Katyusha (add animation)

[danrell]

Original creator : asioasioasio

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=4305&act=down

enjoy

 

[GeoModder]

You mean you added animations to this marvel?

 

[snipperrabbit!!]

That seems quite clear ! It miss Mamushkas by the way !

 

[Hian the Frog]

Awesome ! Great unit !
I was waiting for the famous katyusha since so long !

Great.
Thanks.

Hian the Frog

 

[Chamaedrys]

The WW2 guys will be happy about this.

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

I think the skin needs a bit of work, needs to be lighter, too many modern units are made with these incredibly dark drab admittedly realistic skins but they just look terrible in game when your zoomed out, it looks like a featureless green brick.

 

[snafusmith]

I think the skin needs a bit of work, needs to be lighter, too many modern units are made with these incredibly dark drab admittedly realistic skins but they just look terrible in game when your zoomed out, it looks like a featureless green brick.

I don't know, I think the skin looks fine. It takes a lot to make a decent skin (at least postable) for most modern units. Those 'dark drab' skins are harder to make than you think. I know Asioasioasio spent a good amount of time on that model and skin, and that they look AWESOME compared to many that are released by others.

Saying something looks 'terrible in game' is definetly on the edge, at least from my point of view. Some creators (those that regularly create new models and animations) deserve credit for what they do, and not recognizing that is just mean. It takes a lot to make a new unit/animation/model/SDK-Python-XML mod/whatever for civ4. Just saying, 'skins... look terrible in game when your zoomed out' is harsh. You try, it's not easy.

I'm mostly playing devils advocate on this, as I've tried a little bit of C++ and python to modify game dynamics, as well as graphics. I can't say modifying any one part of Civ4 is easy, as it isn't. I can say that anyone who can participate in any kind of release is deserving of some kind of praise for at least trying.

 

[Impaler[WrG]]

I know people put a lot of work into these things and these and create some great work, I don't think this drab skin problem is not due to any lack of skill or effort but rather to too much emphasis on realism. Artists get fanatical about creating a perfect recreation of what a T-34 tank looked like. I think people get too caught up in what it looks like when their looking at it in their 3D tools ware its the size of the screen, then we see highly zoomed in screen shoots that aren't a good reflection of real playing conditions.

I've been having a lot of trouble differentiating the plethora of tanks that are in many of the mods out their. I'm not a weapons buff who can distinguish them by shape alone and the skins are of no help so consider this an open plea for skins that are brighter and more differentiated.

For this Unit in particular the launching rails could have a metallic color and the wheels be darker for contrast with a lighter body paint, some team color stripes/details would also be great like on the front and rear fenders.

 

[asioasioasio]

Thx danrell. You make good job for community I'm glad you've put animations to that units.
It's what i couldn't make

I've been having a lot of trouble differentiating the plethora of tanks that are in many of the mods out their. I'm not a weapons buff who can distinguish them by shape alone and the skins are of no help so consider this an open plea for skins that are brighter and more differentiated.

For this Unit in particular the launching rails could have a metallic color and the wheels be darker for contrast with a lighter body paint, some team color stripes/details would also be great like on the front and rear fenders.

I understand your view, but...
the camouflage and painting has two main purpose:
- to help unit hide
- to help unit not to be recognized
so the environment + painting makes units invisible or hard to recognize - so zooming out in civ4 works the same for units with realistic painting.

We could make units civ4 style or realistic style - i choose to make the second way:
- it's for sure easier for me to find some realistics drawings photographies than to paint own texture (i don't have much painting skills). Usually when i paint textures myself "the green brick" effect is more visible
- playing with this team color for me is unnecessary (i don't know how to make this too - i didn't have much need to make it) - if i make katyusha with red star painted i know it won't be used by Montezuma.
- i think realistic painting better fits WW2 1939 Mod (the unit was made for this mod) than firaxis candy painting.

BTW Katyusha was one of my first unit wich i start working - it was just after making ZIS-5B in summer - i didn't had good textures for top view so i know this unit's is far from perfect and "the green brick" effect is more visible looking on this from top view. I returned to it in winter, i finished model, but still it didn't have idea how to make animations - this is one of the hardest units i was dealing with. Probably now i would make this unit look better - i earned much experience since summer

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I can see where Impaler is coming from on this... from experience making units in Civ3, realism definitely had to be sacrificed to make units there to A) fit in well with the pre-existing Firaxis units and B) because a lot of the detail would've had to be sacrificed. Thus proportions were exaggerated, textures were simplified... Civ4, thankfully, allows for more detail and realism because of the nature of the 3D engine. I think textures that accentuate lines and give decent contrast against the its own colors as well as the color of the terrain under it is the best way to go. Fortunately, also unlike Civ3, the 3D engine also makes it fairly simple to make small color and brightness adjustments to the textures of models. While creating good textures (reskins included of course) is definitely an art (one I myself have not mastered but rather learned to fake ) changing existing textures really only needs a passing knowledge of a program like Photoshop that can modify DDS files.

 

[hrochland]

Hi, Danrell.
I want to ask you, can you create new simple animations for mechanized units in 3Dmax?

 

[Paasky]

That's exactly where they're made. Check one of the tutoroials for a full explanation.

For some reason the Kat has a yellow wireframebox in civ for me...?

 

[asioasioasio]

you can hide it in nifviewer

 

[Underdog Ally]

I have tried to use this unit, but in the game it looks just like the Mobile Sam and also has the same button? I notice there is one dds file in the folder which looks like the Katyusha, however nothing else seems to direct towards this. Can anyone please help