)v('s miscellaneous models
 

Hey, this message has totally changed so some of the below messages wont make any sence. Anyways, I was going to do a 365 day marathon with 1 model a day.. but i sware, do not attempt that unless your dedicated! I just couldnt find time to do it every day. So i got to day 1 and that was that :(. Anyways, instead I may be able to get 1 or 2 models a week pumped out.. and that is what is going to go in here. Just my small side projects.

looking forward to it

me too great idea, i love speedmodeling for some reason....

One piece of advice. Think of this as fun. Not as an obligation. Even if you don't finish the model, just go on to the next.

Have some fun with this!

wow everyday !!!!!!! eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..

I have a suggestion for you )V(.

If you have a strength in either using polys, sub-d, or NURBS, I recommend that you use whatever your weakest method is.

It sounds like you want to try new things to help you learn the program.

So maybe using a method your not very comfortable with will help you get better.

Or maybe you could even try to include particle effects
- or use a lot of mel scripting
- or use a lot of paint effects
(Just pick something you don't know how to use and try to learn.)

Then you can see how you progress through the days.

Just a thought. Can't wait to see your progress.

Good Luck. :beer:

Model #1 - Varuna
 

Alright, one thing i just figured out about when i model. If i want to keep this exciting.. i gotta choose elements that i will like! I wont find it cool to model a flashlight! So, i have went to small things, that are cool! My first model that i will have done by today (my time - its only 4 here) is a mag off of Phantasy star online called "varuna". If i can find a place to hook up my scanner (I bought one, but forgot about desk space) then maybe i will be able to start drawing refrences. Anyways, for now.. no drawn refrences. Below are the details:

Model #1 - Varuna
Modelling type - Polygons or Sub-d's
Texturing - Yes.

Time for me to get to work! Heres an image of Varuna.

Alright, after around half a hour of work. i have this. I chose polys for my first.. and then later on i will maybe do my 3rd or so model in sub-d's as i suck with those. Ok, well heres where i am so far and i should have updates later! :).

alright, a bit farther now. Its a lot of tweaking from here on in, and then texturing will be a problem. I may not texture it as much as i like.. depends how i like the model. I need to be on the next model as of tommorow :).

Alright, this is a few more hours in and I can call this the "final". Heres the Mag "Varuna" off of PSO. It was fully UV unwrapped, and textured through photoshop.

Time: 4 hours
Textured: Yes
Type: Polys

Let me know what you think :).

what exactly is a varuna? it looks as your reference - if i only could figure out if that is something to wear, to eat, a weapon :confused:

keep it up - only 364 days left :)

Lol, :P.. yea babyduck... 364 days left. Some of the days will be really small. First off... "Varuna" is the name of a "Mag" off of the game "Phantasy Star Online". All he really is, is a accessory in the game, this small guy would evolve into a bigger companion once it gets stronger.. you neeed to feed it items for it to grow. It sounds like pokemon but it really isnt. Anyways, they add stuff like attack power to your guy and accuracy. depending on what lvl its at.. it basically hovers over your shoulder and thats about it :).

A question i have for anyone though.. how do you make your shadows go blurry when they hit the ground.. this shadow that was casted was so strong! Also, you cant really see it.. but inside that back part.. its textured as well... kinda like a old metal thing going on. Anyways.. time to start day 2 :). I wil have my object of choice in less than half a hour.

sweet idea mate! nice model!

thanks - i guess you need be expert to understand it all - pokemon for me is just funny smileys - cute little round thingys with a face - see how uneducated i am about such stuff?

as for the shadows. it depends if you have raytrace or dmap shadows. raytrace shadows needs more shadow rays and bigger light radius for softer shadows. dmap shadows need a higher (about 3 is starting to be nice soft) filter size. but note that if you have (partly) (half) transparent objects, always go for raytrace shadows. they are the only way if you want the shadows to be softer the further away you are fom the shadow casting object - dmap is everywhere equally soft.

hope that gets you started to experiment with shadows

oh and the render looks like that the shadow casting light is the only light in the scene. you could use a simple 3 point lighting (watch mikes tut) - or the quick fix is to have the one shadow casting light and add a ambient light with low intensity.

and that is also a good idea - on day you should spend and take a model (which you done before on another day) and just 3 point light it nice as excercise. if you want it a tough thing - do not use texturing, only a simple lambert and make it look good with 3 lights only ...

Alright, that was a total failure, I have way to many daily things to do to be able to keep up with that. I stopped at day 1.. :O. Anyways, instead my miscellaneous small models will go into this thread.. to make sure the board stays cleaner and you dont all have to see a bunch of small threads ;). I think this has been done before.. well I know it has, thats why I decided to do it too..dont remember who though :P. Ok, well I should have some models soon.

Fence
 

Alright, I decided to help out a friend make a game, anyways.. he has a whole team, which I am on.. and it is a mod.. so it may just be finished (Y). Anyways, heres the first model that i have made for this game, its a fence :).

Maya and Games
 

That is very interesting to me, because I would like to insert Maya models and animations in games, but I don't know how to convert and import. Do you have any help you may give me on that?

hey, sorry.. no i dont.. like i said its just a small thing.. its really a mod for a old 8 bit video game.. so i am making the models in maya, then lowering the quality big time as an image.. then he will import it with code into the game itself. The funny thing is, the original game is actually incredibly fun and funny too! The original game is Dink Smallwood. If any of you know, making mods in this game is a piece of cake once you get to know the commands. This guy is going over the edge though, so i decided to help him out. Alright, i also just made this because i always wanted to try it, I was trying to make a nes character totally out of poly cubes, but i could only make it from the side, as trying to do it from the front is very hard :(. Heres the model that i ended up with though :).

BTW, i also wonder how to import into games with animation... but silvia.. my best piece of advice would be to get quake 3 and go to polycount.com ( i think thats the address.. or search it on google) and look around there.. they teach you how to make a model in 3ds max for the most part.. but there is a section on Maya... it is really cool and then you can play the game online with your own characters that you have made in maya... i think its limited to triangle meshes though :).

Alright enough jibberish on my part.. cya.

One other thing.. whats wrong with my maya? As all colors render fine, as you can see in that image.. other than bright reds. Hahha, they seem to just mess up like crazy! Alright.. if anyone has a solution i would like to know, because in all my models I have to make sure i stay away from red.

i get that same problem on my bright blues.. i could use the help as well

I think it might be the jpg compression.

I think Mike is right. Jpegs are great, but the compression is far from flawless.

You suggest targa? It doesnt realyl capture lights though :P. Gif?.. i dont know, have a suggestion?

for posting images on the forum, I'd strongly suggest staying with .jpg, just for convience of downloading. You could try a higher quality compression setting in Photoshop's "Save For Web" option.

Hi M, thanks for your answer! I already know how to import simple Maya meshes into Quake II format and then into a game:
- Make model in Maya
- Export as OBJ
- Import OBJ into MilkShape
- Export to Quake II

Problem is using full animated characters. If anybody out there knows some way of doing it, PLEASE, let me know! I am currently developing a game to submit to the next Independent Game Award, and using Maya with it would really make a difference.
THANKS!

the way I would do it is to export each frame of the animation as an OBJ and then load the animation as a series of frames at the begining of the game (e.g. a 6 frame walk cycle) and then using pointers to change which file to draw. that would be a VERY simple way of doing it.

The thing is that OBJ's dont stire keyframe animation but files such as 3DS files do. So if you can learn how to load those then you're laughing or you could learn how to create MD2 or MD3 files and load those

:)
Alan

Wow, thank you so much! I had thought something in that direction, but I thought that the date would become really big. I mean, it would be around 100 OBJ files for each character, if you count walk cycle, idle animation, attack animation, etc etc. If I don't find any other way of doing it, that's the way I'll go, but of course, I would rather find a way to export a Maya animation file. I like also the idea of writing my own exporter, since I am a SW Eng and can find my way around code. Any idea where to find specs on the OBJ and MD2 or 3 file format?

obj is easy I can post my obj loader if you want to have a look at it. Easiest way to do it is to create a file and then look at the output and figure out what you need to take from it and then figure out how to parse it.

:)

Alan