Animation for character models

[BTAxis]

Sounds good to me. Get cracking.

[Mattn]

if the problem was introduced in some update... we have a version history - you can go back and grab the first version of a model.

[vedrit]

I looked in the revision history, and couldnt find it, hence my earlier post when I said I didnt find it.
And I would re-make it, but my skills tend to lie in animating and lighting, or making simple modles


EDIT: I found the same model, with the same problem, going all the way back to revision 1377

If the origional of this model could be found, that would go a long ways. If the body.md2 was renamed, that could also help me find what Im looking for

[Mattn]

i wasn't talking about the md2 file here - i was talking about the source files: http://ufoai.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ufoai/ufoai/data_source/models/characters/ (though i'm not sure whether the model you are searching has a source file commited)

if you can't work on characters - animating trees and animals would be cool, too.

[vedrit]

It doesnt look to be the same model. Are you changing soldier models?

[Mattn]

i'm sorry - maybe i'm just blind, but i couldn't find any reference (except the body.md2) to the model you are refering here.

[vedrit]

well, the file name is the same, yes, but the model within that file is different. I've posted screenshots of the character I have, and I think is the current model. The other models are...not the same. Not saying they are bad, just not the same

[Destructavator]

I ran into this myself back when I attempted to create new animations.

Some of the basic soldier models being used in-game do not have any source files in the "data source" folder, I'm guessing they are very old and the source was lost or not provided by the people who started the project.

Sitters and I think a few others more recently in the last year or so created some alternate soldier models, I think mostly for non-player units, which are in the data source but have not been put into the game.

I hope this sheds some light on the issue, if I'm correct.

Considering how old and out-dated the player models are, and the fact there is no source, it *might* be worth it to just create new player soldier bodies, considering the fact that people have talked about new armor and new animations, etc.  Of course, this would take some modeling work.

If this idea is pursued by modelers who have the time, one tool that might help is the open-source "MakeHuman" which is on sourceforge and already has a tech preview that mostly works available for download, a totally new version that I believe has a compatible license.  I played around with that program before - It can easily be used to make models of people quickly, which can be simplified easily to reduce polycount, then it isn't hard to add clothing.  (And the models can go right into Blender.)

An alternative would be to hunt down the old developers and ask for the source for the player soldier models...

[vedrit]

If anyone wants to make a new soldier (and/or other characters) I'd more than happy to give them life (animate)

[Destructavator]

I *might* be able to help there, as I've already played with Blender and MakeHuman in the past and have some models floating around on my hard drives, some of which could be adapted to work with the current soldier heads to make new soldiers for this game, although given that I'm working on more than one thing at once it might take me longer than it would for someone else to come up with something.  The biggest barrier I've come across with my own models is creating textures.

If someone good at texturing and colors can help, I can probably come up with some draft model proposals hopefully in the next few days that are untextured.

Is there a rough, ballpark limit to polycount that should be followed?

Edit: Here (attached, char1) is one of my older models,  in it the vast majority of the polycount is from the head, so if the head was taken out the body and clothing might be good for a civilian model of some type.  Feel free to play around with it.

Edit: Here (char1b) is a slightly modified version with a jacket instead of a long coat.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Destructavator]

Forgot to mention, if either of these seem useful and others could build upon them, what type of license works best with models like these?

[vedrit]

I think that, unless we want to change our soldiers from contemprary soldiers to more like "Syndicate" agents (Made by Bullfrog in the 1990's), char1b would be our choice, plus some more polys to the body.
Char1  wouldnt be bad, though the head has way too many polys

Do you have MSN or Yahoo? I'd like to be able to talk to you quicker

[Destructavator]

As I said, these would be better for civilians or staff.

Char1  wouldnt be bad, though the head has way too many polys

As I also just said:

in it the vast majority of the polycount is from the head, so if the head was taken out the body and clothing might be good for a civilian model of some type.  Feel free to play around with it.

The head would be taken out anyways if this was used, because in UFO: AI the bodies and heads are seperate, so this wouldn't be an issue.  Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Do you have MSN or Yahoo? I'd like to be able to talk to you quicker

At the moment no, unfortunately.  That and I've never gotten used to IM programs. (Sorry!)

I'll also mention that these are older models that I didn't fully finish, although I could go back to working on them...

Perhaps we should wait until BTAxis, Mattn, and the others come back in the morning where they are (not sure what time zones they are in) and comment on a game plan.

Oh, and yes, I played Syndicate extensively back in the '90s, loved it, and only briefly played the sequel re-incarnation of it.  But yes, I agree it is a totally different type of game theme and such.

[vedrit]

I know those are more suited for civ or staff character, but I still think it would be interesting.
At any rate, those characters would be a great starting point for a new model.
And I enjoyed the Syndicate...the first one...the others were...meh...
But the thing that made me make the reference is that, in essence, the characters arent that different. As game development progresses, implants are going to be made available (I could be wrong), they both run around killing in squads of set max amounts, etc etc.
Perhaps we could try these models, after polishing them up a bit, and see what everyone else thinks

[Destructavator]

I agree, yes, with some work these models could potentially be turned into something the game could use.

That and I also agree the first Syndicate game was much better.