Jerboa would like to assist

[Jerboa]

Here is a screenshot with out a normal map.

[Jerboa]

And here is the one with a normal map.

[Springheel]

Don't know if it's early for crits, but I notice that the texture you've added looks like those boards are very old and weathered, yet they're perfectly straight with perfect corners. Some bevelling would cost very little in terms of polys but would look much better.

[Jerboa]

The texture was cut from a close up picture of lichen moss/fungi on wood. I'll try implementing some worn corners.

 

Thank you for the crits. You have a very good eye for details and realism.

[Jerboa]

Here is the dungeon cross worn at 2262 polys with normal mapping.

I beveled the edges as well as the end faces.

Im thinking of smoothing the center bolt.

[Baddcog]

Looks pretty good but I'd probably cut polys, seems pretty high.

 

The rings could most likely be but down alot. I'd say max 20 sides around, and mayee six around the depth. Hard to tell without wire view.

 

But then again, just having a simple collision and shadow mesh would negate the high poly issue.

[Jerboa]

Here is a noose.

[greebo]

Yeah, this is coming along nicely. I agree with Baddcog that the rings are too hi-poly, they are quite small so they don't need to be perfectly round.

 

If you're feeling ready, we could take the noose model and continue our workflow of getting it into the repository. There are not that many steps left, I think. You can also refine it and we continue later, just tell me when you're ready to go.

[Jerboa]

I'm ready for the next steps.

Also, what size should my textures be, 512x512?

[greebo]

Ok, there are a few things that are left, but we don't need to do all of them at once

 

1) Rename and save the model according to our naming conventions

2) Create an editor image (a lowres texture just for the editor)

3) Define the proper shader/material (frob highlighting and ambient code)

4) Reduce the poly count and/or add shadowmesh

5) Improve the textures (for the noose model)

6) Add collision mesh

7) Get ready for SVN upload

 

I'd say we start with 1). The dungeon cross model is of course easy to categorise, let's put it into the "thiefs_den/models/darkmod/dungeon/" folder.

 

Then, let's create an editor image out of the diffusemap. Open the TGA file, resize it to 256 pixels (in the largest dimension) and save this as a medium-quality JPEG file to thiefs_den/models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01_ed.jpg

 

Rename your diffusemap texture to thiefs_den/models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01.tga, the normalmap to thiefs_den/models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01_local.tga.

 

Once the model and the texture files are there, we need to define the final shader, which should eventually go to the dungeon.mtr shader collection, but for now we can keep this in your personal dngn_cross.mtr. I'd vote for renaming the shader name to dungeon_cross01, take this as final shader definition:

dungeon_cross01
{
metal

qer_editorimage	models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01_ed
diffusemap	models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01
bumpmap		models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01_local

{
	if ( parm11 > 0 )
	blend	   gl_dst_color, gl_one
	map		 _white
	rgb		 0.40 * parm11
}
{
	if ( parm11 > 0 )
	blend	   add
	map		 models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01
	rgb		 0.15 * parm11
}

// TDM Ambient Method Related
{
	blend	add
	map		models/darkmod/props/textures/dungeon_cross01
	red		global2
	green	global3
	blue	global4
}
}

This shader contains now a surface type (metal), and editor image, diffuse and normalmap (no specular so far) plus two more stages. The first one is used for frob-highlighting the material and the other one is used for our optimised ambient lighting method, which can be used by lower-end systems to gain a few FPS.

 

Put this shader into your dngn_cross.mtr file and save it. Check out your model in the editor and in-game. DarkRadiant should now be using your editor image for the unlit camera window. Optionally, you can also hit F3 to toggle between unlit and lit preview mode, where the normalmap is also loaded in the latter.

 

Let me know when you've reached this point. The files should be properly renamed and in their correct locations, plus the model should show up in the editor and in-game.

[Jerboa]

Ok completed the steps listed.

Also, I re-made the model and it's at 1110 polys.

The texture is at 512x512.

[Springheel]

Do you have smoothing applied to those rings?

 

Also, a simple wood texture might be better for something in a dungeon rather than something covered in moss. There is a texture in the Thiefs Den folders models/darkmod/props/textures/wtable1_d.tga or wtable1b_d.tga. Either of those would look good on a model like that.

 

You just need to replace the surface name with wtable1 or wtable1b to see what it would look like. You might have to rotate the uvmap to match, but it should look good.

[Jerboa]

I like that texture. Here is a front and back view.

Maybe I should flip the back to the front.

[Dram]

MUCH better. Though the wood could use a little roughness in its shape, it is after all a torture implement, so roughness is certainly not an issue.

[Baddcog]

Yeah, I think that's much better. Hitting a good polycount. (Could still have a very simple collision and shadow model).

 

The wood looks much better.

 

The good thing about 'generic' objects like this (I mean generic in the sense that it is just an object that would be found in any dungeon, no distinct carvings, etc...) is that they don't need their own texture or a normal map. You can simply use a wood from the mod (that already has normals for the cracks and grain) and a metal from the mod (that has it's own normal map). It'll look really good and I don't see how it would be improved to have a normal of it's own as there aren't specific fine details on it.

 

That's also the benefit for shadow/collision meshes on objects like this. You can define more details in the object itself to make up for the lack of specific details.

(Like the metal stud in the middle for example) On a really detailed object things like that would be absorbed into the texture (because there would be alot of them), on simpler objects it's probably best to save texture resources and just use a few more polys (that won't matter because the shadow/collision simplify it).

[Springheel]

Yes, much improved from the original. It might be worth stretching the uvmap a bit--the texture looks a bit compressed to me, but otherwise a lot better.

Maybe I should flip the back to the front.

 

Good call. The back is currently much more interesting.

 

I might also recommend offsetting the uvmap of each board slightly, so that it's not so obvious that it's mirrored.

[HappyCheeze]

Nice work sir.

 

I like your model goodness :-D

 

Do you do furniture or tapestries?

 

 

 

btw Springheel, please check your pms.

[Springheel]

btw Springheel, please check your pms.

 

I don't have any. Did you mean NH?

[HappyCheeze]

I don't have any. Did you mean NH?

 

Whoops I mixed up what I needed to do. New Horizon I need to talk to you about beta mapper application, check your pms.

 

Springheel I was going to ask you something else, so I haven't sent it yet, but I got you and newhorizon switched in my mind.

 

Sorry, I feel stupid now.

Edited August 15, 2008 by HappyCheeze

[Jerboa]

Here is a newer texture for the noose.

Furniture wouldnt be a problem.

[Springheel]

I actually like this texture less than the one you had before. This one is less detailed and doesn't tile as well.

[Baddcog]

I think this tex seems to be uved better at the bottom of the noose, seems to wrap more. Your last one looked planar so the bottom was weird.

 

This is something i've recently figured out an easy way to do. I don't think you're using Max but I'm sure there's something similar.

 

draw a line (path) the shape of the loop. make a circle (not sphere), then loft the circle onto the path. Then you should be able to choose how many times the tex tiles along the loft. That'll map the tex around the bend really smooth.

(I used this to map a road in a map I'm making for zero gear, it's full of hairpin turns. The road tex fits it perfectly the entire loop.)

[Jerboa]

I use Ultimate unwrap3d pro.

I 1 sided planar mapped it. Positioned, then I stiched/welded the vertices. End result is here.

[Jerboa]

I re-modeled the noose to better fit the texture. I made it more of a tear drop.

[Baddcog]

Yeah, that's looking really good