Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: TrashMan on September 06, 2008, 03:14:54 pm

Title: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 06, 2008, 03:14:54 pm
There are some neat fighters out there, but they must use around 20 textures just for the diffuse map.
Probably the original creator wanted it to look hi-res or didn't know another way to make maps or something.

Now having a dozen maps is a needless drain, especially when a single 1024x1024, or even a 512x512 texture might do the trick (bad usage of space, repetitions, etc..)
One of those fighters is the Valkyrie Mk2 from inferno. Gorgeous, but I went to try and optimize it's textures. By moving texture parts around and removing the needless parts (left wing, right wing are the same, so I don't need both) I got the whole texture to fit into one 512x512 map.
but I wasn't satisfied. Texture was grainy...and something was missing.
So Imported the model and looked at it....decided to make a completely new texture for it, and since I'm at it, add a detail or two (but JUST a detail or two. No full HTL job).

Thus:


EDIT: Ship done...get it on Freespacemods.


[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Snail on September 06, 2008, 03:17:29 pm
Cool work!
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: ShadowGorrath on September 06, 2008, 03:53:00 pm
Looks alright.
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Titan on September 06, 2008, 04:07:17 pm
please add the rest of the maps (shine, glow, normal) and then please release... please?

(Wait a sec, how many times did i sa- were am i? I don't remember being here before...)
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Scooby_Doo on September 06, 2008, 04:13:44 pm
There are some neat fighters out there, but they must use around 20 textures just for the diffuse map.
Probably the original creator wanted it to look hi-res or didn't know another way to make maps or something.

Now having a dozen maps is a needless drain, especially when a single 1024x1024, or even a 512x512 texture might do the trick (bad usage of space, repetitions, etc..)

If the craft are really old then it wasn't a problem when they were created.  The "use as few textures as possible" only came around when the engine started using HTL.
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Water on September 06, 2008, 05:07:35 pm
There are some neat fighters out there, but they must use around 20 textures just for the diffuse map.
Probably the original creator wanted it to look hi-res or didn't know another way to make maps or something.
The simplest explanation is that he worked out how to get to that stage of unwrapping but for whatever reason never learned the next step.
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Bob-san on September 06, 2008, 05:29:00 pm
Yeah. Nice work--can you do a side-by-side comparison in NE and SW orthographic views?
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 07, 2008, 06:51:15 am
Later...it's not done yet and it looks like I will have to increase the poly**** on a few places...damn polygons are ackwardy angled so it's not a smooth transition...
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Droid803 on September 07, 2008, 11:44:06 am
More polys? Yay!
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 07, 2008, 11:55:05 am
Stop celebrating.  I dropeed the idea of smoothing some rouhg edges.

But I will add visible (modeled) gun ports and intakes...maybe even a cockpit
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on September 07, 2008, 01:45:53 pm
Meh, TBH it wouldn't look Terran if it had every rough edge smoothed.



BTW, can you really blame us for celebrating every time you post WIPs of your models? :D

Seriously??? :lol:
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on September 07, 2008, 02:19:19 pm
       Yeah I noticed that whole texture thing, mostly when I was grabbing fighters from INFR1 for screencaps for the wiki. Most have like 5-6 textures for whatever reason. Guess times have changed.
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Droid803 on September 07, 2008, 02:20:44 pm
Actually, they have 5 or 6 textures per LOD...which adds up to like 20 in total for just the diffuse map, as stated in the first post =.=
Just 5-6 textures is a lot better...
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 07, 2008, 03:30:28 pm
Getting there, getting there...now for the normal map :P

If I can't get CrazyBump to work, is there anyone out there with a working version that would convert a heightmap I have with it to tga?

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on September 07, 2008, 03:44:26 pm
/me raises his hand *
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 07, 2008, 03:59:30 pm
Here you go.

Remember to save it as a .tga..I do a little tweaking in Photoshop if necessary before I save it to DTX5 xy anyway.

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on September 07, 2008, 06:31:17 pm
Here it is.
I had to modify it a bit, because some of the details in the height map weren't showing up in the normal map.

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: redsniper on September 07, 2008, 07:47:17 pm
Wait... isn't that the Stentor?
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on September 07, 2008, 07:49:55 pm
Wait... isn't that the Stentor?

   AKA Valkyrie 2
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 08, 2008, 04:02:39 am
Done and uploaded on Freespacemods.
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: Galemp on September 08, 2008, 11:15:57 am
blargh. Can you pull those gun barrels out of the ports above the wing? I have those firing points reconfigured on my version. The original model/texture was flexible enough that those can be primary guns with two, four, or six slots, a secondary bank, or just engine intakes. The guns on the new model are really restrictive... and don't look that great either, especially with the third slot sitting empty.

But I like the extra work put in. Very pretty. Quite a few of Aldo's fighters have way too many textures; the Apis/Meretseger, the Reshef, the Surt...
Title: Re: Fighters with too many textures...why, oh why?
Post by: TrashMan on September 08, 2008, 01:23:53 pm
I can pull the guns out..want the .cob file or the .pof?

and yes...the Reshef...I might have to do something about that one too. Some of the missions in COTS can be quite...resource hungry.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: peterv on September 08, 2008, 03:01:13 pm
A cockpit please, please...  :(
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Droid803 on September 08, 2008, 05:44:37 pm
The (new) ValkMk2 has a cockpit. I flew with it shown too.
Unless you're talking about the Reshef.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: peterv on September 08, 2008, 05:58:00 pm
The )new) ValkMk2 has a cockpit. I flew with it shown too.
Unless you're talking about the Reshef.

You're right. Next time i'll check before posting   :warp:

Thanks Trashman :)
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Getter Robo G on September 08, 2008, 06:42:16 pm
Good job!

OK, I got your next project:  ;)

Kidding, I need some help though and think you'd like this style...

I've secured permission from SebastionP at sci-fi meshes.com for a fleet of theme ships.
Problem is they are way too high poly and I can only open half of them before my computer freezes so I can't reduce them to sane levels myself...

Here's a pic... Wanna go? (Go as low as you need to)


[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 09, 2008, 06:12:35 am
Nice looking set of ships..It looks like the composite armor and griders are the biggest polygon hogs. A good modeler can reduce those to a acceptable level.

Sadly, I'm not availalbe ATM.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Commander Zane on September 12, 2008, 04:12:05 pm
Warlock fan?
These would be nice to see in the game, the second smallest ship reminds me of the Tempest Missile Cruiser from FreeLancer's TNG mod.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 12, 2008, 05:24:07 pm
Harbinger, I'm re-doing another ship.....making a heigthmap again...care to convert this one too?
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on September 12, 2008, 05:42:21 pm
Sure, no problem.


I got 2 weeks left on my trial of CrazyBump, BTW.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 13, 2008, 11:38:37 am
Thanks..here's the heigthmap

In addition to that, I'm also working on something else, but I probably won't need a new normal map for it.
(http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/1900/perseusadvwx0.th.jpg) (http://img123.imageshack.us/my.php?image=perseusadvwx0.jpg)

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Snail on September 13, 2008, 11:49:08 am
Can you make a version WITHOUT those ghey little gunpods please? I always thought those were a pretty dumb idea, especially when you already have eight guns on the Perseus Advanced (2 beneath each of the missile launchers, and 4 on the top missile thing).
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Droid803 on September 13, 2008, 11:53:14 am
Who doesn't like 10 Gunmounts?
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Snail on September 13, 2008, 11:53:58 am
No, the stupid thing is that you give it 4 extra ones while deactivating the EIGHT you already have.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 13, 2008, 12:15:43 pm
The old ones become missile launchers.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Snail on September 13, 2008, 12:32:54 pm
But still, can you release one without them?
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 13, 2008, 02:29:08 pm
It's a separate object, just like the guns on the Valkyrie.

If you don't like em, use PCS2 to save it as a cob, then select the offending vertexes and just delete them, then export the cob to pof.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on September 13, 2008, 03:06:18 pm
BTW Trashman, don't make your height maps so dark. CrazyBump can't pick out the little details in it when its really dark

25-50% brightness (64-128 RGB) is optimal, you have it set at less than 10%.





[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Titan on September 13, 2008, 07:00:42 pm
so, are you gonna do the rest of the CotS ships?

also, i think the perseus's plot is taking a nap  :P
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 14, 2008, 05:03:26 am
Perhaps...once I wrap up the Perseus, the Sizifus is next..Then the Shrike...after that, we'll see.
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: Mobius on September 14, 2008, 05:38:41 am
Mmm, Stentor! ;7

I think TrashMan's the modeller INF needs...
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: TrashMan on September 14, 2008, 11:47:19 am
T'is mostly done now...

I'm thinking of making a new shield mesh and fixing the insignia.
I even made a normal map for it but copy/pasting small bits ofhte persus original normal map. I also made a shinemap but something is very wrong.
LOD0 of the ship appears very dark in the techroom (F3), so dark that one can't make out the normal map.
I'm looking into it now :P

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: RELEASE: Valkyrie Mk2 upgrade ( prev. ships with many textures)
Post by: ShadowGorrath on September 14, 2008, 12:18:34 pm
Awesome. I want!