Help with texturing for Hyperion model

Wish I could help, but i'm not good at that kind of stuff, but with some higher res textures, it will look great. Just wanted to drop in some support for what you've done so far. Hope someone in the community will be able to help.

Thanks, they do have textures (1024x1024) and I even managed to combine them reasonably well but I'm simply not good at drawing 2D. Modeling okayish is childsplay compared to okayish textures.



KK

It is actually not about the resolution of the map. From my expereince 99% of the time you will not see the difference between 1024x1024 and 512x512 in GalCiv2 - the only place it can be noticed is the Ship Editor when fully zoomed in....

However...

I would like to help out a little bit, but i seem to have trouble with your files... i can't open the .Max (i believe your 3DSMax is newer than my, since i am stil using 5), and when importing the .3DS they seem to have just Default UVW maps without any UVW Unwrap done...

As it is i have no way to know what part of the taxture will be applied to what part of the mesh...

I did say I didn't know much about all that stuff..lol
Perhaps I should have said more true to the show textures?
Either way, I still look forward to seeing a release, so glad you can give KNKG some help

Ah, perhaps I should mention I'm using max 9 . As for the 3ds-meshes, yeah I made them in lightwave since I'm better at modeling in that program but don't have a x-exporter for it . I didn't bother with textures in LW sine I did all the texturing in max and used max's 'unwrap UVW' for all of them which made it easier for me to make the textures the ship-parts has right now.

EDIT: I've now exported my versions to new 3ds-files that hopefully has the textures in them. WWW Link


KK

ok, this is something i can work with. i will look what can be done on textures.

Thanks!

If you get the time I'd love some pointers so I can start making the texturing myself later.



KK

If nothing unforseen happens in my scedual, i will finish the ship and send You the files by tomorrow evening. I had however to make changes to Your UVW Mapping, so You will have to redo the Hardpoint Dummies and export the ship to tha game again - if You like the result.

As for a quick pointer... I believe Your problem is more about the unwrap, than actual painting. In general i believe that - at least with low-polygon models - the UVW unwrap is the key to a good look.

Yours was too cluttered - too many small pieces, from surfaces which actually should have stayed together. (I was also wondering if You was using some kind of script to make the unwrap ?)

You should try too keep as many faces connected as possible without distorting them. Ideally - but not necessary - also keeping them roughly the same scale related to each other, as they are in the model. And - at least with large parts - also in the same orientation (Especially when planing to use normal map on the model).

You also can save you some work, when placing similar or symetric parts over eachother - then you just need to paint them once.

When You manage this, painting the stuff is not a big problem - if You know how to produce simple geometry in photoshop or what ever software You like, You will be able to achieve good results.

To illustrate what i mean...

Thanks for the help!

I guess they are scripts, I'm using the tool in 3ds max 9 that allows for either Flatten mapping, Normal mapping and Unfold mapping (with various options). I'm also following this beginner's guide: )http://waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html Is a bit old but works for me since I'm a complete beginner when it comes to UVW mapping (generally stayed away from texturing on most of my old modeling work (which never finished   )


KK

This is what i did. There is room for improvment and/or more detail on the texture, but this i will leave to You, if You want



Dont worry about the red - it uses Civ colors now.

You can get the texture, and the updated mesh (Unwrap, Smoothing Groups and a minor change to the cargo module - it just did not import properly in my 3DSMax...) here WWW Link. A also included the .PSD in case You want to take a look, or to change something. I also included some notes on what has been done, if You are interested.

NOTE: this download is not a Mod and does not contain material that can be dierctly used in the game. The Model you see in the Screencap does not have any hardpoints. In fact it is quite useless for anyone other than KnKg

That may not be usable yet, but it looks really good.. can't wait for a release.

That looks awsome! I'm just going to make some small adjustments (smaller windows)

Thanks so much!

EDIT: I'm sorry to say that it probably won't be released soon, I'm currently working on bringing in some of my favourites from the game Homeworld (found ripping tools so my models are using the originals as a base!) But I will when I'm finished with them.

EDIT2: The notes are great help, stuff in there I never even thought of!


KK

Sorry to hear that there won't be a quick release, but the more time you take to perfect what you've got the happier we will be ( though we'd be happy to have a release anyway ).

Now the idea of Homeworld ships being ported in, that is deffintaly something to get excited about, and I hope to see some pictures of your progress.

Ok,

So after redoing the model (to train on textures) I decided to upload it (test out the mod upload feature here at the library).

Here's some example pictures of the result:





I'll update this post when the mod's been approved.

Once again THANKS to Refar07 for help with how to texture stuff



KK

Can't wait to see this for download, great work, looks great.

Ok, so the ship-parts got approved! Here's a link to them: WWW Link


KK

knkg

A new type of jewel not yet seen in the GalCiv Universe: A WW2 type Gun Battery

I have discussed this with General Pants and since you're good at this type of stuff I was wondering if you had any plans to design some sort of turret or turrets for GalCiv2. I think it would be cool to be able to put them on some sort of space gun ship. I thought that the smaller anti-aircraft turrets seen on WW2 battleships would be cool. I know there is a lot of talk about rotating parts but until that happens non-moveable turrets would still be neat.

(General Pants): The original Star Destroyer model used in Star Wars (IV) had the light AA turrets from the Bismark or Tirpitz, and they looked great. Pretty much all German turrets looked cool, actually. The Japanese had a really nice triple-Hotchkiss 25 mm AA mount that was very cool looking, and some of their dual 8 inch cruiser turrets were really nice. The standard US 40 mm Bofors quad mount is very aggressive-looking, and the 3-inch open turrets were also kind of cool. The British quad- and octuple 2-pounder (40mm) guns were kind of silly-looking, but they could be the basis of some cool turrets. http://www.navweaps.com is a good site for these and others, in case you should find someone who can do the models.

You might be able to use the current ground-forces units for GalCiv2, APC & tank, to create these turrets. The APC may just need a little taken off the bottom of them to make them look a little more proportional for ship use.

Thanks for your time.
Slu Foot