Any Modelers Needed For TDM?

[Epifire]

EDIT: As I also realize there was more forum to post in than I'd thought, I may have put this thread in the wrong spot.

 

Hey guys, long time no see! So at some given point a long time ago I was just dabbling with this game, it's editor and modeling but now I'm really tempted to take a stab at this again. At this point I've still been heavily involved with modeling and mapping within Source mods and Unreal Engine 4 but somehow the Dark Mod (being so totally Thiefy) just keeps coming back in my mind.

So while I'm still working on some old Star Wars Battlefront map (for legacy support commemorating release of the new one) I'm gonna be wrapping that up soon. I'm not sure if I would be able to work a ton on another project right away but I'd seriously love to try my hand at some dark gritty models for people around in this community.

So I guess what I wanna know is, who's still workin on stuff (fan missions and so on)? Cause while I really don't know a whole lot about the particular workflow in this editor (scripting, entities and so forth) I absolutely love the style. Now I figure I'm asking, are there any ongoing projects I might be able to help people with in the future?

At this point I'm just thinking art, but I've been adding more to my workflow recently as I've been getting into Sculpting high-res assets for getting some really intense details into my textures. I figured (if it were alright with the community here) it would be a fine place to start getting more experience, while hopefully providing some slick looking assets. If anyone was wondering what some of my prior work looks like, here's some out of the Source mod Double Action: Boogaloo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Art Test in Unreal 4 ~

 

 

 

 

 

So while it might be a while before I could dive into additional work but I'm really interested in pitching in around here if ya'll would have me. Either way I still love playing all the new fan missions and I think this also went standalone since I last played.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Epifire

[nbohr1more]

Thanks for your interest.

 

We currently have a few internal projects cooking yes.

 

Regardless of that, it's good to have more modelers to beef up our asset base so that there's more diversity for mappers

to work with.

 

I think one area we'd really like to see more assets for are statues and busts as we currently have a limited set of these and it

can be immersion breaking to see the same ones over and over again.

 

The Dark Mod currently works with vanilla Doom 3 type assets but we tend to prefer either ASE or LWO models and our Lead Artist

would typically request LWO as that is his specialty (so that he can assist if needed). If you can get the ASE working in-game and it

looks good then it's mostly moot.

 

Edit:

 

Have you already reviewed our wiki:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Modeling

 

?

[Springheel]

There are three ways to assist with modelling:

 

1. Make an offer to create custom models on order--plenty of mappers would jump at the chance to have things modeled for their works in progress.

 

2. Take a look at areas where we don't seem to have a lot of variety of assets (statues, as already mentioned, or covered furniture) and create some.

 

3. Make any thiefy thing you feel like and offer it to see if it's something we're interested in.

[Epifire]

There are three ways to assist with modelling:

 

1. Make an offer to create custom models on order--plenty of mappers would jump at the chance to have things modeled for their works in progress.

 

2. Take a look at areas where we don't seem to have a lot of variety of assets (statues, as already mentioned, or covered furniture) and create some.

 

3. Make any thiefy thing you feel like and offer it to see if it's something we're interested in.

 

What I had in mind was seeing some of the popular existing maps and try to detail areas that were plain or overlooked (things of the blocky BSP nature). Otherwise I'm cool with doing some stuff on request but I would definitely like to collaborate with an experienced mapper and see what details I can help him/her out with.

 

I'm a big fan of landmark assets or things designed with very specific singular usage. Basically running up the detail pass while the experienced mapper (who know's the ins and outs of the game) could manage the layout and more game play specific stuff. I was doing this on the Steam game Double Action, but my other buddy got tied up with stuff irl and we had to set it aside.

 

Reason I'd rather work on a specific map is then I'd know exactly where these assets are intended to be used. Makes for a real personalized space when there are models being used for very direct purposes. I can do either method but it's really cool to work directly with the mapper on said map.

[Goldwell]

If you want to try out a small & presumably simple model request check out this http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/17262-request-for-custom-model/

 

It's going to be going into a relatively large sized FM which is part of a campaign so if you're interested in ongoing work I definitely have a few things here and there that need creating

 

edit: it would be going into this room btw http://i.imgur.com/UoeUsi0.jpg

Edited July 16, 2015 by Goldwell

[Epifire]

If you want to try out a small & presumably simple model request check out this http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/17262-request-for-custom-model/

 

It's going to be going into a relatively large sized FM which is part of a campaign so if you're interested in ongoing work I definitely have a few things here and there that need creating

 

edit: it would be going into this room btw http://i.imgur.com/UoeUsi0.jpg

 

Yeah that would probably be fine. Is there any other way I can reach you just for general questions and chat about the map? I'm trying to think how the units translate from D3 to my modeling app Softimage. Best thing really is just to be able to reference the map itself from the editor and see where it's going and what it's being paired up with. If that's all good with you, I can get stuff grid aligned and turn out a lot of customized assets that way.

 

Doesn't look like that particular section of the map uses any stone work but I'm dying to try and sculpt out some stone and mortar walls/supports to go in one of these Missions. I recall a lot of the models in TDM folders having tiled world textures for BSP. So I'm really excited to see what some baked meshes are gonna look like in-game. I love how powerful the normal maps in the DooM 3 engine are, over the shader that Source relies on. I also like to use a lot of baked ambient occlusion in structural meshes. Since the engine doesn't actually have any HBAO/SSAO rendering capabilities, it's a fun way to get around that.

[Goldwell]

 

Yeah that would probably be fine. Is there any other way I can reach you just for general questions and chat about the map? I'm trying to think how the units translate from D3 to my modeling app Softimage. Best thing really is just to be able to reference the map itself from the editor and see where it's going and what it's being paired up with. If that's all good with you, I can get stuff grid aligned and turn out a lot of customized assets that way.

 

Doesn't look like that particular section of the map uses any stone work but I'm dying to try and sculpt out some stone and mortar walls/supports to go in one of these Missions. I recall a lot of the models in TDM folders having tiled world textures for BSP. So I'm really excited to see what some baked meshes are gonna look like in-game. I love how powerful the normal maps in the DooM 3 engine are, over the shader that Source relies on. I also like to use a lot of baked ambient occlusion in structural meshes. Since the engine doesn't actually have any HBAO/SSAO rendering capabilities, it's a fun way to get around that.

 

If you wish for a direct line of communication private messaging works great for me. Also using your program are you able to export to ASE or LWO? and are you familiar with getting models working for TDM? setting up the textures and scale (which I should be able to help you with on that)

[RPGista]

Whoa friend, thats some really top notch stuff right there, awesome work! Everything looks like its supposed to be in its "game-readiness", and impecable texturing. Really liked that map construction there aswell, would look amazing in some alternate reality kind of mission here.

 

As for modelling stuff, Katsbits has some interesting articles to chew on regarding modeling and Idtech4, you should take a look if you havent already ( http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/#idtech). It has info on the scale thing you mentioned, and useful steps on how to export a map's basic geometry for use in a modeller as base, which seems to have interested you the most.

 

Our good friend Arcturus is a blender and tdm ace who has created innovative shaders and has made several conceptual maps using modelling output coupled with map geometry, like this gorgeous thing:

 

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12985-animated-grass-test-map/

 

Down the road, once you get a feel of how to view and study maps using DarkRadiant, you'll want to check out his work for sure.

 

There is also a need for detail, so any work on things that are useful for creating a mood are really appreciated, everyday stuff, or things that could help flesh out a certain character line/plot theme (Im working on a surgeon tool set that we dont have, for example, in case people wanna introduce some kind of medical theme in the map or a mad medieval-cientist kind of villain).

 

Or, like Springheel has done, you could also work on rich, independent architectural pieces that people could sink everywhere in the map to help give it density and a more complex feel than the basic editor construction.

 

Many options, really.

Edited July 17, 2015 by RPGista

[Gast]

These models are looking so clean. I particularly like the worn metal effect on the compressor.

[Epifire]

 

If you wish for a direct line of communication private messaging works great for me. Also using your program are you able to export to ASE or LWO? and are you familiar with getting models working for TDM? setting up the textures and scale (which I should be able to help you with on that)

 

Private messages will work then. I think XSI's "Point Oven" Plugin Suite supports the LWO file type. As long as the 2015 version I run supports that, then I should be fine. I can try and establish rough bounding scale from figures you give me (as it should translate into XSI grid units fine). Although for anything structural the best way to measure is really just to be able to see the map in the DarkRadiant (and export BSP if possible). Either way I think I can try and get to work on an interesting leather chair set for you. If you want to PM me on the details I figured I could give you a footstool and matching chair in the desired form of chesterfield leather. Worth a shot, but in any case I can get to work on something soon here and just scale it to what you need when ready. That way I can start to get my workflow down, while showing you guys what I can do within the engine.

 

 

Whoa friend, thats some really top notch stuff right there, awesome work! Everything looks like its supposed to be in its "game-readiness", and impecable texturing. Really liked that map construction there aswell, would look amazing in some alternate reality kind of mission here.

 

As for modelling stuff, Katsbits has some interesting articles to chew on regarding modeling and Idtech4, you should take a look if you havent already ( http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/#idtech). It has info on the scale thing you mentioned, and useful steps on how to export a map's basic geometry for use in a modeller as base, which seems to have interested you the most.

 

Our good friend Arcturus is a blender and tdm ace who has created innovative shaders and has made several conceptual maps using modelling output coupled with map geometry, like this gorgeous thing:

 

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/12985-animated-grass-test-map/

 

Down the road, once you get a feel of how to view and study maps using DarkRadiant, you'll want to check out his work for sure.

 

There is also a need for detail, so any work on things that are useful for creating a mood are really appreciated, everyday stuff, or things that could help flesh out a certain character line/plot theme (Im working on a surgeon tool set that we dont have, for example, in case people wanna introduce some kind of medical theme in the map or a mad medieval-cientist kind of villain).

 

Or, like Springheel has done, you could also work on rich, independent architectural pieces that people could sink everywhere in the map to help give it density and a more complex feel than the basic editor construction.

 

Many options, really.

 

Many thanks on the support, modeling has been fast becoming my life's work. I'm just diving into Sculpting after buying Mudbox and an Intuos Pro tablet to use it with. I'll definitely be looking into some of the different methods though. One other thing I'll be paying close attention (moving forward towards textures here) are any kind of special shader functions supported in the Id 4. Things from animated textures, to different kinds of transparency, reflection and specular options. It's all a little foggy as to how the file system is setup, but I think I'll be able to pick it up quickly when given enough time to study the Wiki.

[Springheel]

Doesn't look like that particular section of the map uses any stone work but I'm dying to try and sculpt out some stone and mortar walls/supports to go in one of these Missions.

 

 

If you're interested in creating architectural pieces, you should consider making modular kit pieces like they used in Skyrim (and most other games now).

 

I've been working on module pieces for the last six months or so, so I could help out with any questions. I'd start here:

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14832-modular-building-technique/?p=361394

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/3118-springheels-stuff/?p=361603

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/3118-springheels-stuff/?p=364283

 

There's also a very informative post here about how module building worked in Skyrim:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q7M9ZyKUWpI/UXAcJT3pSUI/AAAAAAAAAak/FvXRSHtOsik/s1600/DwarvenKitShot.png