Hard Light Productions Forums
Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Herra Tohtori on June 30, 2006, 11:34:05 am
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<EDIT>
Newest versions for glowpointed, enhanced textures for GTF Valkyrie and GTF Angel. Enjoy.
GTF Valkyrie high resolution textures (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/GTF_Valkyrie_high.rar)
GTF Valkyrie medium resolution textures (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/GTF_Valkyrie_medium.rar)
GTF Angel high resolution textures (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/GTF_ANGEL/GTF_Angel_high.rar)
GTF Angel medium resolution textures (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/GTF_ANGEL/GTF_Angel_medium.rar)
If you don't like the glowmaps, don't use them or edid them to your hearts' content. :p
</EDIT>
I don't know if HTL Valkyrie has ever been made, but I was fed up with the low-quality textures of the retail Valkyrie fighter... so I decided to do something about it. And... this is my first fast attempt to re-texture a Freespace ship (i've done some lousy skins for IL-2 SturmovikFB, but this is a little different...), so don't LOL yourselves to death.
I cannot model, so the only way to make the poor Valkyrie look better was new textures. Unfortunately, I can't be bothered to really make textures either. So, I had to modify the existing texture to somehow look sharper and better.
Well, of course I was not going to spend days trying to desperately draw the picture better on GIMP. So I committed an immensely brutal solution...
I printed the original texture, drew it better analogically (ie. with a pencil), scanned it, resized it, played a little with contrast and brightness and this was the result...
Retail textures:
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/retail_valkyrie.png)
"Medium" resolution textures (1422k tga @ 512x950)
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/medium_2_valkyrie.png)
"Too High" resolution textures (5678k tga @ 1024x1900)
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/high_valkyrie.png)
I know, the texture is big as hell... too big for a fighter probably, memory-wise, but what the hell. If someone wants to use it, I'll provide a linky to textures.
I also know that it could be hella lot better if someone who really could texture would re-make it. But as I said, this is primarily CPR for good ol' Valkyrie, until someone decides to HTL it.
Considering the time used for this texture (~2h) and remembering that the main image editing tool was a pencil, the quality of the work is actually surprisingly good IMO... ;)
Oh, and if someone has already made better textures for Valkyrie (which I doubt, otherwise they'd be in the Port already, eh?), could you point me there please? Valkyrie is a nice craft to fly, but the retail one is what it is.
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As you say they are better than original so good work. Just two things:
+ Why don't you use power of two sizes (512 x 1024)?
+ Have you tried to convert them to dds (DXT1c) to lower their size?
Please post them (any improvemt IS good news).
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1. I haven't tried any other shape than that on which the original primary texture was, because how the hell should I know how to actually texture the model? If I tried to put the parts onto different places, it would end up as a complete mess, as the cockpit would be in the thruster and wing in the windshield. So, I didn't want to change the aspect ratio of the texture, as I'm quite sure it would have had unwished effects. :p
I merely extracted the original texture, printed it on the same shape but bigger, sharpened/smoothened the pixelated edges with a pencil (lol@that), scanned the thing and after small modifications I tossed it onto fsport/data/maps dir and it worked all right.
Oh, then I managed to make a customized shinemap also, but it's also ruddy big.
2. No, I haven't tried to convert it onto any other format than tga and that's because I know that works. Besides, I don't think GIMP can save dds's without some kind of plugin, which I don't think I have.
On the positive note, it actually looks bloody good in-game, even if I say so myself. :D
These are the mammoth-high-resolution texture and equally big shinemap together, though - I don't think they're very good for framerates if there are more than two or three Valkyries in the mission, as three of them already would eat 30 MB of RAM...
Anyway, here's a few screens from "Paving the Way", courtesy of FSPort 3.0.3:
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/Paving_the_Way.png)
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/Paving_the_Way_3.png)
Here are the files:
fighter05-01a.tga (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/fighter05-01a.tga) - highest resolution texture.
fighter05-01a-shine.tga (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/fighter05-01a-shine.tga) - equal resolution shinemap, not mandatory; the default shinemap works quite good too.
medium_fighter05-01a.tga (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/medium_fighter05-01a.tga) - medium resolution version.
Have fun, see what you can make of these.
EDIT:
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Oh well... I had to put the files into a RAR archive.
Find the files HERE (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/GTF_Valkyrie.rar).
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2. No, I haven't tried to convert it onto any other format than tga and that's because I know that works. Besides, I don't think GIMP can save dds's without some kind of plugin, which I don't think I have.
GIMP DDS Plugin (http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/)
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Thanks - but as long as this texture is not in powers of two, dds compression doesn't work... The generated dds image was about 2,5 MB bigger than the tga file.
And if I change the aspect ratio so that it's for example, 1024x2048, the mapping gets fubared here and there. So, in this case the dds has no use (yet).
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I've made the conversion with nvdxt.exe from (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_utilities.html). The version I downloaded the other day is 8.22
This version allows you to use non power of 2 files and it has the new -quality_highest option BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY I always get a full white alpha channel (and I'm using -dxt1c not -dxt1a, and the TGA doesn't have alpha).
I'm geting mad about this issue because Photoshop plugin does the same thing. :mad:
Can anyone try it or post which version he is using?
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Yay!
I fixed a few things - mainly, removed the "retail reflection" light thingamaroos from the cockpit glass, AND I did indeed find a way to make the files dds.
I also used this time despeckle rather than gaussian to blend the scanning noise out of the texture... I think it works better like this, somehow the smaller details (like the arrows and triangulars) are clearer now. Further more, the shinemaps are als oin DDS format and they are better now (ie. they don't reflect as much as before).
That GIMP plugin seems to be working quite good now that I figured out that I can indeed stretch the texture a bit to make them have 1:2 aspect ratio and thus being able to be on powers of two resolution.
Here's the new RAR package containing high-res and medium-res DDS files. And the difference between the high-res and med-res is actually more subtle than on the former ones.
GTF_Valkyrie_DDS.rar (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/GTF_Valkyrie_DDS.rar) EDIT: Link outdated, grab the newest textures from the beginning of the opening message.
I personally think the Valkyrie looks much better now... but it still needs to be HTLed by someone who can actually model the thing. ;)
Oh, and whoever gets the LeLv24 reference, gets a cookie. :p
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Screenshots!
These two are medium resolution (512x1024) textures...
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/new/medium_valkyrie_1.jpg)
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/new/medium_valkyrie_2.jpg)
...And these two are high resolution (1024x2048) textures on action.
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/new/high_valkyrie_1.jpg)
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/new/high_valkyrie_2.jpg)
As you can see, the difference is not very big. But you can decide which version to use. I'm sure almost all here know how to - put the maps of choise to fsport/data/maps directory and cut the high_ or medium_ away from the filename.
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hmm... make both versions a bit sharper. :) other than that it looks great. keep it up!
now, if someone can hi-polify the valkyrie it would look awesome!
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awesome ! fantastic job, thanks very much. Now if only the angel could get the same treatment...
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The Angel really need it...
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hmm... make both versions a bit sharper. :) other than that it looks great. keep it up!
Well, that's the real trick, isn't it? :D
I made a "raw" version, but that shows the paper's texture, or in other words the result looks quite "noisy"... It is a tad bit sharper, but flat surfaces are then quite granulated. Particularly the upper surface of the wings happened to become very granulated. A shame that when I apply any blur filter, it does smoothen the "noise" away, but it also inevitably blurs up the lines and other detail.
The Despeckle filter feels the best right now... Actually, if I could apply some kind of cell shading to the original, it might offer the best possible result. But, it's nevertheless *better* than the original, eh?
I'll post the "raw" or sharper, if you wish, version later tomorrow.
Oh, and about Angel... If you point me to the maps, I'll see what I can do. You know, I've never actually seen the whole ship. ::)
EDIT: Referring to the last sentence, that's because I never looked for it. My god, the textures are hideous... :ick:
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Heh.
Guess what I just noticed?
I noticed that there are quite a few similarities with
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/GTF_ANGEL/retail_angel.png) and (http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/GTF_ANGEL/retail_valkyrie.png)
The first is the retail Angel texture, the latter is retail Valkyrie texture. It's exactly the same texture, but the Angel texture is squeezed into 256x256 whereas Valkyrie texture is 256x475. The Angel model just doesn't use the places where the VAlkyrie additional engines are.
Valkyrie texture works almost directly on Angel also. There is only one change that needed to be taken care of. The Angel has slightly longer nose cone than the Valkyrie, and just renaming the Valkyrie textures worked perfectly everywhere else but the nose, which got ugly stripes. So I created new files, brushed some dark colour on the nose and some hull reflection colour on the shinemap onto corresponding places, and it worked just fine. ;)
This is the GTF Angel with her new skin. I'll post those maps later today, but here's a glimpse of the ship:
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/GTF_ANGEL/angel_2.png)
...yes, I've also glowpointed the ship. I tried to keep it civil with the lights, we don't want to fly GTF Chrismas Trees now do we? Anyway, this is how the glowpointed version looks like at the moment. Say what you think, I'll edit too many lights away if you think it's necessary. Again, the exact same glowmap can be used with both ships.
(http://users.tkk.fi/~lmiettun/Kuvat/FS2_Open/TXT_VALKYRIE/christmas_valkyrie.jpg)
Oh, btw - I noticed something strange about the Ship lab (F3) today. I don't know how and why, but it doesn't matter how much I rotate the ship with mouse, the screenshot that is generated onto screenshots directory always shows me a ship that steadily rotates around the one and same vertical (yaw) axis on the screen.
However, the picture which is pasted onto clipboard DOES have the rotated ship. Strange, eh? :confused:
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I noticed that when I was trying to take screenshots for the Wiki (Wanderer ended up doing the bulk of the work
To take those screenshots more effectively, use the script found here (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Script_-_Ship_Viewer) on the wiki, you need to paste it somwhere (it doesn't create a screenshot automatically) but it doesn't have that yaw problem
Maybe I should have reported that
Mantised now. So nice being able to get on Mantis, couldn't for a while.
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Hooray!
Glowpointed Valkyrie and Angel maps are downloadable. Find them from the edited first message.
:)
Stay tuned - next objective is to update the fighter05-01b -map. That's the horrible retail map for HUD target display model. The sides already work very well, but there's a slight problem with the top of the model... I'll see what I can do about it. ;)
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The link for the Angle doesn't work for me.
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Typo fixed.
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The first is the retail Angel texture
Retail? I'm the one who did the angel, it was a quick touch-up job of the valkyrie I did for... her... either that looooong gone descent project of mine, or as a request from someone, but don't remember who (either way it ended up in two projects back then, iirc). Basically I just lenghtened the nose, removed the underside intakes, two engine exhausts (iirc) and winglets at the tips of the wings, and moved the guns on the wings. I just resized the map to square to save some space :p
Sorry for bumping that old thread but I couldn't have Volition blamed for my lazy work here :p
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So now I know where the Angel originally came from! :p
The thing is, I haven't been around for long enough to know this old things, and actually this occasion was the first time ever I actually looked for the Angel in the VP files, so I didn't know whether it was an easter egg in the original game(s) or a mod made by someone (you). The reason why I chose the word "retail" is that I noticed that it was basically the retail Valkyrie texture with a slight aspect ratio change.
Now I'm glad I know it was you who made it. Thanks for info!
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The Valk has never looked finer....... Any Angel shots, or would that constitute spoilage opf some kind?
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As far as I can reckon, I already posted a shiplab screenie about the Angel... and Woomeister uses the textures on his cockpitted Angel and Valkyrie on this thread. (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,40690.0.html)
EDIT: Link fixed.
Anyway, I'm not on my own computer as I'm staying at my parents' until about 20th August, so I can't really give anything but text right now. I would have to give this comp's FSOpen installation a massive overhaul (like grabbing the newest MediaVP's, FSPort and latest build), and then I would need to solve all ATI related problems on this PC, which I just can't be bothered to do just now. ;)
However, feel free to FRED a mission with the upgraded Angel and take all the screenies you wish.
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Oh..Sweet Peppers, :eek2:
That is truly amazing work, Why was this not brought to my attention sooner........
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Am I the only one who thinks it looks grainy and paper-like?
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Did you see what it looked like before ?
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No. Ive never ever seen what the Valk looked like. Ive never even played FS1 or FS2.
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:jaw: USe sarcasm tags in future :lol:
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Well, if you can do better, why don't you make a new set of textures for both, and inject some positivity into this forum, instead of posting off the cuff negative comments.
I think the maps look great for a simple scan and pencil job, and they certainly make playing with valks and angels more immersive.
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Well, if you can do better, why don't you make a new set of textures for both, and inject some positivity into this forum, instead of posting off the cuff negative comments.
I think the maps look great for a simple scan and pencil job, and they certainly make playing with valks and angels more immersive.
Oh, I see. Because I disagree with the rest of the flock, Im "off the cuff" and "negative." And because I havent the time nor expertise to do the job proper justice, I'm being overly critical and should just bite my tongue. Point taken.
I see nothing "immersive" about the mapjob quite frankly. The wings look like they've been in a hailstorm for the last few months, and there's just no feeling that this ship is even made of metal, when looking at the screens. It looks like it's paper. Im sorry if my opinion clashes with yours. I'll buy ye an ice cream.
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The "negative comments" is not referring to your opinion, obviously, but this nasty sarcasm : "No. Ive never ever seen what the Valk looked like. Ive never even played FS1 or FS2."
There's just no need to come off like that. I guess since you've been around so long and you are so self important in all the other threads you post in maybe you don't even realize how jarring it is to have to read something like that.
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@ Ship Maker, can you export it as DXF from Sketchup, then import into TS?
The cubic mapping would really help i think....
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The "negative comments" is not referring to your opinion, obviously, but this nasty sarcasm : "No. Ive never ever seen what the Valk looked like. Ive never even played FS1 or FS2."
There's just no need to come off like that. I guess since you've been around so long and you are so self important in all the other threads you post in maybe you don't even realize how jarring it is to have to read something like that.
Its called sarcasm. Just as you asking me if Ive ever seen the Valk prior to now is snippy and condescending, so was my response. Same tone, same level.
How am I "self important"? I havent done anything for FS in over a year, aside from post the odd sarcastic comment. Do you mean in the threads in GenFS and Modding, where I'm moderating? So... being a moderator makes me have this huge ego? Im just trying to understand what you're saying. I disagreed with everyone on how great an improvement it was, you sarcastically accuse me of not having seen said ship, I reply equally sarcastically, and suddenly Im huffy and negative?
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Whatever, i don't want to turn this thread into a flame war. You're right, I'm wrong. Happy ?
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No. Im not. I offered my opinion, and it was in contrast to yours.
There wasnt going to be flaming.
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:jaw: USe sarcasm tags in future :lol:
Agreed. I'm gonna start using them when I actually intend sarcasm now, <sarcasm>since some members don't seem to realize what's sarcastic and what isn't</sarcasm>
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<sarcasm>Or perhaps some members dont realize they're being sarcastic</sarcasm>
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I rather like the fact that _someone_ has tackled the Valkyrie. Granted, it's in need of some HT&L work (of which there are a score or more other ships that need it as well and only far too few people who can actually do it).
And yes, it probably _is_ going to look papery. He said he printed it out, sketched it up and scanned it back in. Personally, I might have just done it in Photoshop, but I don't have Photoshop. And if I did, I would choose to do a different ship because I would not want even the impression of nabbing off with somone elses work.
Over all, I like the improvments that occur to the light map. I think it makes the Valkyrie a little more live and the whole "paper" feel to the look just doesn't matter when you've got 5 on your arse and you're knocking them off. It atleast looks good and we all have to start somewhere. I hope Herra Tohtori continues and improves to bring more skill to other ships that could use a little attention to detail.
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...and if you didn't have Photoshop you could use the GIMP...
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Oh come on people. :lol: I have no problem with negative criticism, why should you have?
Raa, I completely agree with you; it does look like it's paper, because, frankly, it is paper. The reason for this is that I made these textures by printing the low-res textures, made them a bit better with a pencil, then scanned it; hence the graininess.
I have yet to figure out how to make good-looking textures with computer, and this solution had the best quality versus time -ratio (ie. I could have meddled something up with GIMP, but the results might not have been all that more spectacular, and I would have to have used much more time, which was really not a valid option at the time... :p
As I said, I'm fully aware of the fact that it looks like paper. But, in my opinion it stilllooks at least some amount better than the old textures. I have no illusions of being a grand texture artist, I just simply got a bit fed up with the hideous original textures and, with my limited skillz, made something that made the ship look a bit better in my eyes. Then there's also the thread name - this is CPR. These are not really meant as anything final, because they are made fast and they look like paper, as Raa said. Like real CPR, these textures are not meant to be used forever. Eventually someone will make a HTL Valkyrie and Angel, and I sincerely hope that they don't use these textures. If anyone here has some spare time, feel free to make new high-res valkyrie texture; I can say I won't be feeling offended in any way by that. Mainly because then I would be able to use those even better textures too. :D
<stating obvious>
But, if you like these textures, use them; if you like the old textures better, use them... it's as simple as that. :p
</stating obvious>
Anyway, thanks for criticism and support!
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Yarr, wasnt trying to be discouraging... its just there's this general idea on the internet that if someone is critiqueing something they're being hostile and rude. If I get time, I may have a go at going over them on my tabletpc and seeing what I can do to lessen the paper look, but Im not obligating myself to anything.
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"not obligating myself" psh. :p
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Er um, I hope I haven't walked into a firestorm, here but here we go. I like the work that's been done to the Valkyrie so far, but as has been mentioned, it still needs a little work. *dodges fireballs* What I'd like to do is offer my help. I've never done textures or polys so I'm pretty much clueless and will probably need someone to hold my hand, but I'd like to do a little work on the Valkyrie. From what I understand, Herra, you just put new textures but didn't touch the model right? What I'd like to try to do, or have someone or some people help me try and figure out how to do, is first up the polycount and give it more smooth curves. I would try to give the wings some depth instead of two-dimensional flat wings. Then for the textures, I want to use the same stickers that you have already put on it, but the base textures would have the same shiny ones that exist for the Valkyrie. Then I'd try to put a cockpit in there, or failing that, just give the cockpit screen an obsidian jet black reflective glass on it.
If anyone would like to help my I wouldn't mind, :D I'm starting up school next week. I'm working full time during the day in the Coast Guard then I'll be going to school full time at night. Likely I'll only be able to put in an hour of work into the project every Saturday and Sunday at most, so if someone would like to help me, I'd appreciate it. :yes: I'm a newb at this whole modding thing, so hopefully I won't crash and burn.