Author Topic: 3D Tutorials and Links (20170222 Images Replaced 1/3)  (Read 45391 times)

Offline Luther Blissett

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3D Tutorials and Links (20170222 Images Replaced 1/3)
« on: September 30, 2011, 12:47:39 am »
NOTICE :
Megaupload has been closed down by "Federal prosecutors", as of 19th Jan 2012. The majority of these tutorial files were hosted on there. Will reupload them at some point soon. If anyone's previously downloaded these themselves and wishes to upload them somewhere, it would be much appreciated. [edit 22/01/2012] Most of it should be back up now. Still missing the base model files. Will have them shortly.
[edit 27/04/2012] Should be all relinked to mediafire now. Let me know if anything is missing.
[edit 22/02/2017] Have replaced images with new links, and replaced 3D "client only" with 3D "client/server and scripts".


#0 - 3D Tutorials and Links

It will take quite some time for all the 3D work to be complete. I would consider there to be enough time to learn basic 3D modelling, texturing or animating, then start to help out before it's finished. Even if you won't master these skills, there's plenty of tasks which can be done with entry level skills, and in some cases with little or no previous experience. I (and others) will try to outline some of the work that's been done and make files available so anybody interested can help out.

Most of the fine details are covered in the 3D Questions and Answers thread, with perhaps a key point being :

"Question: Why 3D is needed? A good-ol 2D looks somehow better and I'm used to it.
Answer: Because 3D is much easier to customize. Adding helmets, new clothes, having more variations in color (such as being able to play as a black skinned character) playing as a ghoul, super mutant, etc."


We are aiming to replicate the art style as close as possible, hopefully with the final models appearing almost indistinguishable from the sprites they are based off, but with the obvious customisation and development advantages. Though these are initially being produced for use in Fonline 2238, I believe the intention is that all the models and resources will ultimately be available for anyone wanting to work on Fonline based projects.

Notes :
The 3D development has nothing to do with the upcoming wipe.
The 3D development is a community project, separate from the general development of Fonline 2238



#0 - 3D Tutorials and Links
Basic Resource Links, Development trackers, Forum Links, SVN Links, Snapshot links, Tutorials and Appendices




Some ways YOU can help

Preparing template files for other softwares
Base models saved in Max, Blender, others. Rigged skeleton transferred to Blender and others etc. Trying to make sure all base material is accessible in as many formats / programs as necessary, particularly focusing on Free and Open Source Software.

Weapon item coordinates
If you've managed to set up a test SDK, you can do this with just the SDK and a text editor. Forum link : Weapon and Items coordinates

Modelling items from the Misc item tracker
There are lots of unmade objects on here. Some are as simple as making a box and pasting a texture on, so suitable for beginners. Forum link :3D Miscellaneous Development Tracker

Modelling of suggested items
Armour and clothing models suggested in this thread. Particular focus on those which have been confirmed as "useful" by devs. Forum link : NEW armors/clothes suggestions

Resizing of armours for other body types
Many of the newer models have only been produced for the male hero model. They will need reshaping for female equivalents. At a later date, this will also need doing for other body types.

Rigging models
Many armour, weapon and object models will need rigging and testing. Tutorial on how to do this will follow shortly. At a later date, this may involve the rigging of other body types.

General opinions, testing, advice, support
Check through the 3D forums, test models in game, offer thoughts and suggestions

Others (not 100% confirmed)
Hair types (reshape VB ones, or make new ones)
Facial hair (beards and moustaches)
Improving existing models and textures (aiming for as close as possible match to sprites)
Production of normal and specular maps for models
Production of "in hand" and "ground" versions of armours?
Creating inventory icons for any new content


Further questions / notes
Please use the Questions and Answers 3D thread, unless the question specifically relates to what is written here.


These will need checking, adding to and adjusting. Please feel free to adjust / reedit etc. With adjustments, could be set up as a 3D intro page on wiki.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2017, 12:03:30 pm by Luther Blissett »

Offline Surf

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  • это моё.
Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2011, 01:20:09 am »
Excellent, very good Luther! I am sure this will come in handy for a-many of people. I have stickied it - don't know if you forgot it or were just too humble. :P

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2011, 03:43:10 am »
[edit 22/02/2017]Replaced image links

It's all taking longer than I thought to put this stuff together, but it's on its way :)

First half of "setting up 3D SDK" one below. Again, once finished it'll all need adjusting / revising / fixing etc. Apologies in advance if I end up doing a bunch of double posts whilst trying to put this stuff together.

A lot of this will probably need disassembling / reassembling for use on the Wiki, but if I just start to chuck all the information out there, we can discuss the best way of presenting it for clarity. Obviously the rigging one is the "biggy", but my notes are in a right mess, so I'm sort of trying to do it all in order so I don't miss stuff.

Also, each of these posts is going to be massive, so I'm going to "spoiler" them all. If anyone with editing powers has thoughts on the best way of presenting this info in the forum, i.e. "spoilering" individual sections but leaving the sub-titles visible or something, then please feel free to edit.


#1 - Setting up 3D SDK
This should cover the steps necessary to get a basic 3D compatible client up and running. From there, you should be able to test any of the existing game models, or add your own for testing in-game.


(continued below)
« Last Edit: February 22, 2017, 11:44:35 am by Luther Blissett »

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2011, 05:02:18 pm »
Wouldn't re-edit into the above post. It just sat spinning with "connecting" forever. This is just the hair, hat and increasing stats section.

Still got Adding items to yourself, Armour object / model linking basics and Parameter Summaries to follow.


#1 Setting up an SDK (continued)

« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 11:38:00 pm by Luther Blissett »

Offline Graf

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #4 on: October 01, 2011, 02:20:16 pm »
Phew, that was epic. Great work, Luther. Keep it up. I've just finished translating it to Russian. Hopefully, I'll be able to translate everything without of a significant delay.

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2011, 05:54:31 pm »
Excellent work, Graf :D

I checked the "google translate to English" version of yours, and it still seems to read fairly well, so it must be a good job. I also noticed there were some extra details which you've clarified in there which were missing from my original - for example, the points about Character ID (from SetCritParam) - I'll add these to the original too. If you see any other bits missing, then let me know, or edit them in to my original post yourself.

Should finish these bits later today :
Adding items to yourself
Armour object / model linking basics
Parameter Summaries

They're almost ready, but I had to stop yesterday to go out for the evening. The next "main" part (testing your own textures in game) will be quick to finish too - so should be ready tonight or tomorrow I think, then hopefully some of our skilled skin texturers (i.e. Johnny Rust and SmartCheetah etc) should be able to test their work in the game.

I'm still finding the rigging quite complex, so I think I'll add an extra step in there, to show how to rig a hat first - because this is very simple (all vertices attach to the same bone, so can be done in about a minute). I can add the more detailed armour ones after I've tested a few more things myself (I'm still learning, of course).

[edit] Added last part of #1 Setting up an SDK


#1 Setting up an SDK (continued, part 3)

« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 11:34:53 pm by Luther Blissett »

Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2011, 08:50:27 pm »
Excellent manual Luther!

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2011, 10:56:01 pm »
Thanks! I have the next one ready now :)

Again, this is a first version, so it needs testing and checking for accuracy. If anyone spots any problems, errors or confusing parts, please point them out. Anyone with editing powers, feel free to edit the post to correct any problems.



#2 - Testing custom body textures
This should cover the steps necessary to test a custom base texture in the game. That covers either skin tones, or clothing layers.




I will be busy at "real life" for the next week, so there might be a slight delay before the next tutorials. The main one being the model rigging / skeleton tutorial. I'll still have enough free time to check the forum and answer questions, but probably won't have time to prepare files, screenshots and write up the next sections until a few weeks.

If anyone is feeling particularly adventurous, and doesn't mind a bit of "self-powered learning", they might want to try this quick tutorial. Note that for the "proper one" I'll have many of these files pre-prepared for you, making the process much simpler.

The very, very short guide to basic skeleton rigging
- Download Fragmotion and Wings 3D
- Import CR_HumanMaleStrong.X into Fragmotion and export as an .obj to make a "correctly aligned man"
- import this obj into wings, then import your 3d model
- align and resize the model in Wings3D, so it fits with the human
- delete the human and export the aligned model as an obj
- Load fragmotion and import some existing .x files to examine the rigging. Learn how it works.
- Import CR_HumanMaleStrong.X, then merge with a load of animations (walk, run, pickup, punch).
- Delete all the no_name bones and save this merged animation test file
- Read Fragmotion rigging tutorials from the internet
- Merge your "animation test file" with your 3d model and rig your model to the skeleton (hats are easy - attach all vertices to Head).
- Test the different animations in fragmotion. Adjust until it works. Save it.
- Delete human, and all animation data, leaving just your model rigged to skeleton.
- Export this as an .x file, using these settings or something similar.
- Put this x file and relevant textures in the right folders
- Look in the fo3d at how the other armours are attached
- Write something similar linking your files
- Test in game as in previous tutorials
- Reimport to Fragmotion and correct mistakes

I may have missed bits out, and lines such as "Read Fragmotion rigging tutorials from the internet" will obviously require a bit of work, but if anyone's got the time to learn a bit more themselves, there might be just enough there to work with. Otherwise, I'll write up a clearer step-by-step guide when I next have enough free time :)
« Last Edit: January 22, 2012, 05:39:50 pm by Luther Blissett »

Offline Lexx

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2011, 12:19:17 pm »
Thanks for the wall of text. It's very useful.

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: 3D Tutorials and Links
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2011, 12:59:00 pm »
It all still needs testing, checking and improving in places - then once it's definitely working and correct, we can look at putting the same info onto the wiki.

I definitely wouldn't consider any of it to be "written in stone" - there are likely to be mistakes and incorrect information in there, and likely whole sections that are missing. Corrections and suggestions would be very welcome.

Ideally if someone who's not tried any of this before can volunteer to follow it all from start to finish, then report back here, we can hopefully find any problems and errors and correct them.

Alternative tutorials using different software or methods would also be very useful, as would bits covering any areas that have been missed so far.

Blender rigging tutorial (Blender 2.5)
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2011, 02:45:31 pm »
For the starts, i assume, you're NOT familiar with the interface of Blender, so i'll provide you with step-by-step instructions and explanations, why i'm doing so.

- Setting up the object.
- Setting up the skeleton


« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 07:23:18 pm by Lizard »
Wasteland is a tricky business.

Offline Surf

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  • это моё.
Re: Blender rigging tutorial (Blender 2.5)
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2011, 02:50:22 pm »
Nicely done and easily understandable, I'm sure this will come in handy. :)

Offline Graf

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Re: Blender rigging tutorial (Blender 2.5)
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2011, 04:23:58 pm »
Finally this tutorial came out :) Thank you for sharing the priceless knowledge of the rigging mystery with us!

Do you mind if I'll translate it and publish it on the fonline.ru forum? (Your nickname will be noted, obviously).

Re: Blender rigging tutorial (Blender 2.5)
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2011, 04:54:49 pm »
Finally this tutorial came out :) Thank you for sharing the priceless knowledge of the rigging mystery with us!

Do you mind if I'll translate it and publish it on the fonline.ru forum? (Your nickname will be noted, obviously).

Sure! :)

I'd like to ask someone to repeat this all by following instructions, i could've missed something. Ask, if necessary.

@Surf, Luther, Graf: Thanks, i appreciate your comments!
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 12:59:52 pm by Lizard »
Wasteland is a tricky business.

Offline Luther Blissett

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Re: Blender rigging tutorial (Blender 2.5)
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2011, 02:55:20 am »
You're an absolute legend. Should sticky this or merge with tutorial bits above.