islipaway

Cheers baddcog I was actually thinking that myself! 10 seemed enough for the smaller objects but the apple pie does look too blocky I agree.

Ah, no the 'plate' is actually going to be some sort of tart, I just havn't got around to texturing it yet All the black things lack texture, hopefully when they get them they will be more distinguishable.

Here's where I am at with the pastries. Not 100% happy with the apple pie, the dish in particular I am having trouble finding a nicely balanced colour. Any comments? The things in black are two sizes of eggs, a tart and a cornish pasty.

Thanks guys! I am working away getting some pastries out at the moment, hopefully by the end of the week.

Hmm, should the apple pie be in a dish? They seem to be baked in one and served in one. The reference photo in the model list is broken. Here's a shot of normal mapped meat pie

Hello! Well nothing to post here yet but having a look at the models needed list I decided to start at the top. Apple pie! Also other pastries/bread/similar, am thinking one 512/512 map with as may variations as I can fit. Is this an okay approach? Or would there be generic textures already created that would work? Also thinking about a larger/longer scale project to work on possibly a 'steam carriage' like this one here: would such a thing be appropriate? If not, some other sort of carriage like regular horse drawn? Something else you could suggest?

Awesome!

Cool! Cheers for getting it all working right! So what's the deal now? Anything you want me to do? Do I get to see a list of stuff that's to be done or how does it all work?

Here is a file with the LWO and textures. http://www.islipaway.org/dump/crown.zip I have created the collision and shadow meshes but when I try to save them only the collision shows up in the editor, no actual model or shadow map but all the materials are listed. (I couldn't use XSI as for some reason it won't let you put a / in the surface name so am using lightwave to try and get the LWO thing working for me). Could someone point me to where I am going wrong please? Cheers!

Cheers guys I have it worked out now I think (on ASE issue I was forgetting to check export material layout, no wonder texture wasn't working!). You say it creates extra verts where you have seams in your uv could that be what's making the seams on the model? If you detach verts it makes the same effect. It's not the normals, I made sure they were seamless. Where can I send all the files to? I will fix the seam in the bead first as it's not a hard fix and I knew it was a dodgy uv layout I just hoped to get away with it Will try putting some stitching or something where the seam on the inner fabric is to hide it. I though I was being smart making the uvs tiling, using less space but it's just made a mess! Oh well I will learn for next time. Is the ASE format okay? I know you said you prefer LWO, I can send both just now that I understand the file editing for textures thing I know I can set models up right but setting up materials in xsi is a pain and the scale thing is also odd ( I did the equivalent of reset xforms but it doesn't have any effect when I export again). Oh one last question I think I read that the collision mesh has to be under 16 tris? Is that correct? Does it have to be closed? In this case a 8 sided cylinder with the top and bottom removed fits the crown perfectly and would also equal 16 tris.

Cheers guys glad you like it! Does that mean I get to make more stuff ? I think I am going to need further assistance getting the collision and shadow meshes working, am I supposed to export them all as one file? I am not sure how to direct different meshes to different textures in the material file, I think I understand how it would work with ASE but I can't even get the normal material that I can get to show up with the LWO when I export to ASE The main smoothing problem was more where the uv repeats, even though the texture tiles properly it makes a seam at the edge of the uv map, will post an image to show what I mean. This website kinda states that it is because of LWO: http://www.katsbits.com/htm/tutorials/prep..._lwo_models.htm And you can see it in the seam down the middle of the donkey's head on that site too. This could be something doom does or that's totally unavoidable I don't know. As you can see in the image below it doesn't happen in xnormal. This might be just inherent in game engine like I said, I can't seem to get textures working with ASE exported files yet to see if it's a format thing.

Cheers, here it is - no shadow mesh implemented yet and for some bizarre reason even when I scale the model down in XSI and re-export it it doesn't get any smaller in game but if I change the geometry the change shows up. Also experiencing some smoothing issues but I understand that's inherent in the *.lwo format? Also down to 504 tris.

Cheers, I have got it showing up in the editor but having trouble (once more!) working out how to build a simple level to test it in, can't seem to find a really basic tutorial for this on the wiki? Any directions?

Trying to work it out through various wikis. Exporting from XSI seems to be undocumented and when I tried from blender it didn't work at all. Edit: I worked out how to point it to the material file when it's exported from XSI, just need to work out the material file now!

Been trying to import this into D3 today, having a fair bit of trouble exporting a .lwo give no texture and .ase gives nothing at all. Got polycount down to 564 though.

The largest gems and the rows of bumps at the top and bottom have some polys assigned as when I tried it without the silhouette didn't hold up very well, I tried to strike a balance so that if it was examined closely it didn't just look like a loop but not go completely overboard. I guess it's because it's circular things like that add up really fast.

Cheers It is considerably more than 250 - 630~ tris I looked at the poly count for the loot props listed on that database and fit it in there. I will make a shadow mesh and collision mesh tomorrow, also a spec map. What resolution are you using for textures on props like this? At the moment it's 512*512.

Ah yeah I think I recall reading that! Is it by a specific percentage? I will make it as I'd like it to appear then work out how much to desaturate by if so. Think I am nearly done with the diffuse, any comments/crits?

Quick texture throwdown (eww seams) on hopefully final normals!

Progress: Probably doesn't look like much but: proper UVs, better jewels inset and settled on a fairly simple but hopefully effective spike layout. Any comments? The fabric inside the crown is going to be sculpted hopefully, which is why it isn't present at the moment. Never really got a grips wit z brush, such a strange interface but think it's time I gave it another shot.

Thanks for the response, I guess I wasn't that clear on the occlusion map issue. I realise that I have to create normal maps what I was asking is do you also use occlusion maps as is listed as an option in the wiki? As I think this would be useful for items where you use a generic overall texture like some furniture. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was at the end of the Victorian era, I thought thief 2 had a bit of an Art Nouveau style to it in bits which is why I thought it might fit in.

Cheers for that Baddcog. Not had a chance to work on the crown much, tried a few spike layouts but none of them really felt right to me so going to step back a bit and try and get a stronger concept in mind instead of fudging on the spikes like I have been I noticed on the wiki you can use seperate files for occlusion like normal maps in D3, is this used? I don't see any use for with the crown as I can put it in the diffuse, but for furniture using generic wood textures a lowish res AO might add a lot of depth? As for the chairs, you said I wouldn't have to follow those photos posted exactly, I am quite fond of Charles Rennie Macintosh chairs and think they would fit in quite well for well off town houses or manors. Would that be appropriate? Here are some examples (sorry huge images!):

Can do, any specific arrow head shape, does it have to be 10 exactly? Would it be appropriate to put builder insignia on it in a similar way that real crowns often featured crosses? Google search for "medieval royal crown" came up with this:

Hi, I thought a crown would be a good thing for me to try given the normal mapping-need-to-learn stuff, so had started modelling one before you suggested it. Will complete then move on to one of the other things you suggested. I googled medieval crown and made a quick high & low poly based on one of the results. Here's my progress: Ambient Occlusion map as diffuse and normal map applied. Not sure what sort of poly you would want for a prop like this but it is over 500 at the moment. Could be less round and cut down easily, but then it's not like there would ever be a lot of them about. Basically a post to show you I am working, shall be optimised!

Hey, I normally use XSI which I know can export in to *.lwo but it's not a function I have ever made use of, also have access to Maya and 3ds but i prefer XSI. I did texture the examples myself yeah, like I said earlier normal maps is something I need to learn and there's no time like the present! So I shall give that a go. Cheers!