Enlightened Self Interest

[Legacy_henesua]

               Speaking of voiceset work for the Dalek.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               never knew you are this good in modeling hen... very good!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               @henesua, or you could try one of many free ring mod progs and plug-ins for example Dalek Ring Modulator (note link should download the zip archive), a plug-in for audacity.

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Tarot Redhand wrote...

From what I can see by
searching google images, that is quite a rare (but not unknown) base
(the big lump at the bottom coloured charcoal) shape.

Not really rare, the New Paradigm, first seen in Series 5 episode Victory of the Daleks.

Tarot Redhand wrote...

Oh, seeing as
henesua is keeping a running tally, what is your poly count for that
model?

That particular model after the first round of optimization... 8540 polys.  Yes very heavy, but that's what you get when dealing with newer games.

henesua wrote...

Nice rip, MDA.

That takes the pressure off me. Kids kept me too busy to get to texture painting. I think the Dalek I am working on will take me another week since I am out of free time.

Also can you share those ripped textures. I'd like to take a look at them.

All the main textures for the Dalek models are available from my newly created project page.  I believe I set everything up properly so feel free to grab it.


  MDA
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Michael DarkAngel, 08 avril 2013 - 06:51 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               Thanks, MDA. I know that those are just white and black with some aging, but I wanted to see how they set up their work.

For the Dalek I've been working on, I'll be painting on the model rather than tiling small materials. This allows me to use one texture for the whole model, and to add details like aging or dirt if I did my UV mapping well. (I probably didn't as it has been a very long time. '> )

My assumption is that less draw calls will make for a more efficient model. Please let me know fi this is not important in NWN. It has appeared to be the primary cause of lag in games I have made in Unity.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               H - One texture would be preferable as, if for no other reason, it'll mean a lot less textures floating about when I do all the assorted colour versions, variants, etc.
(PS:- A week's fine; please don't feel pressured just because I'm foaming at the mouth whilst waiting, 'cause the foam's semi-permanent anyway).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               The pressure is of my own making.

I am eager to get back to my Painted Desert project and getting the Pentapi and the Cactus monsters into it. I need to write AI and pathfinding for those critters.

Painted Desert
Pentapus
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               I made some progress with the texture but I am not happy with it yet. More work is needed at the least to add details. I have yet to do any hand painting. This was an experiment with burning procedural textures to a single file.

Here's the texture so far:


And some shots of how it looks rendered in Cheetah3D:



               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Looking very, very, very, very, bloody damn good indeed!
I am now foaming yet even more copiously with desire to get my paws on this.

One small thing I'll mention, even though you haven't finished and may well be intending to implement it anyway, but just in case - The "shoulder" section should have a series of elongate, rectangular slats on it, all the way round, shorter (for obvious reasons) over the gun and arm. The Red Dalek probably shows them best. These are physical features seperate from the main casing but will look fine just added in the texture. Looking at the texture map, I'm assuming/hoping the big "blank" area at the top covers the shoulder section. If so, simplicity itself to slap a chain of slats on it (with or without the underlying upper band and thin metal mesh).

I append a couple of shots of a few of the Daleks in my collection here to illustrate what I'm dribbling on about though I'm quite sure there are more than enough images of Daleks lurking about the internet to give you the idea, these are just so's you've got something to look at here and now whilst I drone on... Incidentally, the Blue and Gold Dalek shows a variant shoulder section with no slats or mesh, just the upper band. (Just in case you find slats difficult, unworkable, for any reason, just in case my suspicions about the texture map are wrong). Whatever, I think the shoulder section of any Dalek needs SOME detail of some sort on it, otherwise it's a bit of a large expanse of nothing. Aside from this quibble, Henesua, this is already looking AMMAYYYYYYYYZZING! (Please don't feel you HAVE to put a ton of time in on the texture since, as I've said, I have to do a fair few colour versions and variants so all I really need is a clear map so's I know what's where - but, I appreciate you will want to deliver a complete and polished work of art... We're not perfectionists, we just like to get things right.
You're making a shabby Hyena type extremely happy here.

PHoD
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 11 avril 2013 - 09:55 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               Is that your stuff in the top photo? (The skeletal hyena model is eerily suggestive on its own, but you seem to claim these things as your own creation. Nice work, if so.)

Regarding slats:
that is one of the details I need to add. I agree that the best way to do this is texture only. Since I've had a difficult time drawing precise rectangles on the model, I plan on burning them on the texture as shadows. I'll do that in the next few days.

You are generally correct in your assessment of how the texture is set up. The very top is the "skirt". Then just below that are the "shoulders". At the very bottom is the "foot". And just above that the "belt". Perhaps I'll attach an annotated map to help people out.

Most importantly:
I've been wondering how to implement the lights on the head. I am not using NWMax/Gmax etc... to do this. So I won't be able to implement an animated light in the way that NWN prefers. I can make this work in Unity3D, but how this happens in NWN I dunno.

My plan is to create the lights as a separate mesh and texture and let someone else figure it out. They would need to implement the animated lights on the head.

Rigging:
I may rely on someone else to do the rigging and animation.
If I am to do the rigging and a few key frame animations, I'll need someone to let me know if there are special conventions for setting up the rig. Do I need to use specific names for any of the nodes? And by nodes I mean nodes in the rig.

Another question: are all of the nodes on the rig? So if I want to add monster nodes at the eye stalk and the gun, a scripter could set up special Dalek rays etc... right? Or what? How do those nodes work?

I'd also like to rig it properly for VFX if I am to do the rigging.

So... to wrap up: rigging. I can do it if someone guides me to naming the nodes correctly. Alternatively someone else could take full responsibility for it.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par henesua, 11 avril 2013 - 04:04 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <peeking in...>

The nodes needed for VFX are impact, head, headconjure, handconjure and the 10 monster nodes (see OTR's tutorial for better explanation of monster nodes, as I don't think anyone has done anything with them yet).

Edit: And yes, they have to be part of the rig

<...but refusing to be responsible>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 11 avril 2013 - 05:28 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               Suggestion on the lights: seems like dalek lights only come on when they are talking. So if talking=true then lights come on. Not the best thing we can make NWN do. Instead, maybe think about making a stand-alone vfx of colored lights that can be applied to daleks of a certain height. Use multiple fires of a very short animation to deliver the talking lights on demand. I know you aren't using nwmax, so maybe somebody else could do that much easier later.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               I don't see an issue with linking the various talking animations with the lights. You can turn these animations on or off for each conversation node.

However if someone wants to do VFX for the dalek more power to them. I think that would be great.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               The rigging and creating of custom animations is somewhat outside my field... It would be easy enough to just stick a couple of emitters on the dome in the right places, set them to be fairly mild, not too bright, and just leave them as attachments to the dome that move with it, permanent fashion. That's by far the quickest, simplest option and certainly the least likely to throw up any unexpected glitches, so maybe even the best option given game engine constraints - I can't help but wonder what the effect would be in-game if ten or twenty Daleks all start firing emitter on-off script calls en masse... or am I worrying unduly about that?

But if someone wants to sync them to audio, I guess it's possible, though so far as I know there isn's a precedent for tying Creature animations to its voiceset in NWN1. (Just a thought, but if the dome lights are done as VFX that only trigger when the Dalek shrieks "exterminate", won't it become a bit obvious that there's nothing there the rest of the time?

Remaining excited, the shabby Hyena thing crawls away to apply more loathsome epoxy resin to his Alien-Predator hybrid only to find that it has probably set rock solid the instant he turned his back on it...
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 12 avril 2013 - 07:10 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               i dont know who mr. Who is and I´m asking myself since the start of this thread what is this thing? A laser shooting robot fiend that thinks it is a mad dentist from the old school scifi time 1960?

IT definately looks old school and weird:alien:
               
               

               

                     Modifié par NWN_baba yaga, 12 avril 2013 - 06:35 .