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3D Tutorials and Links (20170222 Images Replaced 1/3)

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Haraldx:

--- Quote from: Izual on January 06, 2012, 12:55:21 pm ---Yes, but that uses alpha channel right?

--- End quote ---
Yes, however, alpha channel used in high amounts may create lag (atleast so it was on Id Tech 3). If the engine is optimized (which I sadly doubt) we can achieve better results using alpha channel than using regular polygonal variation.

baaelSiljan:
alpha channel also break shadows

Haraldx:

--- Quote from: baaelSiljan on January 06, 2012, 02:17:54 pm ---alpha channel also break shadows

--- End quote ---
So, in shadows the plane would look like a plane instead of a round surface. ??? :(

TommyTheGun:
Though it might be useful in the future - do we need it right now? I think that we can make cylinders with not so many polys that would look good enough from the iso view, hmm?

In any other case it's a nice trick, worth noticing.

TommyTheGun:
Okay... Well... I did something like this... Hope that people checing 3D developement board may find it usefull. I's aimed toward those quiet ones, who know a bit about 3d modelling or want's to start knowing it, but are afraid they won't be able to at least try finishing the models. Also I don't have an access to Blender since I have a new notebook, so you will have to wait for some remaining pics. Well... Enjoy, I guess...

Oh. Also - If you think it's in the wrong subject (since it's not REALLY a tutorial and there might be some suggestions needed which may make a mess around here), be sure to write it here, so the moderator can move this post somewhere else :)

Some modelling / texturing hints


Whilst a real tutorial concerning creating new armours and texturing those is still needed, I thought about countless times when I asked Luther Blissett for help, getting some pretty useful information - and decided to put it all together and post it, in case it is of use to others.


Don't treat it like a real tutorial. It's rather a bunch of questions and answers that people new to 3D modeling (for FOnline purposes, as the nature of the questions indicates) may find interesting. Being a great teacher, as always, Luther suggested a "disclaimer" before I begin:

"Note that many of these suggestions and hints are not 100% accurate, or may no longer be accurate. There may be better methods of doing these things and some of these methods might be obsolete now, e.g. we have working engine highlights and shadows, so perhaps some of the texture 'hints' might be a bit wrong now. As these are collected from PM conversations throughout the past year, there were also things we didn't yet know about the FOnline engine at the time - so sometimes we had to guess."


It's also worth knowing that I'm using Blender - mostly we were discussing the whole matter without referring to specific programs, but you should probably keep that in mind as well.


To be strict about that - target of this... Erm... Article(?) = people that know very basics about 3D modelling and texturing and have no experience in going through modelling the whole armour/character and all the tricky stages.


That written, I would add - it might be inaccurate but still there's a hell lot of valuable information from Luther. If not for FOnline, then as a way of thinking about some problems and figuring them out.


To start with. Something obvious in theory but still very important :)


USING OTHER's WORK


Looking at, then using and adjusting an existing model is a good way to start, since it's obviously easier to go with modifying an existing one than creating it from scratch. I wanted to create a Gunsmith's Outfit (an old idea of mine) and needed existing jacket to start with. I asked if I could use Luther's Combat Leather Jacket model, he mentioned few important things:


"It's good to share, use, reuse and modify stuff - if you look at what happened already with the 3D stuff - nothing happened for a while, then Karpov uploaded his Male_hero.obj - then after a week, half of all the models were done :-) It's also a little silly to have 20 different people all spending an hour making virtually identical boots from scratch, when then could just reuse some, and adjust them in 15 minutes."


Nevertheless - I asked for permission first and would suggest doing same thing, not to mention that you should always remember about including original authors of the model/texture in any kind of credits.



RECREATING A MODEL


Well - new models are one thing, there are still a lot of original sprites to be remade. It's not that easy to decide if few pixels were supposed to be stitches or bullets for example. You're gonna need to improvise. It's also good to ask around. There are a lot of Fallout fans that may have really nice suggestions:




"For the texturing, you're working from a very unclear sprite, so you have to invent a little yourself I think. It's difficult to work out what some of the details are, so you have to interpret them yourself, guess, and decide. Ultimately, unless anyone disagrees too much, whatever you choose is correct."


TRIS/QUADS


You probably know the difference between Tris and Quads already. I've read once that every static object should be made of Tris and every character/creature should be made of quads. Turns out that's not the way it works:


"For the final model you hand in, I think everything should be triangulated - but you only really need to do this when you're finished. When you are working on the model, it doesn't matter which way it's done. I find it easier to model with quads (four sided shapes), then triangulate once it's finished.

I sometimes manually triangulate simpler models (connecting every vertex by hand) or sometimes just "click auto-triangulate" and let the computer do it."


I would like to point out two things tough. We were talking about specific armor that didn't need to bend in any way. In some other cases you may want to keep the quad in the place where the model bends cause that way it may look more natural while animated.


Second thing is - after some time with a Blender (or any other program for that matter) you begin to understand why there's the difference between using option of automatic triangulation and triangulating manually. There are cases when program messes up whole process a bit, leaving you with more polys than you would have when doing the whole operation manually. Being a begginer myself, I would suggest combining two options, meaning you have to check the whole model and make some changes if you see that computer messed anything up.




BELTS, HOLES, SLEEVES


Having troubles with modelling some things, I decided to go the easy way, making the belt as a cylinder. Usually you shouldn't go the easy way just because you're to lazy to do it the proper way, this time it turned out pretty good:


"One thing which I learnt after giving that model to Karpov is that it's not necessary to make "holes" in the jacket. The jacket can be a solid object, and it doesn't matter if objects are inside each other - so for example with the belt, you don't need to make a hole for the man to fit through (the way it is now will work perfectly fine) - and likewise, the inside of the sleeves doesn't need a hole through it etc."



Here's a nice example of Tribal's strap.


Also it has one advantage - it saves you a lot of polys. If you're gonna create a belt as a strap (yeah, as a normal belt, just like the real life belt ;) ) you gonna spend way more tris/quads - and we try to keep'em as low as possible.


[waiting for the right impage here]


Ideally - you never need to create details you wont see anyway - remember that you won't have the chance to take off that belt, so you don't need to worry how it's gonna look when it's off the character.


FLOATING CUBES


My model needed a pack of cigarettes behind the strap on his shoulder, I didnt know how to create it. Placing a cube textured as a cigarettes, floating "into" the shoulder is easier. But is it a good way, or should it be the part of the jacket?


"Regarding "floating cubes", this is also fine. When the model is animated, a "skeleton" is put inside the model, and this is connected to each of the objects - so when an arm on the skeleton moves, the sleeves and gloves will also move with it.


If you have a solid object, such as a metal shoulder pad, it is probably better that it is "floating". When doing the animating, if it was connected to the clothes underneath, it would bend when the cloth does. If it is a separate object, the metal shoulder pad can stay still when the arm moves."


[waiting for the right image here]


Further info from Luther :
"To clarify, if a shoulder pad was "joined" onto a jacket, then the shoulder pad would bend and change size as the arm moved, as its edges would be joined onto the bending jacket material. If instead the shoulder pad is 'floating' as a separate object, then all its vertices can be connected to one bone, and it will maintain its shape as the arm rotates."



UNIMPORTANT DETAILS


While it's always good to keep some details, even if they're gonna be hardly noticible, you should remember about polycount. I was wondering if the holster of my model gonna be smooth enough. I was actually going to increase numer of polys - what for, I don't know:


"[...]remember that we must try and keep the poly count (triangle number) as low as possible - simple is always better than complicated for this[...]


A good rule I am using for these models, is to think "When the model is as small as a Fallout character on screen, would this look any different". You could actually go further with this, and possibly crop a few more vertices from it"




So that's that - you have to remember that even with maximum zoom, the model is still gonna be small. There's also another thing - your model doesn't need EVERY detail you want to include - remember that you're gonna texture it later. You can draw every single button or for example a line (or a shadow) that represents a fold etc.


COMBINING


Sometime theres a need to combine base model with some additional part. For example - if you want normal trousers instead of tight-like ones which you can make by colouring legs of base character. I had a problem with that and that's what we came up with:

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5456/tommytrouserscopy.png
[Large Image]


"Also remember that it doesn't matter if the trousers go "through" the original model (intersecting), so they can be solid inside - you don't need to cut holes through them for the legs to fit."


At the end, best way to do it, is to widen the parts of original legs and "float" the trousers-part into the leg. You have to remember that trousers-part needs to be separate part and should not be connected with original base model. Top vectors of that part should be in exact same coordinates as vectors of original model - as shows the picture below. That way it should be smooth and easy to connect base texture with the trousers part so it looks as one part after texturing.


[waiting for the right picture here]


Further info from Luther :
"To further clarify here, we also have the 'DisableSubset' command in the fo3d files - it would be perfectly fine to add new legs to your model, then use this command to disable the legs of the original model, to reduce the chance of them overlapping. In effect, we can disable the base model legs and replace them with a new set"


[waiting for the right picture here]


UNWRAPPING


Unwrapping is unbelievably easy - as long as you are working with a simple cube. Other then that - it gets complicated and you may have some problems until you get used to it. Here's a bunch of Luther's advices:


"For the theoretical side, look at some of the existing models - many of them will follow the same sort of patterns. It seems quite common to split :

a) under the arms, from armpit to waist
b) from the neck to the shoulder
c) at the waist, and round the arms at the top of the shoulder
- These will give you a flat front piece and flat back piece.
d) Arms are split underneath
- This should give you something a bit like a rectangle for each arm
e) down the sides of the leg
f1) either 'underpants shape', also split at the sides (like male base model) or
f2) split down front and back of pelvis (like female base model)
- This gives either
-- a front and back underpants shape, with two rectangular legs (see male base model)
-- two upside-down "L shapes", i.e. a rectangle with a bit sticking out at the top (see female base model V2)


[waiting for the right picture here]


One thing you should consider is to take an item of clothing you own, which is most similar to what you're modelling, and see where it is stitched together, then cut the UV map according to this. After all, a real shirt is made up from flat shapes cut from a sheet of cloth, and sewn into a 3D object. Ignore the fine details, but essentially you will find that a real shirt and trousers will be cut in exactly the way described above (normally with the female base model trousers option)."

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