A little more learning

Over the week I had been playing around with the lantern, adding the holes to let light out, making a pattern over that to make it more interesting looking, adding a small candle and creating a flame.  Of course I was not real pleased with the final result and was contemplating starting over since it was not close enough to the original image I had found.  Unfortunately my computer made the decision, deciding to restart without any reason, losing all unsaved work in the process.  So left with no other choice, I will probably spend the weekend redoing the lantern, though I am not sure how far back I want to go.  The way the model is currently set up, I made need to start over nearly from scratch.

Work in Progress: Well Scene Animation (Part II)

As is fairly visible from the image to the left, I got a bit of work done on the animation scene I laid out last weekend.  I know it is hard to see, but in the bottom left, just under the wall is one of the vine-like bushes I was making last week.  That was the only one saved before my computer decided it wanted to restart.  As for this weekend, I did a bit to get it closer to my final ideal.  Firstly, I worked on the wall behind the well.  This is not done, I am thinking of adding something to the middle of the square, possibly a gargoyle or something along those lines.  That is still left to do, but besides that I am pleased with how the back turned out.  Most vegetation still needs to be done: the bushes and both trees.  I am thinking of only doing about two more bushes.  Stepping stones are still missing, though those should be fairly easy, once everything else is in place.  The lanterns are discussed below, and then I need to map and paint the entire scene and finish up with animating everything like I previously described.

Another detail of this project I am working on is the lanterns on each side of the well.  They are still lacking some detail, my goal was to get the blocking out virtually finished and then work on detailing the actual piece at another point.  The image I am using as a reference has holes cut in the flared part on the bottom, not sure if I will add those.  What I do need to add are the cut out to allow light to leave the lantern.  My thinking is I will make a square cut out, add a half thickness pane of glass and then add the detail with new objects.  Once everything is finished with the lantern, it will be fun to see how the lighting looks in the scene.  Currently my only problem with the lantern is that it is too large, a simple scaling issue which can be solved once the model is ready.  Hopefully I can get some more of the lantern finished over the week, and if I am really inspired finished the vine-like bushes and stepping stones.  Though that may be pushing my luck, have a good week,
~gunnah

Another Saturday Post

Not only am I late but have little to show.  First off, why I am late.  Fairly simple, fell asleep and did not wake up for quite some time.  My job starts early and leaves me very tires, Friday night happened to be the first time I could just crash.  As for lack of progress, in a phrase: Automatic Updates.  I could swear I turned them off, but they still occur.  Well, the one night I worked on the fountain animation scene, I was getting things done and then fell asleep.  When my alarm went off in the morning, everything I had open was closed and all of my unsaved progress lost.  While not difficult the little bushes in the front of the scene are time consuming since it involves setting each point for each vine.  Hopefully I can have something cool done by the end of the weekend though,
~gunnah

Work in Progress: Well Scene Animation (Part I)

My goal is to create a small, maybe 16 to 30 second, animation.  The scene to the left is the basic wall structure blocked out, though it still has a bit of work needed.  I am planning on increasing the size of the central stone slightly, and add a detailed piece the the spot sitting just above the well.  Unfortunately I am not sure what I want there yet.  The other piece on the wall missing is a pair of lanterns, one on each side of the well.  Besides making the top of the central stone a little more ornate possibly, that would handle the stone and metal portion of the scene.  In the foreground I would like to add a few vines and possibly a stepping stone or two.  The background will be a little more complex.  Over the left side I am looking to add a dead tree, possibly with a vine or two growing up it.  On the right I am looking to add a willow tree since it is something which will really move but keep the same kind of atmosphere.

As far as animation goes, I am looking to start everything off at rest.  The wind will blow and move everything yo three-quarters maximum or so before dying down slightly to about half.  Once at half it will pick back up again and go to maximum before completely dying.  The trees should sway while the smaller plants in the foreground will only move when the wind reaches about two-third strength and then only will be a small deflection from rest.  The lanterns should flicker and dim slightly when the wind is howling but return to rest once the wind stops.  As the wind is dying I am hoping to illuminate the water in the well, slowly increasing intensity to maximum once the wind stops.  The main effect once the wind stops is for smoke to billow out of the illuminated well out onto the foreground.

I know this has nothing to do with my game but I am hoping to learn some basics of animation and rigging which really have not been present so far in my work.  While I do hope to continue on the Armored Tank Car texture, I have wanted to do something a little more high polygon for a while, another thing unavailable while making my game.  So, until Friday
~gunnah

Okay, not much done

Work is trying to change my schedule around so I have not had much time to work on this trying to get my sleeping habits or lack thereof correct.  On the plus side once next week starts I should be on a standard schedule until September when my schedule switches again, unless I find another job.  With that out of the way, I found the picture posted previously of the armored train car to be a little lacking in what it showed of the details I added.  That is why I added this new image which is still not perfect but will work nicely.  Unfortunately the model looks a little boxy, so I may try to add so beveling into the texture, though I am not sure how much that is going to help.  Also the detail on the metal pieces is hard to see from this view also.  Right now I am not sure if I want to sink more time into this texture or come back to it at a later point just to take a break from something else, though I really should start the mesh I am using for my game.  O yeah, sorry this is late, most likely last time in a while this will happen.
~gunnah

Work in Progress: Armored Train Car (Part II)

So here we are at the end of another weekend.  To the right is the first skin for the armored tank car.  I finished the UV layout and even managed to get the first of the two paint jobs I wanted to do done.  This one is not for the game but based off of the following three view drawing: German Army Heavy Armored Train Nr.51 (Plastic model) Color2.  While not an exact match, that was never my goal.  I could have tried for it, bu the number of polygons being used on smaller and smaller things was a limiting factor to keep it as a piece for the game.  Another thing I could have done was added the small detail to the texture, but I always feel that looks a little cheap.  Hopefully over the course of the week I can get the actual game skin finished.  With this project nearing completion, I am hoping to get a little more work done on the road models so at least the basic roadways are finished.  I am thinking I want to build a parking lot roadway skin also, based on the fifty foot straight piece.  I also want to build a track to put this car on, though that is not a real immediate priority.  Until the weekend,
~gunnah

I am calling it research

So this weekend is a beta event for a long awaited MMO.  I doubt I will get much done otherwise, but I may run out of things to do, though very unlikely.  I am hoping to finish the UV mapping for the armored tank car, only need to finish the turrets and that will be done.  O yeah, and sorry this is late.
~gunnah

Slow and Steady

Well, slow at least, not sure about how steady progress will be.  I am hoping by the end of the week to have the UV-map for the armored tank car finished, though who knows how life will work out.  I am down to my last handful of parts that need to be laid out, but these tend to be the more complicated pieces.  Trying not to get too far ahead of myself going then I want to get this skin done and that skin and then this object and this level, once this part of the project is finished, I would like to get back to finishing up the road pieces.  With the road pieces and car done, I will probably create a small set of tracks to put the car on, after all what good is a train without tracks?

Well, that seems like a reasonably sized post for the amount of work I can show.  So post again at the end of the week, probably late one more time.
~gunnah

One Problem after Another

While I could start with what I did for the project, that would be near nothing and nothing demonstrable, so I am going to leave that there for the moment and go into why I missed last weeks two posts.  The following is more of a rant and can safely be ignored from the prospective of the game, but it will be useful to me remembering why I missed a whole week.

Over the weekend when I made the last set of posts, I was starting to notice little red lines on my screen and did not know what it was.  As the weekend grew into early that week, the amount of lines grew and horizontal green lines started forming before my screen just went black.  So I had to order a new video card, killing whatever progress I was going to make that week, so I did not feel bad missing that Friday post.  I spent much of that Friday night into Saturday morning putting the new card in the computer.  Since I figured I had Sunday, I was not in a real hurry to get much done Saturday.  Then Sunday came and I was needed to go plant shopping and till some of the gardens.  So I had nothing done Sunday, hoping to do something for a surprise Monday night post.  Well Monday did not progress as I hoped, leaving me little to post for the whole three-day weekend.  I had a state exam in the middle of last week and since then I have been a little relaxed, enjoying not having anything looming over me for the time being.  Thus I have little to show but a mile of excuses, but when does life really work out how one plans it?

Well, hopefully this weekend and next week will be better.  O, and sorry for the late post,
~gunnah