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Xannepans creations

Started by xannepan, October 05, 2007, 06:52:11 AM

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Should the weather plugin include a version with destructive effects (e.g. associated with tornados and lightning)?

Yes
41 (57.7%)
No
30 (42.3%)

Total Members Voted: 71

Voting closed: January 26, 2013, 06:50:01 AM

xannepan

DebussyMan; I have no idea what you are talking about  ()what()  ;D

Can you give me a quick explanation on how I should render once I'm ready to export to SC4 format?



vester

First, start with reading the instructions that came with the bat4max.

Sorry would write how to, but I am not on my own computer, as I am visiting RippleJet.

xannepan

I did read the instructions... test renders worked fine, although I could not get nightlighting to work...
But are there any additional rendering settings in 3ds-max (v7) that I need to change??



DebussyMan

In the antialias tab, at the rendering window, you should choose Catmull-Rom instead of Area.


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callagrafx

Quote from: xannepan on October 06, 2007, 12:10:12 PM
I did read the instructions... test renders worked fine, although I could not get nightlighting to work...
But are there any additional rendering settings in 3ds-max (v7) that I need to change??

There is no nightlighting preview in Max, only the global lighting workaround to give a rough representation.

Sorry if this is a dumb question...Have you named the lights with the "nitelite" prefix?  Also, when you export the model for SC4, remember to reset the global lighting back to white.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

xannepan

Hi guys,

Ok.. first test render in 3ds-max-7. What a difference with gmax; only 30 minutes or so to render.
A few questions:
1) I have labeled all lights with "nitelite" prefix.. but somehow they do show up in the day render.
2) There is no night rendering... (I don't see night renders during rendering in 3ds-max not do I get nighltlught in the game)
3) I render the lot in gmax... in DRAFT quality mode.. does it matter?
4) Currently I have rendered everything in one model - including those parts of the wall that extend below the ground level. I'm using square LODs. The idea is that -eventually- the parts of the wall extendig below the surface only show if the castle is on a slope. Currently, the red arrow shows the castle will not adjust to the slopes properly.  I have no idea how to solve this problem. Does anyone have experience with using building foundations?

I'll keep on experimenting myself.. but any suggestions will help.

Xannepan

callagrafx

#46
He he, Max's render speed when compared to BAT is something else, eh?

Problems one and two are more than likely related.  Did you get Cycledogg's updated CPBuildingMill.ms script?  If not, I've attached it here (saves you having to search the mammoth thread at ST  :thumbsup: )

Check that there are no typos in the nitelite prefix (my usual mistake).  The lights will illuminate in day mode when preview rendering, but the script will turn them off when exporting normally.

Rendering the LODs in draft mode have no bearing on the final render as far as I know, but I usually export them on full setting.

As for the foundation, you would probably have to set the foundation to null...Sam explains how to do this in her Ship Tutorial found HERE
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

vester

Could you post a screenshot of the castle within iLive Reader with both wireframes and textures turned on ?

xannepan

#48
Hi everybody,

Ok problem with nitelites is solved. Callagrafx thanx for pointing out the typos  ;D.... looks great now. I'm making progress.

What I'm really getting frustrated about is the foundation issue... I have added some pictures to illstrate what I want to achieve. Look at the pictures as 2D cross sections through the terrain, the green part being the terrain the building is placed on, the purple part the building and the blue part the building-foundation.
When the building is placed on flat terrain, you'll see NO foundation (first picture). When it is placed on a hil  the foundation will become visible, depending on the shape of the hill.

Here is what I have sofar;
In 3dmax I have one model of the castle with walls that go beyond the surface level (z=0). To split this is a buidling model and a foundation model I use a slice-plane modifier. Works great.
Now I have two models. The building itself, which renders perfectly well as long as I use square LODs. As soon as I use complicated custom-made LODs that fit the building more tightly rendering is completeyl messed up.

Rendering the foundation is even more problematic...
Here is what I have tried sofar
1) normal LODs as well as custom made LODs
2) rendered the LODS in gmax with building as well as foundation Model type option checked.
Both with normal square LODs and also with custom made LODs rendering (after 10 attempts) does not work.. or at least it does not look propery in the game. In 8 out of 10 cases I get the stupid colored boxes (last picture) But even when I do see parts of the foundation model... the shape is completely messed up..

More specific questions;
Will 3ds-max render properly when buildings are below the z=0 plane?
Do building models and foundation models need the same LODs?

I'd be perfectly happy to share the model with anyone who think can help...

Alex

jeronij

I havent played with foundations, but I think it is a separated exemplar/model, so you should render two different models. However, the foundations use to be squared, and I am not sure if that is what you are looking for. I would try making one single LOD (three instances of course) for the whole model, including the under z areas, and render it as a normal model.
When you make the lot, mod it, and make sure the foundation is the smallest possible. Perhaps you should make your model as a prop, and use some existing (invisible) building to mod the lot properly. this way, the foundation would be small and hidden under the model, and the model LODs would fit the terrain naturally ( maybe not perfect, but better that the pictures you showed us  ;)

I hope this helps
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xannepan

Thanx jeronij.
I have tried my concepts is gmax... and there is works perfectly.
Here is what I did.
Picture left: two models: one for building, one for foundation. Only for the Foundation I have used custom LODs.. see how nicely it merges witht he landscape...
Picture: right. Same but now standards LODs for both building and foundation. Result is not that great... foundation does not ''follow'' slope well enough.


Now the key question: will BAT for 3ds-max (v7) work with custom made LODs?







DebussyMan



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jeronij

Quote from: xannepan on October 09, 2007, 03:57:15 AM
Now the key question: will BAT for 3ds-max (v7) work with custom made LODs?

It will  ;) . Remember that you are rendering the LODs with the GMAX, which supports custom LODs, and you use MAX to create the textures and apply them to the GMAX generated LODs.
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Autism Awareness;  A Father Shares
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xannepan

I'm going crazy here...

Here are screenshots of the foundation model in DATGEN.

look at the first picture... completely messed up... even got holes in the textures?????

In next post I'll attacht he 3ds-max model of the foundation... I'd appreciate if any one of you could have a go at it...

xannepan

#54
Here is the model...

The picture shows the model. The custom LOD in 3ds max doesn't fit it completely.. but better than the square box LODs...

:bomb:



jeronij

I have downloaded the model and tried to make some testing, but the unit systems we use are different, and I had to re-scale the model to meters and I totally loosed the scale  &mmm

However, I made a render test with normal results. What I have noticed is that you rendered the foundation model as a building model in GMAX. You should render the LODs in GMAX like a foundation and not like a building.
This will bring you to a conflict that I just noticed now after testing this. The fsh IDs for the foundation seems to be not correctly handled by the BAT4MAX tool, and you will have to change them manually ( or with the existing Datgen tools) to fit the required id. In my case, all the fsh were named 00030### instead 00031### . After I changed this, the model looks ok in the Reader:



I hope this helps somehow  ::)
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callagrafx

The model looks a little complex for a LOD....have you tried creating a new shape following the path of the foundation, then extruding to the right height?  This will make  the foundation solid too, which it should really be.  Once that's done, convert to an editable mesh and duplicate for LODs 4 & 5. 

It looks like the gaps could be normal related, in that some vertices are flipped.  I discovered this happens a lot with boolean operations and the only way I found to avoid it was convert the target object to an editable mesh before each boolean operation.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

xannepan

Thanks Jeronij,

This sure helps, although I'm not looking forward to changing the IDs manually.
By the way; I did render the foundation in gmax as foundation as well as building, but that didn't seem to do the trick. At leat now I understand why.

Than there's one other thing. What I see in the pictures you poster puzzles me. I see parts of the building (above surface parts of the building) and not the castle wall below the surface... Maybe it has to do with the slice modifier I'm using...

I'll try a few more things tomorrow... If that doesn't work I'll have to give up  &mmm and be happy with the model without the foundation...

Alex

jeronij

Quote from: xannepan on October 09, 2007, 08:51:50 AM

This sure helps, although I'm not looking forward to changing the IDs manually.

Alex

In the reader you have a tool called TGI editor which allows you to change all these ID's with a single click or two. I am sure Datgen has also something similar  ;)

Quote
Than there's one other thing. What I see in the pictures you poster puzzles me. I see parts of the building (above surface parts of the building) and not the castle wall below the surface... Maybe it has to do with the slice modifier I'm using...

If you look at the models with textures and wireframe, you will see why the foundation looks like it looks like. If you make your foundation model with some sort of floor, it will look different, probably better, but also some parts of the uppers walls will also be seen from this point of view. However, in the game, these parts of the foundation wont be visible, since they are covered by the building LODs.

I hope you can understand my sometimes confusing english  ::)  ;) )

Dont give up. This model is really worth some headaches  ;D . If you dont get it to work, and want to send me a model ( in meters and not inches) I can give a try to the LODs for you  ;)
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xannepan

Quote from: callagrafx on October 09, 2007, 08:36:31 AM
The model looks a little complex for a LOD....have you tried creating a new shape following the path of the foundation, then extruding to the right height?  This will make  the foundation solid too, which it should really be.  Once that's done, convert to an editable mesh and duplicate for LODs 4 & 5. 

It looks like the gaps could be normal related, in that some vertices are flipped.  I discovered this happens a lot with boolean operations and the only way I found to avoid it was convert the target object to an editable mesh before each boolean operation.
`

callagrafx; Oh.. no... you've gotta be kinding about these normals...  :bomb: But it may explain why it looks the way it does...
The only strange thing is that the above gourn-level part doesn't seem to be affected  ()what()

Jeronij; the model is not quite finished... I was jsut testing the foundation idea today. Once I have t finished I'll be happy to share it with you to see if you can find out what's wrong...