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So, what are you working on right now?


Springheel

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I like how that looks... yay for realistic shiny metal!

 

As for the gauges, they should have glass, so maybe a transparent mirror shader is possible to add. Not familiar with the material system yet, but maybe see the definition for the water puddle or mirror.

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That was disgusting Airship :)

 

Lovely metal work there Epi! Brilliant job. I love the idea of more skins. Im not sure reading the meters would be important in any way. Might be good for detail, but Im guessing the main feedback to let the player know the thing is working is gonna be that big electricity bolt on top of it, not a small meter moving. Of course, if you really want to add it, nobody is going to complain. ;) Maybe the reading meter could also be lit when the generator is working.

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You can make the needle a clock hand decal texture and give it a rotational stage that makes it bounce back and forth by itself. I did this for a steambeast creature I was working on once upon a time. Don't know if I still have the material, but I'll look.

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With the creature models I think that could create some interesting stories. I remember playing a rather awesome Thief 2 FM that had some rat/man creature who lived in a cave underground and it was refreshing to experience some more mythical creatures.

 

Re the fetish thing, I think most people jump to that conclusion because furry creatures are often sexualized so that's the first thing people go to.

 

That or that's the first thing Springheel thought of when he saw the image and was just projecting his own sexually repressed desires out to the world ;)

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Well, its a werewolf with breasts, theres no reason I can think of for modeling something like that if not as some sort of fetish thing. ;) I wanna support Mircea on the work of making more models available for TDM, but... its not even a realistic looking creature, its cartoony, so the art style doesnt match. I realise youve probably put a lot of effort into it. However, there are several freely available models out ther that I could point you to that need some hard work to be made game ready and would possibly profit the community a lot more.

Edited by RPGista
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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?

 

Finally managed to make the head and tail of the wolf model work with existing bodies in TDM (depending on clothing). Currently only tested this with the guard, but quite happy with how it looks! Main problem is that the hands are still human (skin rather than fur) which obviously looks off, so I'll have to either use custom skins either stick to bodies that also have gloves. Here are some screenshots, which give a better idea of what I want to have compared to last night's plain model... opinions are again welcome:

 

 

EmJPf4Y.jpg

 

 

 

t7A1OEV.jpg

 

 

 

WGjBkFI.jpg

 

 

 

rjuWNCE.jpg

 

 

And yes, the map is also something I'm making... but that remains secret until later on :) These characters won't be on it, but it was the easiest option for a test map.

 

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...

 

 

 

5e490663141b7133599f0a45b533d6f0.jpg

Stargate I know, but it's a reference. :P

 

 

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Modeler galore & co-authors literally everything

 

 

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That's looking very awesome Epifire!

 

I also love the 60s style TDM logo :D

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Epifire: That thing looks awe-inspiring. Wow!

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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@ RPGista: Well I'm not gonna lie; The original model was made by a fellow furry, and partakes in a fair share of renders that I won't discuss here. Just wanting to clarify that has nothing to do with the reason I'm porting it here, which is simply to add anthro characters of standard TDM quality for various species and classes. I aim to do so in a way that fits in with the theme and existing design, so the characters look perfectly in place alongside existing TDM AI's. It's exciting to think of how a town inhabited by these creatures will look like :)

 

Note that I also finished making SFW versions of the bodies, which will be used by default. I'll include the originals too for completion, but they'll be disabled via the definition.

 

Otherwise this is far less cartoony and more realistic than any FOSS anthro model for Blender I've found. The incomplete materials might be a reason why it looks that way now. Initially I wanted to use the anthro models from the Skyrim furry mod, but couldn't find the sources nor find out if they're freely licensed. But I've spent several days getting this one to work, so no throwing that away and switching now.

 

@ Epifire: I didn't get to the point of setting materials up yet, and only configured basic textures for testing. It would be a crime not to use normal maps and other features to the fullest, which I'll certainly do toward the end. The original model came with bumpmaps rather than normal maps, so I'll have to bake these in Blender first... afterward I'll add a bit of gloss to make the fur somewhat shiny at least.

 

The eyes aren't meant to glow either. That's a side effect of having no material definitions yet, and will go away once I've properly defined all shaders.

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@ Springheel, I'd be very interested in finding out about that material to handle the active gauges.

 

 

 

This might work, though I haven't tested it:

 

textures/darkmod/decals/clock_hand_01_long

{

 

nonsolid

noshadows

 

{

blend diffusemap

map textures/darkmod/decals/clock_hand_01_long

alphaTest 0.5

 

rotate ( 0, 0.2, -0.5, 0.3, -0.7, -0.3, -0.7, 0.2, -0.5, 0.3) //add more numbers to adjust the needle movement

clamp

 

}

 

// TDM Ambient Method Related

{

if (global5 == 1)

blend add

map textures/darkmod/decals/clock_hand_01_long

scale 1, 1

red global2

green global3

blue global4

}

 

}

 

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Hey Epi, thats looking amazing!!! I love the texture, its just working wonderfully in game. Awesome work.

 

I was thinking about the transparency issue but couldnt quite remember how its solved exactly. So Im posting the material file for some bush models I imported to TDM, they have the alpha definition to make the background color transparent. Im pretty sure its in the "blend diffuse map ... alpha test" lines. You could test this material def (changing all relevant lines for your handles texture) and see if it works. You will probably need to make a different material def for your handles alone.

 

 

// Bush 01 normal ambient - RPGista
textures/custom/bush_leafy01
{
surftype15
description "foliage"
noselfshadow
nonsolid
twosided
noshadows


bumpmap textures/custom/bush_leafy01_local
specularmap textures/custom/bush_leafy01_s

{
blend diffusemap
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
alphatest 0.5
}
{
if ( parm11 > 0 )
blend gl_dst_color, gl_one
map _white
rgb 0.40 * parm11
}
{
if ( parm11 > 0 )
blend add
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
rgb 0.15 * parm11
}

// TDM Ambient Method Related
{
if (global5 == 1)
blend add
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
scale 1, 1
red global2
green global3
blue global4
}
{
if (global5 == 2)
blend add
program ambientEnvironment.vfp
vertexParm 0 1, 1, 1, 1 // UV Scales for Diffuse and Bump
vertexParm 1 1, 1, 1, 1 // (X,Y) UV Scale for specular
vertexParm 2 global2, global3, global4, 1

fragmentMap 0 cubeMap env/gen1
fragmentMap 1 textures/custom/bush_leafy01_local // Bump
fragmentMap 2 textures/custom/bush_leafy01 // Diffuse
fragmentMap 3 textures/custom/bush_leafy01_s // Specular
}
}

 

 

The glowing material is also an alphablend definition. Im posting the same model's material with this definition. It will make it glow in the dark, though I cant really remember how to crank it up (as in this material, its very subtle). Again, you will probably need a different material def for your glowing meters alone.

 

 

// Bush 01 alpha blend - RPGista
textures/custom/bush_leafy01_alphablend
{
surftype15
description "foliage"

qer_editorimage textures/custom/bush_leafy01_ed

noshadows
nonsolid
twosided
translucent
{
blend diffusemap
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
alphatest 0.5
rotate 0.002 * sintable [ time * 0.1]
clamp
}



{
blend bumpmap
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01_local
rotate 0.002 * sintable [ time * 0.1]

}

{
blend add
rgb 0.1
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
rotate 0.002 * sintable [ time * 0.1]
}

{
blend specularmap
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01_s
rotate 0.002 * sintable [ time * 0.1]
}


{
if ( parm11 > 0 )
blend gl_dst_color, gl_one
map _white
rgb 0.40 * parm11
}
{
if ( parm11 > 0 )
blend add
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
rgb 0.15 * parm11
}

// TDM Ambient Method Related
{
if (global5 == 1)
blend add
map textures/custom/bush_leafy01
scale 1, 1
red global2
green global3
blue global4
}
{
if (global5 == 2)
blend add
program ambientEnvironment.vfp
vertexParm 0 1, 1, 1, 1 // UV Scales for Diffuse and Bump
vertexParm 1 1, 1, 1, 1 // (X,Y) UV Scale for specular
vertexParm 2 global2, global3, global4, 1

fragmentMap 0 cubeMap env/gen1
fragmentMap 1 textures/custom/bush_leafy01_local // Bump
fragmentMap 2 textures/custom/bush_leafy01 // Diffuse
fragmentMap 3 textures/custom/bush_leafy01_s // Specular
}
}

 

 

As for the two "states", turned on and turned off, I think a simple alternate skin should do it. It could be called when the generator gets activated in game. But our coder friends here will know for sure.

 

PS: Oh, and "two sided", I think thats also relevant. Sorry, pretty rusty...

 

@Mircea - Yeah man, no problem, go for whatever inspires you. The alpha material we are taking about here should help you with adding fur on your model, if you feel you wanna do that.

Edited by RPGista
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For the white parts of the cogs, make an alpha channel in your cog texture and set it to 0 where the white is and 1 elsewhere, where you want to see colour. Then add alphatest 0.5 to the diffuse stage in your material def like in RPGista's example. The rest of the material def isn't needed.

 

You won't need two-sided for this, unless your cogs need to be seen from both sides and they are a simple 2d patch instead of modelled in 3d.

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Re the fetish thing, I think most people jump to that conclusion because furry creatures are often sexualized so that's the first thing people go to

or maybe because a quick google of his name reveals nightmare fuel

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I aim to do so in a way that fits in with the theme and existing design, so the characters look perfectly in place alongside existing TDM AI's.

 

I'm skeptical that these will look like they fit into TDM as they are currently...as RPGista noted, they're awfully cartoony. The texture is only part of the problem--the mesh itself looks like a cartoon wolf, not a real wolf or even a fantasy wolf. They're quite different from the aesthetic of TDM, which is generally low fantasy realism.

 

The anubis-style creatures Epifire posted would be much closer to something that would fit into the mod's aesthetic if that's your goal.

 

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The original model came with bumpmaps rather than normal maps, so I'll have to bake these in Blender first...

heightmap(<map>, <float>) from https://www.iddevnet.com/doom3/materials.phpmight be useful to you, at least for testing purposes.

 

As for the two "states", turned on and turned off, I think a simple alternate skin should do it. It could be called when the generator gets activated in game.

Model lights and light holders do this with skin_lit and skin_unlit spawnargs (I have something set up in my w.i.p. with window models so that you can turn interior lights off and the exterior windows change skin and stop emitting pools of light: all I had to do was adapt one of the electric light entities) and lootable paintings with torn_skin. Assuming the generator isn't meant to emit light, it might need a little scripting.

Some things I'm repeatedly thinking about...

 

- louder scream when you're dying

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@Mircea - Yeah man, no problem, go for whatever inspires you. The alpha material we are taking about here should help you with adding fur on your model, if you feel you wanna do that.

 

For the fur it should be fine, I only plan to add basic discrete glossiness. Transparent reflections on top of a solid diffuse texture might however be helpful for the eyes, so I can make them slightly reflective. The discussion about those gauges might actually come in handy for that! Or maybe there's a porcelain material I can look at for inspiration?

 

 

I'm skeptical that these will look like they fit into TDM as they are currently...as RPGista noted, they're awfully cartoony. The texture is only part of the problem--the mesh itself looks like a cartoon wolf, not a real wolf or even a fantasy wolf. They're quite different from the aesthetic of TDM, which is generally low fantasy realism.

 

The anubis-style creatures Epifire posted would be much closer to something that would fit into the mod's aesthetic if that's your goal.

 

Well it's certainly more realistic when rendered in Cycles with particle fur, as the screenshot on its Blendswap page shows. Another problem is that I had to reduce the polygon count to bring it to the same standard as the other characters (it's still a bit more high-poly now), meaning some details (like wrinkles on the muzzle) might have been lost. The face rig bones also had to be slightly repositioned, since the facial structure is different so some deformations are more extreme while others are less intense, meaning some expressions might look goofy for now. Lastly, the lack of clothing naturally makes the model look more simplistic... I doubt there are many props I can attach from the definition to change that.

 

I'm experienced enough with editing models in Blender, which includes reforming the shape... so in a later update I might be able to improve on the anatomy too. I'll be including the source blend when I release this, so if anyone else is interested they're free to help in addition. I admit I initially hoped to make the characters good enough to ultimately include into TDM, but that seems less likely.

 

[EDIT] Here are some much better examples of exactly what I was hoping to achieve... sadly a long way to go to get there:

 

 

VaalsarkM02-0011.pngVaalsarkMale003.pngvaalsarkF05.png

 

Edited by MirceaKitsune
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Real reflections have complications - see the third question under http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Editing_FAQ_-_Troubleshooting_%26_How-To#Rendering_.26_VisPortal_Issues- and they have performance implications because they require the scene to be rendered again. Try cubemaps (existing materials tend to use env/gen1 or env/gen2).

Edited by VanishedOne
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Some things I'm repeatedly thinking about...

 

- louder scream when you're dying

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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)..

 

 

 

arc_transformer_001
{
surftype15

description "metal"

qer_editorimage    models/darkmod/props/textures/arc_transformer_001_ed

{
    blend diffusemap
    models/darkmod/props/textures/arc_transformer_001
    alphatest 0.5
    clamp
}

specularmap        models/darkmod/props/textures/arc_transformer_001_s
bumpmap        models/darkmod/props/textures/arc_transformer_001_local

 

 

 

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.

Edited by Epifire

Modeler galore & co-authors literally everything

 

 

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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).

 

 

 

Screen%20Shot%2012-26-15%20at%2004.21%20

 

 

 

Edited by Epifire

Modeler galore & co-authors literally everything

 

 

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I always save my alpha channel textures as DXT3.

 

I don't see anything obviously wrong with your material shader.

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