Create units with OpenFX

[Dease]

I've been doing a little bit of experimenting with the "glow" effect but I have a problem, I have a green model, the key colour for glow is set to that green. however only the top half "glows" when I render, I'm assuming this is bcause the green on the botom half is darker green (caused by lights) but how do I fix it???

 

[The Great Apple]

I've been doing a little bit of experimenting with the "glow" effect but I have a problem, I have a green model, the key colour for glow is set to that green. however only the top half "glows" when I render, I'm assuming this is bcause the green on the botom half is darker green (caused by lights) but how do I fix it???

I think the only way to do it is to add another glow postpro for the darker green colour. It would be nice if you could set whether the glow colour had to be an exact match, or not. On trying this I found it doesn't actually work. I'm having similar problems...

 

[Dease]

I think the only way to do it is to add another glow postpro for the darker green colour. It would be nice if you could set whether the glow colour had to be an exact match, or not. On trying this I found it doesn't actually work. I'm having similar problems...

Oh well, IMO the fireball effect is more realistic for a muzzle flash. that and I dont have enough patience to make ~20 shades of green glow

 

[The Great Apple]

Ok... it's come to the time where I really need a flamethorwer, but I'm not quite sure of the best way to do it. I could do it the long way with a load of fireball postpros, or I could do it with a flame shaped object with an animated texture. Unfortunetly I can't find a decent animated flame texture. Is there any other way anybody can think of doing it?

I'm tempted to export the model into blender, and see if I can get that to do what I want, but I find the user interface so stupid, so that'll probably take even longer than doing the fireball postpros...

 

[Dease]

Ok... it's come to the time where I really need a flamethorwer, but I'm not quite sure of the best way to do it. I could do it the long way with a load of fireball postpros, or I could do it with a flame shaped object with an animated texture. Unfortunetly I can't find a decent animated flame texture. Is there any other way anybody can think of doing it?

I'm tempted to export the model into blender, and see if I can get that to do what I want, but I find the user interface so stupid, so that'll probably take even longer than doing the fireball postpros...

I just spent all today experimenting with postpro effects, I'd say your best bet would be to go with a trail of fireballs, with the right settings they can really do anything

Ideally you also want to set it's refractive index, which is about 1.5 for normal glass

Where is this "refractive index"

 

[The Great Apple]

Where is this "refractive index"

Attributes-->Refractive index



Refractive index is, for people who don't do physics, a constant for each material relating to how light would bend if traveling through the object. It's not really noticeable at such a small scale, but it's the reason things in water appear distorted etc. Also really high refractive indicies (like diamond - about 2.5) cause bits of the object to reflect the light (diamonds are cut specially so this is maximised to increase sparkle), due to total internal reflection (which is how fibre optics work BTW).

Here is a referance list for loads of transparent things, and thier refractive indicies:
http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/Gen3DTuts/Gen3DPages/RefractionIndexList.html

 

[Smoking mirror]

The glow effect is easy to use, and gives much better explosions (for space machines at least) than the fireball post pro.

I'll post an example in a bit, but heres the details;
#1 you can use any key colour you want, green is good if you are not using it anywhere else in the model, but if you are, choose something else, make sure its the brightest colour you can get.

#2 give the green (or other colour object) the luminous texture setting, this sets it so that it has no shadows or shading, and is all the colour you want.

#3 turn off all anti aliasing for the animation, if the edge of the glow object is blured it wont glow on that area.

and thats it. Using a morph and the explode polygons action to create several frames of explosion can give a good effect. I tend to use little "bombs" of glow colour that explode out from the center of the model, meaning you don't have to remove the texture from the main model.

 

[Neomega]

looks very good.... have you figured out a way to make it orthgonal yet? It still scares me from even trying anymore for now.....

(It would be fine for just gun flashes etc... but with beam weapons or even missile trails, it seem to complicate things greatly.)

 

[Dease]

Thanks for the tip SM
I tried to use the glow effect for my previous unit but couldn't get the object to have no shadoweffect(different shades of green) and therefore had to use fireball effect which is very pink ingame unless you don't decrease the density

@ neomega - really, I haven't ever noticed any problem without "orthagonal" view, and I've done a beam attack to experiment awhile back which worked fine

 

[Neomega]

Thanks for the tip SM
I tried to use the glow effect for my previous unit but couldn't get the object to have no shadoweffect(different shades of green) and therefore had to use fireball effect which is very pink ingame unless you don't decrease the density

@ neomega - really, I haven't ever noticed any problem without "orthagonal" view, and I've done a beam attack to experiment awhile back which worked fine

if your beams sweep, or come from the center of the model, it may not be noticable. Also, in game, if it is firing at a larger unit, it will not be noticable. Only when it fires at a smaller unit like infantry is it noticed that the beam is missing.

Plus, realistically, units in civ III are created with orthoganal, not perspective.

 

[Tzar Sasha]

Only when it fires at a smaller unit like infantry is it noticed that the beam is missing.

Could it be that your target location is off?
I've noticed with my units and have also been told about other startrek ships which miss the target for smaller ground type units. This is something that must be lived with.
WHY?
In standard Civ III units there are no weapons which leave a visible trail. Which means that a unit can move forward or backward a little when attacking/defending. Pay attention to the ground unit which you are trying to hit with a visibly moving weapon. If the ground unit moves from center to the edge in order to attack/defend (like spearmen and pikemen do) then your beam weapon will appear to overshoot.
Since we're using beam weapons and/or torpedos both of which are visible attacks, they need to have a target to shoot at when creating them. Unfortunatly, not all units are the same size or remain in the same position during all animation sequences. Therefore, whether the perspective is orthoganal or not, this will continue to be a problem.

That is not to say that someone somewhere could come up with a good solution. OH, I know, make all units the same size in the same postion and never moving in defense/attack... HOW BORING IS THAT!

So please, don't give up because of this...

 

[Smoking mirror]

I tend to avoid the laser post pro unless I have to. Its a bit weak and can produce odd results, especialy if the beam goes off screen.

A better idea is to use models like the phaser model. Eather glow or transparency masks can make it look prety good.

Admitedly, I've not tested many of my units in came so its possible that they're off target.

 

[Tzar Sasha]

I had been using the post pro lasers for my first round of units, but found it tedious to fix the colors after they pass onto the magenta background. A black background is great for the post pro's but not so good when your unit is comprised of shades of grey and black. I've started using models for the phasors and torpedos. They are harder to position, but once they are in place, they move just like the post pros.

Don't know how to use glow or transparency in OpenFX. Is that something only visible in a final render or can it be seen in a f12 quick render?

 

[Neomega]

Could it be that your target location is off?

No. The laser model is a straight cylinder. For other projectiles I use the location keyframe, meaning they are only moved along one axis.

The cameras are alos set up at ideal angles.

The bad effect is magnified when the unit is facing south or north, for reasons of the difference between orthoganal and perspective.

I haven't given up, I just have about 30 other things I gotta polish first before I release my mod.

 

[A Viking Yeti]

I had been using the post pro lasers for my first round of units, but found it tedious to fix the colors after they pass onto the magenta background. A black background is great for the post pro's but not so good when your unit is comprised of shades of grey and black. I've started using models for the phasors and torpedos. They are harder to position, but once they are in place, they move just like the post pros.

Don't know how to use glow or transparency in OpenFX. Is that something only visible in a final render or can it be seen in a f12 quick render?

You can see glow in the F12 view. When you are modeling, select what will be glowing, and go to attributes->materials->texture and give it the internal texture "luminous". Then go to the normal color assignment menue (attributes->materials) and give it a "key-color" (just pick a color not used anywhere else on the model). When you're in the animator, insert the glow post pro effect, and choose your settings. Hot produces a white object, glowing yellow; warm makes it orange and red; and cool makes it white with a blue glow. Fade cotrols intensity (higher percent for more glow), and radiation % controls how "radioactive" it will be if you set it to radiate. Radiate make every model in the scene glow orange, and have an orange tint (depending on how high the radiation % is)... That's about it.

 

[A Viking Yeti]

How would you go about making a Run animation for a unit that flys? I was think him flying up and then landing, but then (when strung together) it'd look like he was hopping everywhere. If I don't, he'll just appear in the air and then back on the groud (the default isn't flying, it's just standing). Thanks in advance.

 

[The Great Apple]

How would you go about making a Run animation for a unit that flys? I was think him flying up and then landing, but then (when strung together) it'd look like he was hopping everywhere. If I don't, he'll just appear in the air and then back on the groud (the default isn't flying, it's just standing). Thanks in advance.

I've been contemplating a similar thing. I was tempted to have constant flying, then landing for the fortify - but I think I'll go for hopping. I don't think there is any other way to do it, apart from having large gaps between the animation (like the tactical nuke, I think...) oh and I'm not sure this is the right thread

 

[A Viking Yeti]

Oh, sorry ... I did mine, it looks ok. Sorry for the OTin', by the way...

 

[Dease]

A tip for expoting to 3DS and DFX
When I export models to 3ds or dfx, I've noticed that sometimes random verticies dissapear or are misplaced
But, I've found a solution
Instead of directly exporting to dfx or 3ds, export to .stl first. then, open the .stl and export that to either 3ds or dfx then you won't be loosing verticies.

hope this info is useful to someone

 

[A Viking Yeti]

Thanks, that may be userful sometime to me.

To add a second fireball post-pro that occurs at a different time than another, do I just changing the costume length of the dummy light associated with it?