Aera Mining Bases?

Thinking about improving the Artwork in Vega Strike, or making your own Mod? Submit your question and ideas in this forum.

Moderator: pyramid

chuck_starchaser
Elite
Elite
Posts: 8014
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 4:03 am
Location: Montreal
Contact:

Re: Aera Mining Bases?

Post by chuck_starchaser »

Exactly. Part of what made me think of that is that the AI should in fact be separate:
Unit physics and collision have to do with a ship.
Faction, AI, and trading acumen have to do with the pilot.
Shark
Confed Special Operative
Confed Special Operative
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:34 am
Contact:

Re: Aera Mining Bases?

Post by Shark »

This is the artwork forum, but I see no artwork - just talk! :(
Fendorin
Elite Venturer
Elite Venturer
Posts: 725
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:01 pm
Location: France, Paris

Re: Aera Mining Bases?

Post by Fendorin »

Last Wip
Based on earlie concept post on the forum years ago

i just ad new asteroid from Deus Siddis Pack
and try to remodel the bulky shape

Image
klauss
Elite
Elite
Posts: 7243
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 2:40 pm
Location: LS87, Buenos Aires, República Argentina

Re: Aera Mining Bases?

Post by klauss »

Looks nice.

I guess I don't have to say this to you, you've been around enough, but let me do it anywayz: remember we need textures, we will have a very hard time finding someone to texture another guy's model. (texturing is always the killer of most contributions).

That said, remember how current texturing works: we need normal maps (preferrably baked with something like xNormal, out of high-res versions of the mesh), we need specmaps with a shininess map in the alpha channel, a damage map, and an AO bake.

Useful links:

Superrealistic texturing

Animated textures

Radiosity baking in blender (though it's tricky to get right)

Graphics requirements

I can't find the entry in the wiki or the forum post about texture packings, which tells how to pack the textures for the shaders. So, I'd be willing to assist in that. In any case, it's best to have the different maps separate on the masters repo, so required textures for are:
  • An albedo map (commonly known as diffuse)
  • A specularity map (strength of specular reflections)
  • A shininess map (surface roughness, white = mirror-like, black = rough, rubber-like)
  • A glow/light map (self-lit zones)
  • An ambient occlusion map (baked with xNormal or a similar tool)
  • A bump map (used to feed bump detail to xNormal)
  • A normal map (baked with xNormal out of high-res, detailed meshes)
  • A damage map (damaged version of the albedo map)
Since baked maps (normal and ambient occlusion) need non-overlapping UV unwraps, you'll have to be careful with the unwrap. Basically, the only allowed overlapping is mirroring across symmetric features, but the welding point between the mirrors must be mapped very carefully, and it's hard. The easiest way is to completely avoid overlaps.
Oíd mortales, el grito sagrado...
Call me "Menes, lord of Cats"
Wing Commander Universe
Post Reply