Continuing with Torque 3D

I have managed to get through a bit more of the tutorial for the Torque 3D engine, though not really much to show as it is mostly their objects with which I am working.  So far I have done object placement, triggers and characters.  The next section is weapons, which for my project may not be the most useful of tutorials, but hopefully I can learn a bit from it to make a few customizations to tanks based on what modules they choose.  I do not want to get beyond myself depending on what the next week brings, but I feel confident I should be able to get through at least that tutorial.

I have also watched a few tutorials and re watched a few with special attention to the compositing aspects.  With any luck I will get back to that scene in the coming week and try to finish it off.  Again, I do not want to get too far ahead of myself, so I am going to leave this topic here.

With any luck overtime will be a little more sparse so I can play a little more with my side projects.  Starting probably next week, I am going to be reviewing for my next exam.  This will likely eat a bit of time from what I can do on these projects until I take that exam in early January.  Until next time,
~gunnah

More work with Torque 3D

Most of the time I had to work on this project went into learning the new engine.  It was a real short week to start with so I still have quite a bit left of the tutorial to finish in their series.  So far I have covered basic syntax, which is fairly standard object oriented notation, and how that syntax can be hooked into the world editor.  So far it does not seem very difficult, however, I have only created the most basic of triggers so far.  While there are still several questions about various aspects of the engine which I am thinking will be answered as I go through the tutorials, I seem happy with this engine.  Of course a week ago I was happy with UDK, so the final decision may still be in the future.

There was mot much to show so far since most of the tutorials use either features built into Torque or are just writing to the command line.  My guess is that I may not really be showing any progress off until I finish all of the tutorials ad start a game on my own.  I may be wrong and by the end may start adding my own elements into the tutorials to keep them interesting, but even then 95% of what you would be seeing was someone else's work.  Hopefully more to come in the next post about my progress and hopefully something a little more tangible.  Until next time,

~gunnah

Rough Week

During the previous week I got nothing done just like I was guessing I would.  My day was pretty much get home, go to sleep, get ready for work, leave, and then work all day.  Saturday I had a test in the morning, so any free time I had during the previous week was cramming just that little extra bit.

Now onto what I actually did relating to the project: Not much.  I know my scene is almost finished and I probably should have just worked on that, but I kind of wanted a bit of a break.  Also, I am now up in the air about what kind of floodlight I am adding to the scene as I got a different idea for what I think it should look like.  Once the lights are in the actual modeling and texturing end should be finished, save for any details which I do not like after looking at the scene as a whole - like the post texturing.  Then it is just a matter of post-processing to give it the right feel and I should finally have something done, albeit not actually part of the project proper.

Now, enough about what I did not do.  I have begun looking again at engines.  Do not get me wrong, so far UDK is looking the most likely, but I want to get a feel for some other environments before settling on any one engine.  I was actually hoping to have a review of the engine ready for this post, but it is taking me a while to get it set up.  Right now I am looking at the Torque 3D engine, which is nice because it is an open source engine.  It looks similar to UDK, but does not have the fee UDK does which is a plus for someone who is completely broke.

Working a bit of overtime this week and then there is the holiday at the end of the week, so I may or may not post on Friday.  Until next time,
~gunnah

Abandoned Building Scene (Part V)

Well, debris is done, at least to my current satisfaction.  I beveled some of the edges, though it does not look like much - it meant I redid most of the texturing though.  I have decided that because it is suppose to look overcast, you should not get really strong shadows from the sun, so the item in the foreground would be unnecessary.  It also means I need to fx my current lighting.  Flood lights are still not done and the posts have not been re textured.

In other news, I have a lot of overtime this week, so I may or may not post on Friday depending on what life conspires.  So, until next time
~gunnah

Abandoned Building Scene (Part IV)

Okay, time to start with what was finished.  I fixed the barbed wire, for some reason only half of it was showing, and then added some posts to hold the barbed wire in place.  Some palettes were created and scattered around as well as a few wood posts.  Some progress was made on the floodlight, but it still needs a lot of work before it is done and added to the render.The only other models inside the compound would be whatever debris I can think to add.  I have been giving it serious thought since the wrong debris could ruin all the work I have put into this scene.The only other problem I notices was a yellow stripe going through my posts, which I am going to need to fix in the texturing.I added power lines in the background, to break up the sky a little, though he gray towers almost seem to melt into the gray sky.  This leaves the object in the foreground, which I have not decided what it will be.

Well, that is all for now.  Hopefully this will be coming to a close soon because I really like how it is coming out and can only imagine what a bit after-render effects will do.  Until next time,
~gunnah

Abandoned Building Scene (Part III)

While I probably should have finished the modeling end of this over the previous weekend, I hit a few set backs.  Even though I know I should save more often, normally it does not really matter.  For this project, it has bit me twice, but each time I think I get a better result.  When I initially lost power due ti the hurricane, I lost the very basic texturing job I did no the building.  Yesterday, while trying to add a sky background, it crashed again, again loosing the texturing I did no the building - yes, I saved the image of the texturing but forgot to save the model itself.  This time, I think it came out much more interesting, being more patches of scattered moss than a bad drip pattern.  Also, I did each area of the building with a different material, just to get it to look a little nicer and decrease any more blatant repetition.

Now for what is new besides the re-texturing of the building.  Stairs are slightly reformed, giving a slightly more interesting look than before, and are textured which made the last render look bad.  The sky has been added to this shot, and I think it sets the scene off better, just comparing the brightness of the flooring.  I have scattered a few little extras around in the shape of metal drums, though I have not gotten to making the palettes yet.  I made some barbed wire for the wall, but I think an post or something on the corners is needed to anchor it a little better, it may also need a few posts to give it just a little more realism.  I have started working on the lights - a combination of floodlights and siren - though they are not in a shape which I feel is presentable.  Then the only modeling left is the debris, which I am really giving a decent bit of thought trying to think of plausible bits to be scattered around to really make the scene.  Then the only objects left to model are either casting shadows in the foreground behind the camera or in the distance breaking up the horizon.

While that probably seems like a lot, the overall number of objects is fairly small and now more for detail - except the lights which will add lighting also - which means the modeling and texturing portion of this is actually at a foreseeable end, though not here quite yet.  Again, once the modeling and texturing is done, the final lighting is set up to get all of the shadows and detail out of the scene and then it is on to the rendering.  The final render will have a bit of post-processing involved since I want the distant wall to be almost behind a little mist.  Besides that, I will probably only do a small bit of light enhancing.  I have not done anything with the end of 3D modeling - I have been more focused on the modeling.texturing since those are the important ends to game design - and my projects usually never get that far anyway.

Well that is probably enough to poor anyone, so I will leave whatever else somes into my head for next time,
~gunnah.

Abandoned Building Scene (Part II)

Despite mother nature's best effort to stop me from working on this, I did manage to get a little done.  Granted, I still need to texture the stairs which are a white sore in the middle of a decent job, I think, so far.  I am going to stretch the overgrowth a little so it is not as noticeable, though that is a quick trick.  Bedsides that, I feel fairly happy with what I have to present, so I will move forward.  The next part will be scattered debris, a few palettes, and a fifty-five gallon drum or two.  Then comes with ivy which I want overgrowing the back wall and right wall, as well as maybe one running down the railing.  But that is still pretty far off, so I do not want to get ahead of myself.  Beyond that I want to make a background object or two, perhaps an object behind the camera to cast a shadow and then set an overcast sky.  To wrap up the image, I would like to add a few lights around the scene, just to touch off some of the more intricate work.  And then it is just a matter of post-production to add that little extra to the scene, of course this is way off in the future.

Besides the obvious texturing changes from last time, there were a few scene changes.  I was talking about changing the width of the yard, I think I am going to leave it since I accomplished something similar by changing the cameras height and rotation.  The doors are also a new addition.  Finally, I added a temporary light so that the detail being added to the scene was noticeable   This will be removed once I add the other lights around the scene - perhaps earlier to just get a feel where the others lights will be needed.

For those interested, I think I mentioned I was bracing for the hurricane in the previous post.  Since I am making this post, it is obvious nothing serious happened.  Lost power for a dat and a half, internet for three days and television for four.  Everything now seems to be in working order and hopefully with the little downtime I have I can rush through some of those to-dos I still have with this scene.  Until next time,
~gunnah