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New creature models...

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cryonaut
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Registration Date: 2006.03.01
Posts: 226
Location: Florida

New creature models...

Hi all... I know I've been non-existant lately but I'm back to working on the nix hound model and hopefully more soon.
To refresh your memories, here is a screen of how the model looked last time I updated about it:
http://www.morrowind-mods.org/tes4-v_wor...x-progress3.jpg

It was pretty much agreed all around that the whole double-shoulder thing was a little too weird, so I got rid of that and I've tweeked the whole thing in general a lot to smooth it out and take advantage of the higher polycount that Oblivion allows for. I had to keep it under 1,000 triangles before because it was a school project and that was a requirement, but now that that is over I amped it up to 4,000 triangles, yeehaw. So let me know what you think and I will hopefully get to texturing it soon.
(current version should be attached)

cryonaut has attached this image (reduced version):

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2006.08.12 08:05

TheImperialDragon
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Registration Date: 2006.06.21
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RE: New creature models...

Lookin' good! Good job!

I don't suppose you could make the horns coming out of the jaw (forget what they're called) a little broader, more defined?

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2006.08.12 09:32

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KuKulzA
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yeah cryonaut! I thought you did leave! great job on the nix! Good job!

2006.08.12 14:12

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Harikari
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Woohoo! you're back, and the hound is looking good Good job!

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2006.08.12 20:15

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Green @nt1-n00b
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It looks good. Now if only we could animate it Crying

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2006.08.12 20:26

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KuKulzA
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quote:

Originally posted by Green @nt1-n00b
It looks good. Now if only we could animate it Crying

a wolf animation might work... although the swimming would be different

2006.08.12 20:36

Green @nt1-n00b
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but I dont think they could swim in morrowind?

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2006.08.12 20:39

cryonaut
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Registration Date: 2006.03.01
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I'd never abandon this project. I love Vvardenfell too much. I might get distracted for a month or two sometimes because I have adult A.D.D. but I'll always come back. Wink

I'm thinking of making the mandibles serrated, like this: http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/mnzsi_m2.jpg
What do you guys think of that? Which brings me to another question... What type of mouths do nix hounds have anyway??? You never really get to see any mouth at all on them in Morrowind... you just see a pointy nose and a set of mandibles... I would assume they have a mosquito mouth because of their nose but the mandibles totally throw that off... any ideas?

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This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by cryonaut: 2006.08.13 01:47.

2006.08.13 01:43

KuKulzA
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I think they are similar to lobsters (they actually look like them a bit)...
anyhow, I think this is how it hows....
the "nose" is a spike to impale enemies, the mandibles claw at the prey and secure the hold, and small pincers bring the food into the mouth....

KuKulzA has attached this image (reduced version):

2006.08.13 03:01

cryonaut
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hm... well then that brings up an interesting dilemma... see if they stab their food with their nose, and hold it in place with their mandibles... then how does it get all the way back into their mouth from that distance? It kinda seems like there would need to be a feeding device that extends from the mouth to take the food from the mandibles into the mouth... perhaps a pair of inner jaws like the xenomorphs from the Alien movies have? Or maybe a more tentacle-like device like the reapers from Blade II (http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~daw/Reaper2a.jpg)?

Progress is coming along REALLY well with the model... I've segemted the legs to make them more insect-like, redefined the head a lot to make it more like the original model from Morrowind, and am in the process of remaking the mandibles and then defining the eyes. After that I'll work on detailing the mouth and then rigging the model to make it poseable, slap a temporary texture on it and whoever understands things better can take a wack at applying it to a Wolf nif file to see if it animates.

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2006.08.13 06:54

TheImperialDragon
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Great! I'd really like to see how this turns out. Could you post a screenshot maybe?

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2006.08.13 07:20

cryonaut
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Okay here's an updated screen... as you can see I've pretty much completely revamped the body. Still need to do the mandibles, eyes, and mouth, and I'm already at 4,500 triangles (the original nix model from Morrowind was only 1,500 triangles)... I don't know how many triangles the average Oblivion creature is but I'm guessing it's around 5,000...

cryonaut has attached this image (reduced version):

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2006.08.13 10:14

cryonaut
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`nother update... he's pretty much finished now except for any mouth details if I can figure them out... managed to keep him at 4,798 triangles thanks to 3ds Max's genius optimization tool.

I figure this can be the "basic" nix hound, and then I'll make another version that has larger shoulders, spikes coming out of the elbow-type joints, serrated mandibles, and a generally more nasty appearance; that one can then be the rare, more dangerous breed of nix hound that lives deep in the ashlands.

cryonaut has attached this image (reduced version):

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2006.08.13 13:26

KuKulzA
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quote:

Originally posted by cryonaut
`nother update... he's pretty much finished now except for any mouth details if I can figure them out... managed to keep him at 4,798 triangles thanks to 3ds Max's genius optimization tool.

I figure this can be the "basic" nix hound, and then I'll make another version that has larger shoulders, spikes coming out of the elbow-type joints, serrated mandibles, and a generally more nasty appearance; that one can then be the rare, more dangerous breed of nix hound that lives deep in the ashlands.

I like it....
maybe there are two kinds?
a more sleek and larger kind that has a flatter back and lives in the ashlands (structure like TES3's)
and a hunched one living everywhere else.

I am thinking the hunched one doesn't live in ashlands since being hunched makes running down prey not-as-easy (even though not impossible, Hyenas are great hunters). But the sleeker one would have to run through lots of ashland for food and water....

also a hunched one could dive and plunge it's feeding spike with greater force but rely on ambush rather than speed

2006.08.13 15:20

cryonaut
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Actually upon working on this I realized there is no hunchback version. It's all an illusion caused by the back legs being bent and the front ones being straight. In the original concept art for the nix he was positioned like that, and in my current model thats how he is, but if you were to bend the front legs down it would end up looking just like the way the nix looked in Morrowind. He just never stands around in that position ever in Morrowind so you never realize it.

But yea I do like the idea of having 2 different types for variety. One that is more heavily armored and generally tougher looking that we haven't seen yet would be cool.

Hopefully by the time I start on the next creature I will have gotten much faster at this, heh...

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2006.08.14 01:13

KuKulzA
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hopefully... man that nix looks so great already... Rocking Banana

2006.08.14 04:29

cryonaut
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textures

Alrighty, now that the modeling of the basic nix hound is done it's time to work on the textures for it. It'll be really fun to use Oblivion's normal mapping to make his shell all ridgy and bumpy. Here's a picture of him with a temporary texture though just for the hell of it. I mapped him just like the nix hound in Morrowind is mapped and threw on a recolored version of the nix hound texture from Darker Morrowind that I had sitting around. It's definately not perfect but it's better than that solid orange color we've been looking at. I'll have to map him differently though in the end because the way the nix hounds were mapped in Morrowind made their textures smear really badly on their backs and bellies.

Also you can't see in the picture, but I've given him a mouth like the reapers from Blade II. He now has actual visible jaws with a little feeding tube that extends from his mouth if you look closely. I'll post better pics of that when I start working on the new textures.

cryonaut has attached this image (reduced version):

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2006.08.14 12:36

Harikari
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Thats sweet Good job!

Is it possible to attach that model to the wolf bone animations?

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2006.08.14 17:39

cryonaut
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It isn't rigged with bones yet, but once I do rig it then I guess maybe... I'm not quite sure how though so I might need someone with more technical know-how to do that part (the applying, not the rigging)...

I know it's called a hound, but does anyone else think maybe the mountain lion animations would work better for it than the wolf animations?

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by cryonaut: 2006.08.14 20:17.

2006.08.14 20:16

Green @nt1-n00b
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yes cause it has more cat like bone structure in its leg bones Good job!

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2006.08.14 20:21

TheImperialDragon
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Whoa

! I would really like to see this completed, as for the texturing part, the eyes are glowing, so use a glow map to achieve that effect. The rest is looking very good. Good job!

Maybe a little green-er though? Or maybe we can have different variations for different regions?

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2006.08.14 20:27

cryonaut
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Upon reading CuteUnit's post about importing new creatures into Oblivion, I see that I cannot just rig it with my own skeleton, but I need to take the actual skeleton from the animal I'm going to be using as the base for the physics/animations, and rig the new creature with that animal's skeleton instead. That totally makes sense, I just don't really fully understand how to do it. I am going to see if I can find any help in the main visual development forums here and if not here, than I'll hit the main ES forum.

Meanwhile, I've started work on modeling the rotumbo guar. It's nice because it's a totally different creature than the nix hound. nice and round instead of all insect-like. Here's a pic of the model so far and the concept art it's based off of. Shouldn't take too long since he's rather simple, then I think I'll hit the regular guar or durzog next.

Edit: Here's another pic...

cryonaut has attached these images (downsized versions):

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This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by cryonaut: 2006.08.15 13:41.

2006.08.15 12:54

Siegfried
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Lookin good Cryonaut, it would probably work to put the bear skeleton on that guy.

2006.08.15 17:14

cryonaut
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Thanks.

At first I agreed with you, because their body shapes are so similar... but then after looking through the animations I realized that the sheep animations are much better suited for this creature. It can be confusing because it isn't the body shapes that matter but the way the skeleton actually moves, which can be resized however needed to fit the body.

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2006.08.15 18:46

cryonaut
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I haven't gotten around to messing with animations yet, but just for the hell of it here are some new pictures:

cryonaut has attached these images (downsized versions):

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2006.08.22 18:18

nerbod
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ok, they both look good, however, I have some comments on the green one:
Try making his body bigger, lower and fatter, the legs should be bulkier and look like they only move once a month...

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by nerbod: 2006.08.22 19:18.

2006.08.22 19:04

KuKulzA
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yeah I think Rotumbo needs to look more rotund but otherwise great! Good job!

2006.08.26 19:05

Donny
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Add more belly to the rotumbo guar.

Also a saddled and packed one would be sweet. I could help you out by making concept art of something if you wish.

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2006.08.29 22:29

walrus
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Those look really great. I just wanted to make sure you've seen the lore creatures expansion mod so that there isn't redundant work.

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2006.11.15 02:14

KuKulzA
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quote:

Originally posted by walrus
Those look really great. I just wanted to make sure you've seen the lore creatures expansion mod so that there isn't redundant work.

yeah, we know about it... plus cryonaut is one of the modelers who was mking those great lore expansion creatures Wink

2006.11.15 04:13

timmay
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These models look amazing! Is there any recent word on their status?

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2007.04.05 04:13

KuKulzA
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no... cryonaut is our only fauna modeler... and he's only on occasionally

2007.04.05 04:18

timmay
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I could try and find someone willing to help out on the TES forums if you would like, he's a great modeler I can tell but even if he does become active again he could use the help. Also, is it possible to create new animations for Oblivion yet?

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2007.04.05 04:24

Zacherrry
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Yes, it is. At least for Blender and 3Ds Max.

2007.04.06 07:20

InsanitySorrow
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Thread Locked. No new updates in a while.

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2007.12.05 10:50

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