Posts by arhurt

That environment looks awesome, it's amazing how sharp everything looks considering the texture size. Clever use of fake 3D

Now for my part:

Never done a character before, so meet the Pixie Portia, archmage extraordinaire (my sister's old RPG character)

My budget was 900tris and I felt short on just 1, might use it for a glow on her staff perhaps.

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/3D%20art/portia14.jpg]

Since I had never done a character before I wanted to fully rig her up to learn how to do it. In the end she proved to be quite complex given the robes, hair and wings.

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For the face I used morphing targets to get many facial expressions. Using 15 different targets I managed to get her to be quite versatile even with the few polys I used. I wish I had used a separate texture for the clothes, wings and hair with alpha channel, as it ended up all being quite packed in. I may just be tired for seeing it a lot the last couple of days...

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Here's an Idle sequence, and another clip of her in motion:

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Thanks Punky!

Now it's time for tweaking and bug fixing. For instance, I had reserved a large portion of my texture map for that keyboard because I wanted to do something with it. Here t is:

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And a few shots of it in the dark to show off the Glowmap:

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Hey guys, I've redone the model's UV's and materials following your advice. Now I'm using half the texture load as last time and still have the same, if not better, quality.

I also remodelled the eyes to look more angry/evil. Some people thought the old ones looked sleepy and lazy

Here are some MAX renders:

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[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/Train009_2.jpg]

And here are the new texture sheets. I use two 1024x1024 material files with Diffuse, Normal, Specular and Self-Illumination maps for the entire model. As you can see there is a definitive improvement on the normalmaps (if not perfect).

Diffuse:

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[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainDetail.jpg]

Normalmap:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainBody_Normals-1.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainDetail_Normals.jpg]

Glow:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainBody_SelfIllum-1.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainDetail_SelfIllum.jpg]

Specular:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainBody_Specular-1.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/TrainDetail_Specular.jpg]

Any comments and advices are very welcome!

Oh, and this is what you see with him alone in a tunnel when you are about to be ran over:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/traintunnel.jpg]

Hi, I'm using the technique shown here to fix a model I've made. The current model uses 2 large texture sheets that I must change into 3 smaller sheets so that I can save up on Alpha channels.

Now I'm having problems at some point, and I think it is related to render to texture.

Here is a part of the model that I must transfer to a new UV:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/3D%20art/Wheel01.jpg]

And here is the result I get with the baked diffuse map on the new UV:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/3D%20art/Wheel02.jpg]

Here is a comparisson of the original texture sheet side by side with the new sheet created from RTT (original on right):

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/3D%20art/Wheel03.jpg]

I'm not sure what could be wrong, if you have any idea, or if this is a common issue, let me know. Thanks a lot.

Hey guys, I thought you might like these:

TF2's Level Design

Goldrush and Badwater's development - pics!

Total War is epic. Playing it again right now and can't wait to get my hands on this new one.

My latest battle:

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/Screenshots/Total%20War/008.jpg]

Quote from Mazy

Magic carpet, WIN!

See? I'm old-school too

I have Magic Carpet, Magic Carpet Plus and Magic Carpet: The Netherworlds. Awesome game.

My first baby, the first machine I ever built. Everything mint new:

BEFORE

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AFTER

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/Random%20Stuff/P1010001.jpg]

All listed below is mint new:

Intel core 2 Duo E7300

MoBo Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2C

VGA Asus GeForce 9600GT

4Gb RAM (2x2Gb) 800Mhz kingstom

HD Samsung 500Gb

Basic Case

AOC 22'' 2219V1 Monitor

Power Supply Seventeam 620W

Sidewinder Mouse

Microsoft Digital 3000 keyboard

Headset

Let the carnage begin!

Thanks guys! I'm glad you liked it!

I'm still working on this model and tweaking the materials. I saw those visible verts all too late and the map was already packed, it's been fixed already.

Here are some concept art that shows the evolution of the model concept (turns out I can also draw!):

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/trainconcept.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/lilChewChew/LilChewChew1.jpg]

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Hey guys, just wanted to uncover my latest project here, the train model for pl_frontier!

[Blocked Image: http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4576/shot1it7.jpg]

more screens of this awesome map and the download link here: http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/74124#pid_4707472

Now back to my model!

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They were not very specific, and starting over from zero is more something I thought of and would be easier to fix the issues for good instead of trying to hack something on the map and making more issues arise.

Here's a slightly changed part of the response I got. They never said that the map was going to be released, but rather that it wasn't going to be release in it's current state.

Quote

We've been playing aerospace a bit lately, in our recent testing of a variety of TF2 maps, and having a bunch of fun with it. We'll grab the latest version before we play again. One piece of advice we'd have for your future maps is to break up your spaces a little more so that your PVS is more distributed: Aerospace is almost one big PVS, which makes its performance pretty hefty, both in terms of rendering & networking.

Good job m8, looks ace.

It`s on the rotation of one of the servers I play in often. When I have played it I'll give some feedback on the gameplay but it already looks like an awesome map!

Thanks so much guys! But something new came about and I have some interesting news to share.

I have been contacted by certain figures and there is a real possibility of the map being released in an official patch in the future.

Problem is, the map is flawed in it's current form in a way that I cannot fix unless making significant changes to the basic level geometry. These changes are so drastic that I need to start over from scratch.

Good news is I have the energy to make it and now also have the knowledge to do it. So I ask you to list the features that you like most about the map so that I can keep is as close as possible to the current layout and fit into the technical specs from Valve.

From my own experience I love the way the intel room works. The many ways you can get inside and many paths you can take to leave with the intel make this one of my most liked parts of the map.

The newer version also saw some very good improvements to the area just outside the Hangar. The places to build Sentries and paths spies and pyros can take to ambush the defenders works really well.

The area that's going to suffer the biggest changes is the middle area and the cave area. The middle area with the bridge will have to be severly changed and it's unlikely people on one hangar will be able to snipe people on the other side. This is a technical limitation that right now makes the map very unefficient about filtering what the server and clients see at any given time.

So that's it, help me with comments on what you like about the map with broad strokes so that I can capture the same gameplay with the next version.

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Time for an update!

Beta 4 is out! get it here:

http://%7boption%7d

http://%7boption%7d

And here's the list of changes:

- Added a small building to the side of each hangar with ammo and health.

- Closed off the path closest to the cliffside by the hangar yard forcing enemies to come by the front of it.

- Created a small alcove for engineers in front of the Hangar with a Full ammo pack and cover to set up sentries outside.

- Added a large ramp in front of the hangars to create more varied height gameplay in that area and provide more options for entering the hangar.

- Added a narrow ramp from the lowest bridge across the chasm to it's roof so players have the option of going up the three paths there as well as going down.

- Added cover behind the billboards atop the shacks.

- Added a set of wood planks to the walkways across the chasm to help players manevour without jumping and falling down.

- Added a small healthkit to the top of the main hangar to help the flying demoman for the great damage they take upon landing.

- Added a set of props to the side of the spawn exit so that enemies will be less hidden when spawncamping.

- Moved the planes inside the hangar so that there is more space for engies to place their teleport entrances hidden from enemies.

- Bug fix: Neither the intel or Stickybombs will be able to hide behind the cliff rocks. The bombs will bounce off and stick to the ground until I find a better fix.

- Bug fix: Players no more die instantly after falling down from the bridge in the chasm. It's still a deathpit, but there is a chance for a lucky double or rocket-jump.

- Minor improvements to graphics all around and minor optmization.

Take a look and tell me what you guys think!

I might look into it. Not sure though. I'll probabbly be needing something new in 2009...

As for the DLC I'll definatelly be checking it out!

Looks superb. I've watched a video review of it on gametrailers and the game looked very smooth gameplay-wise. I won't comment much on the art from the low rez-video, but it looked epic and amazing even then.

Is it coming out on PCs as well?

Thanks guys, that's quite and extensive list!

I'll make sure to check those out. Is there any kind of Desktop Tower Defense forthe DS? I'm so addicted to that!

Quote from e-freak

...but usually a good portion of headshot solves the problem better than any graphic-card.

As I said I'm really pushing it, I love the game but I'm concerned for future releases using the engine, I trust Valve will come around as they usually do. Need I be more clear?

I have seen the game running on "state-of-the-technology" machines, but the majority of my playtime has been on a machine where for my taste the game has to set at middle-high settings.

And what I meant by the game/engine aging is due to some factors such as: Low polygon models (but then sometimes there are dozens of zombies on the screen), lack of proper dynamic lights/shadows, and the fact that the player models do not blend in with the environment as much as I`d expect (clipping issues such as weapons going trough doors and a character`s feet being inside non-solid geometry).

None of the points above depend on graphics settings per-se (perhaps the model quality, but mine are maxed anyway, even if higher resolution helps alleviate this). And so it looks like the Source engine would need some reworking to fix some of these issues, and more that may arise, in order to keep up with the next batch of highly technologically polished games. And then it would be Valve`s work to tweak their engine to keep up, something I have confidence they will do masterfully.

But then I also said that I might be nitpicking because the game is freaking awesome and I just wish I had more hours per day to play.

I guess I'm nitpicking. I'm not playing it on a very powerful machine so that may have something to do with my opinnion on the game's looks.

I haven't finished all campaigns yet. I refuse to play them singleplayer and it is hard to get a game going with the new system from Brazil as I think the main server providers are always full. I haven't tried using the server browser trough the console yet, I'll give that a try today.