Archies Showcase

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:09 pm

Well I guess this is how it works, eh? After being bugged to post a question on baking the DDS to the model, I can't because of some promotion thing. XD

At any rate, some of you may or may not know I've been making a camel. Just having issues with getting the textures on in the CS.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/]Max Gallery[/url]

[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/OblivionCS/CamelOfDooooom.jpg]CS shot[/url] with texture not working. At least its not purple, which means son'thing's happening... 8|

Shrug.

Oh yeah, I did a MW modders resourse too, palm trees and junk.

[url=http://members.shaw.ca/nickyart8/ArchiesMeshes/]link to site[/url] and [url=http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=468638&hl=]feedback here[/url]

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:12 pm

Very very good.

Though at the moment I think the Camel's theme tune is going to have to be 'Super Massive Black Hole' by Muse. Im sure with a quality like that so far you will probably get promoted and helped quite swiftly.

Oh and:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCfsr0nz4sc

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:31 pm

Thanks

Dexter · Post by **Dexter** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 9:51 pm

Yes, that'll do:)

Gez · Post by **Gez** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:59 pm

Yay! Archie's joining us!

lb003g0676 · Post by **lb003g0676** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:18 pm

Has it been rode on yet? It looks fantastic Archie, many thanks.

Eyeball88 · Post by **Eyeball88** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:31 am

Damn, I didn't even get a chance to say that I wholeheartedly endorse Archie for promotion.

You're one of the most talented modders in the TES community, in my eyes. It's great to have you onboard.

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:58 am

your on board!?! yey!

more chicks on TR!

Gez · Post by **Gez** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:27 am

Lady Nerevar wrote:more chicks on TR!

Technically, a protochick.

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:23 am

Thanks everyone

It has not been ridden or even rigged. The horse rig won't work, primarily because camels gaits are differnt than equine and the neck is upside down from a horses. I can't say that the rig won't work 100% yet, if we can change animations I may be able to reverse the horse neck to to in the camels, but all the animations will have to be done from scratch. I think it would need a walk and a trot gait (actually camels have a symmetrical pace rather than a trot).

And I'd like to get the textures working on the palms and get them in Oblivion. Since I don't own speedtree, they will have to be their own animated object.

I'm still trying to get textures to show up in the CS though.... 8|

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:33 am

I'm currently working with speedtree. I haven't tested this myself, but from this old thread at the ES forums it says that fronds will not work with oblivion.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=406443

You've got four different 'parts' of your speedtree: Trunk, Branches, Leaves, and Fronds... apparently bethesda is using the frond slot to reference another trunk texture or some such thing. So that's unfortunate, since Palm trees would obviously use fronds.

So any palm trees would have to be their own animated object anyways.

As for textures.. my speedtree bark textures show up black in the CS.... but they show up in the game just fine.. weird.

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:48 am

That is weird. I'm gonna fire up the game and see how Miss Camel looks. brb

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:06 am

Bleah

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/OblivionCS/CamelNoTexIngame.jpg[/img]

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:45 am

This time I saved it as an .obj and imported it into Nifskope... Hrmph

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/OblivionCS/CamelWhite.jpg[/img]

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:45 am

Any luck?

I managed to solve my nifskope problems... it was how they handle file paths. By default, nifskope uses forward slashes in their file paths for newly assigned textures... but oblivion only recognises backslashes. Plus I had to chop the file path down to 'textures\architecture\stirk' ect ect. Since it adds 'Oblivion\Data\' to everything by default. I'm not sure if thats any help.. but if it is, then great.

Razorwing · Post by **Razorwing** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:16 am

Re: 1st try
Check the ambient light setting in the material editor. If it's black, it'll look black ingame. Plus, the darker it is the less reign in-game light can have, so if you set it to dark grey it'll look like it's in permanent shadow. I've found light grey, 200, works well. The Blinn shader is easiest to work with.

Re: 2nd try
When people can't get textures on their NifSkoped models to show up in Oblivion it's usually just because the folder path is wrong. Remember that Oblivion assumes textures are in the Data directory, so if you have a folder like "Data\textures\WoW" then you have to paste
textures\WoW\
before the filename in NifSkope.

I've never tested how Oblivion would react to faulty textures, like using a jpeg to take a crazy example, but just in case: Oblivion can only use DDS textures (sized to a power of 2). If it looks pink it's because the texture path is wrong, or the texture is missing.

lb003g0676 · Post by **lb003g0676** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:28 am

just completely off this point, but isn't the camel a bit big? I just looked at it in comparison to he woman, I think it's a bit tall.

Noirgrim · Post by **Noirgrim** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:33 am

Looks right to me Pound.

lb003g0676 · Post by **lb003g0676** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:43 am

Yer, i don't want to be critical, because Archie is a great asset to us

But I am DEFINATE, that camels aren't that big. Maybe the perspective is funny thoguh

.

Noirgrim · Post by **Noirgrim** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:01 am

Some references:

[img]http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/Israel/pictures/Jerusalem-city/camel-boys.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.jingjingluo.com/img/gallery/images/camel.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.astrolog.org/home/gate7/eanna/camel.jpg[/img]

Archie's camel still looks right to me...

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:12 am

We should have llamas or alpacas someday.

That reminds me, I went to a llama festival while up in the wild country (the other event at the fairgrounds was called Praise in the Mountains, so...) and there was a purple llama. Purple!

Eyeball88 · Post by **Eyeball88** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:13 am

Sload wrote:We should have llamas or alpacas someday.

That reminds me, I went to a llama festival while up in the wild country (the other event at the fairgrounds was called Praise in the Mountains, so...) and there was a purple llama. Purple!

:O

Did they dye it, or was it seriously a purple llama? Jeez. I know we have a llama farm and an alpaca farm (used to be an emu farm too, don't know where it went) on the island, but I've never seen purple llamas before..

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:25 am

They probably dyed it.

And a lot of them had their hair cut in a really ugly pattern. Kinda like a poodle.

lb003g0676 · Post by **lb003g0676** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:33 am

I prefer llamas really.

I went on a hking trip with some ages ago, in New Zealand. Mind you a hiking trip wasn't perfect for someone my age.

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:36 am

Sload wrote:They probably dyed it.

Could have been messing with genetics too. Changed the "brown fur" gene to the "purple fur" one.

My dad got bitten by one of the nasty devils, and I witnessed it. Sly thing got him with his back turned, too.

I have never quite trusted llamas.

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:38 am

Llamas and Emus are awesome, but for the sake of Archie's showcase lets please try to stay on topic.

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:56 am

Oh yeah, sorry.

Maybe if you post the NIF and textures, Morden or Eyeball can see if they see a problem?

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:04 pm

i rode a cammel yesterday, so i have referance pics and even a vid if you need it.

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:51 am

Ahem, before someone suggests to make a Yeti model for Hammerfell, I feel the need to bring up a topic that has been somewhat forgotten.

Is there any way we can retexture a saddle and put it on a camel's back to make it rideable? As far as I understand, the current stance and height and everything else of a rider are elements hard-coded in the game, so it's improbable to have a totally unique mount.

Vality7 · Post by **Vality7** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:03 am

lb003g0676 wrote:I prefer llamas really.

I went on a hking trip with some ages ago, in New Zealand. Mind you a hiking trip wasn't perfect for someone my age.

Really??? Theres llamas in NZ?? I live in NZ and i've never seen one...Though I saw a wild camel in Australia along the side of the Gold Coast Highway, which I thought was quite unusual...I thought they only lived in deserts...o_O

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:10 pm

Llamas are not native to New Zealand, but they coulda been brought there I guess.

Camels are actually native to America, but all the ones who didn't cross to Asia grew into llamas and alpacas. In New Mexico and Texas there may be some wild camels still, but they aren't natural. In the 19th century someone decided to start a camel infantry in the area. It failed miserably and many of the camels continued to live there. The last sighting was in 1941. Australia is in a similar situation, with camels being brought to Australia for transportation. They're now feral, and in growing populations, far more than those on my continent. Most other camels are domesticated, though there are still a few in the wild.

Speaking of camels, how's it coming Archie?

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 7:41 am

Oh right... read the FAQ and it erases your post. XD

A purple mammal would definately be dyed. Purple fur (or any other hue) does not occur in nature. One type of monkey does have some fur on its body that approaches greenish-yellow and other with orangie-yellow but its not that bright.

Anyhoo, I'm posting this here instead of in the object thread cause there's NO PROMISES this will actually work, because of animations and stuff. Even if this will stand still, the camels would still need moving holds (looking around, shifting their weight, etc.) for it to look 1/2 decent.

Sorry about stretching the forum, I didn't see how to make thumbnails. XD

I ccan't provide an exact polycount because I still have it in a lot of objects, but I can say that each camel is about 3500 quads (7k tris)... ok so curiousity got the better of me... I haven't gone back and culled redudant polys yet (such as the unnecessary polys where part of a mesh is hidden, like the camel below the blanket and part of rings that are hidden by wood, etc. The unculled tri count is 21410. 8| My goal was under 20k so I'm over my limit atm.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/CamelHarness4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/CamelHarness5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/CamelHarness6.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/CamelHarness7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/Archeopterix/Max/CamelHarness8.jpg[/img]

Culled, it goes to 20312 bit I'm not 100% that it will work with open "shell" models.

The_Warder · Post by **The_Warder** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:10 pm

archie it is a very nice model and looks like a lot of time has been put into it. I don't think that is all that too high poly for oblivion. its almost like beth was really careless about polycounts. imagine if the model were set at reasonable poly counts. It might run a lot better for me and most than it is now.

lb003g0676 · Post by **lb003g0676** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:21 pm

Vality7 wrote:
lb003g0676 wrote:I prefer llamas really.

I went on a hking trip with some ages ago, in New Zealand. Mind you a hiking trip wasn't perfect for someone my age.
Really??? Theres llamas in NZ?? I live in NZ and i've never seen one...Though I saw a wild camel in Australia along the side of the Gold Coast Highway, which I thought was quite unusual...I thought they only lived in deserts...o_O

I thoguht they were, it may have been in America, but I was sure it was New Zealand, i was onyl about 5, I have pictures aswell, I'll see if it is NZ or America... I may even post them up.

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:33 am

Yeah its not too high poly, but if it doens't animate it will look like butt.

And yes you can go llama trekking in NZ. And there are no wild camels, only feral camels. And stop hijacking my thread please.

Noirgrim · Post by **Noirgrim** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:01 am

Simply awesome. You are good at what you do, hands down.

El Scumbago · Post by **El Scumbago** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:51 pm

The best is yet to come. Just a click away!

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Making_Ridable_Creatures

Naked banana dance anyone?

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:26 am

Yeah

I've seen that. That doens't address that we need animations for the camel though. No current rig is suitable, unfortunately.

Archeopterix · Post by **Archeopterix** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:48 pm

Oh gosh guys I'm so sorry I've been through Murphey's Law the last 6 months, getting sicker and sicker terminating in 2 scary ambulence rides and a stay in the hospital, and at the same time my capacitors blew on my desktop and the HD on my laptop failed! So I was without a good computer to model on, but luckily everything is backed up and I am recovering and am on a new computer and have everything backed up.

I've even had to turn down work contracts.

So I made the onager a while back, but it does not have a normal map as of yet and the camel is still not completely rigged.

Does anyone want them as-is? I will have to get my FTP set up. The onager should be almost ready to go, I could see how the default normal map, but I don't know how it would look.

They are 3D Studio Max 8 files.

Noirgrim · Post by **Noirgrim** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:53 pm

Oh yes we do, Archie. Go ahead and upload them right here.

Sorry to hear you went through all of that recently.