Hard Light Productions Forums

Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Galemp on April 14, 2008, 09:06:05 pm

Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 14, 2008, 09:06:05 pm
Uhm... well anyway, I just wanted to say I'm working on the Arcadia maps now so try something else. Right now they're so blurry and scratched up and altogether misshapen that to get them at hi res I'm redrawing them from scratch. Like the Typhon map I'll be doing 512x512 diffuse, shine, glow, normal, and height maps from my source file.

install01-01a has so many layers on it I think I'll publish the source PSD as well for others to work on. It depends on how much free time I get at work. ;)
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Kaine on April 15, 2008, 04:32:32 am
this thread needs less words and more pretty  :nod:
Title: Arcadia
Post by: blackhole on April 17, 2008, 10:53:41 pm
Every time a thread goes off-topic, a cute little bunny commits suicide.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: FreeSpaceFreak on April 18, 2008, 09:57:18 am
Every time a thread goes off-topic, a cute little bunny commits suicide.
When you posted this too? :P
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Colonol Dekker on April 18, 2008, 10:10:00 am
Every time a thread goes off-topic, a cute little bunny commits suicide.
When you posted this too? :P

<inset off topic comment here>


Right, now how're these ARcadia maps coming mate ?  :D
Title: Arcadia
Post by: colecampbell666 on April 18, 2008, 12:52:56 pm
Every time a thread goes off-topic, a cute little bunny commits suicide.
Or I kill one.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Flipside on April 18, 2008, 12:54:41 pm
Bunnies are nice.

But a bit stringy, I prefer Chicken.

And I shouldn't be pulling this thread off topic :nervous:

So... How are those Arcadia maps coming? :D
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 18, 2008, 02:31:02 pm
Maps 1, 2, and 3 are done. I'm in the midst of switching from Photoshop to Gimp so the others might take a bit longer.

And no, you can't have them. :p
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Cobra on April 18, 2008, 02:34:37 pm
You're switching to GIMP why now? :p
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 18, 2008, 02:42:02 pm
Because while I've wanted to get away from proprietary and expensive software (Windows, 3DS Max, Photoshop) and into open-source and free software (Ubuntu, Blender, Gimp) I now have the opportunity to do so with the help of my school electives.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: colecampbell666 on April 18, 2008, 08:26:30 pm
Because while I've wanted to get away from proprietary and expensive software (Windows, 3DS Max, Photoshop) and into open-source and free software (Ubuntu, Blender, Gimp) I now have the opportunity to do so with the help of my school electives.
Good on you.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 23, 2008, 08:42:18 pm
THE ARCADIA IS COMPLETE (http://www.b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk/data/zip/arcadiadds.zip)

(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc01.jpg)
(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc02.jpg)
(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc03.jpg)
(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc04.jpg)
(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc05.jpg)
(http://pjfoliver.googlepages.com/arc06.jpg)

Please note: the mediaVP Arcadia no longer uses the texture lods, so you'll need to rename 'install01-0*a' to 'install01-0*' to get them to show up properly.

Special thanks to all those I PMed this afternoon to try and get these to you early.  :nervous:
Title: Arcadia
Post by: colecampbell666 on April 23, 2008, 08:43:48 pm
!!! :eek2: I LOVE YOU!

Are those new textures as well? If so, forward them to VA, he's doing the HTL Arcadia.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 23, 2008, 08:45:01 pm
Yes, all new textures, done from scratch at 512x512 resolution, with the composite PSDs included.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Cobra on April 23, 2008, 10:32:40 pm
Ho-lee ****, man. That looks awesome. Though it looks kinda weird beings it's not grainy like the old one.

I'm downloading it anyways.

[EDIT] Looks kinda funky in the lab. Especially the docking platform on the side there. It always seems to be shinier than the rest of the textures.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: IceyJones on April 24, 2008, 01:28:18 am
great....so i have to redo the first 20 seconds of the cutscene :-/
but looks really nice!
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Ransom on April 24, 2008, 01:42:07 am
Sorry, Galemp, I don't like it. It looks really cartoony to me, and somehow less detailed than the maps we had before.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Kaine on April 24, 2008, 05:49:34 am
have to agree i'm afraid.... looks like something out of an anime *ducks*
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 24, 2008, 07:56:25 am
Well, that's why I included the Photoshop files in the download. If you like you can interpolate mine with the old ones and post something you like better.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Ransom on April 24, 2008, 09:31:05 am
Ugh, I'm probably going to come off as a jackass no matter how I say this. Well...

Retail texture:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/arceihn/retailinst.jpg)

Galemp's texture (half size):
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/arceihn/galinst.jpg)

Redrawing the texture in double resolution is kind of pointless if you don't add the detail to justify it. But here there's actually less detail, and interpolation won't solve it: your normal maps look better with the original textures. I can see you've been very faithful to the old ones' layout and I realise they must have taken a lot of time, but I don't think it's paid off. Not on their own, anyway.

I imagine they'd make a very good template if someone came along and painted more detail on top of them. But as it is...
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 24, 2008, 10:14:22 am
The big difference is that I split them into diffuse/glow/specular maps. While side-by-side the original ones look better than the composite, the horribly distorted ones in the mediaVPs badly needed replacing.

In any case it's easier to scuff up a clean, crisp high-res exploded texture than it is to un-scuff a low-res indexed composite texture. I'm sure the MediaVP crew is going to give these a once-over anyway. It's a community project, contribute if you can.

...also, VA just introduced me to CrazyBump. Let's see how well it works on the rest of the Typhon textures. :)
Title: Arcadia
Post by: TrashMan on April 24, 2008, 02:51:49 pm
It just ocured to me how bad the UV mapping is on the stock Arcadia...
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Ghost on April 24, 2008, 03:53:35 pm
The Typhon is really great. The Arcadia? Hmm... I'm not so sure. It's nice to have depth, but... this really highlights the need for a new Arcadia model.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: General Battuta on April 24, 2008, 04:04:49 pm
Sorry, but I gotta echo the sentiment. The Arcadia isn't working for me.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: jr2 on April 24, 2008, 10:17:31 pm
Meh.. I like it.  ;)  But I see their point... but I like it anyways.  Oh, and hi.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Droid803 on April 24, 2008, 10:24:31 pm
Sorry, but I gotta echo the sentiment. The Arcadia isn't working for me.

Ditto. I liked the old ones. These ones seem to be...lacking...something.
While there is nothing wrong with an Anime look, it doesn't look Freespacey.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Cobra on April 24, 2008, 10:28:39 pm
How the heck does it have an anime look? :wtf:
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Agent_Koopa on April 24, 2008, 10:32:07 pm
Because of the relative lack of detail. There are purple lines and orange rectangles, whereas in the retail textures there's a hint of detail and sophistication behind them. It's a nice texture, but strays from the original design.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Droid803 on April 24, 2008, 10:33:26 pm
Because of the relative lack of detail. There are purple lines and orange rectangles, whereas in the retail textures there's a hint of detail and sophistication behind them. It's a nice texture, but strays from the original design.

Yea, that. Looks somewhat jelly-like and not metallic, the texture's a little (too) simple compared to the retail one.
Ah, whatever, I'll just combine these with the retail ones
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Galemp on April 25, 2008, 12:34:24 pm
Please do, and share what you come up with. After all it's a collaborative effort here.
Title: Arcadia
Post by: Mars on April 25, 2008, 02:33:19 pm
IMHO these textures are a whole helluva lot better than the originals.