[Nico]

So, in less than 7 days, Bob has poped up the specular maps, the FOV and the clipping free modifications. Plus I've heard about the -trans tag for the maps. I needed to test it:

( edited, damn case sensitive thinguy )

That's my upgraded valk pof ( as usual thrusters don't show, it doesn't have lods or debris, etc etc, but it works ).

The thing uses everything the narmal FS2 exe would hate:
many subobjects ( way more than 1000 polys ), intersecting polys, etc etc etc.
-The clipping is near flawless ( can barely see a poly through the front of the cockpit ), I think that's definitively out of the way, great job Bob ( clipping test area: the cockpit, and the litthe dents bording the recessed areas ).
-the specular map: as cool as it looks, it has a big pb: it seems to work on a poly basis, and it shows on every model I've tried: the polys shows ( look at the "hole" on the midle of the ship, you can see all the polys that are around it, for exemple ). I think it should use the smoothing groups.
-the trans tag: makes the thing invisible the windows of the cockpit ARE modelled, but they won't show at all. I've tried a grey and a white map, same result. I tought it might be like the glow map, so I duplicated the map, but w/o the -trans tag, it results in no transparency at all ( white painted windows ). maybe I didn't understand how it works, tho.
-FOV: haven't tried yet, plus can do that with anything

[redmenace]

wow that looks awesome. But, I wonder how would the "specular lighting" interact with damage decals? Also how does this effect CPUs? in other words, does this put stress on the CPU or on the GPU?

[Vilkacis]

Heh for a second I thought "hey that looks like IWAR2". Great work on the model. Now we just have to get rid of that subobject poly limit and everyone is happy.

[mikhael]

Now all we have to add is event driven animations and lighting to the pofs, surface-based (not texture based) transparency and saner handling of weapon points and we'll have Iwar2.

The model and maps look great, Venom, except, of course, the transparency that you already mentioned. Excellent work on both Bob's part and yours.

[Bobboau]

there will always be a poly limet, it might be in the tens of thousands but alocateing the memory just isn't worth it.

that model is... cool.
yes, yes it is

the problem with the shine mapping is that it doesn't like smooth shadeing as much as I would like it, or more properly it doesn't like the sort of smooth shadeing PCS makes, alterations to PCS will likely be needed so the normals can be partaly smoothed, I'll have to look into it.

[Nico]

the maps are the original ones, have made no change ( just UVmapped again a couple parts because of all my messing around on the mesh ). I'm actually thinking on how to make photorealistic textures to replace this one, I searched for usable material on google, but to no result for now
thanks anyway.

[Fry_Day]

Remember that the specularity is due to using the phong illumination model, not phong shading. actual phong shading is a per-pixel operation, so naturally the highlights won't look as smooth, since they're interpolated per-vertex. I'd suggest not messing with the -trans flag yet, as it uses (to my understanding) additive blending, which isn't suited at all to what you're trying to achieve.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Fry_Day
I'd suggest not messing with the -trans flag yet, as it uses (to my understanding) additive blending, which isn't suited at all to what you're trying to achieve.

well, it just makes things 100% invisible, you know

[LAW ENFORCER]

they have got this far - they can fix it:yes:


let me make my self clear: THEY CAN  FIX IT!!!:mad:

[Nico]

to be honest, I prefer it turns the thing invisible, that way, I won't have to change anything later on when the tag works better .
back to my brainstorming on how to draw photorealistic textures, now

[Taristin]

Photo-realistic Valkyrie? This I gotta see.

[LAW ENFORCER]

How can yuo get PHOTO realism on fictional pictures of space ship armour.... got a space ship around ya?

Seriuosly are you talking about getting pics of metal like on the thing then colour/modifiy them into the map then have the best look FS fighter ever killing all compition from Aldo once and for all! MUH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!


emm... went a bit wonky at the end there but you get the idea?

[Nico]

Originally posted by LAW ENFORCER
How can yuo get PHOTO realism on fictional pictures of space ship armour.... got a space ship around ya?

emm... went a bit wonky at the end there but you get the idea?

I don't think I'll bother explaining it to you.
Nope, I'm not gonna.

[LAW ENFORCER]

typical:lol:

[Nico]

If you say so.
Oh, and I never seeked competition with anybody.
...ah well...

[Nuke]

sweet! is this something i can play with now, or do i have to wait? not to fly it, but to make my own ships use those features.

is there any way to render the cockpit interior from the player view? it would make 3d cockpits possible. another idea is to find a way to render the hud upon a polygonal surface in the game. sence the hud is fit to the polygons, you could use the hi res art, otr the low res art as a detail setting, and then anihilate the resolution constraints (that way i can render at 1400 x 1024, my laptop screen's native resolution).

for the windows, could you just use additive transparency and render from an ani. then kind of animate some shimering effects.

another idea, could you load different pilot models, so you can have vasudan pilots, terran pilots, and customized pilot models in multiplayer. the pilot model would be placed relative to the eye point specified in the pof file. it would be kinda cool.

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Venom
Oh, and I never seeked competition with anybody.

Dude, compete with Aldo at every oppertunity. The two of you will produce better models

[Deepblue]

If only you could see what Aldo has in store for you in Reciprocity... :thepimp:

[Bobboau]

I just did a test and the trans tag seems to still be working,
in case I wasn't clear on this, -trans doesn't work like every other -something I've done, it is not a seperate map that gets aplyed to the base map it is the base map, in the pof you need window-trans and you need a texture named window-trans.pcx, all this is is a way to set a few flags easily,
and that is why this sort of thing is known as a hack. if you can't get it working some how get the model (and textures) to me and I'll see if everything is set right, but you need to have a seperate texture for the windows than for the rest of the hull.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Bobboau
I just did a test and the trans tag seems to still be working,
in case I wasn't clear on this, -trans doesn't work like every other -something I've done, it is not a seperate map that gets aplyed to the base map it is the base map, in the pof you need window-trans and you need a texture named window-trans.pcx, all this is is a way to set a few flags easily,
and that is why this sort of thing is known as a hack. if you can't get it working some how get the model (and textures) to me and I'll see if everything is set right, but you need to have a seperate texture for the windows than for the rest of the hull.

yeah, well, that's exactly what I did...