New Rocket Launcher

[Flying Steel]

The old rocket launcher model looks somewhat unwieldy for a short ranged tactical launcher loaded and fired by just one man (as opposed to a team of two, which is usually the case) and maybe a bit outdated as well. So I started on a new one, based loosely on a few modern day systems from real life.



So what do you think, good, bad?

If approved, I'll continue on to the UV/textures/LoD work for it. I usually release my work under the GPL.

[Hertzila]

The model itself looks good (pretty much like Javelin) but I think you should take a more RPG-y look or some other reloadable rocket launcher as an inspiration. Also yours looks more like it should work like Javelin, ie. fire a missile high up where it will then turn and hit a tank from above. It also seems to lack any clear places where to grab from (pistol grips and such).

Hopefully I didn't ruin your enthusiasm already...

[Winter]

It's a good model, but as Hertzila said, it doesn't really fit either the current writeup or the general concept and art of our rocket launcher (for example, the straight-line shooting particle). We want a new model for the rocket launcher, but it has to be more like an advanced recoilless rifle than a guided weapon.

Regards,
Winter

[Flying Steel]

So how do you want the new model to look differently from the current one? And are there any specific real world weapons you'd like the new version to be based on?

[Hertzila]

Well, if it's a multipurpose recoilless rifle the devs want, the Swedish Carl Gustaf might be a good place to start.

[Flying Steel]

Alright then, a 120mm version of a carl gustav. Are there any more design points we want to add to this?

Winter what did you mean by an advanced recoiless rifle? Advanced as in having a range finder instead of a simple scope or iron sights, maybe?

[Winter]

Alright then, a 120mm version of a carl gustav. Are there any more design points we want to add to this?

It doesn't have to be 120mm -- that's just a figure we chose due to the ridiculous size of the current launcher.

Winter what did you mean by an advanced recoiless rifle? Advanced as in having a range finder instead of a simple scope or iron sights, maybe?

Yes, that sort of thing is exactly what I mean.

Regards,
Winter

[Flying Steel]

How's this?

[Hertzila]

Looks rather fine. The back "cone" might be a little too abrupt and steep and it's a little hard to comment details without texture but overall, looks good IMO.

I'd suggest waiting for Winter or some other dev to confirm that it's okay.

[Flying Steel]

Looks rather fine. The back "cone" might be a little too abrupt and steep and it's a little hard to comment details without texture but overall, looks good IMO.

I'd suggest waiting for Winter or some other dev to confirm that it's okay.

That can certainly be done, but it might then look like a near clone of the carl gustav, which is why I used a tail cone more like that of the AT4. Do you have a preference on this, Winter?

[Winter]

I think the Carl Gustav is an awesome-looking weapon, and if our launcher resembles it, that's totally fine with me.

I'd even be happy to change the writeup to name it as a descendant of the original Carl Gustav.

Regards,
Winter

[Flying Steel]

Normal Mapping:

[Winter]

Niiiice work.

Regards,
Winter

[Origin]

good stuff 

[Flying Steel]

Thanks!

So what kind of paint job do we want on this thing? A cool glossy black? Or just a boring olive drab green?

Phalanx operates in every environment, so camouflage colorations are probably more or less irrelevant.




Finally, we need think about lighting for this model/textures. You folks have shaders now. While you're legacy models have faked static lighting painted (or baked) into their diffuse textures.

If the model is still going to be lit by ambient lighting on your maps, come version 2.4, then you would need the lighting baked into the diffuse texture for this model.

If your battlescape environment(s) will have realtime lighting though, in version 2.4, then you probably don't want fake lighting in your diffuse texture. Because you want your normal, specular and roughness maps to be doing all the reflection from those realtime lights, dynamically.

So how do you want me to do this?