37 réponses à ce sujet

[B_Harrison]

Hello NWN people!

A little while back I returned to some internet/computer-related hobbies after a lengthy hiatus, and started a new blog primarily to host my low-poly 3D projects.

Although I won't be returning to NWN, this weekend I finished a simple resource for the game at the request of a friend; since the process was quite motivating and I have a few finished models hosted there now, I thought I'd do a little subtle(!) self-promotion and let the NWN community know that I'm taking requests for modeling projects.

Here are a few examples:
NWN Steampunk Turret
Pillar Base
Dark Elf Shield

Projects would realistically be limited to meshes & textures, since my game-specific knowledge (ie, implementing resources & working around the engine) will be pretty rusty by now. I don't expect there to be much interest in (or need for) this idea, but if you want something specific for your project, feel free to e-mail or leave a comment at my blog anytime.

Thanks!

[ehye_khandee]

Non-campaign specific holdable holy symbols? Recently CC group took me up on this but mostly we got stuff for the FR or DL. No disrespect to these modelers and their fine output but some of it is too specialized for my more 'generic dnd' sort of NWN. It is an immersion breaker that all the holy symbols in the game (usable) were crosses or ankhs. How about some holy symbols for non FR priests?

Maybe Icons in the shapes of Greek Alphabet characters? Those are very recognizable and yet not associated with particular uses that I'm aware of... any other ideas?

Thanks in advance and WELCOME BACK even in a limited roll. You were missed.

Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA
http://playnwn.com

Modifié par ehye_khandee, 21 mai 2012 - 03:32 .

[AndarianTD]

This is great news! I've been struggling with getting good skyboxes to support the new flying areas I'm building; that sounds like it might fit your description. I'll put together a proposal and contact you.

[GianniAgn]

Can u convert Jedi Academy face to NWN? i can send 3ds file + textures

[Jenna WSI]

BEEEEEEENNNNN.

[Jez_fr]

I'll second that...
BEEEEEENNNNN!

[B_Harrison]

Thanks guys.

@ehye
Holy symbols sound fun - any particular concepts/references in mind for their designs, materials, how they'd be held, etc?

@Andarian
I fear skyboxes might be a little outside of the scope of my projects: I'd have to re-familiarise myself with many of the details of how they work, and it'd mainly involve mapping seamless sky photography. Unless you're referring to hand-painted skies, which would put me a little out of my depth!

@GianniAgn
NWN's plt textures and I don't get along, I'm afraid - part of my big project when I was still modding the game directly involved moving NWN's characters and clothing/armour over to a tga/dds-only system, and I've no desire to work with plt textures again. I'm sure someone else will help with the conversion though.

@Jenna & Jez
I love you.

[henesua]

Thanks for the offer, Ben. Thankfully ehye_khandee's request would be useful for myself as well.

Some holy symbol ideas:

• a holdable sprig (bunch) of mistletoe (challenging given that this should probably include a danglymesh
• caduceus (scepter/wand with wings and double entwined w/ serpents) bronze
• asclepias' staff (staff wrapped with a single serpent) carved wood
• sun on a rod (scepter with golden head and corona of spikes) wood and gold
• Scepter with animal head. Bronze and wood. Staff or Scepter.
• Rods and scepters topped with Zoarastrian symbols
• Yin and Yang pendant
• A series of elemental pendants each etched with a colored inlay of the element.

Modifié par henesua, 22 mai 2012 - 02:50 .

[gutwrench66kg]

Whoa.... Today was already pretty awesome.. but now the return of Ben? EEEEXCELLENT!!

[ehye_khandee]

Thank you Ben! And again, WELCOME BACK. As you can tell, *looks around* the community has missed you brother.

Well, on the holy symbols, I can't help but envision the classic "presenting the cross before the vampire" sort of grip/usage. So a good 'use' animation would be holding it before the priest, at about shoulder level?

I like Hensuas' suggestions, as well as the greek alphabet? Then maybe just some generic objects, a sword, an anvil, a hammer, a dove, a mini-tree, moon, etc.. I can make a longer list if you like, but I don't want to overwhelm you if you've got your plate full.

Bless you brother. Be well. Game on!
GM_ODA

[Urk]

GALLEYS! From a naval historical perspective all the galleons and carracks in this game don't make a lot of sense. In a world without gunpowder the larger crews, improved maneuverability, and ramming abilities of the Venetian Galeass would dominate any naval battle over the more lightly crewed and comparatively clunky pure sailing ships.

[gutwrench66kg]

Set the holy symbols as torches to take advantage of the unique (and I believe hardcoded) Torch wield.

As for "Historical"... You're dealing with dragons, beholders, and ships with wizards and druids onboard.. who needs a cannon? ;-)

[B_Harrison]

I made a start on the/a caduceus sceptre. The full WIP post is on my blog now.

[ehye_khandee]

SWEET!

[Builder__Anthony]

Hey ben i looked around at the site a bit.The turret models pretty cool in there.I been working on a website for sal****er and i guess this is what i need.

A question mark lower poly 300 or so nothing to crazy.The question mark is going to be placed in a id section inside a fadeing slideshow with pictures.Its really something i need.Id just like something cool looking.You know everyone has flavor.I figure its something simple but its important and i dont have tools installed anymore.Some light would be good on it too.Just something eye cachthing

theres a cool place called polycount if you want to sneak a peek at some cool models

[EolwynRanger]

Wow! Your models are awesome! If you are still taking requests or ideas (I think you already have work for the rest of your life ), I would really like to see some hats for NWN! Especially the top hat. I was surprised that I couldnt find any! Its just an idea but I think everyone can enjoy their adventures better with top hat! I mean...like a sir Please continue with your amazing work!

[henesua]

A good start!

Some ways to reduce polygons.
(1) That sphere in the center doesn't need to appear round given how small it is. You could probably lose half of those tris if not more.
(2) The serpents don't need to separate from the shaft until the top. Subtle modelling and some nice texture work would be enough to render the serpents.

[B_Harrison]

@Builder__Anthony
You just need a 3D question mark? Or a lit and animated scene? Anyone with any 3D package could use a text tool + extrude (or some equivalent) to make a question mark mesh, but if you want something specific I'll need some more details.

@Eolwyn
Thank you! Hats might be fun, although I still wake up with nightmares of NWN's plt texture system and the detail-devouring omni-sheen of metal1 & metal2's envmapping. I'll add a low-poly top hat to my project list anyway.

@henesua
Thanks for the advice.

The sphere at the top consists of two hemispheres, of 20 tris each; half that or less would essentially reduce them to triangles, unless there's a sphere modeling technique or trick I'm unaware of. I did consider simply removing that geometry and painting the round extrusions in the texture, but at extreme angles the illusion would break down or cease to be visible at all. Might still be worth it if 668 is too many tris...

The serpents are definitely kinda heavy. I took the reference images a little too literally -- in which the serpents seem to be universally, significantly separate from the staff where they part -- and might just remodel the whole thing based on your comments, since I haven't spent any time on the texture yet anyway (and unwrapping it took like 20 mins).

What kind of upper limit are you guys working with nowadays for polycounts?

Modifié par B_Harrison, 31 mai 2012 - 09:38 .

[henesua]

One important factor when considering how many polygons a model should have is how close the camera gets to the object - or put another way - how much of the screen could be used to render it. So in this case - a small object that will only be seen on a small portion of the screen - you don't need to go with many polygons to get the affect you want.

B_Harrison wrote...
The sphere at the top consists of two hemispheres, of 20 tris each; half that or less would essentially reduce them to triangles, unless there's a sphere modeling technique or trick I'm unaware of. I did consider simply removing that geometry and painting the round extrusions in the texture, but at extreme angles the illusion would break down or cease to be visible at all. Might still be worth it if 668 is too many tris...

Given how tiny that sphere is, a cube is probably adequate, a cube with 1 extrusion is definitely adequate. (12-22 tris) You'll work on "softening" the "sphere" with shading in your texture.

B_Harrison wrote...
The serpents are definitely kinda heavy. I took the reference images a little too literally -- in which the serpents seem to be universally, significantly separate from the staff where they part -- and might just remodel the whole thing based on your comments, since I haven't spent any time on the texture yet anyway (and unwrapping it took like 20 mins).

My recommendation is based on how small the object is. I don't think the modelled serpents would be clear on the screen. Creating some contrasting shading in a texture - I think - will look better.

B_Harrison wrote...
What kind of upper limit are you guys working with nowadays for polycounts?

I don't model in NWN so i don't know what the range is. But my way of operating is to always produce the least number of polygons as possible (unless you are working in an engine that has a good LOD system). In that case its best to model bigger than you need, and scale down later.

[Leurnid]

Octahedron would only clock 8, but if you want to maintain 'roundness' use an icosahedron, 20 tris, and smoother than a cube.

I don't know which software you are using, but most either have native -hedron primitives, have them for DL on a support site, and worst case, can be had for free from a variety of 3d model depots. Mapping to icosahedron in some software can be annoying but in this case, I don't see that being an issue.

*knife edging the bottom of the wings and merging those nodes will also reduce poly count and make it look more sculpted (less 'face-extruded').

Modifié par Leurnid, 31 mai 2012 - 08:02 .

[henesua]

@Leurnid
Its not necessarily a good idea for your polygons to be triangles to start with. Best practice is for your polygons to be four sided. My own experience has born this out.

Subdivision does not work as efficiently with 3-gons as it does with 4-gons. And scaling down in polygons likewise does not work as well.

I've also found it easier to unwrap a model built with 4-gons than one with 3-gons.

Lastly, you can always convert one 4-gon into (2) 3-gons. But its not as easy to go in the other direction as the geometry is not necessarily compatible.

I've encountered other issues too with tri only modelling, but its been a number of years since I transitioned to code from art so I am no longer close enough to it to be able to articulate all the reasons why 4-gons are better to work with than 3-gons.

[Rubies]

As a small note I already did hats like the top hats mentioned back as one of my first model sets, though BH might be able to do them to a better standard.

http://vnmedia.ign.c...999_fullres.jpg

Modifié par Rubies, 31 mai 2012 - 07:58 .

[Leurnid]

henesua wrote...

@Leurnid
Its not necessarily a good idea for your polygons to be triangles to start with. Best practice is for your polygons to be four sided. My own experience has born this out.

Subdivision does not work as efficiently with 3-gons as it does with 4-gons. And scaling down in polygons likewise does not work as well.

I've also found it easier to unwrap a model built with 4-gons than one with 3-gons.

Lastly, you can always convert one 4-gon into (2) 3-gons. But its not as easy to go in the other direction as the geometry is not necessarily compatible.

I've encountered other issues too with tri only modelling, but its been a number of years since I transitioned to code from art so I am no longer close enough to it to be able to articulate all the reasons why 4-gons are better to work with than 3-gons.

considering he is already using a primative sphere made of tris, all of that is academic.

*You are functionally right, but this is a solitary and simple texture sphere, and a cube will look cubic, even with a smoothing texture. There are quite a few bioware placeables that tried to get away with using cubes in place of small spheres that aren't fooling anybody. If somebody is going to be walking around with that in hand all the time, the gloss is going to come off the cube pretty fast.

Modifié par Leurnid, 31 mai 2012 - 08:06 .

[B_Harrison]

Whoa, this thread suddenly zoomed way over my head.

Luckily this trial edition of "FreeDee Grafix 4 Kids Learning Edition" software I'm using seems to be producing functional models for me so far.

[cough]

@Rubies
I doubt I can improve upon that - very nice work!

[Builder__Anthony]

yes just a white extruded question mark with a black background.lower poly or a decent poly count.it should take up most of the photo no other information will be added to photo.any angle as long as i can get some beveled edges visable.