Need large clock hand please

[Fidcal]

Can someone resize the clock hand model for me please? Two small needed to fit the grandfather clock and one big one needed because if you take the existing big hand and enlarge it about 80% to 90% then I can use the existing big hand as a small hand to go with the new big hand on my clock tower. Maybe we could use a pair in between the grandfather clock and the current size.

 

models/darkmod/mechanical/gear_clock_hand_1.lwo

 

I tried the rotate resize hack but it doesn't work with a mover.

[Springheel]

This is for the grandfather clock model? Why would you want to use a fully-modelled hand instead of just a transparent texture on a single plane?

[Fidcal]

Never thought of it. OK, I'll make a texture for that. But still need a big hand.

[Springheel]

So you want something 80-90% larger than the existing model? I can do that tonight.

[Baddcog]

I have actually been meaning to take the hands from the clock on the splash screen, they would make great alpha'ed hands.

 

Was also thinking they'd be awesome for the gauges.

[Fidcal]

@Springheel: Yes, just one should do it then I'll use the existing big one as the small one. The current pair look too small on my clock tower.

 

@Baddcog: Good idea. I'm just testing a script that keeps good time and plan to get it to chime the hours.

[Springheel]

Was also thinking they'd be awesome for the gauges.

 

Yes, I had that same thought, though I can't remember if I ever got around to doing it.

 

Those clock hands are pretty standard, and images are easy to find on the web.

[Springheel]

Ok, I've made long versions of both hand_1 and hand_2. I'll upload to SVN in a few hours.

[Springheel]

Ok, I've uploaded the clock hand models.

 

I've also uploaded a grandfather_clock model using an animated texture for the minute hand. It's a bit rough at the moment; just a proof of concept. But see what you think. Both hands could be done in this fashion (and the pendulum as well) and could be given values to match real-world time, all as part of the model. I can also include a nodraw skin if people want to add the hands separately as models.

 

The hands are decals which could then also be used on all kinds of other things.

[Fidcal]

OK, many thanks. I've added this to my test/clocks.map with script and just committed it. This is very much wip.

 

My left clock (just a temp rough) uses the script and keeps real hours and minutes (set by the mapper so not necessarily RL time.) The script includes a condition for a chime but I've not yet implemented this. It could even be used for a time bomb or trigger anything at a certain game-time including an objective, eg, the guards will arrive at 5:00am so you must exit the mansion before then. So at 5:00am a half dozen guards could turn up and optionally Mission Failed a few seconds later.

 

The right hand clock (also a temp rough) uses func_rotating for ref. This is fine and simple but inflexible so any chime timing would have to be set up separately and might be out of sync.

 

The new texture clock hands if I understand it are fixed with an animated second hand. This is also great for simplicity to quickly drop the model in.

[Springheel]

The new texture clock hands if I understand it are fixed with an animated second hand. This is also great for simplicity to quickly drop the model in.

 

Yeah, the animated textures don't allow for any real flexibility, but if mappers just want to throw a clock in that actually keeps time, it makes it easy for them. And now that it's saved as a texture mappers can use it on any patch they like.

[Springheel]

I've updated the grandfather clock. I modified the texture so it's a bit higher res than before (without redoing the entire uv-map, which is what it would take to make it really good). I've added a minute and hour hand, moving vaguely at the right speed (I haven't timed them so they probably aren't accurate, but after staring at them for five minutes they seem about right).

 

I've also added an animated texture pendulum. It needs a bit of tweaking but I'm waiting to try and track down the z-fighting issue it's causing.

[Fidcal]

Much better but I can't figure out where 'time' (in the shader) is defined. If it is one second then with a rotate angle of .001 for the long hand it doesn't fit my calculations for my script. I use 0.1. So 'time' in the material shader must be one millisecond? But it's running fast. Maybe 'time' is 10ms?

 

// Minute hand:

// 360 degrees/60minutes=6 degrees per minute.

// 6 degrees/60 seconds=0.1 degree per second.

 

// Hour hand:

// 360 degrees/12 hours=30 degrees per hour.

// 30 degrees/60 minutes=0.5 degrees per minute.

// 0.5 degrees/60 seconds=0.0083 degrees per second.

 

I'm hoping we can make this compatible with the new system I am developing for clock-triggered game events. Even if the grandfather clock is not directly used I hope we can make it accurate so if a mapper uses my clock and the grandfather clock that they will show close to the same time.

[Fidcal]

After a bit of experimenting it seems rotate time means rotate 360 degrees in one second. But we only want it to rotate .1 of a degree in one second which is 1/3600th of 360 degrees. So 1 second divided by 3600 is about 0.00028. I've tried it with rotate time * 0.00028 for a few minutes and it is keeping close to real time. I've divided that by 12 to get .000023 for the hour hand and will leave this running for a while but I think this should be pretty good.

[Fidcal]

Tested for over two hours and it keeps good time so I'll commit these values.

 

Some notes:

 

The clockface is upside down.

 

The hour hand is out of sync with the minute hand. The minute hand starts at about 37.5 minutes past the hour but the hour hand is where it would be at about 30 minutes past the hour. So when the minute hand reaches the hour then the hour hand has not reached the hour.

 

Is it possible to produce a version without the hands so I can use the decals on rotating entities with my script?

[Springheel]

Is it possible to produce a version without the hands so I can use the decals on rotating entities with my script?

 

Yes, I just have to make a skin.

 

The hour hand is out of sync with the minute hand. The minute hand starts at about 37.5 minutes past the hour but the hour hand is where it would be at about 30 minutes past the hour. So when the minute hand reaches the hour then the hour hand has not reached the hour.

 

Yes, that's a bit trickier. There's something about the 'clamp' keyword that decides where the hand will start, and I'm not sure exactly how that works.

 

The clockface is upside down.

 

Really? How did I not notice that??

[Fidcal]

hehe! well I went for several hours checking the time now and again before I noticed too.

 

Maybe the actual small hand texture can be rotated first? Dunno.

 

I also forgot to say, can the time be set earlier in the night? After an hour or two playing a mission it will be daytime and his lordship will be having breakfast before the thief can escape! I'm starting one of my missions just before 2:00am for example so the player hears the clock tower strike a few minutes after starting.

[Tels]

I also forgot to say, can the time be set earlier in the night? After an hour or two playing a mission it will be daytime and his lordship will be having breakfast before the thief can escape! I'm starting one of my missions just before 2:00am for example so the player hears the clock tower strike a few minutes after starting.

 

That is why I am against having a time-keeping means in the map at all. It will ruin immersion pretty fast.

 

Now, you never know if it was 5 minutes or 1 hour in the map. With the clock, you know it has been 35 minutes and still all candles look alike, the moon is at the same place, and even worse, if you reload, the church tower chime comes at the same time, reminding you that you went "backwards" in time for a moment.

 

I can see the "nice effect" for one special mission, but in general, timeless is best.

[Fidcal]

Oh well, I'll keep it low-profile. Not many will use it anyway. Now finished and committed and documented on wiki.

[Tels]

Oh well, I'll keep it low-profile. Not many will use it anyway. Now finished and committed and documented on wiki.

 

Still cool