Stay frosty people - ice block placeables

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               Has anyone ever done a simple large block of ice -- you know the kind they used to cut out of lakes, and store underground for the spring/summer.  Anything like that out there?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vibrant Penumbra]

                Just for you!
And anyone else who needs something kewl 
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               <sword salute>  Hail the Ice Queen!  

...and much thanks.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               I didn't see that Penumbra already made an icecube.
This is not finished, I just took parts of the jelly cube and added a new texture to test how it looks.
The gray parts are transparent. I could add a txi file for the texture to make those parts reflective.
I don't know what is better, transparent or reflective.



Edit: This made me think about the icecube monster from Neverending Nights.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Zwerkules, 22 août 2013 - 03:30 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <being clear as...>

That's a gorgeous ice cube, Z :-)

You can give the texture a reflection map in the txi and the mesh a less than 1 opacity (.9 or .8, more is *too* transparent) to get both. That's what Pen did for hers.
Her texture is the standard plc_x0ice texture with an alpha channel added and a txi giving it a reflection map. It's tempting to override the standard texture and make all that x1 ice reflective :-)

One of the neat things about that color-neutral texture is you can edit the self-illumination in a text editor to give the ice any color tint you want (except yellow. No yellow ice. Srsly ;-). They do this kind of thing in NwN2 all the time without the drawback of seeing things glow in the dark, but it takes very little blue-channel to make a great lump of ancient glacier ice.

You'd need to add a reflection map in the envmap column of the placeables.2da to see it when dynamic, though. The txi only works for static placeables. And not at all for VFX, to my chagrin :-P

<...slush>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               I just had a chance to peak at the ice block.  In the toolset it looks like a *very* clear block of ice.  In the game it looks like a very cloudy gray block of...hmm...well, it's more stone than ice.  Asking this with little knowledge of how the game engine works, is it possible that it's just picking up the colors of the surface it's sitting on?   I was more looking for less transparent, more frosty kind of ice -- something that is easily identifiable as ice no matter what it's sitting one.  Or to put it another way, the kind of ice you might have seen when people harvested it out of lakes as here:

http://oldfilm.org/c...llection_id/332
               
               

               

                     Modifié par 3RavensMore, 22 août 2013 - 08:09 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Vibrant Penumbra]

                Ok, color me embarrassed with a big pink crayon '>

I'll take another wack at it <>

Nice one, Z-man! 
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vibrant Penumbra]

                Your choice, then. 

Mirrored Darkly (first texture, ice floe in for comparison. Middle block is static):


Lightened up (Still reflective):


Bioware standard:


You toot it, I'll shoot it '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Vibrant Penumbra, 22 août 2013 - 09:08 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               Color me surprised -- I think the Bioware standard looks that best.  Those look great now.
... and also, I do apologized for the delay in replying.  I didn't see that you'd replied again.  *blushes*
               
               

               

                     Modifié par 3RavensMore, 27 août 2013 - 12:26 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Vibrant Penumbra]

                Done deal! '>

It's only the model and pwk, since it uses a standard texture, but it's up!'>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               Just looked at it in game, and in looks perfect.  Thanks!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               That's icey fresh as we used to say.