The Capo's LH Gallery and Self-Help Thread!

[cool3a2]

The Capo, or Ekmek, have you guys any hints regarding the TTorusFur shader? I mean, don't be afraid, I'm willing to get it solved by myself, just curious to see if you guys already know something this, that I don't. I figured out that SkinInstances are a bad idea and that NiTriStrips seem to work better, although I'm not 100% sure about the last one. Another basic aspect is, that one can not edit position and rotation that freely. Seems like it is the best to get the rotation done in nifskope, at least as far as possible. Otherwise I had effects like the part is enlightened from behind although the light is in front of it. I have now managed to get the fur parts set up so that the lights angle seems to be correct and I basically like the effect the shader has caused. Nevertheless, the parts are too dark and even the contrast between dark and bright strong is too strong. I try to adjust on the lights and the texture, but I don't make fast progress. A major problem is that parts with TTorusFur shader don't seem to react on material settings nor on any other lights then the 3 diffuse ones. This ways, I might get the fur enlightened better, but I screw up the light on other parts. It would be easier if I could set up separate diffuse lights for the fur and the rest of the leaderhead, but I was unable to do so. The lights either affect the entire leaderhead or nothing...
Thoughts how to improve on this issue?

 

[Ekmek]

where did you find the TTorusFur shader? I generally do all my rotating etc in blender. nifskope is to limiting

 

[cool3a2]

where did you find the TTorusFur shader? I generally do all my rotating etc in blender. nifskope is to limiting

Ghengis fur part for instance. The same part is used for nitrams Álmos, Koppány and several times for Rákóczi. In 3dsmax, I can choose it from a list and I think that it also works if you key it in in nifskope as there are no further options for it.
I'd also prefer to rotate etc. in 3dsmax and I don't want to say that it is impossible for TTorusFur shader, but it seems to be easier with nifskope as I had serious troubles doing it in max. There is something else that influences what part of a mesh is bright and what is dark. That thing can get screwed up easily. For instance, for Rákóczi hat, I use the fur part at least 4 times. That's probably ressource consumpting, but I think we have much more powerful systems now then when civ4 came out. Anyways, if I merge the four copies of the part to one, only one of them gets enli9ghtened properly, the rest is pretty black. It seems that this is another operation that screws up that mysterious thing. Note: there is no SkinInstance for the fur part, it's just placed underneath the head bone. But all these things are not really my problem anymore, the light hits from the right direction, the problem is that the mesh is too dark.

To illustrate my problem, I attached two screenshots. One is taken in nifskope where shaders are obviously disabled, the other one was taken in sceneviewer which resembles the look in civ4. You can see that the texture itself is bright as well as anything else of the leaderhead besides of the fur part. Regarding the fur part itself, the parts that should be bright are bright as well as the dark parts. But all in all it's too dark. I can tweak about it with different mipmap settings but it doesn't really solve the issue and lets the part appear more solid again. Similar effects take place for Rákóczi, Koppány accidently works. Light setting doesn't seem to be the solution either. Different parts of the leaderhead get too bright and even on the fur there are strange shadow effects (some dark faces).

 

[The Capo]

Sorry to interject, but I am moving for the next two days so I may not be able to get my internet working. If I am "missing" that is why.

 

[The Capo]

I am about to unhook my computer, I'll be back as soon as I can.

 

[The_J]

There are already 20 minutes over...

Just kidding . Hope everything goes right with all the moving .

 

[AbsintheRed]

This moving is sure taking a loooong time

 

[Civciv5]

When is The Capo going to release Benazir Bhutto?

 

[Vortilex]

He'll release her when he releases her. Seeing as he's working on Dip II right now, and moving...I don't know whether he wants Dip II or Bhutto out first. I'm guessing he may include Bhutto in Dip II, but I don't know whether he'll release her when she's finished or only after Dip II is done playtesting.

 

[Graceheart the Leopard]

To be honest, Capo, I think v1 looks better than the second version.

 

[Vortilex]

I've not seen v1, so I can't evaluate that statement.

 

[Graceheart the Leopard]

Version 1 and Version 2

 

[Zach-Attack]

Just wanted to say nice LHs.

 

[AbsintheRed]

Just wanted to say nice LHs.

Indeed they are
And now that Capo said he will be back, hopefully we will get those awesome WIP LHs too

 

[The Capo]

@farsight; Version 2 is definitely better than Version 1, look for images of Gustav, no comparison.

I have so many things I have to do in the LH department, I think that the first things I'm going to do when I "return" is get my LH-making skills back in order. What I'll do is start out by finishing up LHs that are nearly finished, and that means Arpad and Benazir Bhutto will be the first two I put out since they are both essentially finished. I don't quite remember which other LHs I had already begun, I know Lorenzo d'Medici is one of them, so he is probably next after that.

I am going to try to swing by my old place and get my computer today if I can, if that is the case I should have it up and running and possibly have one or both of those LHs finished by the end of this week.

 

[The Turk]

WHOOO The_Capo is back!

The_Capo are you still working on the Harun al-Rashid LH? There are quite a few people looking forward to it!

 

[cool3a2]

Good to see you're back

Indeed!

Do not forget about the crown either

 

[Leoreth]

Wow, and I expected this to be a bump by someone else again. Welcome back, and take your time!

 

[The Capo]

Thanks for the support guys, things have been going pretty badly for me lately, but I'm trying my damnedest to get my old computer working. If for no other reason than to entertain myself. The first thing I'm going to do is kick out an***S-LOAD*** (dammit, I probably suspended myself) of LHs. And they will be awesome...

hopefully.

- The Capo

EDIT: Apparently they edit posts now to remove obscenities, I feel that is relatively ridiculous. How young do you guys think the youngest civ player should/could/would be? C'mon the J, saying a chingon of something is not a big deal, and you know it.

And on a related note, you guys allow people to advocate massacres of people simply because of who they are, but I can't use a simple english word to explain, and also show how serious I am about, putting out awesome LHs... not cool man, and shite isn't even a curse word honestly.

EDIT 2: WOW, so I can get away with it if I'm British or whatever, that isn't cool!!!! I call shenanigans!!! Shenanigans I tell you!!!

EDIT 3: It is pretty horrible that my edits are longer than my original post, however I did start the thread, and I am pretty sure I have done this before. I also think most people would agree with me, and honestly if you guys knew the entire truth you'd probably cut me A LOT of slack, just assuming you guys are decent people. You may not be, you are European after all. (I await my hate mail).

EDIT 4: Not actually a fourth edit, but just another statement in my third edit; I still love the Hungarian people, and for all intents and purposes do not consider them for my fourth edit. You guys are awesome, keep it up!!!

 

[cool3a2]

We like you, too! Still, avoid problems man, you could be banned from the forum - that'd be a terrible lost for us!