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A cool tutorial from the D3W forums about creating new creature models. http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=5133

I've made you an administrator now, Fingernail. Set up the forums how you want it.

Since when was Object making not under Art? Yes, more art forums: Objects Concept Art Characters Textures and another forum for levels/test screenshots.

Well so there are scripted ones in it for specific effects - but the ones that aren't scripted are VERY good. Like the one Jay mentioned in some other thread - shoot one of the lights hanging by chains in Site 2 (I think it is) and it reacts bloody awesomely. And you just have to get to the part where you use the remote control metal claw to pick up and drop radioactive drums into a waste disposal - sorry for the language, but f*ck, I have never seen ANYTHING like this in any other game. If you tell the claw to lower, and it isn't precicely centered around the drum, then when the claws close, the ones on one side hit first, naturally, causing the claw to pick it up on an angle. Raise the claw, and it is actually carrying the drum in an akward way!! This stuff just can't be scripted! There are too many possibilities Regarding the AI, it is actually not even worth comparing Doom3 to Doom 1 and Doom 2. Those D1 & 2 monsters only ran directly toward you in a bee-line, wether there was a wall there or not. Their pathfinding was limited to sliding along a wall or edge if they happened to run into something along the way. Doom 3 is the real deal. Once an enemy is present, it will chase you anywhere, no matter how complex the path you run, no matter how far away (well, there is a distance limit, but you have that in all games). I have even been testing this myself with my own maps.

We won't be using a flashlight, so does it matter? The flashlight in D3 isn't actually a 'light'. It uses some kind of texture-shader cheat. The player's flare and and lanterns/torches carried by guards will be true dynamic lights, so they probably won't have the same problem. Still would be interesting to know why though....

yes, but there's a shadow on the texture which souldn't be there. go ingame and use the flashlight and you'll see what I mean. the flashlight doesn't lit up any of our custom objects. they are lit up by the static lights but not by the flashlight.

I won't be avalible this weekend, just so you know. We can make the arrangements to the forums next week, before we open it to the public.

ok. I used additional directories for myself. models/creatures/... for all kind of creatures like Spiders, Burricks, etc. I'm not sure if Zombies and Craymen should count as creatures or as characters. models/props/misc for all kind of props I guess we can split this up into models/props/furniture models/props/lights etc. Basically it is the same structure that I set up for you in the project management tool.

I've been very pleased with the early tests so far. I just want to assure everyone that the acting quality is not reflected in these tests. They're just quick snipits for vocal quality so I can judge what their voices will be best suited for. I think we'll get a few charactes out of both Ernest and Jen. They're both very fun to work with so it will be a very enjoyable experience. I had one guy email me when he saw the poster I put up, but the part about "acting experience" didn't seem to register. I gave him an appointment anyway, just in case he was a natural born talent. Sadly, he was not. Nothing against him personally, but it would taken a lot of work to coach him through each role to get a quality performance. No energy for that. The great thing about the people on board so far is that all I have to do is work out the character with them...and they'll improvise all day for me. It's a pure delight. On the subject of the northern lights. I agree, they are phenominmal.

Are you interested in doing any modelling of furniture? Right now we are in need of people to create objects like sofas, lights, and books. If you're interested, I'll petition Fingernail on your behalf.

I thought about that too at first, but upon further thought I don't think it would be a good idea. It would be distracting, first of all, since the HUD isn't supposed to be in the 'game world', so it would be weird to have it be affected by the game lights. Secondly, it makes it more difficult for the player to read it effectively. Is it light because the character is in the light or just because a game light is hitting it?

Best. Lightgem. Ever. That looks great! Is it possible to use D3's glass/haze shader so that you can see through the lightgem to the other side, but have what ever outputs through the gem to increase or decrease in brightness depending on how much light the player is in? And also, is it possible to have the reflective glass of the gem react to actual lights in the game world? If so, that would be totally awesome!

Hmm...it probably has to do with the fact that your lights are sitting close to the floor and are at their default brightness in that shot. Should've realised that before. But yeah, mapping and texturing is, in my humble opinion, the most fun you can have with the mod. Carving out each little room one bit at a time, adding all the little shelves with the little jars and cans on them, it's like Legos (haha Jay!) but..uh...gooder. Thief is particularly fun to map for since the gameplay allows for more intimate interaction with the eviroment than a straight up shooter would...that frees you up to do some really cool stuff you wouldn't do otherwise.

Select the light, hit J, and play with it to your heart's content. When you're there ignore the brighness slider...it doesn't do anything. You'll control brightness from the shade slider in the color menu. The only thing that's a little difficult are projected lights. Don't use the coordinates, instead resize the cone from the grid using all 3 perspectives. One thing with specular maps...remember that light is never evenly spread across a surface, throw a cloud render on there or use a brush to touch up some surfaces to give it a realistic uneven sheen.

No, you'll need to make it hollow. Draw out a box on the grid about the size you, make it as tall as you want on the Z-edit window (skinny window usually to the right of your inspectors window), then hit the hollow button to make it a rough, but functional, room. You select lights the same way you select brushes. Hold down shift then left-click on the light, hold down the left button and move the mouse to move the light where you want it. Also get into the habit of doing a ctrl-shift leftclick when applying textures. It lets you select a single face, which in turn allows you apply multiple textures to a single brush. That's a pretty damn good looking texture...it's screaming for a nice shiny specular map, though.

I hate to keep harping on this, but these kind of low-detail drawings should be smaller and embedded right in the message. *cracks whip* Like this: The concept looks good, but I wouldn't include indicator lights...it would make them too easy to spot (and thus avoid stepping on). Unless they just go on briefly as it arms or something.

It's coming along. Still got some issues here and there, and I haven't found all the textures I want to include in the next pack yet, but it's getting there. This is a shot from the map I'm working on, figured I've gotten it to the point where I have something interesting to show off. Imagine it with little colored jars and various other knick-knacks sitting on those shelves, electric lights hanging from the ceiling, wispy cobwebs draped from the ceiling to the walls, and...uh...a floor, and you'll see where I wanna go with it. But without further ado...The Basement

Well, I finally got my scanner to work so I thought I'd upload some concept artwork I've been working on the past week or so! Woot! Mainly just rough sketches, but hopefully helpful...? PS: Any feedback on the above is appreciated. Also, there's going to be a lot more time spent in creating lamps, lights, candles, candleholders, chairs, tables, wall patterns, stained glass windows, etc., then what was barely touched on here. Just didn't want anybody worrying. Side Note: I look at 'concept artwork' as general guidelines to help create the game. The museum sculpture stand image above, for instance, has a big magnet over it (to slowly lift the glass box when activated). This may or may not be something we want to include in the game -- it was just an idea. For example, our thief could have a goal that says "Figure out how to steal the Bafford Scultpure" or something, and our thief would then have to find a secret switch that lifts the glass enclosure up, revealing the sculpture. We may or may not want to do something like this. As well, in the concept artwork, the magnet looks like hell. I envision more care and detail going into the actual magnet if it were implemented, perhaps even hiding the fact that it's a magnet by making it look like a beautiful, ornate hood above the sculpture that provides light to the sculpture or something. So, you see, please just take my concept artwork as brainstorming sessions and possible ideas rather than an edict saying "We need to do it THIS way" or "I feel this way is the best." So, as more and more drawings come, take what you will from them for use in DarkMod. I just want them to be helpful! Cool?? Cool. PPS: The 'miscellaneous room' one was done with colored pencils. I know it's not the best clarity. Just wanted to do a rough room. I need to get myself a "digital pen" for my PC! Drawing with a mouse is kind've challenging, otherwise I'd do stuff more often on the PC.

That's what I'm gonna do next, BT. Finger: Considering that my props are quite a bit simpler than a full blown character model, a good meshsmooth should be all I need to do to get a well rounded normalmap. Just keep in mind that this isn't my area of expertise, so beyond a few lights here and there, most of it will be small objects that are best used as throwaway details.

City Objects - lampposts, streetlights, cornices, bins, crud (I'd like our City to be somewhat dirtier than Thiefs), window objects, signs, trees. Light Objects - lamps, streetlights, bulbs, lightshades, chandeliers, candles, torches, spotlights, wall lights, uplighters, downlighters...all with a vaguely art-deco/neo-classical style to them. Furniture Objects - tables (many varieties, rough, cheap, expensive, basic, huge, small, circular, hexagonal), desks (writing, dressingtables, chests of drawers), sideboards, mantlepieces, chairs (again, many types), sofas, chaise-longues, armchairs, stools, footrests, surfaces, ovens (range-type), stoves. Beds. Loot Objects - coins, rings, diamonds, plates, paintings, bowls, cups, wine bottles, purses, necklace. Detail Objects - books, candlesticks, mirrors, hairbrushes, plantpots, food, plates, bowls, cups, logs, utensils, statues. Useable objects - lockers, storage boxes, crates, safes, levers, switches potions, flashbombs, mines. Character Objects - basic cityfolk - men and women (fat & thin). Peasantry/servants. Nobles/richfolk. Pagans. Hammer-equivalents. Keeper-equivalents. Craymenalikes. Robots. Tricksie Manfools.... Thieves of course. Standard guards. City watch, Burricks, Spiders, Zombies, Craymen Weapons - short sword, longsword, war hammer, ornamental hammer, bow, crossbow, various arrows, wands, blackjack, axe, mace, club

City Textures - very similar to the Thief 3/2/1 City. Slightly Tudor/medieval, with elements of neo-Classicism and gothic. Also steampunk - ie. pipes, chimneys. Vaguely Victorian. Basically it's melting pot of styles - a bit like London, a bit like Prague, Paris and Vienna in my mind. Mansion textures - similar to the T2 style/Moira's manse from T3. Wood panneling, rich wallpaper, carpets, shiny wood flooring, elaborate doors, grand staircases, large windows and roof lights. A bit of art-deco influence ala T2 would be nice. Church Textures - should be Alexius' speciality . High Gothic, St Vitus, Notre Dame, large stain glass windows, many vaults, columns, transcepts...you get the picture. Stone mainly. Some 'Hammer-equivalent' logos would be nice. Catacomb/sewer Textures - just some boney, wet, damp rock & brick. Quite a small section. Core Textures - very crucial. All the standard bricks, wood, flooring, tiles, edging, grass, that would go well in pretty much any situation. Water Textures - new shaders should be made. This should probably involve new fragment programs, which means someone should have a bash at learning the fragment language (check D3W for scant details). Glass Textures - people have windows, ya know. All styles. Door Textures - some pretty general wood & metal doors. Metallic Textures - all the shininess: pipes, grates, fans, valves, infernal machines. Go crazy & nuts with this one, I want to see all sorts of Edward Scissorhands craziness.

Wow, a man of many talents. Coming up with concepts for furniture by doing some research into the relevent time periods is something that needs to be done. I like the museum stand for that reason. The concept art for T3 involved a lot of dynamic sceans and good use of colour, that gave designers a lot to work from. In comparison, that shot of the room with the light on the wall is really bland, in terms of colours, archetecture, and overall feel. When the concept art was drawn with the camera at a really dramatic angle, you might think "well, the camera angle itself isnt' saying much - your viewpoint moves around all the time in the game", but what you really should be getting out of the image, is looking at it at a whole, and it gives you a feeling, and then you say "well, how can I somehow translate that feeling into the game, and give the player that feeling when they play the game?" I think that is the true power of concept art. We need something that says something new. Well not real new - we know what the Thief world is like - dark and moody, with brooding shadows and atmospheric lights, and ominous sillhouettes. But see how the concept art took that "theme" and gave it its own character? It's not easy but that's what I think we should aim for. A unique style of our own. I can see these sketches are just drafts, but they're a good start.

K, that's easily done..just gotta add bubbles. Hey Finger...speaking of textures on lights....have you been reading up on that? I haven't even tried looking for any tutorials since I mentioned it awhile back, have you found anything? I wanna start getting into them here soon.

The glare effect bleeds out a bit, but for the most part the lights that make up the windows only work on the windows themselves. I wanted it that way so they'd stand out and I could check and see how they looked. Once I tone it down it'll be a good moonlight effect. Similar to the shafts of light in Thief 3, but more vague and hazy.

I've already got some sketches in the works for guard and builders...what we could really use are things like furniture, lights, mechanical sketches, architecture, etc.