Creating an animation.

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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Greetings.

Im creating a WC animaton in 3DsMax5, and i would like to have your opinions about the things I have tried to recreat. Im almost done with a Hellcat, a Transport and a Dralthi IV.
The first Scene is still under construction: it will be an 'Academy' on a far planet.As you can see on the pics, im just a beginner, and not really tallented. Everything was created after the images and numbers which are included in the original WC3 box.The WC4 handbook doesn't have numbers for length and other measurment things.
The Textures were created in Corell 9 PhotoPaint. Im very bad at painting textures :(
The story will be the usual stuff: fresh pilots on a milk run escort mission,
get ambushed, only our heroin survives, and the wrecked hellcat get picked up by a Confed carrier,or by a Border Worlds carrier? wich one do you like better, Confed or BW? This will determine how the story onfolds.(I dont have the slightest idea on how to continue it). My plan is to create this till the end of August (till the school starts in my country). Only problem is that the rendering of the first scene (3 hellcats take off from the academy grounds: 12 seconds 25fps) takes more then SIX HOURS, so lots of optimalization is needed before I can start.

Some Questions: What are the correct RGB numbers for Kilrathi brown/grey (ship) colors? couse I can't seem to get it right.
In which system, on which planet should the academy be?

I know i could find info on these on the net, but i dont have a proper net connection, and the phone bill is already damn too much.

Thanks for the answers (if you give any :) ).
 

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zohrath_1

Spaceman
I like your models, but you need to work on those textures :)

As for kilrathi hull color, they're a royal pain in the ass to get right! :) But try one of these: 161, 142, 111 - 168, 148, 117 - 202, 179, 139 - 207, 185, 144.
 
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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Thanks for the numbers.

I've been to your page, your models look better then the originals. I especially like your Dragon and the Vesuvius.

One more question. How do you make that engine glow? I try to add a glow effect to the engine lights, and always come up with an almost unvisible glow from a close view, and a half screen bright patch from a far view, and it flares through the ship from any angle.

By the way, where can I find some reference for ships: you mention books, comics series on other forums.

Oh, and last thing... have you ever heard of any plastic modells made from WC? ( you know, the thing you have to glue and paint)
 
Z

zohrath_1

Spaceman
hehe, thanks :)

One thing you should know about max: it's glow sucks. You just gotta fiddle with the settings to get something atleast mediocre, and the flare through the ships is something you're gonna have to live with :(

For reference, screenshots from the games are what I use mostly. Also if the in-game model is available to download, I use it too.

I think Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum bought a pair of WC movie models, costing him a small fortune. :D But no, there aren't any plastic models available like Star Wars and other stuff to my knowledge.
 
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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Well those colors seem to work. but i still dunno the how to continue the story.The wc3 victory streak (handbook) sais:

"2669 Following the attacke on Earth, the terran Inteligence Agency deploys a top secret, tactical serch party through a previously uncharted Kilrathi jump point. A heavy carrier (name unknown) ..."

Is there any official info on this ship. What is a heavy carrier, if the Victory is not?

On what configuration do you work Zohrath_1 ? (i mean processor, VGA card)

My computer gave up during the middle of rendering the first pice of anim. (maybe because the processor was 62 C degrees hot :rolleyes: )

Iv downloaded your jumpgate but didnt have the textures?
Where can I do that?
 
Z

zohrath_1

Spaceman
lorddarthvik said:
Well those colors seem to work. but i still dunno the how to continue the story.The wc3 victory streak (handbook) sais:

"2669 Following the attacke on Earth, the terran Inteligence Agency deploys a top secret, tactical serch party through a previously uncharted Kilrathi jump point. A heavy carrier (name unknown) ..."

Is there any official info on this ship. What is a heavy carrier, if the Victory is not?
Click to expand...

That stuff is covered in the Wing Commander Armada game, you control a heavy carrier called the TCS Lexington. It's not the same ship as in WC4 though. A heavy carrier is bigger than the "regular" carriers I suppose, more fighters and stuff:)

On what configuration do you work Zohrath_1 ? (i mean processor, VGA card)

My computer gave up during the middle of rendering the first pice of anim. (maybe because the processor was 62 C degrees hot :rolleyes: )
Click to expand...

I use a dual Xeon 2 ghz system, 1 gig mem and a Geforce 4 4600 card.

Iv downloaded your jumpgate but didnt have the textures?
Where can I do that?
Click to expand...

I'll look into it and see if something's wrong.
 
C

Cam

Spaceman
Try using higher res textures to help get rid of those aliasing problems you have. :) If you're going to have close-ups, you should try that.
 
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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Cam said:

"Try using higher res textures to help get rid of those aliasing problems you have."

Isn't 1024*1024 high enough? and those aliasing problems occure because of the bump mapping, without that it looks fine.

Im creating a new cap ship design, i'll put a picture up if i can finish it today, but I have just started playing WC4 for reference pics, and I cant stop it :)
 
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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Sorry guys, there wont be a new ship, couse my computer has just restarted in the middle of texturing, and the file gone corrupted :mad: , so i cant load it. It would have been like a vesuvius, a bit smaller,(1400 metres long, 250 high without brige), the same sleek lines... :(

Well, ill try to bring it back, but i dont think i can make it.
Otherwise, ill go for holiday :cool: , for two weeks. ( i don wanna go, but my parents... you know the drill).
 
L

lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Tolwyn asked if could assist.

Well Space Marshall, can you paint?

Im in need of space scene backrounds (stars and nebulas, nothing else on them).

Thats all for today.

"They will be waiting, while you sleep..."
 
L

Lynx

Spaceman
Hey Tolwyn!

Why don't you use this engine glows in the game. They sure look better than the standard FS2 crap.

BTW the models that I sent you...did they work?
 
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Cam

Spaceman
lorddarthvik said:
Isn't 1024*1024 high enough? and those aliasing problems occure because of the bump mapping, without that it looks fine.
Click to expand...

Normally you'd want to choose a good resolution so that the closest you will ever get in your animation, the texture will look perfect.

If the bump mapping is your problem, perhaps you've set the bump mapping strength too high? Turn on super sampling and see if that helps. It'll fix some of the AA problems anyway...

Hope that helps! :)
 
S

smoke_saibot

Spaceman
Hey zorath_1 perhaps you could enlighten us how you made the dragon on your webpage...especially when I'm the one who made it :). You're really not in the position to give advice to anybody when it comes to 3D stuff. Stick to your simple ships...seeing how all your models are composed of perfect 90 degree angles. And btw, I warned you before about taking ownership of my work. Keep it up and you might have a little surprise.

On a brighter note, the resolution of the image is not the problem with the bump mapping...It's either the way the mapping is applied or the setting is too high...It should be about half of what it is.
 
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Cam

Spaceman
Well you're right, the bump map strength is quite high, but the low resolution is the cause of the jagged panel lines on the hull. If the bump map strength were decreased, the jagged lines would be less apparent. In any case, if this is going to be animated, we're probably not going to notice the low-res textures much. :D
 
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lorddarthvik

Spaceman
Thanks for the background, and the advice on the bump maps, that has been corrected.

Btw, I wont be here for 2 weeks. So until then, have a nice flying.

Ill shall return.
 
Rylex

Rylex

Rear Admiral
Perhaps I can help a bit... *LOL*

Hi there,

I've seen the pictures of your planned movie and it looks good. I remember the time when I wanted to produce the Final Conflict movie back in year 2000 :) ... was too much work for one person.
Well at least you might know me from the WC Unknown Enemy cutscenes that were made by me back in 2002... ;-)

If you need help with the engines, then please contact me and I might be able to help a bit :)

If you're back in 2 weeks - then I would be glad to hear from you. Your first scenes look good...

If you need any help or want a few hints, then feel free to contact me under the following mail-adress:

Rylex@gmx.net

Best Regards,

Alex "Rylex"

PS: Any ideas yet of how to produce lasers in the dogfight?

(I'm not online in this forum very often - so please contact me directly via mail)
 
C

Cam

Spaceman
Lorddarthvik, show us some more progress when you return! :D

I think the thing you need to work on most is your lighting. It'll help build the mood and setting for your animation as well.
 
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