gamophyte on 26/11/2018 at 01:33
Quote Posted by vfig
Don't have anything to say on the technical side of this, but the latest screenshots are stunning! Lovely work!
Thank you! This one's for you!
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/ImUc66q.png
Judith on 26/11/2018 at 07:08
Quote Posted by gamophyte
I mean you're speaking to the choir here. The sides of the window are not going to change much, they are brushes so, I want to take advantage of brick alignment. Most of all else will be weathered and look very stucco. Not to leave out, I will be opening up old object files and "breaking" them and reimporting. There will be blotchy worn areas and green grime. My initial post was saying exactly that it will be uniform as a
placeholder, and was little about texturing or texture differentiation.
It was finding the level of detail in objects/elements necessary for interesting architecture, but still within this engine, that is also not going to tax me later. Textures will be reworked a lot. If fact I have to watch that I don't overly contrast the elements to their wall/setting. Keep in mind if you sub to this, you are going to see a lot of unfinished stuff, but I do heed the warnings.
That's okay, I somehow missed that this is still WIP in terms of textures. I work with models almost exclusively, brushes are more flexible in terms of changing textures on the fly.
gamophyte on 26/11/2018 at 07:26
Quote Posted by Judith
flexible in terms of changing textures on the fly.
It works that same here. but, it kind of has a domino effect though with this much wear and tear. If I change a zone then the weathering has to grow outward from there, to have a cohesiveness. I'm not sure how far it I can take it just yet. If at the end, this old timer engine starts stuttering, I may not be able to make 2048x2048 bands of worn unique textures. Same with blemish decals, I may run out of objects before I get to splurge on them. Have you worked with this engine yet?
Edit: I feel like I'm already breaking a cardinal rule by texturing so early! but it helps with production!
Judith on 26/11/2018 at 08:16
IMO you should set some reasonable tech constraints and stick to them. I worked with Dromed ages ago, never beyond two-three bare-bone WIPs. I haven't seen T2 missions built on 2k textures exclusively, but I'd expect them to turn out bad (think Cardia missions). I use base 2k textures for my Dark Mod project now, but I think about scaling down to 1k in the end.
I'd probably set 1024 as max size for textures and assume some pixel density ratio. E.g. a 1024 x 1024 texture should cover the area of 16 x 16 DUs, or something like that. Maybe smaller, like 10 DUs, if you want to get sharper-looking surfaces. Kind of depends on player and AI size, don't remember that for T2. Anyway, everything else will be scaled in relation to that.
Edit: also, texturing early is not a bad thing per se, I often make "50% quality" materials just to see if the colors and shapes are right. Just don't put too much work in it, as it may change a lot during production.
I'm not sure if Dark has that, but TDM (idtech4) has this handy in-engine scaling tool for textures, i.e. you can make everything with 2k textures and then use resizing to 1024 or 512 and reload your map to see how it looks like. In my experience, good textures will still look decent after scaling down, at least in the 2048 to 1024 range. You will lose some crispy close-up details, but the general look will be there.
gamophyte on 29/11/2018 at 05:43
Hid some things to not spoil but wanted to show this lil pile of rubble. It's already fun as hell to "break" and "pile" objects I've already made and placed elsewhere.
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/Jlrjppj.png[cannot be embiggened]
Gecko on 1/12/2018 at 12:26
Hi gamophyte,
i want to send you an answer as PM but your inbox is full ;)
gamophyte on 17/12/2018 at 07:12
Not too much visually to report. I took the weekend to actually fix some objects that we're sitting right with me. Or make into object that used to be brushes, because they were better as objects with a little more detail.
The only real new-new object is the roof rod thingies:
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/rRdtfVo.pngAside from fixing, the new rods, I also made a modular system for the window facade objects. So now any given one can be a combo of different parts at various degrees of damage. When all are put in, even if there are just broken off stubbs, they still are utilized for their bounding boxes. So no matter the combo, the player should be find up close without weirdness. Example is that you can shoot an arrow where you would expect to shoot an arrow.
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/DeyW0lY.pngA note if you haven't been following, my screenshots depict textures that have yet to be damaged. As well, the sky box is just a placeholder. I think I will be making photoshop batches with macros that will auto damage the textures based of material. Not sure.
Update: Oh I also wanted to mention I now have 612 reference photos, from only like 200 when I started. All in a folder structures so I can quickly go to where I need to based on where I'm building.
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/JxFEFBU.png
Judith on 17/12/2018 at 10:21
Will the player be able to reach that tower? Otherwise, these roof rods are quite thin and that kind of details will be destroyed by aliasing.
Oh, and when it comes to gathering references, do yourself a favor and start using (
https://www.pureref.com/) PureRef. You will save tons of time on browsing the whole library of images, since you can just arrange them in collages. You can also resize the window, resize images inside it, and have the window always on top, with various degrees of transparency. It's a great thing for a free tool.
gamophyte on 17/12/2018 at 14:19
The player will be up there, but also, the image is a little warped because both screenshots are actually from one dump/screenshot I cut up. So you can actually see this from far away just fine. They are big up close and almost as tall as the player. I took the screenshot about 60 DUs away.
Yeah I had no idea I was going to have this many images. I already invested so much time in the folders, and they work. I will have to keep that software in mind for my next project. Thanks for the heads up!
Edit: Although.. it is only 5 euros to try the autosorter, and see how it does it.
gamophyte on 28/1/2019 at 05:10
A little update visually; I've been wanting to finish a room to completion to keep myself inspired at what is possible. It will be the second floor in the front tower.
The following screenshots are just a general idea of where it's going so far. I've been doing a lot of overlay and other photoshop blending to construct some custom grunge textures. I was testing the look of the windows and decided to share since they made the area feel inclosed.
I still have to implement the window's tech ((
https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149523) other post talking about it), but should make a video when it's done.
Other features of the room that I can mention without it being too spoilery;
- Wall crack, stain, and pock decals.
- The best AI I have right now as a test, but it won't be in that room more than likely.
- Lit candle with bitmap flame.
- Garbage and junk pieces.
- Other terrain detail like the coal burning fireplace, nook, and built in wall shelves.
- Mushroom lighting.
Inline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/1Wv0dm3.pngInline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/Gin7BsX.pngInline Image:
https://i.imgur.com/PfOrCI4.pngEdit: I almost forgot, I also have been working on the UI as you can see. I am setting up a real crystal in front of a dimmer to make my custom light gem.
Edit2: I can already see I am going to end up making the window more opaque for more of a claustrophobic feeling, and bring the wood texture up so it's more visible/bleached.