[Official] Behind the scenes

[terrannz]

This is like DVD special features. I look forward to seeing more and I particularly like the concept art

[linolafett]

Its monday, so i have to show some more stuff right?

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Here is a screenshot which is trying to explain, how we texture our assets.
We have big "atlastextures" for all our assets (picture on the right). These are shared between ships, stations and other models. Doing that saves some memory ram in the long run, its also nice to work with (fast texturing workflow). We just pick the parts, which are the best fitting for our asset.
If there are symmetrical pieces on a geometry, usually the polygons then share the same space on the atlastexture. Just mirrored if necessary. Thats what the arrows are indicating.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Right

Drill-tastic

[linolafett]

The model is now ready to be exported to 3dsmax.
I finished texturing it, added also some lights/lightcones and alpha-geometry.

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What ill do in 3dsMax will be shown in the next posting.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

Appreciate you showing us all this. Never done any modelling in my life.

More of a musician myself.

I hope this proves useful to those who would model new objects for X-Rebirth.

ZB

[SyberSmoke]

Linolafett: On the question of asteroids. All of the asteroid textures we have now are rocky asteroids, or solid chunks of rock. Have you or any one else considered adding some "Rubble Pile" asteroids?

Asteroids that are not solid, but are a collections of other small asteroids and dust formed through gravitational attraction?

[linolafett]

We also have fancy crystal asteroids or clear ice asteroids, so not exactly as in reallife, more like how an artists wants to visualize different types of asteroid. As far as i know, no changes on the asteroids are planned, they work well for telling the player what they are.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Crystal asteroids? Show me, show me, show me!

[Snafu_X3]

Crystal asteroids? Show me, show me, show me!

Take a look in OL or Maelstrom. Certainly in Maelstrom around the hidden sectors; I'll see if I can get a screenie while I'm waiting for a fuel station to be built..

[edit] OK try https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByYQ6U ... sp=sharing

[terrannz]

Crystal asteroids? Show me, show me, show me!

Take a look in OL or Maelstrom. Certainly in Maelstrom around the hidden sectors; I'll see if I can get a screenie while I'm waiting for a fuel station to be built..

[edit] OK try https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByYQ6U ... sp=sharing

That screen grab reminds me of a song www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg

on a personal note; I love having a dog fight in the middle of a clump of ice asteroids and their reflections.

http://youtu.be/8NX2wY1TC0c?list=UUN045 ... u9pHH_yzJA

[SyberSmoke]

We also have fancy crystal asteroids or clear ice asteroids, so not exactly as in reallife, more like how an artists wants to visualize different types of asteroid. As far as i know, no changes on the asteroids are planned, they work well for telling the player what they are.

I was thinking about them more for variety (Instead of blasting them, the drones can pull the rubble apart). Plus they could be a conglomeration of asteroid types. A thought, thanks for being on the forums and communicating with us. It is a good thing.

---- edit ----

I have been pondering something since I bought the game at release. And it has been in the back of my head for a while...Why large spinning parabolic dishes? I am curious about this design choice and the thought behind it.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Crystal asteroids? Show me, show me, show me!

Take a look in OL or Maelstrom. Certainly in Maelstrom around the hidden sectors; I'll see if I can get a screenie while I'm waiting for a fuel station to be built..

[edit] OK try https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByYQ6U ... sp=sharing

Those are just normal Ice asteroids, which we already have in-game.

[linolafett]

The station component is now finished. We changed the use of it though. Its now a research facility and doesn't produce ore out of nowhere

Here the rundown of what i did today.

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After importing the asset into 3dsMax i put some colour on the asset via vertexcolour. I explained a bit earlier why we do this (tl;dr: Saves VRAM)
I also used a second texture layer to add small decals on the surface, some warning stripes etc.

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From left to right: LOD3/LOD2/LOD1 then the high detail mesh and to the right a wreck of it.
The LOD1/2 were created by a script, the last one is hand modeled. The wreck is also created via script, so this is a pretty fast setup.
The high detail mesh was the split up in several detail parts. The will slowly fade in depending how close you are. In comparison, the LODs 'plop' in.
After that i added connections for the turrets and shieldgenerators.

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Next step: Add lights!
Not a lot to explain. Create the light, adjust values and see on the right screen in a game viewer if it looks good.

The work in 3dsMax is now done, i export this file into our database now.

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Now the last part, setting it up in our database.
I connected the right turrets to the connections, which i had previously created in 3dsMax.
Give the asset a few more values like hull/functioning threshold/textIDs and some effects.
Export it from the database to have it in the game.
We are done

Now we start the game and fly to the station, where this part is used and check if everything is right (disclaimer: it was not, had to fix the rotation on some parts )

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Last step: take some screenshots and write an small article about how you are writing an article

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

That turret next to the port looks cool and also, probably pretty scary for the locals

[wwdragon]

Nice

[Lander1979]

Awesome stuff, I'm impressed with the speed that this has progressed at. I think you deserve a Keks!
Good work!

[Nosfuratu79]

ya i blow these up in game all the time LOL

http://imgur.com/z5cQR4h <---- nice art work lol

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Now we start the game and fly to the station, where this part is used and check if everything is right (disclaimer: it was not, had to fix the rotation on some parts )

[ external image ] [ external image ]

Last step: take some screenshots and write an small article about how you are writing an article

Gooooood!

I can clearly see new types of turrets on the first picture.
One of them seems to be a small anti-fighter turret, the second one is a medium-sized turret.
I want more info! And more things to see!

[BigBANGtheory]

Lino what has happened things like bump maps to give the textures some depth through lighting effects? Or am I just blind and are missing them?

Nice model btw, look forward to seeing that one.

[linolafett]

The normalmaps are still there, no worries. The teladi assets are a bit cleaner than the old argon assets we have in the game. Looks way better ingame, i promise! The shapes make it work pretty well