uh, overestimated.

In that picture you gave, I used the size of the golf ball (about 42.7mm) to estimate the size of the 20mm round (170mm long). My estimates based on my model's dimensions gave a length of 225mm. I also did most of my calculations for a single-ring barrel, and I just doubled that (including the margins I gave for the center and outside, doh) for the dual-ring barrel. (I also overestimated the margin I need between rings, and for the outside.)

Revised estmates give about 800-900 cm diameter for a double-barrel, and half that for a single-barrel. That's definitely better than 1.4m.

My width isn't off by quite as large an error - the 20mm round looks like about 28.8 (let's call it 30) mm, and my estimates gave 35mm. Using those figures, and increasing the length of the barrel to an even 2.0m, one can fit about 6500 (6533 precisely). We can probably bump it up to 6540 to account for extra bullets in the conveyor belt, and make it a nice even number.

Of course, the weight of that many bullets isn't insignificant, but we can probably say that the late 21st century engines and materials are strong enough to account for that.

Edit: More work on the drum, this time with some rails to lead the ammo into/out of the drum.

Nice one. I'd much rather use a big drum like that (with a single round standing in front for reference) as the SHIVA ammo model rather than just showing a single round.

Regards,
Winter

[Psawhn]

Here's the model for the ammo drum, and two textures:
https://webdisk.ucalgary.ca/~djetowns/public_html/misc_files/UFO_AI/shiva_ammo/

I had to take out the rails and the belt, but the polycount is still high: 2106 triangles. That's using only 1 layer of minimum-resolution bullets, too.

Individual bullets out in front look a bit small and out of place, so I took 'em out. Maybe you guys could find a use for the above stills in the game?

Edit: It helps if I post a picture, haha.

[sitters]

Cant you render the hi poly front of the drum and take an snapshot, then replace the bullets by an texture ?

Then the high poly count is gone.

Willem

[Psawhn]

That's exactly what I did for the wall behind the bullet, actually. I figured that way I can have the 3D of a layer of bullets, with the effect that there's a lot more underneath. If I simply draw a cylinder with everything baked onto it, then it looks like a cylinder with a painting of bullets on the front.

[Mattn]

the question is: how big will we display the model in the pedia? i suppose the displayed model is that small, that you don't even see any single bullet, but only a yellow/blue ring of bullets.