Development > Artwork

New Bloodspider Model

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Destructavator:
Regarding the animation thing:  It isn't an issue at all when creating the model - The modeler can, in their modeling software, use either manual vertex animation or a skeleton when creating the model and it's animations, no problem at all there, as long as they have a proper MD2 exporter.  An example is the python MD2 exporter for the old Blender, which automatically converts any animations created by a skeleton in the modeling program into vertex MD2 animations when exporting.

Back when I was making models and animating them for this project (in Blender) that's exactly what I did - I used a skeleton inside Blender for rigging and setting the animations and poses, and when I hit the MD2 export button the computer would convert everything, with the resulting MD2 having vertex animation.  The skeleton was only a "helper" tool, only inside the modeling program but not carried over into the game at all.

So as long as a properly written exporter is available, it doesn't matter how the modeler creates the animations inside the modeling program.  Does this make sense?

Crystan:
Well he can animate it so this isnt a issue but not skin it. As Destructavator allready mentioned he needs a exporter for the new Blender but sadly he havnt managed to find one yet. Maybe its possible to export it as a "normal model" (md3, mdl.. whatever) and import it back into Blender 2.4 and then export it as md2?

MCR:
There is a brand-new md3 exporter for Blender 2.58 available.

I tested it and it is working, but I have tested to export only static models yet:

http://xembie.com/2010/md3-exporter/

It should work with animated models, also. In the worst case we can just export the keyframes and rebuild the animation in another program capable of md2 support (like mm3d).

If we got the model in md3 we can convert it to md2 easily, as there were problems with md3s in-game recently, but maybe Mattn has managed to eliminate those already, he would have to answer that...

Also it would be nice, if he could bake a normalmap in Blender and provide that also (especially for the low detail LoD model).

Making a nice diffuse texture for the model should not be the biggest problem once we have the animated model and a UVmap of it.

Destructavator:

--- Quote from: MCR on August 01, 2011, 12:03:44 pm ---There is a brand-new md3 exporter for Blender 2.58 available.

I tested it and it is working, but I have tested to export only static models yet:

http://xembie.com/2010/md3-exporter/

It should work with animated models, also. In the worst case we can just export the keyframes and rebuild the animation in another program capable of md2 support (like mm3d).

If we got the model in md3 we can convert it to md2 easily, as there were problems with md3s in-game recently, but maybe Mattn has managed to eliminate those already, he would have to answer that...

Also it would be nice, if he could bake a normalmap in Blender and provide that also (especially for the low detail LoD model).

Making a nice diffuse texture for the model should not be the biggest problem once we have the animated model and a UVmap of it.

--- End quote ---

YES!  About time someone wrote an exporter for something at least close to what we usually use for UFO AI!

MCR, you deserve a pat on the back, thanks for finding that.   ;)

As far as issues with loading MD3 models in-game, I don't know how functional that is at the moment myself, but if it does have problems I'm sure they'll be fixable.  I do a lot of work with some other 3D graphics engines and SDKs outside of UFO AI, mostly open-source, and one of them has its own MD2 and MD3 loaders that could be used as a guide (comparing code) if our own MD3 loader for this project happens to be broken.  I don't necessarily mean copying code direct or anything, but it could be good as a general reference if we get stuck getting our own MD3 loader to work.  (The 3rd party SDK I'm talking about is in C++, so we couldn't just copy code anyways, although it is capable of loading models for OpenGL as well as use with SDL, which if I'm not mistaken is close to what UFO AI uses.)

On the other hand, if our own MD3 loader works fine, then we won't shouldn't have any problem, and we can *finally* get Blender-made stuff into this project again.

Makaber:
Hello everyone

Thank you for liking the model.

Well I have some notes & questions.


--- Quote from: H-Hour on July 31, 2011, 08:17:43 pm ---Also, it's his choice, but in my opinion the spheres on the head could be done in the texture without any real loss in-game. The player would have to look very closely to notice the extra polys, especially when our models begin to support normalmapping (or do they already?), and putting the eyes into the texture would prevent getting the sharp angles where the eyes meet the head.

--- End quote ---

I also thought that normal maps would be good enough, but I didn't know if the game supports them or not, so I just put them there.
There is no problem for me to create a normal map.


--- Quote from: MCR on July 31, 2011, 08:40:56 pm ---Our current bloodspider model has an invisible head attached to it (a minicube), but it would be best if the head could be seperated, for detail views...
Also our engine supports 3 LoDs, regarding the polycount.

--- End quote ---

For what reason does the head needs to be seperated? And I don't get the "for detail views".

There shouldn't be a problem on creating LoDs, but are they necessary? Crystan told me the current polycount would be good for distance. But on the other hand there isn't much to improve on the model through more polygons.

Because MD3 file format needs to have tris for polys and no quads the new polycounts are 1060 for the small and 1260 for the big one. Booth counted without the eyes (as they will be removed).
I don't know how much the engine is cabaple off, but maybe I should create lower poly LoDs given this new fact.
So are there any recommended values for the LoDs?

Can someone give me a list which animations are needed/wished and the frame length?
I've take a look at the current model and to what I can see there is walk, attack and two death animations.
But maybe there are also new wishes for animations, or maybe I overlooked something?


As for using booth, Crystan linked me some articles in the wiki and I read about a combat bloodspider.
I would say that the big one would be the weak one which carries blood and organs, and the small one would be the combat, because it doesn't need the blood collecting stuff and is more agile.

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