Mod for Dawn of War Soulstorm aiming to expand upon existing races and at the same time, preserve original DOW gameplay style.
Sooo, after a lot of work, from scratch, it is done. Space Marine Centurion model. It's not yet fully completed. Have to redo the helmet, maybe work a bit on arm length, try to optimize it as it currently has 9600 triangles, but I would say he's more than 90% done and therefore can step before you...CLANK CLANK CLANK...:D
Squad of Centurions will consist of 3 marines and a sergeant and player will not be able to produce more then 1 squad. Heavy bolters are shown here, but other weapon upgrades will follow, Grav Cannon, Lascannon and Assault Drills supplemented with flamers.
Now, there won't be new models for some time as I'm switching my attention to the latest map I've been working on, but stay with us, good things are to come :D
Oh god,i am having so much ******* just looking at this.
XD LOL
Mechanicum porn.
Access denied :D
me gusta!
Thanks Seregruth :D
I await the version with Assault drills with interest but i got to say this looks awesome.
Honestly i am interested in seeing at least some of the models you made in their ingame form (even wip ingame form). Keep up the good work!
GS, thanks a bunch, Assault drills will be added, that's 100%.
Ah man, I hear that. I mean, I wouldn't like nothing more to see some of those gaunts or this fellow walking and talking and taking names, but sadly that's where my expertise stops.
Jones suggested I take skeleton from vanilla Obliterator and merge it with this model, but I'm at a loss where from there.
I tried digging up a tutorial for this on Relic, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'll have to try it again.
A quick question while we on a subject. All models I exported from DC into max2008 have on themselves these yellow crosses on certain body parts. You have any ideas what those are?
I haven't touched max in a while and so may be wrong but my first guess would be markers.
I suppose the crosses are spread like those in this image:
Forums.relicnews.com)&p=1045541836&viewfull=1#post1045541836
if so it should be the markers. jONES should be able to answer that with certainty.
Yeah, those are the ones. Thanks GS ;)
This is looking superb! Really impressed with how its looking even at a pre rendered/in game stage. You know I'm not the biggest fan of SM but this is definitely something I'd look forward to using in game. In regards to the skeleton, you could use the Obliterators OR Termies depending on the animations and scale size you want to use (they're very similar though). Wish I knew more about Max though, damnit!
Thanks mate. Imagine what it's like than for a SM fan like me :D Cheers for the info, I think I'll go with the Obliterator skeleton as in game, Obliterators are closer to Centurion proportions then Termies, and besides, don't really know if changing bones size will mess something up.
Like OE, I think there's a mode you can view the skeleton in Max. Take a screenshot and compare. But yeah failing this I think the Obliterator has the 'bulk' needed
thats badass model!
Thank you Soulstormfan :) I hope he will prove even more so in battle.
The model now looks complete, but still you should make the texture UVW. Even if you are not texture artist, UVW must be made at least with greyscale or checkmate placeholder texture. Nobody will do it in your stead, it is the work of modeller.
I know jONES, mate, but as soon as I finish one model, another one takes it's place. Once I'm done with all models for Phase 1 I'll bent down to create texture UVW for them. I hope we will find a texturer by then.
But without UVW made, I would not even consider the model as a finished. I sure, during making UVW you will find lot of issues with your meshes, etc. And those should be fixed before model will be rigged/skinned.
You should distinguish between making UVW for model and painting over texture by someone else texture artist.
I know the difference between UVW unwrapping and texturing, don't worry Jones mate, when I say that I finished the model, I mean it simply in terms of 3D creation, I always realized that UVW unwrapping is part of the process to get the model fully in game. I have done it before, the unwrapping procedure, but once or twice as a test, so I would appreciate if you could be a bit more precise when you say "lot of issues with your meshes". What are the most often problems one encounters during unwrapping?
jONES is right. Unless you make the UVW no texture artist will work on the textures and the possibility to see these awesome models ingame reduces since you would have to hope someone else would do the UVW which usually is something no one will do for the modeler. You don't need to have a final texture after this process but it must be done to allow it to be placed ingame and then finalized in terms of OE code and texture work. A simple delimitation of the areas should be enough for now but considering the amount of models you have done so far it will still mean a significant time of hard work.
To ilustrate the importance of this phase I will show you a case where the models were never placed ingame because the modeler(s) was overwhelmed by uvw work and pretty much gave up:
Moddb.com
I hope this doesn't happen in your case but currently my greatest fear in what relates to this mod project is precisely the issue of being overwhelmed with a phase that isn't easy but is essential.
Several questions about UVW unwrapping.
1. I presume I need a single model to be able to create UVW. Centurion above is made from about 90 pieces, so I would need first to attach all of those and then get to the UVW unwrap?
2. Would you suggest I go for higher UVW dimensions than vanilla 512x512. I was thinking of using 1024x512 but don't know is that too much and would it be too heavy? Other option is to use 1024x512 for some special units that I really want to stand out, like Cent here or Tau Riptide.
3. You saw that some models have really a lot of attaching stuff, like new SM model, has 14 heads, will have different set of pauldrons, legs, chest armor, gear and stuff. What is the best way to approach it UVW?
How do you create a unwraps for something with so much equipment? Do I make it for base model and then make separate UVWs for helmets, and then for legs and so on and so on?
Same thing is with the Tyranid Gaunt, as it has 4 different range weapons, 4 different arm sets for those weapons.
Thanks for the info on the Grot and Kroot enterprise. For now, there are no indications that I will give up and just leave this to die. As you said, Phase 1 is not easy but it is crucial. SM are the hardest of the lot as they will have a lot of new stuff that must be made from scratch, but in return, when it comes to CSM, it will be much easier as all models in SM will feature in CSM in their corrupt form. Tyranids will be all done from scratch so they are also pretty demanding. Tau seem the least of trouble, but that's only cause I haven't got to them yet.
Problem as always is the time. Between modeling and mapmaking I "lose" about 4-5 hours daily, I will add to that UVW unwrapping but for now will not go further than that.
From the beginning I knew this will not be easy and thought that maybe, yearly a Phase could be released, not quite sure about that now but it's still viable I think, never meant to rush it and as this is one of the hobbies of mine, lay your fears to rest, for now WE is only going forwards :D
How is that for a motivational speech :D
My practical experience with UVW is nearly zero so I would suggest asking around at relicnews (for DoW specific information) and possibly modeling foruns for the more generic information since UVW is pretty much the same everywhere.
Relic usually uses square textures so 512*512 or similar (there might be some exceptions but most textures are square). During UVW you can have 1024*1024 or 2048*2048 though if you think it is easier to get things in but ingame the texture should be 512*512 or at most 1024*1024 for detailed models which appear rarely ingame. So my advice is start the textures big so it is easier for you and only get them smaller at the end for ingame purposes.
If the wargear variation is too large you may want to separate them in their own textures but keep in mind that more textures mean a heavier overall model. If you do separate wargear remember to reuse textures in other models by using the same objects and not completely different objects.
For example with your land raiders some objects are equal across several variations and can actually be just the same object mirrored and/or placed on another model but linked to a base texture which could contain all common wargear. Some hulls, sponsons and weapons could be done like this avoiding the need to have separate textures for each individual model (and the need to unwrap the same 3d object over and over). With infantry you can have a base texture for common body parts and a texture for all the random stuff but those different helmets can be reused when making other infantry models thus reusing your previous UVW work as well as the 3d work. So pretty much my advice is to reuse as much as you can so you can focus more in the unique parts by doing the common parts fast.
For an example of a common texture being applied over an entire race look into the banner used by aspiring champions over their backpacks. That banner and the rod that support it are used by all the infantry models to capture points (in terms of textures) and 3d wise the rod on the backpack is just a shortned version of the large rod used for capturing points. Banner textures are the easier case to see ingame but other situations exist where slightly different versions of an object use the same texture thus avoiding the repetition of similar things.
Thanks for the help GS, as always it's appreciated ;)