Random stuff

[yoplatz]

Hi, i'm new to Silgrad Tower and i recently decided that I would teach myself to 3d model. so i made some things that maybe you guys could use.

This paper lantern (this is the orange one, it also comes in green and blue)

Download: http://rapidshare.com/files/277700394/Pa...n.rar.html

And a stump with a hollow end
Download: http://rapidshare.com/files/277701031/Stump.rar.html

I dont know how to make normal maps though, whenever i try you either cant see them or they are super shiney.

criticism welcome

[Zurke]

The lanterns look fine


I dont do much with creating assets so I cannot be much help in that area.

[Razorwing]

Hi yoplatz, and welcome to our team!

Your work looks very interesting. I checked it out and, using your trunk model as an example, I noticed a few things that I want to comment on.

The first thing I noticed was that you use the old kind of mesh collision - bhkNiTriStripsShape - which tends to cause a lot of problems, especially FPS slowdowns. Are you using 3D Studio Max to export your models? If so then on the bhkRigidBodyModifier rollout, set the bounding volume radio button to Packed Strips Shape. This should make it so that a MOPP shape is exported rather than the bhkNiTriStripsShape.

I also noticed that the transforms on your NiTriStrips aren't reset. This can cause a few mild technical problems, such as the bounding box being dispositioned or scaled wrongly. The bounding box is the oddly-lit cube that appears when selecting an object in the Construction Set. To reset it, open the nif in NifSkope. Right-click on the NiTriStrips block and choose Transform > Apply.

The material colors on your NiMaterialProperty branch aren't optimal. Ideally the ambient, diffuse and specular colors should be pure white. To set them to that, double-click on the colors in Nifskope and set all the values to 1. Oblivion doesn't render ambient and diffuse colors but Nifskope does, so if they're not set to white then your model will look different in Nifskope than it does in Oblivion.

The tangent spaces look kinda strange, like some of them are shooting off into the distance. I've never seen that effect before! It can be changed in Nifskope but instead I'd like to mention a great utility called PyFFI, which is able to optimize nifs and solve certain problems. It's especially good at improving models exported from 3D Studio Max. Here's a wiki article on the subject.

It's often a good idea to smooth a model before exporting it, which makes the edges look less sharp. To do that, add a Smooth modifier with the auto smooth checkbox ticked and a threshold of 60. You can do it in Nifskope too, it's just more complicated. In that case you would right-click on the NiTriStrips block and choose Mesh > Face Normals. Then right-click again and choose Mesh > Smooth Normals, then Mesh > Remove Duplicate Vertices, and finally Mesh > Update Tangent Space.

I attached a version of your model after the changes I mentioned, in case you'd like to check out the changes I did. I didn't 'MOPPify' your collision though since I only made the changes in Nifskope.

There are a couple of programs that can help in creating normal maps. The one most folks regard as being the best is CrazyBump. I'd be happy to help create any normal maps you need for your work in our team Here's a version of the normal map for your trunk texture.

All in all I think you did a very good job on the trunk model, and I look forward to checking out the lantern models shortly. What kind of models would you like to create? Trees, flora, furniture, architecture, etc?

[yoplatz]

I have both crazybump and the nvidea photoshop plugin, but i cant create the effect i am looking for. The model below was the first 3d model i made, (ya its crappy). the normal map was made with crazybump, and as you can see, its way to shiny. I set it to all the way glossy because with gloss turned down, its almost to shiny to see the texture.

I dont have a screenshot of the one i made with photshop, but it looked like it had no nomal map at all.


as for what i want to model, im not really sure. i defiantly need more practice before i take on something difficult.

[blackbird]

Are you trying to create deadric ruins?
If yes, that's good , because we definately need them.

[Siegfried]

phitt has already recreated a full on set of daedric ruins, i imagine he would share them with you guys if you asked nicely

[yoplatz]

um, those were daedric ruins, but i dont plan on making anything after those two pieces, it was just a test to see if i could get something from 3ds max to oblivion.

[Razorwing]

I think we'll have a copy of Phitt's Daedric models before long.

yoplatz: CrazyBump lets you simulate how a specular map looks at different gloss settings, but the gloss setting isn't saved in the texture. Rather, to set the glossiness of a texture on an Oblivion nif, check the Block Details on the NiMaterialProperty block in NifSkope where you'll find a setting called Glossiness.

The photoshop plugin is nigh-on useless. The other program I referred to is called Shader Map Pro, which isn't bad but not as good as CrazyBump is.

If you're looking to practice modelling some more, perhaps you could create some clutter or furniture? It's easy to put those kinds of models to good use in interiors.

[Zurke]

More furniture

[yoplatz]

Ya, i was setting the gloss in nifscope.

Good idea about the clutter, that does sound like good practice. maybe ill try a bug lamp or something.