Epifire

Oh wow, this got big quick. I can definitely work on these in due time though I may need to make a list. Did some quick work to toss together this. I want to know opinions on the pylon design mainly. I feel this version can work but I'm not completely set as to whether I like an orb design or something more sharp. I tried to utilize bolts and rivets to emphasize the scale more but I'll let you all be the judge. I'm able to scale the whole thing down some if this is too large and I also had planned to add more iron fittings down at the base. Various angles probably with more service panels and release levers. I'm open to suggestions, but do note it's still very WIP.

Thanks! It's up to the mod leads as to what happens with them (as I had planned on submitting my finished work to the database). Otherwise with recent information, the only usage I could see them is in a heavy industrial facility. I mean even wireless setups have to have wires to link things together but we're talking about very large machines. Probably a generator room or factory controls. The game play advantage I saw to wires (not having known about the wifi) is that they're useful for leading the player on puzzle based missions where a visual confirmation of linkage is needed. I'll take you up on that sir. You may see some trials in the meanwhile but currently I'm thinking a single pylon centered into a cluster of supports. Sharp just seems to look more menacing and dangerous (and fits the theme I reckon) so I'll try something along those lines and get a rough concept going. Usually I'm pretty good about reusing polys/UV space but this is still gonna be pretty detailed (and may require some large/multiple sheets) to convey properly.

So that being said I guess the transformer was still in good standing. Maybe I should go over to a different thread for it but if there are any requests from our senior members (that know our current prop selection)? I'd be willing to start there after wrapping up the transformer but I have plenty of ideas to keep going with as long as they fit in the universe.

Oh? I suppose that might make these redundant if that's so. I guess then it's up to you all whether they can be used but I'd like to look more into TDM's tech restrictions. I really wanna expand on what we have and just enhance what's currently available for electrical equipment. Most my limitations have been how much I can condense something in accordance to the available methods. That and what can be manufactured with the materials that would be appropriate. Usually that means a lot of cast iron with bolts and rivets. My only summarization of how this technology could exist is in some kind of derelict facility with outdated or undiscovered machines foreign to the culture. I do still have plans of derelict props in general, just because I think there's a lot of depth to draw on for the environment. Things like moss covered beams, old machinery, mostly archaic pieces that seem antiquated even in TDM terms. But getting back to wireless electricity, do we just charge the air or what? I do recall those posts in the old Thief games that looked like some kind of electro receivers but I never realized that was carried over. If so that gives me a bit more to think about, but explains the lack in wiring.

Random question for the day. What is the general consensus on an in-depth animated clock? I've seen stuff with the Source engine that's driven by code to throttle an animation. Basically you'd setup the clock hands and set the position based by timer. So a second hand would have 60 frames and the code would run it through that animation based off of a coded timer to run it. I'm not asking someone to build it, I'm moreless asking what it would take to make it in the technical aspect. It's simple in theory but I have absolutely no idea what this looks like from a coding aspect.

That may just do the trick. I just know getting a separate pair of eyes to go over something can help a lot. I've been at the grind with this stuff though (almost non-stop) so while not being able to work on my transformer last night I just made a ceramic insulator and wiring set. The geometry isn't too large, so it all calls up the same texture sheet... I have a couple more things planned for the set (and maybe a small bit of optimizing in order) but they're done. In theory they're just bare copper wires strung around ceramic pegs but I thought it was a quick subtle way of adding more electrical detailing. Not sure if you can really see it but there are also some light cracks added to make it look more like ceramic. There's one I forgot to include that has a short rod attached to the bottom with a loop hole in it. Should be able to set up that pole to run wires down to actual machinery that needs to appear "powered" Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

@ RPGista, I used the source image (TGA) as substitute. It worked fine for the normal mode but again it just turns up black otherwise. I do think it's a problem in the blend diffuse section somehow. Reason is while in-game it's all black, in editor I can see an outline of my specular map still working. My guess is that the normal map works too but can't be seen on top of the black. Also I figured I'd insert this fellow into the mix and show what adding the translucent line in addition to my other shader info looks like... Now if I'm assuming correctly the translucent line shouldn't produce that should it? I'd be willing to PM someone the source files if they'd wanna take a crack at it. I'm starting to reach my whits end with it and I'm pretty sure it's something small I keep missing. Whether it be Source or Id4, shader files have a tendency to kick my a$$ on a fairly regular basis when I try something different.

I did not know about the DXT5 setting so I'll try that. The diffuse is always in a separate folder (as far as I've seen) and before trying this alpha transparency, it's always worked fine in the past. The DDS is contained under: The Dark Mod\dds\models\darkmod\props\textures EDIT: Currently this is the only setting I'm able to use, but there's no real change I can see. Just a black texture in-game. If I'm not running it with the other settings I posted it looks fine (minus the opaque gaps).

Attempting to sort out what I can from RPGista's material reference for rendering out the holes. I'm still a little lost as to which part directly tells the material when the shader should have translucent parts/gaps from alpha. So far I'm only seeing alphatest, twosided and translucent but neither of them seem to be effecting anything. In DR I get this odd effect of tris disappearing with half a translucent across the whole mesh (almost as if it's not receiving the alpha channel). I did second check my dds to make sure, and it looks to be in order. For some reason my transformer comes up black every time I get in-game though. Here's the first half of my shader (as the rest shouldn't need to be touched anyway).. I've literally copied out the exact same setup from RPGista's shader and it's still come up black. I'm starting to wonder if something is up with my DDS, so I'll try and see if I can use this current one without any changes. EDIT: Switched it back to normal and it works with the updated DDS file so it's definitely my shader setup.

Pardon the double post. Managed to get the transformer in-game, but I sorta went wild with promotional ideas in Ps after I screen capped it. I probably should have figured out how to render transparency on the release wheels beforehand, but here it is anyway... The normals and specular highlights seemed to have come out fine (which had me holding my breath). Other than that I still need to touch up a couple things I noticed. I just have the normal shader setup for it, but can anyone give me an example as to how you'd add information to render holes from alpha channels? That and what the best method is for setting up glow functions in the dials. Otherwise I think I'm gonna go grab some sleep and finish this tomorrow.

Thanks for the kind words all! Pretty excited since this Painter is a whole new front for me to explore. Really hoping the in-game result will do it some justice. @ Springheel, I'd be very interested in finding out about that material to handle the active gauges. On that note I was considering what it would take to have a lit/unlit mode and what that would offer for mappers? Obviously a very visually informative trait but again I know nothing of this engine's workings past the art. That would mean this would require a separate text file to define special entity functions I presume? Mirceal all discussions of intent or influence aside, the best thing I could give you advice for is material definition. Any kind of brushed normals in the fur to keep it from feeling flat would help it immensely I think. Right now you have color but not really any depth to the material (in an engine where nearly everything has normals on steroids). How you manage that is up to you, but that's my two bits if I were to give any artist advice. PS: Random thought but if you were to make something with glowing eyes in the form of a dog/wolf, what about one with a twist? Egyptian hounds like a kind of warrior from the afterlife? Except like a hard helmet instead just an optional idea too. Gives way to a whole different kind of enemy though. Depending on the art a good deal mysterious too! A really different style, if you had some kind of old tomb spelunking kinda mission but a rough example...

Sorta have had a haphazard workflow going in Substance Painter but here's a screenie inside the app for what hopefully may somewhat resemble the final in-game version... NOTE: Gauges still need work and the white inside the release wheels will be rendered transparent! This should be the standard (sorta dirty/mostly clean) city version. I want to do two more skins yet. The super clean and well maintained mansion version and a derelict one with busted out gauges. On a separate note I'm wondering how I might be able to bring better effects on these gauges. Right now I have only the flat reference to put a needle on top of but I was wondering if making the needle separate may be helpful for possible animations later? I thought a little harder and wondered what it might look like with that in addition to having it recessed and put underneath a layer of glass shader to give it a little more depth. I'm sorta out of my league with any cool things like glass readouts or anims so I figured I'd at least put the idea out there.

One thing I'd recommend spooks is looking at joint/filler supports for breaking things up too. Basically so you can encase the main sections in and seal things off for a separate underlying mesh. What's nice about relying on secondary models for that (besides breaking things up) is overlap. Because if something is just a bit too long for your needs often you can shift the underlying (flat) wall a bit into out of bounds or unplayable area. Since if you break it up into two layers it gives you just a bit more to work with. Another way of looking at it is moveable seams to your walls. Lend an eye to this fine representation I've conjured! Now I'm not suggesting you map everything like that as that'd be a pretty sloppy mapping suggestion. Buuuut in a pinch it gives you flexibility without having to go in and edit existing assets, just in case.

I definitely will have to download this when I get my desktop online again. Always like the in depth missions.

I'm getting ready to go watch the new Star Wars here (so I doubt I'll be able to start tonight) but this all sounds very promising. Bookmarked that wiki page too. Also just something to note, I left the lever and release handle as floating geometry. So basically it was left open to be easily animated, that is if anyone feels up to making a lever anim in the future (may ship the source files in that case). I'm just trying to grasp basic things with the D3 workflow. Also given how much this engine seems to hate my Softimage|XSI exporter for basic static meshes, I really don't want to push anything complex like that. Though you know I would if I could.

Back to one of my many questions! So I'm about to start texturing my arc transformer here shortly in Substance Painter and it starts with a calibration for engine type. The D3 engine is based off of OpenGL right? If so that's really all I need to know. My current setup is based for working in Unreal Engine 4 which runs with DirectX. Not sure what all the difference is on the texture but I'm trying to see what all I can do in Substance for an older (non-PBR) engine type.

Thankyou! I'll definitely see what I can do as I've already baked down a lowpoly and am getting ready to paint in the details. Do you guys usually modify based by a shader color override? Or is it customary to use a separate texture sheet entirely? I kinda wanted to make one rusty derelict version and a clean city version. Maybe a more ornate one for a place of royalty (or religious zealot adornment?). At first I wanted to establish brand names on readouts, but I realized this isn't based in an age of industrial enlightenment. I'm assuming most high tech stuff in TDM would be commissioned directly to the Builders so that's why I was steering clear of elaborating on company signage. That would be greatly appreciated. I'm also wondering how to implement different LOD meshes because I have those iron panels/readouts baked into the flat surface beneath too, so it would take a bit of the edge off the polycount with ease. It's also extremely situational (given it needs to be against a wall) because it doesn't have a solid back or bottom as to save on precious UV space. I could just insert a world texture as a space filler but I really wanted to keep it from being used that way. In the future I may work on more power equipment that can be viewed from all sides but this one wasn't made with that in mind.

Good to see some really interesting levels in the works. I really like that corridor you've setup there Melan. It reminds me of the setting with Rutherford Castle in TDS. So I've taken a short breather from my work in UE4 to make somethin for TDM again. I hadn't seen a lot of electrical equipment in the props section for Dark Radiant, so I thought I'd try and contribute something small. Here's the complete highres mesh (with some lighting and effects)... A lot of cast iron and I tried to limit the tech to fit the time as best I could. It has a very primitive cooling system which is what the pouring spout and release levers at the bottom are for. In theory you're supposed to fill it from the top and empty it from the bottom when servicing. A fan seemed too modern to stop overheating in the pylons so this method seemed appropriate. In my own rough estimate it's a standalone power unit for remote locales. It's old though, so it'll have some distress and corrosion in some spots. I'm wanting to get started on a lowres final and get to baking it. The whole unit should almost stand head height to an NPC when in-game. This should also be a fun test to see how my Substance Painter skills hold up for a non-PBR based prop.

Ahh, yeah I wasn't sure if this version of Id supported that. I know with some stuff such as Unreal (sorry I know it's a lot newer engine to compare) where you can pack all the channels of a utility image. Basically you can have emissive (glow) and any other masking images that rely on grayscale values into a single image. Up to four that is. Other people have made different accusations stating that different channels (or green in particular) hold better definition for specific functions but I'm no expert. Either way I thought it was worth looking into just in case.

I figured to most who know their way around the shader lines this is a no brainer but I was wondering if there was a way to call up channel specific info? For instance, if I wanted to run specular through the alpha channel on my normal map can I just call that up in my shader and save using an additional file? I assumed there's a way since it's the best way to limit draw calls and file size, but I'm kinda curious how that works with D3.

Looks great. Makes the motions feel blended. Only thing the wood door was missing was that slight return you had in the animated mover version (on the door_open sequence). Though for obvious reasons, I can understand why the entity based version wouldn't handle that. Will be keeping this in mind though for when I'm actually able to get to work on my own FM. It really is the little things that add a whole new level of polish.

I'm assuming it's a heavily modified version of id5 then. Which may also be fundamentally different depending on how far they branch off from the original tools. I mean look at Source, that was originally based off a modified quake engine.