Polish Archer (June 28, 2008)

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Another fantastic unit, thank-you very much for doing it. In terms of whether or not the animations should be used in future units, I voted yes, though I'm delighted that there's going to be any future units, whatever animations you choose to use for them!

 

[imperator1961]

Well I think it's a great unit, utah! Well done! And, obviously, I will put it in my Mod!

 

[Madeira]

This is a great looking archer!

 

[embryodead]

Very nice unit He could release the pressure from the string while running indeed but other than that the animations are superb.

Excellent unit Just a quick question though: is the recurved bow historically accurate?

Yes, Poles and Slavs in general used both straight and recurved bows.

 

[Ares de Borg]

Ooh! Thank you, man. Perfect unit.

 

[Sandris]

The only thing I could add that both the bowstring and the bow should bend while drawing, not only the bowstring.

 

[Hrafnkell]

It's a great unit. Will definitely use it.

 

[matteo773]

Excellent unit Utah. One of your best.

By the way, this is the 2500th thread in this section of the forums.

 

[utahjazz7]

I guess I'm replying a little late to everyone's comments, but I'm glad that so many of you like the unit. I, too, am very happy with the way it turned out. As for the controversy with regard to the bow being somewhat drawn during the default and run animations, I realize that it wouldn't be practical to do this all of the time. But, I wanted to give the feel that the unit was prepared to strike--something more dynamic than the standard animations. And, I have to say that I personally like the animations.

The reason for the poll about reusing the animations comes from noticing that some unit makers have recently been reusing animations in multiple units. Years back when I started making units, this, I think, was somewhat frowned upon. While I did go through a phase where I used the same animations for multiple units, I stopped. Reusing them makes it easier to create new units, so I thought I'd see what the people thought about these animations in case I should ever want to create a similar archer unit.

And, I have also uploaded some props and figures that I used in this unit to the Civ3 - Models section of the download database. Here is the link to that section.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=104

 

[T-mun]

I think there's no problem in reusing an animation since it is a fantastic one. I don't mean to hurt you in any way but at the time the anims you reused were not as good as the ones you can create today. Same for Cam's swordsman anim, they're just great, powerful and realistic. Anyway it isn't too much work to move the arms a little bit more or less from one attack anim to the other. Reusing an anim can be a base from which you still can add a little creativity...

 

[utahjazz7]

I don't mean to hurt you in any way but at the time the anims you reused were not as good as the ones you can create today.

Yeah . . . I know they weren't that good.

 

[utahjazz7]

The only thing I could add that both the bowstring and the bow should bend while drawing, not only the bowstring.

If you look closely, or go get the prop, you will see that the bow does move a bit when it's drawn. And, unlike my previous bow attempts, the string remains straight—it doesn't curve—when the bow is drawn.

 

[Sandris]

If you look closely, or go get the prop, you will see that the bow does move a bit when it's drawn. And, unlike my previous bow attempts, the string remains straight—it doesn't curve—when the bow is drawn.

Actually, I`m very happy with the unit and its animations, so the bow bending has no point at all.
This bowman is one of my favourite units now.

Thank you for the props !

 

[Stormrage]

Yeah . . . I know they weren't that good.

They were great in their time, but you and Kinboat continued to push the bar up, so today the standards are higher.

Its like sports. Legends from 30-40 years ago would be "just good" compared to todays legends. Records are broken every so often.

So I agree that you should reuse the animations, because they are top quality. I just think the "run with drawn" issue could be fixed, and then the animations would be perfect. And perfection is what you "artsy" people strive for, or so I heard

 

[Cimbri]

Awesome unit as always, Utah. Just beautiful.

 

[Plotinus]

They were great in their time, but you and Kinboat continued to push the bar up, so today the standards are higher.

Its like sports. Legends from 30-40 years ago would be "just good" compared to todays legends. Records are broken every so often.

(Lisa finishes reading "The Raven".)
Bart: Lisa, that wasn't scary, not even for a poem.
Lisa: Well, it was written in 1845. Maybe people were easier to scare back then.
Bart: Oh, yeah. Like when you look at Friday the 13th, part one. It's pretty tame by today's standards.

Actually I always used to try to have animations that were as different as possible for different units - at least different victories and fidgets - but there comes a point where it turns unit-making into a drudge. I think everyone prefers putting the models together to animating them, and sometimes the thought that one would have animate the thing afresh rather than re-use some pre-existing animations is enough to put you off even starting it. If it's a choice between a unit with existing animations or no unit at all I'm sure we'd all agree on which is preferable.

 

[utahjazz7]

If it's a choice between a unit with existing animations or no unit at all I'm sure we'd all agree on which is preferable.

. . . no unit at all?

Yeah, sometimes I've thought that I'd like to make a unit but didn't want to create new animations. The modeling would have been nice, but I didn't want to spend all the time and effort to think up new animations. Maybe I'll start reusing some animations from time to time.

 

[Stormrage]

I hope that means you`ll make units more frequently

 

[utahjazz7]

Time will tell . . .

 

[Stromboli]

Great model! Love the modeling, and I'm curious as to how you made it in blender.

I'd been having trouble getting the paperdoll to work in blender, and converting it made me lose the rigging. After having failed numerous attempts at rigging it myself, how did you animate it?