Magnesius' Meshes

[Springheel]

Yes, I think Mag has more than earned a full membership.

 

I've added the spectacles (toned down the metal a bit) and antique vase so far.

[sparhawk]

NH should set him up, and then you (Magnesium) should read the CVS thread to get a key.

[Springheel]

I've been tweaking the snail textures to make them a little more realistic, hope you don't mind. Here's the result:

 

[Dram]

lol..i dunno there's always something funny about seeing a snail like that..

[Ishtvan]

Looks nice and slimy! Appetizing!

[sparhawk]

Cool!

[Magnesius]

Ah, it looks much more slimey now, let's keep it this way

[Dram]

hehe, can't wait to add them to a forest scene. Though some movement of them would be nice but it'd be expecting too much. Then again, they don't need to literally animate, just move as ai. hmm....

[Magnesius]

Animation is no problem, but then the snails follow the given path again and again in every map. So, letting the mappers decide where their snails are sliding is surely better... btw, has anyone modeled a Thief-like giant spider already?

[Ishtvan]

I believe Odd has modeled a giant spider.

[Dram]

He has afaik, we was trying to animate it too.

[Springheel]

I'm a little confused about the snail animation. Does it actually have any moving parts? Does it pathfind?

[Dram]

as far as i understood, what he meant is that it would be a snail animation of it going in one path - no pathfinding. If you think about it though, having fauna which reacts to you as AI would be cool, but might be taxing. I guess for those they'd be dormant if in another area.

[Springheel]

So the animation just slides it along the surface it's on? Until it hits an object or something? I don't really understand how things without feet move in D3.

 

I think it would be fine to just have the snails move in one direction, very slowly. It's not likely players will sit and watch them for very long. Still, having them able to turn 90 and continue if they reach a wall or something might be good.

[Magnesius]

It is still a static mesh, but I could add an animation (slide forward, while move the snail house and the eyes a bit) so that it will be a MD5 mesh. However, at the moment I do not know how to create a full blown NPC (and an autonomous snail would be one).

 

On the other hand it would be too much for that little snail. We should stick to the initial idea: Moving the static mesh of the snail along some waypoints given in D3Ed. The snail does not really need any animations at all, it just slides forward. So, the snail would be technically a "train".

 

Edit: I made a variation of the window mesh above, this time for the nobility:

 

[Springheel]

On the other hand it would be too much for that little snail. We should stick to the initial idea: Moving the static mesh of the snail along some waypoints given in D3Ed.

 

I agree that sounds like the best idea. I'm curious though--can you control the speed that way? Does the snail change orientation as it travels (ie, can it turn 90 degrees or will it just move sideways?)

 

The windows look good. Am I correct in assuming it's really easy to replace the transparent glass with an opaque skin? FM authors won't always want transparent glass for performance reasons, but if it's easy to replace we can just have two skins using the same mesh.

[Dram]

If you aim the waypoints that way then yes it will change orientation.

 

Nice windows

[sparhawk]

It's not likely players will sit and watch them for very long.

 

HA! If Thief players sit in a corner and watch a guard for twenty minutes straight, you should not make any assumptions about other habits.

[sparhawk]

The only animation the snail could have would be some wiggling. This would be enough. The code can slide it along and if it wiggles, it will look already convincing enough. Extruding the eyes every now and then would be an added bonus. Maybe on touch it could do it.

[Magnesius]

Am I correct in assuming it's really easy to replace the transparent glass with an opaque skin? FM authors won't always want transparent glass for performance reasons, but if it's easy to replace we can just have two skins using the same mesh.

Yes, quite certainly. By the way, are light beams (such as the blue ones in T3) planned, which could be placed before windows? They don't have to be blue, maybe a light yellow tone perhaps.

[Domarius]

Well if its supposed to be moonlight it should be some shade of blue. If it's a stained glass window, well I guess we could provide some basic colours and then leave it up to FM authors to create their own colours if they need them.

 

A related but OT question for those in the know - what are the ramifications for using models as architecture, specifically with regard to portals and sound occlusion? I'm guessing no problem - open a hole, pop the window model in, and place a portal - but how will the model, the glass window, trigger the portal to open/close? I guess the same holds true for doors, but I'm still not clear if we're going with models or movers for doors (or if it even matters). Also will such windows prevent breakable-ness?

Maybe start a new thread. Ishtvan can answer this one.

[Springheel]

By the way, are light beams (such as the blue ones in T3) planned, which could be placed before windows?

 

Yes. If you look through the maps forum you'll see some examples.

[Springheel]

I'm going through the rest of your models, Mag. The spectacles, antique vase and snails are in game. The bowl is WAY too big and doesn't seem to have any width--check out the plate model as an example. The trumpet is too modern to include as is. I'm checking out some of the other ones, but your textures could use some work. Most of them are just flat, solid colours.

 

Compare your goblet texture on the right to BlackThief's goblet on the left:

 

 

I'll see if I can polish some of them up, but you should practice textures in the meantime--use photoreference whenever you can.

[Magnesius]

The texture was (is) experimental.

It looked somewhat OK in the game, so I decided to inlcude it in the mesh package. I won't convince you to include it in TDM as well, though. It's not so nice to show the *worst* texture of the whole package for a comparison, you know

 

I will create a completely new texture for it. Errm..., please remove that ugly picture and my goblet for now.

[Springheel]

That's true, the others aren't as bad as that one. It just illustrated the point best. We're all working for the best product possible, so don't take any criticism personally.