The Capo's Units Thread

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

I read about a strange creature called a Sirrush that is depicted on the Gates of Ishtar:

Spoiler :

The horns of the Sirrush and the scales could be translated into armor for a horse maybe. This is for the none-officers.

I've seen afew images of Marduk with four wings. That would be unique on a horse.

For a weapon, I don't know, but for some reason the idea of a Babylonian Knight swore to uphold Hammurabi's code with a gigantic hammer appeals to me....lol

 

[The Capo]

I could probably do scaled armor similar to that on the horse. That shouldn't be a problem. The horns I could easily work out into a decoration too.

Going to a baseball game tonight (Phillies at Nationals), so I probably won't get much done.

 

[LunarMongoose]

I read about a strange creature called a Sirrush that is depicted on the Gates of Ishtar:

I want one! Do you think they'd have any at an exotic pet store?

 

[mechaerik]

Putting wings on the horse sounds cool but also seems like it would cause a lot of clipping.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

I want one! Do you think they'd have any at an exotic pet store?

They look too mean to be pets lol

I think the strange creatures in the first Ghostbusters movie were based on them..maybe.

But on topic, theres been horse units with wings made already, I don't think Capo would have a problem creating similar units.

Anyways Capo..hope you enjoyed your game

 

[The Capo]

Crazy crazy week. I had a lot of crazy RL issues go on, mostly involving other people but still things I had to attend to. Anyway I got around to working on some units and they are still showing up incorrectly. I still have a lot to learn. While the trial and error of learning to create units is annoying it was the reason I started this project to begin with.

My latest catastrophe is the Crossbowman. I think the model looks good, even though it doesn't work in-game I like the looks of it so far. Here he is...

...once again I have the same problem; the model isn't animated properly and has that "Gingerbread Man" stance, that means the model isn't connected properly to the skeleton. You can't tell from the image, but the crossbow itself and the shield I strapped to the unit's back does move correctly while the rest doesn't.

I need to get to the bottom of this. First I have posted all of my files in hopes that somebody will help me get this unit to work. I have also posted a description of what it is that I did to lead to this issue. So if anyone is out there with the skills to help me through this please do so!

Also if anybody knows of a good tutorial on how to create units please show me. I saw one entitled "How to make units in Blender" or something to that effect and it isn't for me, it shows you how to make units entirely from scratch and that is not what I need to know, plus it is difficult for me to follow (obviously). So if anybody knows of the "best" tutorial, or is willing to make one for me that would be appreciated.

 

[clanky4]

Lets compare the broken unit to a functioning unit:

Note that the functioning unit has a niskininstance while the broken unit does not. A niskininstance means that a unit has it vertices assigned the various bones in a skeleton. The easiest way to fix this is to use the model with the bones already assigned.

So lets copy the unweighted head over to the weighted body and save the nif.

Next we are going to import the unit into blender to weight the head so it moves with the unit.

Deselect everything by press A and then select the Head followed by the skeleton. Press the object button and then press Parent and then Make Parent. Press Make Parent to Armature and then Name Groups. The head will then be thrown off in some odd direction. Re position it in its proper place.

Next in select the head and switch to edit mode. Select all of the vertices on the head and assign them to the Bip Head bone. Following this I selected the vertices around the neck and assinged them to the Bip Spine1 bone to make movement smoother.

After you are all done assigning vertices go back to object mode select everything and export your nif. Make sure export skin partion is deselected.

Now copy your unit onto a "fresh" skeleton and save it. MAKE SURE unit mesh is a child of MDnonacclum.

And we are done. The main issue with your unit was that it had unweighted vertices. Meaning it wasn't rigged onto the skeleton so it won't move. At some point in unit creation the niskininstance was likely unintentionally deleted.

Your unit is all fixed up now. The working version is named BabylonCrossbowmanFinal

Anyway for more on rigging this is a great tutorial:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=296286

 

[The Capo]

Thanks for helping me out, I know it can be frustrating and you definitely put a lot of work into your tutorial. I hope this goes beyond just me and helps many others to start making units.

I would also like to apologize to everyone who has been patiently awaiting these units to be finished. I know what that's like, so I will try my best to get them ready for use as soon as I am able.

 

[LunarMongoose]

Been a while, just checking how it's going on these!

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Capo has been busy lately, but I guarantee he will be back with a vengeance soon enough.

Your a big part of these boards man, units or no.

 

[Keinpferd]

Yeah, it's always unpredictable, how "real life" duties distract you from art making, and the Capo is therefore excused!

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Capo hope to see you back soon.