[BLoOdY_oL_ChAP]

Hi everyone!

My name is Ben, and I basically grew up playing Freespace and Freespace 2, and my appreciation for the games and sci-fi in general is quite profound.

Anyway, I'm just getting myself out of a World of Warcraft addiction (those darned MMOs...) and I found the Freespace SCP and you guys!  I tried it and was simply BLOWN away by how far this community has brought this game!  The HT&L work is stunning to me and I can't help but want to lend my services to the project, as I have seen several posts here and there asking for more people.

I guess where I'm at is at an average level of capability with Adobe Photoshop and skinning/texturing.  I have some experience level designing with different programs (some with FRED) so I mean, I am competent with regards to this sort of thing.

My main request is simply if anyone has or knows of resources out on the web that can teach me how to design ship models, become a better texturer, or even a little bit of intro to coding.  Basically a run down of what programs I might need to do all of the above, and a few websites to study from on my own time.  I am very artistic and love sketching (especially concept design of characters and vehicles) and so I think that after some learning, I may be able to lend a hand!  Point me in the right direction.

Thanks for reading, I hope I can be of service to SCP!

-ChAP

[redmenace]

Well, there are many project IIRC other than the SCP that need textures.

The SCP itself depends mostly on outside community members themselves to create new artwork and models. However, many project need texturers IIRC. The SCP its self can always use devoted testers to use mods and campaign to find bugs and crashes. CVS builds can be found here

There is of Info in the Wiki and many model tutorials.

[WMCoolmon]

Find a post by karajorma and look at the FAQ in his sig.

For general modding, you can save in jpg, TGA, dds, or 256-bit PCX. You can also use EFF files to string together the first 3 files for an animation, or use the FS2 .ani file for an animation.

For modelling in particular you'll want POFCS.

As for a coding intro: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~freespace/fsdoc/index.php?pagename=CodingInC

[karajorma]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Find a post by karajorma and look at the FAQ in his sig.

Here's one!

[Nuke]

just do crap, the more you do the better you get.

[Goober5000]

To be honest, the best thing you could offer the SCP would be coding - specifically bugfixing and implementing some of the features the hosted projects have been waiting on for some time.  We only have about a half-dozen regular coders, whereas there are plenty of texture artists and modellers in the community.

I'm sure the modellers and texturers would be glad to have you join their ranks, but give some thought to practicing your coding with us too.

[redmenace]

Also, not all that goes on in the SCP in code related. There is of administrative type tasks that must be done.

[gevatter Lars]

Hi,
the WC Saga team still needs someone that is good with 2D art. Character sketches might also be interesting but thats only if I can get myself to do belivable 3D characters for animations ^_^
(leaking the skill at the moment).

If you have interest or want to know more leave us a post in our forum here at HLP. (Wing Commander Saga)

[DaBrain]

Hi BLoOdY_oL_ChAP.

You're starting to help here exactly the way I did.

FS2 is has always been one of my favourite games. I didn't know there was a community like this before and when I found HLP I was really impressed.


Well, I started to rework the maps of the original FS2 for FS2_open. And I think my skills have improved by doing this.

There are probably a few good tutorials for this out there, but I think it's better to try it first with your own methods before you search for help.

If you know what kind of result you want, you're probably going to find a way to do it. You'll be surprised when you find out, that most tutorials suggest similar methods you've already been using.



PM me if you want to know more about the texture formats for FS2_open.