Main Discussion

[David]

Good !
Could you make two textures ? One with normal city clothes (like the one you made for twinsen) and one with guard clothes ?
This way we get two characters for the price of one !
I've rigged your mesh with the same biped I used for other models :
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131079
I haven't finished yet, animation needs a final touch. But it gives nice results !

[Horadrim]

The eyes of the both models are made, so they could blink. Their mouths also could be opened and closed. If there was a way to export biped animations from MAX to blender, it was going to be very good. Among with the Twinsen mesh, I`ve made all animations of Twinsen and tons of other animations for other characters like grobos, quetches and so on.

[David]

I think you should share that precious work with the comunity !
It's ok if your work is made with 3DS MAX, I'm sure somebody will find a way to convert it to blender
When you get those textures ready I'll release next demo.

[David]

I've sent a mail last week to the forum administrador so that he changes the thread name to "Little Script Adventure" ...
I'm still waiting !

[Kitarii]

No point sending mails to El, just PM a mod!
I'll fix that one for you.

[David]

thank you !

[Horadrim]

I think I found a way to transfer the biped animations to blender - via ms3d. But there`s a little problem. When loaded, the skeleton`s Z and Y axises are swapped and the skeleton is not postioned at the center of the grid where it must be. If I import the skeleton in Milkshape3D, it`s all OK, so the problem seems to be in the blender`s import plugin. I tried other variations of export/import, but the ms3d seems perfect, exept the little problem. All other formats are either not loading correctly or the skeleton`s connections are not right.

[Darkflame]

Have you tried ver the *.x format?
Its very basic, but it can do animations, and it has options to flip axis's on its max-exporter. (Panda exporter)

[lba1&2]

Originally Posted by Horadrim

I think I found a way to transfer the biped animations to blender - via ms3d. But there`s a little problem. When loaded, the skeleton`s Z and Y axises are swapped

Thats because 3DMax uses an inverted axis system.
Their could be an option to invert it inside of max.

[David]

That remember me bad experiences ...
Did you try BVH (BioVision) to export skeleton + animation ?
I once had very good results with that.
Bad thing is that you lose bone weighting. But it's not that hard to rig inside blender.

[Horadrim]

Originally Posted by lba1&2

Thats because 3DMax uses an inverted axis system.
Their could be an option to invert it inside of max.

In that case it`s not Max that has inverted axis system, but Blender. Since in Milkshape 3D, the skeleton loads as it must be, then the problem is in Blender.
I tried with x, but nothing loads in Blender.

[Jasiek]

Work in Progress. Lot's of stuff in here is by Horadrim from a whole pharmacy map he gave me a few years ago(the walls and floor texture, the carpet, the flask models, desk and shelve textures, the alarm model plus texture which I fiddled around with). I remade most of them, the shelve supports and desk legs are made from scratch(texture is Horadrim's), the pillar textures are based on a marble texture by Horadrim.

The whole thing could be optimized even more, however I wish to retain a structure which will make it easy to just copy and paste stuff for other inside levels.

[Horadrim]

Looks nice. But why the original pharmacy scene is showing at the bottom?

[David]

Good job !!
the bottom pharmacy has been exported to obj from the perspective map viewer and then imported in blender.
take a look here : http://forum.magicball.net/showthread.php?t=14607
The idea is to "complete" original map so that it can be seen in any direction. And also to make it look nicer.
Jasiek acutally removed all the furniture, he only kept walls and floors. He then added his and your furniture.
Jasiek : If you keep everything in its right place, it will be much easier to me to handle collision detection.

[Jasiek]

I think he knows that... he was asking why am I still keeping it there. I kept it there for comparison, and was too lazy to just get rid of it . Anyway, tis gone now!





Now, I'll make a deal with you . When Quetch figures out a way to import my LBA1Remake files to blender, you'll get the whole shebang (lots of objects, male nurse model, doctor model, three type's of Groboclones, soldier model and lot's of different stuff) in exchange for making an easy to use open source "engine" I can use to resurrect the remake hm? Or perhaps would you be interested in remaking LBA1 in 3D?

I attached the pharmacy model. I think only the floor and wall tiles are exactly like Horadrim made them, and the cash register is exactly like he made it. Rest I modified (sometimes quite heavily), the texture for the jawbraker dispencer is made from scratch, I only used the jawbreakers pattern inside. The flask and jawbreaker machine texture have a transparent region (png format) which is used for the glass, so you only need to apply the textures and turn transparency on. Entirely mine is the texture for the top of the walls, and the pillar texture, which I based on Horadrims marble texture to make the colours fit.

The desk legs, lamp mounts and shelf supports share their texture.

[David]

Mesh is wonderful, but you forgot to pack the textures with your blender file ! (unless I missed something ...)
I already have an a open engine, the one I use in the demo Sure its still 2D but I gonna adapt it to handle 3D maps, like this pharmacy. I thinked twice and I don't want to load any original LBA map anymore. Perspective Map Viewer is made for that. I want to work with full detailed 3D maps like the one you made.
This week end I worked a little on Horadrim model, I made it stand, walk and run. It's not perfect but it's without doubt the best animation I have ever made !!
I upload here two version of the model. One is for blender, the other for Little Script Adventure. Get my last version, replace elf.MODEL in data/model by the one I upload, and you'll see Horadrim model in the demo !
NOTE : I DECREASED TEXTURE RESOLUTION FOR THE UPLOAD !!!
Edit : Don't forget to press key 'c' to switch character during the demo, default starting one is laracroft...

[Jasiek]

Oh, right, I'll upload it with the textures today. Also, when I have the time, I'll redo some outdoor space. However I'll use the Remake textures and models for it - along with the trees, I don't think the palm trees fit Citadel Island.

EDIT:
Here you go:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/iy3ner

[David]

Great ! Not too much polygons, nice objects, well textured, should be a good start for my engine
Loading those maps in my demo should be easier than loading LBA maps ...
Horadrim : how is the grobo texture doing ?

[David]

A great idea has come to my mind !!

An idea that will make ten time easier :

- detection collision
- path finding (A* algorithm)
- artificial intelligence
- physical
- scripting
- modeling
- and much more !!

MAKE IT FLAT !
(Hey, I don't mean 2D, but maps without stairs, platforms, etc...)

Sorry for that bad new, but that's a mature decision.
Let's make an simple game engine, a little less gameplay but much more easy to work on.
So Jasiek : Could you make me that pharmacy without stairs ?
Thanx !

[Jasiek]

You can just add an invisible plane on them... Trust me, I tried, it looks better that way.

[David]

Could you send me by mail all the stuff you have from LBA remake, and the name of people who made it ?
I'm planning to make a 3D map editor, just like LBA architect but in 3D and with flat maps. It could generate OBJ wavefront maps in a few clicks...
How do you like that idea

[Jasiek]

Well it would be awesome However, the maps will need some optimization after being exported, cause a "tile" based system works in different ways. I have no doubt however that it will speed up everything dramatically!

I'll send them when I have them Might not be this week. Can't get them to a usable format just yet. So anyway, will your engine let me remake LBA1 in an easy to use way? And I'm not 'just' remaking it in 3D, but also adding other stuff.

[David]

yep, I'm gonna make that engine totally open and readable.
Also it will be designed to work directly with blender. As you might have noticed, all my models have python blender script to make them communicate with my engine.

[Jasiek]

Awesome! How about game scripting itself? Like AI, dialogues, event triggers etc? Btw, you'll get the outside textures when I'm done making an outdoor scene. I'll change the rocks to what I have in the remake though, cause they're too detailed.

Oh and, how about effects? Like fog, texture scrolling (useful for conveyor belts and such), simple shaders (for the sea), and a mirror effect(would really add to some interiors). Having a "metal", "wood", "rock" flag for stuff would be awesome too, it would set the reflectivity/albedo and walking sound automatically upon setting a flag like that.

[David]

I'm planning to use LUA scripting for the game
Why ?
Because it is said to be the easiest language for game programming, and also because it's easy to make it comunicate with C++.
it could be use to define dialogs, make some basic attack/defend AI for bots, trigger, doors opening/closing etc...
For pathfinding, which can be consider like AI, I'll make C++ do the work. If you're interested, check that amazing page : http://www.grinninglizard.com/MicroPather/
Flag for material/noise should come with the 3D architect
Effects like dynamic texture, reflection, particles should come when everything works.