Help Needed - Mob Modeling

[GeorgeS]

..I forgot to mention that the scythes are named "weapon" if I recall correctly and like most of the models are comprised of parts so removing the scythe is easy.


GeorgeS

[GeorgeS]

Finished modeling the female NPC's. Made a bunch with different textures. These were a learning curve, but next are the male NPC's.
Aren't those females purdy?


http://66.159.225.58/eqemu/oz/work_to_date.html

GeorgeS

[Windcatcher]

Great work! I just managed to rig the first of your models, the orc. I've had to modify the mesh in Anim8or to make it fit my skeleton (basically splaying the legs apart, and rotating the hands 90 degrees so they match the way I attach weapons), but the animations are working well. I've also been working on a pop-up window in OpenZone 7.7 that will take a lot of the tedium out of some of the necessary tasks when making models, and while I'm not done yet I've made good progress. When OpenZone has the necessary features I should make much better progress in rigging the rest of the models.

[Windcatcher]

A small update...

I finished the one orc model (the blue-gray one) but I'm going to hold off on the other four for now. The reason is that all five types have different meshes, and I don't want to have to have five different race types/mnemonics for all of them. It will mean that I'll have to expand the .XWF format and everything that deals with it, from OpenZone all the way through to the client and the loader DLL. So I'm going to move on to another of your model types where the meshes are shared. Next up: spectres...

[GeorgeS]

That's excellent they're working well. I have made many more and todate about 100 or more. I'm exporting them for you tonight and the link is in the PM.

I've redone the froglok model slightly, and the mino-man. Lizardmen and wolves are done. Also the male/female NPC's are done as well

Current work to date -


http://66.159.225.58/eqemu/oz/work_to_date.html


GeorgeS

[Windcatcher]

Getting them rigged into Anim8or has been a real challenge, and so far I only have one orc done and the spectres partially done. However, I've been doing more than that: I've been adding a host of features to OpenZone 7.7 that will handle a lot of the more tedious and dodgy aspects of mob modeling, and when it's done it should make modeling overall a lot more efficient. There's also a new tutorial in the built-in help that covers mob modeling, though when these features are finished I'll have to rewrite large portions of it to reflect all the simplifications that will be in effect. The past six weeks have been really difficult for RL reasons, but though I've been silent on the forums I haven't been gone by any stretch.

[CrabClaw]

Nice work! Cant wait for a test server.

[GeorgeS]

That's great you're getting these to animate - cannot wait to see them live in a game...

I've not modelled anymore since the second update, but then I made over a hundred models already for you

I heard from someone else about those RL issues. I understand well...
Good to see you woking on this.

GeorgeS

[Ghost Fire]

whats the max poly count? Nevermind 1000 - 1500.

[Runeblade]

Hey you guys still taking in custom models? Would be fun to wip one up and maybe see it ingame.

I've Textured/rigged before but we just need to make the model and you'll do the rigging? I've switched modelling programs so im relearning real quick with new software.

[Windcatcher]

Absolutely we're taking in models for SimpleClient, but there's a real lag in terms of time before you'll see them ingame, as so far I'm the only one doing the rigging...

If you supply models already rigged, I need them to be rigged in Anim8or as that is the only model format that OpenZone understands. If you want to just supply a model, it can be in any format that I can import into Anim8or, such as .3DS.

[Runeblade]

Hey, this probably isnt the best place to ask a quick question but I currently have a thread up in the support so I didnt want to start another already.

The question is- Does the weapons being put into te gequip8 file need to be textured to be seen in game? So far I haven't used any textured weapons and none of them are showing up. A quick example: I just did another sword and was invisible then I did a plain cube and was invisible. Both with coordinates 0,0,0 in the middle of the cube and on the hilt.

Now when there dropped on the ground there still invisible but I to pick them up I have to click on different area's, so its proving that the model is their on the ground in correct form but I just cannot see the model.

Models im going to use as Npcs though are working fine.
Ex: *Open source, not mine*
http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w...t=EQ000411.jpg
http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w...t=EQ000409.jpg
I'll import them as specific untargeted zone objects like those above and see what I get.

[Runeblade]

Well I've been at it since the last time I replied. From 1a.m. to 11:49am ive been fiddling with importing and exporting models at my fastest pace but I still havent figured out this program. The most I ever got most of the time was just 1 part of the weapon, namely the hilt. Once though with a weapon in just 1 part I got the full model in, which was very sweet at the time, but never had one part of any model a different color then white.

I figured that maybe if I put in a weapon that had more then one piece( a weapon that had 2 or more models overlapping to make the whole model) it would only load 1 piece. It seemed the case when I attached the elf model to my short sword and sure enough, half of the elf model was showng floating above me ( It has 2 parts to the model).

Along witht that I found that ordinary material coloring doesn't even show ur model. Its just invisible but u can still pick up the model off the ground. But if i apply a texture from say a bitmap image, then i can see my model, but only in a white coloring.

Basically i've tried everything, models with and without texture mapping, models with just 1 and more then 1 part, adjusting the 0,0,0 origin point around, etc.

So idk. Getting static Npcs to show and hav texture on has worked fine since the start. But exporting objects in the gequip8 file has been a real pain. Idk just looking for some comments, maybe a walkthrough to show what a model needs to be exported out of OZ and some screenies of some weapons working ingame with or without texture?

Sorry for such a long post lol

[Scorpious2k]

Originally Posted by Runeblade

Basically i've tried everything, models with and without texture mapping, models with just 1 and more then 1 part, adjusting the 0,0,0 origin point around, etc.

So idk. Getting static Npcs to show and hav texture on has worked fine since the start. But exporting objects in the gequip8 file has been a real pain. Idk just looking for some comments, maybe a walkthrough to show what a model needs to be exported out of OZ and some screenies of some weapons working ingame with or without texture?

Sorry for such a long post lol

1) you have to texture everything

2) all textures have to be .BMP files and sized in powers of 2 - 8 X 8, 64 X 128, 256 X 256, 512 X 1024... each side has to be a power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, etc ). They can be the same (square) or different making a retangular texture. But in the case of textures, size does matter.

3) if you are importing 3ds, it always copies the colors used and adds them to the texture, but it doesn't ever work the way I think it should, making objects that look fine in OZ but black in eq for example. I normally have to go in and edit the color out

[Runeblade]

Thanx for the reply Scorpius. I have been using 512x512 bmp for my texturing but for weapon models I always get a white model but static zone objects are fine. I'll fiddle around with them some more and see if I can learn anything else.