A (Finally!) proper low-poly head without the headache

[Mattn]

can't you just export the texture without any light effects applied by blender?

[Kildor]

Destructavator:
> These are with the default game video settings.
But all chrome looks good. The problems only with models. Or is there any special model-related brightness?

PS: MAy be we should split this tread?

[Destructavator]

can't you just export the texture without any light effects applied by blender?

Yes and no.  I understand what you're asking quite clearly, but with the way Blender works and renders the material textures, it would look like total shit, at least in this case.  Blender does have a "shadeless" option for special uses, but I've worked with Blender long enough to know that with the way this model is set up it is a bad idea, long story short.  (I could go into the long version, with examples and paragraph after paragraph, but don't want to waste the time right now.)

I haven't played 2.2.1 in a long time, but I'll download it and try this head model with that version and look at the difference.  As some in this forum have said, 2.2.1 arguably has a better default brightness with everything (models, maps, GUI, etc.) balanced better.

[Migel]

but with the way Blender works and renders the material textures...

I don't get it. Is this some kind of autoskin?

[Destructavator]

I don't get it. Is this some kind of autoskin?

I'm not sure what an "autoskin" is - please forgive me, as I haven't done modeling for as long as most modelers have.

I will say that I've tried doing textures without lighting properties before in Blender, they come out awful, again long story short.  I also haven't tried other modeling programs, so I can't compare with how other software does textures.

Edit:  The way this model is set up it actually does it in several steps, because I start with a high-detail and high-poly model with various textures, and in the end it eventually gets mapped onto a low-poly model exported to MD2.

[Migel]

  I mean don't you draw this skin by youself? Or it is Blender make the texture? I never work with Blender...

[Migel]

I can try to draw a few skins then I finish my armour...

[Destructavator]

Got it!!!   

This is in 2.2.1.

Also attached are the heads in MD2 format.

To answer your question Migel, no, I don't hand-draw anything, I don't have that type of artistic ability, heck, I can't even take a pencil and draw a proper stick figure worth a d***.  I create a high-detail high-poly texture with Blender's built-in texture creation tools, then plaster the details onto the low-poly version.  As an example:  For the eyes, I render several circle meshes of different sizes and colors, render it to a plane, then use that for an eye.  The original circles have different patterns, not always just solid colors.  I start with the tiny picky stuff, then build it into the bigger model, then create the low-poly version to map everything to.

[Mattn]

Migel please also attach the skins - not only screenshots. i would like to commit them to our repo, too

[Migel]

Migel please also attach the skins - not only screenshots

Of course, but I don't like this one. I can do better, but I need some time. This was drawn in 20min.

[Destructavator]

I'll upload my Blender source files shortly, for building the texture parts as well as the models themselves (the low and high-poly).

I'd like to point out that a program called "Misfit Model 3D" which is on sourceforge, another modeling program, isn't as sophisticated as Blender but can directly edit MD2 files including texture and skin data details (such as number of skins, what file name to use for each skin, etc.)

@Migel, I almost forgot - *Thank You!* - you saved us a lot of trouble trying to tear apart the code of the python export script and muck around with a lot of other technical "shtuff" trying to figure out where the problem was.

P.S. - Oh dear, I forgot to mention this:  I changed the UV mapping a bit to utilize more space and also rotated the whole thing 90 degrees.  If you are going to provide extra skins, please base them off of the ones in the latest zip file I just posted, otherwise they won't map properly onto the mesh.  (Or, as an alternative, we could just use two versions of the MD2, the old one and the new, with different file names, if you've already started new skins and don't want to start over.)

[Migel]

Thank You

I'm glad I could help 

[Mattn]

please use the same rotation as the existing heads

[Destructavator]

Well, here's the source files, in one package:

http://www.destructavator.com/92dl/Head_FlatTop.zip

please use the same rotation as the existing heads

Do you mean you want me to go back and re-map and re-export all the stuff to the older version?  It's more than just rotation - some of the vert coordinates were changed too, because I was fixing some stuff in the way the texture was mapped.

Edit: Never mind, I fixed it and I'm uploading it now...

[Mattn]

i suppose they are gpl 2 or later, too?