In about a year or so I am going to need some ship creature models. Due to the mechanics of what I am going to use them for, I am not sure if the standard trick of putting a ship model VFX on them is going to work or look good. So I figured I'd better just bite the bullet and figure out if I can do it myself. All I want to do is convert the placeable models to creature type models. Animations will probably be neccessary, at least for death (sinking) so I will need to be able to animate them.
My budget is tight.... veeeeeeery tight, so that may be the biggest limiting factor. What programs will I need? Are there other reasonable options that I may explore.
And yes, if I can successfully create these creature models, I will post them to the vault. Thanks for any suggestions.
How do I make the stock ship placeables into creature models?
Débuté par
M. Rieder
, févr. 16 2012 03:10
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#2
Posté 16 février 2012 - 04:27
slowdive.fan
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#3
Posté 16 février 2012 - 05:47
M. Rieder
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Thanks slowdive. That tutorial looks very helpful and also very easy to follow. I run into troubles with the 3ds max issue. I don't have that kind of cash. Has anyone been able to use other less costly programs that you know of?
#4
Posté 16 février 2012 - 06:55
slowdive.fan
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I think you have to use 3ds max 6,7,or8 if you want to create your own skeletons. If you reuse existing skeletons, then go with gmax or blender.
Isn't there a ship from the OC that you could reuse its skele?
Isn't there a ship from the OC that you could reuse its skele?
Modifié par slowdive.fan, 16 février 2012 - 06:59 .
#5
Posté 16 février 2012 - 09:47
Dann-J
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Or you can just 'borrow' the ship creature models from Dark Waters...
#6
Posté 16 février 2012 - 10:44
Shaughn78
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If it only needs the death animation, it may be a bit easier to try to approach that with a VFX solution.
#7
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:06
M. Rieder
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slowdive.fan wrote...
I think you have to use 3ds max 6,7,or8 if you want to create your own skeletons. If you reuse existing skeletons, then go with gmax or blender.
Isn't there a ship from the OC that you could reuse its skele?
Sure is. I'll look at that.
#8
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:08
M. Rieder
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DannJ wrote...
Or you can just 'borrow' the ship creature models from Dark Waters...
Someone said that for Dark Waters they used VFX for their ships. I guess I could easily find out. I have it on my computer...
#9
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:09
M. Rieder
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Duplicate post.
Modifié par M. Rieder, 17 février 2012 - 03:11 .
#10
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:10
M. Rieder
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Shaughn78 wrote...
If it only needs the death animation, it may be a bit easier to try to approach that with a VFX solution.
Yeah, you may be right. If I could get a good ship sinking death animation from VFX, I could try it.... it wouldn't be hard for me to test it first. On the other hand, this is going to be a big part of the mod, so I want it to look really good and smooth which is why I was thinking creature. Plus (and I didn't put this in the OP) I may want to put in ambient animation for the movement of the water as well as a water movement more moving. I'll see what I can do.
#11
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:26
Axe_Edge
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* OC spoiler (very very minor) *
Not sure if it will help, but a ship sinks when you get to Highcliff. Maybe there is some useful code to look at there.
Edit: Upon first arrival in act 1. Ship rocks, bubbles appear, water geysers appear, then sinks. Even has falling masts. Check it out, at about 50 seconds in:
www.youtube.com/watch
Not sure if it will help, but a ship sinks when you get to Highcliff. Maybe there is some useful code to look at there.
Edit: Upon first arrival in act 1. Ship rocks, bubbles appear, water geysers appear, then sinks. Even has falling masts. Check it out, at about 50 seconds in:
www.youtube.com/watch
Modifié par Axe_Edge, 17 février 2012 - 03:54 .
#12
Posté 17 février 2012 - 03:43
Dann-J
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M. Rieder wrote...
DannJ wrote...
Or you can just 'borrow' the ship creature models from Dark Waters...
Someone said that for Dark Waters they used VFX for their ships. I guess I could easily find out. I have it on my computer...
It looked more like a polymorph to me (although I could be wrong). Occasionally when you transitioned from the overland (oversea) map, you briefly saw the player change back from a ship into their standard form. The transition effect looked like the standard transmutation spell FX (like when a polymorph spell ends). I suppose it could have been a custom transmutation spell that applies a VFX though.
#13
Posté 17 février 2012 - 06:48
Dann-J
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There's a 'cargo ship' creature appearance already in the game, most likely the one used in the sinking ship cut scene in the OC. It's not the most glamorous looking thing on the high seas, but it has idle and death animations (bobbing and sinking respectively).
If you could assign the cargo ship skeleton to something sexier (like the Grey Ghost) you'd have a very nice looking ship creature.
I wonder if it would be possible to give it a 'helm' (the headwear, not the nautical variety) that showed up as unfurled sails? Then when you wanted to set sail you'd just have to equip the sail 'helm' via a script or conversation, and unequip it again when tied up at a dock.
If you could assign the cargo ship skeleton to something sexier (like the Grey Ghost) you'd have a very nice looking ship creature.
I wonder if it would be possible to give it a 'helm' (the headwear, not the nautical variety) that showed up as unfurled sails? Then when you wanted to set sail you'd just have to equip the sail 'helm' via a script or conversation, and unequip it again when tied up at a dock.
#14
Posté 17 février 2012 - 04:40
Hellfire_RWS
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Yep, that could be done. and you could take it a step more. Equip a weapon, can have cannons appear, or boots /gloves could be cargo on deck. A cape could be visible fishing nets etc.DannJ wrote...
I wonder if it would be possible to give it a 'helm' (the headwear, not the nautical variety) that showed up as unfurled sails? Then when you wanted to set sail you'd just have to equip the sail 'helm' via a script or conversation, and unequip it again when tied up at a dock.
#15
Posté 17 février 2012 - 10:16
The Fred
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Oh, I'm seeing a total conversion here... NWN2 Pirate Wars!
#16
Posté 18 février 2012 - 08:19
Artemis Absinthe
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M. Rieder wrote...
Thanks slowdive. That tutorial looks very helpful and also very easy to follow. I run into troubles with the 3ds max issue. I don't have that kind of cash. Has anyone been able to use other less costly programs that you know of?
Blender is Open Source : www.blender.org/
Modifié par Artemis Absinthe, 18 février 2012 - 08:22 .
#17
Posté 18 février 2012 - 08:58
Artemis Absinthe
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DannJ wrote...
M. Rieder wrote...
DannJ wrote...
Or you can just 'borrow' the ship creature models from Dark Waters...
Someone said that for Dark Waters they used VFX for their ships. I guess I could easily find out. I have it on my computer...
It looked more like a polymorph to me (although I could be wrong). Occasionally when you transitioned from the overland (oversea) map, you briefly saw the player change back from a ship into their standard form. The transition effect looked like the standard transmutation spell FX (like when a polymorph spell ends). I suppose it could have been a custom transmutation spell that applies a VFX though.
It is a polymorph, but the creature you turn into is, actually, an air elemental with a special effect (ship appearance), so, it's both.
The ship's .sef are in the campaign/highseas folder
