Request -- Liveries

[spiritplumber]

Woot! Beautiful!

[chuck_starchaser]

Okay, I'm done with the main texture; here it is:



And the screenshots:





The four, empty square areas on the sides are for faction liveries.

Next are the specular map and the emissive map.
Actually no, first is the light titanium rust for the metal finish.

[spiritplumber]

D00D.

[chuck_starchaser]

Here's the specular map, spirit,



just need to find out how to use it.

[tiny paintings]

just need to find out how to use it.

Have a look here.
The short version reads: use mesher to bfxm->xmesh the file, add texture1="mypplmap.png" to the .xmesh file, then use mesher to convert it back to bfxm.

EDIT: When you have reflections turned on (as you do) the PPL map will modulate reflection by default, not specularity. You can't have both (a spec. and a ref. map). You'll need to turn off reflections in the .xmesh if you want it to modulate specularity when reflections are turned on.

[spiritplumber]

that kix an unholy amount of ass!!!!!

[chuck_starchaser]

Thanks!

EDIT: When you have reflections turned on (as you do) the PPL map will modulate reflection by default, not specularity. You can't have both (a spec. and a ref. map). You'll need to turn off reflections in the .xmesh if you want it to modulate specularity when reflections are turned on.

But TP, aren't those synonyms? Aren't we just talking about environment mapping of the skybox?

[tiny paintings]

But TP, aren't those synonyms? Aren't we just talking about environment mapping of the skybox?

TP?
The reflection map is env. mapping of the skybox, yes... the spec. map is not (it modulates material specularity). Apparently klauss wrote a patch that enables the ppl map to modulate both spec. and ref. but I haven't got it working.

Looks pretty nice btw, although I don't like the radiator thingy at all.
It bugs me how fast you did that texture I've been texturing the hammer for several days, using 45 layers (so far ) on a 2048x2048 image Just a few more days and the first lod should be done lol

[Fireskull]

The textures are looking just great, congrats man.

[chuck_starchaser]

Thank yous! (TP for "tiny paintings" )

Yeah, about the rad, if anyone has a better greeblish idea, I'm open to suggestions. There's a thread about the problem of cooling in ships, and the situation is really bad for vegastrike; I had to invent a new "non-linear-optical coating"... long story; but WCU can get away with less scientific rigor; still, there should be some attention paid to heat. Now with the glow mask, the rad actually radiates...



And continuing on with my Mac Truck from Hell inspiration, I put lights over the cockpit, a subliminal bit of red light inside, and two purple lights behind the windshield at the corners, like taxi drivers often have...




It's not easy to appreciate specularity in still pictures. Essentially, armor plates are semi-matte, and are attached to the hull, which is mirror-like. You can see lines of hull material between armor plates.




The blank squares are for faction logos. Also I put polka dots on the engine exhausts, to make them look a little reminiscent of ion engines.



Basically I'm done with it. You can have it right now. Download
caernaven.zip
and unzip it in the caernaven folder under units.
The damage texture is the same as the standard texture, for now.
Next I'm going to work on a bit of rust and dirt for, NOT the caernaven that you buy, brand new, but for the standard caernaven you meet around.
And after that, the factions. There will be more to faction distinction that just a faction logo. There will be different skin styles. I tried substituting the specular texture for the standard texture (this was before I enabled specular and glow maps) and look at it:



Looks so good I'm inspired to do a pirate caernaven somewhat based on it.

[spiritplumber]

OMG I WANT ONE. This is so very badass...

I vote that we use this texture as it is for the player ship, it looks SERIOUS. Incredible job!

Now I really need to clean up the rockets etc.



*goes back to implementing a decent looking Mace explosion*

[Val_Lore]

The dark texture job on the bottem one looks great. I'd rather like to have that texture on the player version.

A few things bother me about the normal one though. The radar dish looks really odd, as does the 4 sided area around what I can only describe as water pipes.

[chuck_starchaser]

Okay, the water pipes are meant to be the reactor; but I need to come up with something more convincing. For now, I tried a little fix with the rad: I covered it with a material transparent to red (and infrared), but specular to blue light, and inbetween for green. I think it looks better covered. I wish I knew how to edit the geometry; I'd love to be able to add a couple of internal polys for greebles like the rad, as well as making an interior for the cockpit.
Not sure what you mean about the radar. The color? The shape? Or its being there at all. I didn't do the geometry; just the texturing.

Allright, here's a pirate caernaven:






And here's the updated zip:
caernaven.zip
Also included the modified "caernaven_buy". Updated the radiator, same way, increased contrast and cleaned up a few things.

[spiritplumber]

Dude, you're GOOD. Seriously.


I finally figured out how to get WC1/2/3 style afterburners to coexist with Priv style afterburners, so with your permission I'll put these in tomorrow's patch.

[Fireskull]

God damn you guys RULE

The textures RULE, it ROCKS, seriously! I am just dying to see that thing IG and to fly it around.

I am glad I am able to help out with this game, even if just a little. It is soooooooo promising. Basically I cant think of a better space trading game, honestly ( and yes, I have played Elite )

[chuck_starchaser]

Thank you, thank you. Ok, here's an update:
caernaven.zip
What I did, besides some other minutia, was to change the view of the "reactor" (water pipes ) to something a bit more complex and enigmatic, as greebles usually are This is what the new greeble looks like:



And zooming in closer:



Actually, next thing I'm gonna do is the damage texture. I just learned the importance of it. My current 'caernavenDMG.png' is actually an earlier version of the standard kind (light colored). I got into a fight with like 30 hunters flying demons and draymans, and I just put the turret guns into fire at will and stepped outside to watch. As I took damage, I saw my pirate caernaven turn into an older model, all shiny and new...
Spirit, which factions do you need caernavens for most urgently, like for the plot's sake. Give me a list in order of priority.

@tiny paintings:
I'm still thinking about what you said abut 2048x2048, 40-some layers....
I realize the advantage of working that way. I'm working at 512x512, mostly in Windws Paint, and I use Gimp when I need to do some layerish thing... in and out. Of course, every processing I do introduces some artifacts due to roundoff errors, so I try to minimize processing altogether...
And of course, I wanted to put some spark-plug wires on top of my "reactor" greeble, but I can't, at this resolution, anyways, because the thickness of the wire is sub-pixel. You're doing the right thing, though it takes longer, and I'm sure your texture is going to kick major ass... Capital Ass, I mean...

[tiny paintings]

@chuck:
It is definitely a lot easier working in high resolution and downsizing it later, give it a try! The only drawback is that you end up loose some of the cool detail you add Especially with texture compression turned on - it removes so much detail I think I'll cry!
One big advantage with layers is that you can correct colors and intensity easily later on - i.e. after you see it ingame, it just doesn't look the same in blender/whatever. Masks are nice too Unfortunatley my computer is a bit on the slow side and the image uses almost more memory than I have RAM (52 layers and bordering 750 Mb memory footprint lol).

[chuck_starchaser]

My problem is I'm a newbee in Gimp. I only figured out how to use the layers dialog recently. What format do you save, to save layer info? Certainly not BMP...
And I've been wondering, is there a way to save RGB in floating point or otherwise better precision (like 64-bit RGBA or something) format?, (so it doesn't incur so high a quantization penalty (0.4%) at each step of the process)...
By the way, the detail is not totally lost; just blurred... the subliminal message is still there
Been thinking of graphics in the way of sound... I have a theory that the data should be blurred (low-pass-filtered) so as to leave only "frequencies" less than half of the final pixel pitch. IOW, I think my next texture job, if I want a final rez of 1024x1024, I'll work at 2048x2048, then blurr down at a 4 or 5-pixel radius at least twice, then resample at 1024. So the detail will be equivalent to 512x512 or a bit less, but the sampling will be at 1024. Should be very un-artifactual if my theory is correct.

[charlieg]

Chuck, it looks good but could look a lot better.

The textures seem to be in a variety of resolutions - the combination of the detailed turrets and the less detailed larger textures really detracts from it.

To me, this previous version looks more professional simply because the textures are more consistent:
http://www.deeplayer.com/dan_w/goodies/ ... nshot7.png

For some good Gimp tutorials, check out this site:
http://gug.sunsite.dk

(I hope that came across as more constructive than critical.)

[tiny paintings]

Wow, I just noticed there's a lot of badness where the turrets are mounted. Looks like those regions were never UV-mapped properly...

[spiritplumber]

In general the WC3/4 ships had very simple textures, due to engine limitation at the time... hence why the "wrong" uv mapping. I think that I can fix that from here, at least in part... will give it a try.

You're doing some AWESOME work, WC3 capships were always a little without personality (especially kat capships, which is why i haven't punched them in yet), great way to get rid of that problem!!!


The ships that need liveries the most are:

Talon
Caernaven
Drayman
Galaxy
Tarsus

Other ships aren't shared that much, so you don't need to be able to tell them apart -- if I see a Broadsword, I know it's going to be confed unless we script otherwise.

[chuck_starchaser]

Hey, don't blame me, guys; I don't even know where the turrets are. I didn't model the ship, nor did I UV-map it. Wouldn't know how. What it seems to be doing is using the entire texture for the ship and shrinking it to fit in each side of the turret bases. Same thing the little boxy greeble under the front grill. I've never done UV-mapping. What I'd like even better is to edit the geometry, but all I've ever used is Wings, and just once.

[tiny paintings]

Unmapped faces usually gets their UV-coords set to cover the entire texture (or half if it's a tri), that's what has happend with the funny looking regions.
Those regions can be mapped afterhand but it might not produce the best of results (since they have to fit into the existing texture).

I'd think twice about editing the geometry to much, since it will require remapping the model and possibly breaking the texture. Wings is a capable modeller for these kinds of models, it will suffice!

If spirit doesn't get the UV-map sorted, I can do it. Just PM me the model (bfxm, xmesh or obj) and a copy of the texture and I'll try to squeeze the missing patches in there.

[chuck_starchaser]

@tiny paintings:
The bfxm and textures are in the zip I posted.
Here it is again:
caernaven.zip
Notice there's plenty unused room at the bottom left of the textures (after flipping them vertically, that is). If you can just give me uv mappings to somewhere in that area and tell me the coordinates, that's all I would need. Thanks, man. I really appreciate all the tips and help.

@charlieg:
The model that you liked was just an experiment: I had just finished making a specular map, but didn't know how to apply it, so I just tried it on as if it were a diffuse texture I did like it too, that's why I did the pirate skin inspired on it.

@spirit:
Okay, got that printed out. Now, at the moment I'm on a roll with the caernaven, so I'm gonna do all the caernaven factions first (then I'll go back and finish the rest of the factions for the Talon). So, for the caernaven, which factions would be the most urgent? I got Blank and Pirate. Which should I do next, and right after... ?

[spiritplumber]

The other factions that fly Caernavens consistnetly are Confed, Militia and Border Worlds -- I would suggest making a basica military texture and leave it unmarked for the militia, and then add the confed or BW logo -- these SHOULD look similar because presumably they come from the same source.

Pretty much every human faction flies caernavens -- again, it's basically the Talon of capships.