Tom's Unit Factory
- Thread starter tom2050
- Start date
nick0515
C7 Fanatic
Awesomeness Tom! Fiary units have been on my wishlist for ages!
Cheers
Nick
Cheers
Nick
Extraordinary, with some ethereally Victorian overtones!
,
Oz
,Oz
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
Well, the next Elf Fairy has been completed, which I will use as the Sprite in CoMM3.
I haven't been able to fully figure out the best way to render some of these special effects (which in the Fairy instances, are editable meshes (planes) with a glow map.
Here is a pic of the problem (likely a simple thing to a 3ds Max expert).
The mesh which contains the 'glow' in this case has a black colored surrounding. My first assumption was to use 3ds Max' Material Editor to either adjust the opacity, or modify the actual material itself, in order for it to only show the glow. The glow itself if put at opacity of 50-60% would let the unit itself be able to show behind it.
I looked online and dug into it, but haven't figured out how to do this.
So to get around that for the time being, I had to render only the unit first. Then render only the special effect pieces second (making them semi-transparent through track view). Then changing the color in Photoshop to a Magenta; and seperating and properly layering the unit, unit shadow, and effect glow for each storyboard.
Doesn't take long, but the special effects don't come out in the end as well as they could.
Off the top of my head, Wyrmshadow would probably know something as such in what may need to be done... I will probably figure it out eventually. I might drop Wyrm a note, if he has time to leave a helpful hint, after I have exhausted trying to find a solution first though.
As can be seen in the GIF, it causes some 'blotchiness in the glow'. Of course, the Magenta version looks quite bad compared to the Flicster Alpha Blend, as is seen in game (which looks great still)
I will probably post this sometime soon, but need to test in game still, etc...
I haven't been able to fully figure out the best way to render some of these special effects (which in the Fairy instances, are editable meshes (planes) with a glow map.
Here is a pic of the problem (likely a simple thing to a 3ds Max expert).
The mesh which contains the 'glow' in this case has a black colored surrounding. My first assumption was to use 3ds Max' Material Editor to either adjust the opacity, or modify the actual material itself, in order for it to only show the glow. The glow itself if put at opacity of 50-60% would let the unit itself be able to show behind it.
I looked online and dug into it, but haven't figured out how to do this.
So to get around that for the time being, I had to render only the unit first. Then render only the special effect pieces second (making them semi-transparent through track view). Then changing the color in Photoshop to a Magenta; and seperating and properly layering the unit, unit shadow, and effect glow for each storyboard.
Doesn't take long, but the special effects don't come out in the end as well as they could.
Off the top of my head, Wyrmshadow would probably know something as such in what may need to be done... I will probably figure it out eventually. I might drop Wyrm a note, if he has time to leave a helpful hint, after I have exhausted trying to find a solution first though.
As can be seen in the GIF, it causes some 'blotchiness in the glow'. Of course, the Magenta version looks quite bad compared to the Flicster Alpha Blend, as is seen in game (which looks great still)
I will probably post this sometime soon, but need to test in game still, etc...
Gojira54
The folly of Man
Very, Very cool. I have 2 young daughters who are both VERY much into princesses and fairy tales and pink things, and I've thought that even though probably nobody here would play it, I would love to make a girlie pink fairy tale mod after Modzilla for the eldest to play. You've just made that idea a bit closer to reality - THANK YOU (from my girls)!
Looking Good Tom... The "Glow" effects use the "Smoke Shades" in the Unit Palette.
Some of the Smoke Shades are better than others for the effects.
The image is what the smoke and shadow shades look like in game. It is helpful to see the amount of translucency, lightness and darkness for each shade when deciding what shades to use for various things.
Some of the Smoke Shades are better than others for the effects.
The image is what the smoke and shadow shades look like in game. It is helpful to see the amount of translucency, lightness and darkness for each shade when deciding what shades to use for various things.
Attachments
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
I tried adding civ colors to these, but the blue/red colors are too varied to give a normal look (comes out pixelized in certain areas... so I had to leave them civ-colorless.
There are, many other fairy units; about 4 or 5 more, all mainly different colors, some have some other difference, such as different lighting effects around them. I'll get around to those eventually.
2nd Elf Fairy has been posted; The adding in of the light effects has had one negative side effect, the size has almost doubled compared to the first Elf Fairy.
Vuldacon: I made sure they used the 2nd smoke row, instead of the darker shadow row. This way it looks like a glow, instead of a dark smoking circle
It uses mostly the most-transparent shades I believe. That image is helpful! Knowledge is Power! Thank you.
BTW: Atlantica Online actually emailed me back and said it was okay to do these, as long as no one makes profit off of them or sells them. First company to write back at all. Very nice, too.
There are, many other fairy units; about 4 or 5 more, all mainly different colors, some have some other difference, such as different lighting effects around them. I'll get around to those eventually.
2nd Elf Fairy has been posted; The adding in of the light effects has had one negative side effect, the size has almost doubled compared to the first Elf Fairy.
Vuldacon: I made sure they used the 2nd smoke row, instead of the darker shadow row. This way it looks like a glow, instead of a dark smoking circle
It uses mostly the most-transparent shades I believe. That image is helpful! Knowledge is Power! Thank you.BTW: Atlantica Online actually emailed me back and said it was okay to do these, as long as no one makes profit off of them or sells them. First company to write back at all. Very nice, too.
bigdog5994
Lady Day
phew, im glad their ok with it
and the second fairy is simply incredible
and the second fairy is simply incredible
I agree with all this!
Wyrmshadow
Deity
I've never used 3dsmax, so I can't give you any help.
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
Thanks Wyrm, sometimes my assumptions are my biggest faults! I did figure it out finally though, it was simply needing to apply a mask to the texture.
EDIT: For units from here on out, I will be able to add civ colors to the materials ahead of time, it is not time-consuming to modify the texture files in Photoshop pre-render, so units will be more useful overall.
Here is the next unit.. I was using it to figure out how to use masks.. so might as well finish it now.
Gojira54
The folly of Man
Will it have those orbs in it's clutches?
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
Yes, those will be civ colored... It is easy to remove them though if it is wished that they are not there. In that case, nothing is readily available to civ color. This unit with orbs is almost done. I could re-render another without the orbs, but there are 2 other Sea Dragons, so those could be done without.
In game they take up about 8 pixels though, so it will likely just look like a glow anyways.
In game they take up about 8 pixels though, so it will likely just look like a glow anyways.
bigdog5994
Lady Day
no effing way, get the eff out here Tom
not really though im just excited
not really though im just excited
Gojira54
The folly of Man
Don't make any changes on my account, I'll take one for Manda either way
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
FLC's are done, but still need to finish up the PCX, sounds, etc... Should be able to get it up tonight or tomorrow morning.
The orbs are not really overly noticeable in most cases. Darker civ colors don't show up like the brighter colors do. The right gif, which is SE, is the direction which they show up the most. Here is a couple gifs'.
The orbs are not really overly noticeable in most cases. Darker civ colors don't show up like the brighter colors do. The right gif, which is SE, is the direction which they show up the most. Here is a couple gifs'.
Deth McBones
The Inconsistent Modder
Awesome looking unit, Tom! I love that you'll be able to add civ colours. I am of the pro-civ color camp, so I appreciate that you'll put in a few extra minutes adding them.
tom2050
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 5,516
Sea Dragon (unit conversion)
Orbs are civ coloured.
Download here... SeaDragonB1.rar
Unit32, Large/Small pcx, and Sound Files included. Is an Atlantica Online unit.
Orbs are civ coloured.
Download here... SeaDragonB1.rar
Unit32, Large/Small pcx, and Sound Files included. Is an Atlantica Online unit.
Similar threads
