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Okay, added a placeholder floor and tested out a new texture I just added a few minutes ago. The colors might need to be made a bit more subtle, but it has it's charms as-is. The Basement Pt. 2

Those of us using Blender to produce models for export to Doom3 Radiant will at some point need to install the Python programming language for the various plugin scripts that enable Blender to export to the file formats supported by Radiant. The process is not as streight forward as it could be, so here I am detailing the procedure for Windows users. Updating Blender Make sure you are running Blender 2.35 or later. Downloading and installing Python Download Python and run the setup program. Ensure that the destination directory for the install is the default: C:/Python23 Setting a System Variable for Python in Windows XP, 2000, NT For Python to work correctly with other software (such as blender) a system variable must be set. Open the Control Panel (in classic rather than catagory view for XP users) and open the System properties dialogue box. Select the Adavanced tab and press the Environment Variables button. Scroll through the list for System Variables and look for one called PYTHONPATH. If on does not exist you will need to create a new System Variable, otherwise you can edit the existing variable, by pressing the appropriate button. In the System Variable dialogue box enter: PYTHONPATH in the Variable Name text field and C:\Python23\lib;C:\Python23\;C:\Python23\DLLs;C:\Python23\tcl;C:\Python23\libs\ in the Variable Value text field. Setting a System Variable for Python in Windows 9x In notepad load the text file C:/autoexec.bat Add the following line: SET PYTHONPATH=C:\Python23\lib;C:\Python23\;C:\Python23\DLLs;C:\Python23\tcl;C:\Python23\libs\ (thats all one line by the way, without any line breaks that might appear in your browser) Save, reboot and off you go

new window texture I'm pretty proud that it looks very similar to the thief 2 texture. It was a lot of work, about 90% of it are drawn by "hand", but I think the work was worth it and here the thief 2 texture: test in thief 3: can't wait to see it with a specular map on it

Well, I've gotten a few requests from people asking for direction in terms of concept art. I think what I'll do is post a few things that we need to have done and see if there are people willing to do it, for the moment. Currently, I'm going to put god_is_my_goldfish in charge of designing the arrows (since he has already done most of them, as well as the mechanical player tools (mines, flashbombs, etc). He has also requested the Belchers. I am currently working on character designs, including a few new Builder sketches. From there I'll move onto city guards and the like. What I'd like some volunteers for is: Player weapons: the sword is done, but we need sketches for the blackjack and bow. Main Menu: rough sketches of what the main menu might look like Beasties: We will need some kind of craymen or kurshok-like creature. Should be basically humanoid...something that could live underground or in pagan environments. If you can think of something that would suit D3 models/animations, so much the better. Environments: Any type of environmental sketch is good as a way of inspiring our texture artists and future mappers. Other things will have to wait until we sort out our priorities in the other threads. I'll update these later. If you would like to volunteer for what's already up there, please let me know.

They're meant to inspire us, not make us copy them. As artists, we draw from many different resources for inspirations -- and nothing, truly, should be off-limits. We're not going to "use" that concept artwork in any way other than to inspire us to create our own. Heck, maybe some things will only get slightly tweaked by us to put our own 'stamp of DarkMod approval' on it. But probably not. If you can't tune the original concept artwork out when you're making your own stuff, then don't look at it... is the only advice I can give. To me, it's helpful to view these things and thought I was doing a favor by sharing what I found with others. If I'm going to be working on Kurshok- or Craymen-like creatures... or blackjacks or bows... I think it's best that I know a little bit of what the original ones look like and even see some concepts. From the DarkMod website, it states: Resembling Thief games would not be a bad thing, since I think that's why most of us were drawn to begin working on DarkMod in the first place. If Disney was going to make a new Transformers-like movie but didn't hold the rights to Transformers, are they not going to watch past Transformers episodes just because they're making their own spin on it? Heck no, they'd totally study past Transformers episodes and movies, and anything else they could get their hands on. Nothing would be off limits for their artists. It's all about studying what you're working on. If I'm working on tables, it's best to look at pictures of tables for reference. If I'm working on pillars, it's best to look at existing pillars for reference. Etc.

Here's some sketches i did today, I took photos of them, which is why they are a bit blurry, I'll scan them in later. Flashbomb concepts Good, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4485.jpg Not so good, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4484.jpg Noisemaker Arrows http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4487.jpg Moss arrows http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4488.jpg Crappy looking mine, i'll do a better version later. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4486.jpg New Arrow http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/god...od/100_4489.jpg

I like the new noise maker. At least, I think it is heading in a much better direction. Having a 'reed' like a penny whistle is a much more convincing reason for a whistling noise than lots of holes. I like convincing. I'm in the porcelain please camp too.

got a way: Layer - > New Adjustment Layer - > Brightness/ Contrast than add to this layer a Gradient in the direction you need to fix the highlights (in our door example a gradiant black from top to white at bottom) now add to both layer a Filter - > Offset so that the bottom line is next to the top line adjust the brightness / contrast add to both layers a Filter - > Offset with the same count as last time multiplied with -1

That is a very awesome design, but not quite in line with our design philosophy for the mod. I should really change my name to "The Minimalist" from New Horizon, but think "minimal" interface. If this thief were to really carry around a mystical light gem, I wonder if it would be some kind of rough cut stone laid into casing of some sort? Anyway, definately not shooting down what you did. It's gorgeous. Just trying to help fuel some other ideas. Okay, I just threw this together on top of Fingernails old test pic in about five minutes...but it might get the idea I had accross. Essentially just a crystal that rotates. The crystal would be angled inwards a bit so it actually points forward when you are facing north. The north end of the crystal would be pointy and the south end blunt. I didn't have time to do this so I just colored the north end a bluish green. I have another idea, but I won't get to work on that until later this evening. Thoughts?

Okey, I uploaded the soundeffects I've made so far for the Thief2D project on the FTP. I'm going to be able to start making some new ones next week (hopefully).

I forgot to upload the ambience sounds (rain, wind and thunder). Anyway they're on the FTP now. I also uploaded the stuff Fingernail has done (hope you don't mind! ) Also, I'm leaving the noisemaker sound up there until we've decided on a concept and the new sound has been created.

EDIT: I like that idea new horizon, would also help account for the arrow's "dissapearance" after being fired. I vote we keep flashbombs. A flash arrow would make it a bit too easy to blind someone from a distance, rather than judging arc and such. Plus, flashbombs seem more steampunkish.

next texture: a new wooden door:

My apologies for not posting sooner, the multimedia company I work for is getting shut down (the owner spent all are money on his drug problem… ) so I had to work 3, 12 hour photo shots last week to try and wrap up are projects, so we could get are last paychecks and leave this sinking ship with what we are owed. But now that that’s almost all over I will have more free time to work on art for your project and to fill out my portfolio! So in all I am happy! After closer review of what is posted on this mod's site: I would like to come up with a unifying theme for the environments. You know how the hammers had control over most of the cities and there influence was seen in the design and architecture of the first and second Thief games. If we are going to try and have some originality and not make reference to any intellectual property of Eidos as part of the Thief Franchise. We will have to come up with some original ideas even though we are going to mimic Thief stile of game play. We should have a story line with different characters (no hammers, no druids, ext), different environments that help drive your plot? And even a different mane character that is more then just a vial over his face away from the design of the Thief in the game we are takeing inspiration from. I think this is a grate idea for a mod but I think we need to decide on whether or not you are Photocopying Thief or Inspired by Thief? If what you want is to copy thief (for the irony of stealing thief) I don’t think you need artists like me, because Eidos has already dun all the creative work for you. However if you want to create something new and original I will gladly help beaus I love the Thief stile of FPS games and would like to work on an original mod of that nature. I am not trying to upset any one with this post I just don’t want to be part of copying another artist ideas and claming them as mine. It looks bad in a portfolio and I am planning on going in to the game industry with my portfolio as a compelling demonstration of my creative ability’s. So you see, I just can't redraw the past Thief games and call them my work... I want to work with this team but if we are not going to do any thing original my time is probably better spent working on a different mod.

the first texture done on my new comp hope you'll like my roof (as you can see it's already on the ftp): I took the source picture on my trip to the castle.

Good job on the builder concept, Springheel -- and thanks for posting the historic reference material, Alexius. Hey Springheel - I added a new folder to the DarkMod FTP area called "Art-ConceptDrawings," and within that folder added a "Springheel" folder and a "Darkness_Falls" folder. This gives us our own separate playgrounds to keep track of stuff in without getting confused. Alexius, if you'll be doing concept drawings and need webspace, feel free to add a folder there. We could add other folders, too, if other artists come on board. I wanted to keep only drawings in there, but realistically we may want to re-title the folder and morph into more of a Art-ConceptArtwork area. You guys may already have webspace and don't care, but I needed the webspace.

Heh, yeah, I don't normally use crappy speakers for my sound and music needs. I'm getting a new computer soon, and I wont bother to rig my things up again before I get it. I could post the sfx I've made for Thief2D though. Thief2D Music This is a little almost-done music thing for a movie or something. I'll put the sound effects on the FTP once I get a chance.

I'm not a music guy, so get your salt grains ready. I think these sound pretty good. Nice, quiet background ambience style tunes. The first one is nice, although the exact tone of the piano gave me a different 'feeling' than I would expect in the game. A little more light and airy that I would expect, but not bad altogether The second one is also nice. Defintely more ambiance than music. I was with it all the way till the end, where some of the sounds became a little too rythmic, and began to sound more music than ambiance. I think there is a place for musical ambience and environmental ambience, but I question whether they should be mixed together in the same track. Triggered changes could work with this, of course... music changes are great when done correctly! The third one was probably my favorite, particularly the beginning. Great, dark, brooding musical ambiance. My one complaint is the drastic change between the first half and the second half. This is two different themes smashed into one song, I think, and maybe they should be separated. The first half should continue into a new movement, but it should definately carry over the themes. Also, I noticed quite clearly the chimes used in the first two, sounding like distant clock bells. Nice sound on these. However, in ambiance, I think you may want to avoid features such as these. On a five to ten minute loop, the reoccuring bells could seem strange to a player who recognizes a midnight clock chime occurring every 5 minutes. The chimes would work fantastically as an intro segment that isn't looped, or a triggered musical bit though. Note that this restriction doesn't apply to all features; bangs sudden dischordant sounds, etc. can fit in with the environment and not call attention to themselves. Anyway, just my opinion, as a non-sound designer

Am actually home for the weekend right now, so I'm not gonna get any more work done till I get back to my dorm. But on the plus side, I think I've picked out the hardware for a new-ish computer - a 2.8 GHz Xeon machine with an open slot for a second SPU when I scrape the cash together, and 1.5 gigs of RAM. Awwww yeah. Once I run this by a few of my friends who are better with hardware, I'll order it and put it together. BTW, Springheel - awesome sketch of the face, it'll be great for what I need.

I'll have to check Google to find out what Cubase SX + VST instruments are... (tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep) Goldwave rocks. Ahh, thanks for the info regarding DarkMod FTP. I hadn't seen that before. Regarding the samples -- you should get better speakers, m'friend!! There's some rumbling bass in parts, and other subtleties, that might not be audible on cheaper speakers. Perhaps you already do and are just using a different PC than you normall do...? PS: If someone with DSL or Broadband can do me a HUGE favor and move the above MP3s to that DarkMod FTP area, I'd really appreciate it! I'm on 56K and it'd take me a while If you're able, let me know what the new URLs are and I'll edit the above links.

Here's the link for the Thief font: http://desktoppub.about.com/library/fonts/hs/uc_jd.htm According to a post at Ion Storm's forum, this font is for the original Thief games. You maybe all already had it/knew about it? (I know New Horizon already knows about it, but I hadn't seen it before.)

512 works for me....but I have an Athlon 64 so stuff should just get better as I get new graphics card, more RAM etc. I think my next big upgrade (if I ever do one on this machine), will be 1024Mb of RAM and perhaps a 512MB graphics card

Hey, not bad at all, Fingernail. Once you get done you'll need to post a tut on how you did it so we can all join in on the fun (wow, that rhymed). Oh yeah, a nice tip on making specularmaps. I went through your mini tutorial and make my first specmap by just making a darkened greyscale image of the material I wanted to shinyize. Thing is once you're done with it the lighting will end up being too uniform across the surface and won't look quite as realistic as it should... The solution to that problem is surprisingly easy. To fix that, just make your greyscale image as usual, add a render cloud on a new layer, gaussian blur it a bit til the clouds don't look quite like clouds anymore, tweak it til you're happy with the results, then blend the layers (I used overlay, but quite a few of the blend filters will work). Instant nonuniform specular map, the end results are alot better and you only need basic photoshop knowledge to do it.

The windows gain a new level of texturized beauty: You HAVE to see this ingame, the glass distorts the image behind whilst the lead stays put...magic.

It's not too late to start. If you wanna go ahead and help BT and I out I can tell you everything you need to know to get a basic working texture in place. I had never done any texturework before I started this mod, so it's not really a hard thing to get into. All it takes is patience, trial and error work (I went through 7 specular maps before I got one I was happy with for instance), and a good idea of how to apply depth with heightmaps and you're ready to go. And another test using the new trim is up. Still looks a little plain, need more detailing textures.