ChrisV
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Hello!
Yesterday i was trying to create a prefab from a particle emitter that animates using spritesheets. The idea is to create dozens of such cool particle fx (as a prefab) and then upload them on the workshop.
However, the prefab creation somehow messes up the animation rendering.
After creating a prefab of the particle emitter, i saved it in the same folder where the media (.mat, .tex) files are for this particle effect. I drag and drop the prefab in the scene, and in the editor, the particle effect animates/renders as expected.
However, when in game mode, i no longer see the animation (frame by frame), but i see the whole spritesheet (not animating).
If you'd like me to upload some files to test out, please say so. Thanks!
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Hello guys!
I've been working hard (depending on how much spare time i find) on some new art. Media (free for the time being
) to be uploaded on the workshop.In this screenie, you can see a few examples of particle fx, a skybox, and some terrain and other textures.
I have dozens more of such cool particle fx, and will be uploading prefabs (probably in packs) to the workshop. However, there's two problems i encountered. Firstly, it appears that particles don't show up on top of a skybox. Secondly, for some reason, the prefab creation feature in LE overwrites something (or such) and causes the particle effect to not animate as it should.
What i mean is...the particle fx are created using spritesheets, and then animated frame by frame using the uv options in the particle emitter. When i create a prefab of such a particle emitter, save it and drag the prefab in the scene, everything renders (animates) properly in the editor, but in game mode, i don't see the animation, but the whole spritesheet (scaled down, of course). Which is what is preventing me at the moment to upload these particle fx prefabs.
I told Josh about it, and he told me to mention this in the bugs section, so that's what i'll be doing next.
Besides the particle fx, i'll be also creating skyboxes (various weather types/conditions) and upload on the workshop, aswell as textures/materials and 3D models (characters and props).
Anyways, here's the screenie, hope you like what you see.
Cheers!
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That looks superb, paramecij! Very nice atmosphere!
Looking forward to more of this.
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Well, you already know that i am a 3D Coater, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, and i'll answer them as good as i can.
For modular design, here some tips:
- Use a grid system. The idea of modular models for 3D environments is to create fast environments with small tiling models and maximum flexibility. Before you start modelling, be sure that your grid for the 3D package you use is exactly the same as the grid of the engine you make the model for.
- To make the model as easy to use as possible, always align it with the grid lines. To make it exact use the “grid snap” function in your 3D package.
- Use a power of 2 for measurements. This means when you model a wall segment, don't make it 248 units wide and 240 units high. The best matching value here would be 256 units, which is 2 to the power of 8. So the perfect solution here would be to make the wall segment 256 wide and 256 high. If, when modeling for some real-life environments, your model doesn't fit into a power of 2 measurement, it's best to just add or subtract to the next power of two. For example, if the proportions of your wall segment doesn't fit into a span of 256 units, which is 2 to the power of 8, then you can add 128 units which is 2 to the power of 7. You can now fit your model to a width of 384 units. If it still doesn't fit, you can add or subtract the next smaller power of 2. You can repeat this process untill you find a power of two that fits, but just don't overdo it...
- Make sure the measurements of the models that will be used together match (if your wall segments are 256 wide, then also make your floor/ceiling segments 256 wide).
- Pivot placement: the aim here is to place the pivot in the most useful position for the level designer, so he can place the model quickly and easily in the 3D space. There are 5 steps for pivot placement that can be used with every model, and will result in a perfect pivot position:
- The first step is to place the pivot in the focal point of the model. While some models already have a good pivot, for most models, you have to refine the pivot position to get an easy-to-use model.
- The next step is checking your mesh for symmetry lines. As soon as a mesh has one or more symmetry lines, the pivot should be on this line or in the point of intersection. The intersection point of all three symmetry lines is also the focal point.
- The third step is to think about how the model will align with the environment. There are three basic types of alignment: aligned to the ground, to the ceiling and to the wall. The aim is to place the pivot where the model just touches the ground, ceiling or wall. When we move the pivot of a model to the very bottom of the model, and we place the model on the floor, it will stand exactly on the floor without clipping into the floor or floating a little bit above the floor.
- Fourth step: as soon as a model is made as a tiling segment, the pivot has to be moved to a point where it matches with the next model. The advantage of this pivot position is that, when you want to scale the mesh inside the editor, one side of the mesh is always fixed. So it is possible to place it aligning with the mesh on one side and then change the scale value until it aligns properly with the other side.
- And finally, some modular models are created as a part of a circle, and need to be rotated in the editor to make bigger curved geometry. In this case, the pivot must be in the circle center of the model. On some models this can result in a pivot that is very far away from the mesh. This is usually a bad pivot position, but in this case it is much more easy to use as a pivot that is in the focal point of the mesh.
- Use texture atlasses (less memory footprint, environment will load and run faster). It takes longer to plan, but less production time.
- Planning is very important. The longer you spend planning an environment the easier it will be to make and the more things will make sense to the player.
Hope this helps you?
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Yeah, i have to agree on this too. LE 2.5 ran much faster than current LE version. In LE 2.5, you could run a scene with a large terrain, filled with trees and vegetation, realtime shadows, a bunch of animated characters and plenty of fullscreen shaders on and still have a good framerate. Current version seems to have problems with much less than that.
I also noticed that the editor gets slower and slower the longer it runs. It seems to be getting slower on each launch of the game (F6).
If you are running in debug mode the error checks will make the program run much slower, so run the release executable (F6).I always run the game using F6, and i see no speed increase or difference, but i'm sure you'll be able to optimize LE as you did with previous version. And, by doing so, you'll make everyone happy. Thanks!
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Another great program (maybe less known), is Hexagon (which is at version 2.5) now. I think you can download it for FREE!
I mostly use 3DCoat (sculpting, uv mapping, painting, etc...), blender (for rigging, modeling, uv mapping, etc...), Truespace (also a great program, and FREE, only problem is, there's not much support), and Hexagon.
I guess each has it's preferences. Best is to try out the free 3D modeling programs available.
Here's a list (not complete) of more good 3D programs:
- Carrara 8 (not free, but affordable)
- Wings 3D (open source, free)
- AC3D (free to try, buy for commercial use)
- Cheetah 3D (low price, MAC only!)
- LightWave (not cheap, but free to try. Amazing program, though ;-))
- RealSoft 3D (affordeable, free to try, available for Linux, Mac, Windows.)
- Shade 3D (free to try, affordable, Windows and Mac)
- 3D Crafter (free to try, affordable)
There are lots more, though.
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3d coat is nice. but those tools are so big and hard to handle (tried the demo and was impressed by the workflow with a voxelengine).
I want to calculate a low poly model (from my character from fuse) that I have a character for e.g. with just 8k and 13k polygons. Is this possible with 3D coat?
I´m right that "baking textures" is when I use the high poly textures on a low poly model?
1) Yeps, 3DCoat is totally awesome! I prefer 3DCoat over ZBrush. Not that ZBrush is a bad program or so, but firstly, 3DCoat costs LESS, has an easy workflow, and has really great tools for retopology, painting, uv mapping, etc, etc...
2) Yeps, you can import models (from fuse or whatever), and save them as low poly version, and then import that low poly version as a retopo mesh, and then you'd use the high poly version of that model as a bake object, to bake the normal map (which is then used to 'project' the finer details of your high resolution model) onto the low poly mesh. Then, you can also bake ambient occlusion onto that low polymesh for even more realism. When done, you can paint diffuse, normal, spec, glow, etc...using layers that can be blended together (using a variety of image filters if you want that, like in a paint program like photoshop, such as 'burn', 'desaturate', 'darken', 'lighten', etc...).
3) Yep.
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I usually keep my models (for characters) between roughly 2500 and 8500 tris polies. I'll always keep them lower than 10 K tris.
Why spend more polies on a model if it looks good with less? A good topology with a good normal map baking should be enough to give low poly models a very high detailed look.
When i model/sculpt in 3DCoat, i'll start off with a basic shape for my models (the final 'basic' outer shape of the model), and then export it as a (fairly) low model (i go as low as i can, while still keeping the outer shape and details intact). Then, i increase the polygon count off the basic sculpt to much more (1 or 2 million polies), and sculpt in the finer details untill satisfied. Then, i re-import the low poly mesh and bake the high detailed voxel mesh onto the low poly one.
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Yeps, after a closer look, it does seem that there's a black dot visible at each corner of the texture. It doesn't seem to be the texture itself, but rather when the game is run. In the editor, i see no black dots at the corners of each terrain tile, but they do appear when you run the game.
There were also black dots (all over the texture, and not only at the corners) when using one of the LE normal map textures, and those dissapeared when i used my own normal map textures.
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Not sure if this is a bug, but the dots come from the normal map texture. I created a few of my own terrain textures (diffuse, normal and displacement), and i had no more dots at all.
The LE normal map textures for terrain seem to have transparency on them, which might cause it. My guess is that some parts are completely transparent, causing the black dots. Or, it is something else.
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Working on a bunch of new terrain textures for LE, which i'll upload for free.
I'm really impressed by the new terrain system in Leadwerks.
Currently, i created around 4 or 5 base textures, and then created a few variations on those base textures, which brings the total of textures up to around 8 or 10 (i haven't counted them yet, but it should be around that number
).I'll upload them within the next couple of days.
Here's a screenie to show some of them:
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Sorry to sound a bit negative, but i have to agree with YouGroove.
Although LE is getting better in terms of gameplay creation, features and ease of use, LE 3 runs slower than LE 2 did.
LE 2 had no problems running at a decent speed with a few hundreds of trees, terrain at max size, all fullscreen shaders on (bloom, godrays, DOF, antialiasing, trilinear and anisotropic filter, SSAO, HDR, terrain and vegetation shadows, etc...), while current version of LE sometimes goes below 30 fps (resolution at 1280*1024) with less models (no trees at all), no fullscreen shaders, etc...
Don't get me wrong here, i love LE and see a bunch of great improvements which i like, and i know plenty of enhancements will come.
So, a BIG + for speed (and also visual) improvements! If LE 3 would run at the same speed and visual awesomeness that LE 2 had, it would be sooooo sweet!
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It should work if you make all objects you want to group together, to have a parent object.
So, for example, say you have an object called 'Box1', and another called 'Box2', then simply drag 'Box2' onto 'Box1' ( in the 'Scene' tab) to make it a child of 'Box1'.
Hope that helps?
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Charming guy
He's not yet Mr. Universe, but maybe in a few decades he'll be.
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Yep, sadly enough, we game developers all come/came to a point where we think: 'Oh dear, what am i getting my self into?', or 'Geez, i will never be able to make a game!', or something along those lines.
The truth is, that game development isn't easy, especially if you only know a certain aspect of game development, be it programming, art creation, sound design, or other skills related to game design.
Some of us are into art creation, others are great at coding, there are guys that are super at concept art, level design, sound creation, you name it. There are a few that know a combination of these skills too.
I'm not an expert on coding, but i do have a fair amount of experience/skill in the artistic branche of game development. I already have made a couple of entire games (one was an Arkanoid clone, the other a space shooter), but they were small compared to some of the games created by teams of course.
For those who don't have enough expertise/skill in all branches of game design, you could either team up with someone, or learn these other skills. For some it will be hard to learn, for others it might go easier than expected to learn new things, it all depends on the person.
You could also hire someone, or buy models (or find some free ones), but usually they don't fit with your game idea, or the art doesn't match a certain style.
I'd suggest, get your game idea written down (story, artwork needed for both 2D and 3D, sound, concept, etc...), and ask around here on the forum for team members, or learn some of the missing parts that you don't have the skills yet, or do a combination (team up, and learn a few things).
Best advice, is to not give up! ;-)
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Hey guys,
Been working on another 3D character model in 3DCoat. Some kinda monster/mutant/demon. I call him 'Gurglar'. The name just came up when i looked at his rippled chin, and also because it sounded rather wicked.
The model is finished (sculpted, uv mapped, textured), and later will follow rigging and weightpainting in blender. When finished, i'll upload this model for free.
I'm having some problems with the normal mapping export/import (3DCoat to LE). It's a bit strange, because i didn't experience this when importing models from 3DCoat in other applications.
I'm looking into this, and hopefully find a solution or work around.
Anyways, here's the finished model (not yet rigged) in 3DCoat.
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It would only matter if the invisible material needs a drawcall. The less drawcalls, the better.
Does the invisible material require a drawcall, or not? I think Josh could shed some light on the matter.
If it needs a drawcall for the invisible material, then maybe a better solution could be made?
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Also, the poser license states that it is forbidden to use the 3d models in games. You are allowed to render the 3d poser models and use the 2d rendered images for games, i think. At least, that's how it was a couple of years back when i purchased Poser Pro 8.
So, best check the license before you decide to use the poser models in a game or not.
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Right click on an object in the scene tab and click to the "Go To" option or press CTRL + F.
Yes, i know about that option. Forgot to mention that.
Still, it would be nice to have a doubleclick option on the item in the list. And, also work vice versa...doubleclicking on any item in the perspective window and have it focused upon in the Scene list.
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Hello,
Here are some suggestions to improve the workflow when working in the level editor.
- An option to select multiple files in the thumbnail window at the bottom of the assets panel and the ability to edit these multiple files at the same time (delete, rename, etc...).
Currently, it's only possible to select only one thumbnail at once (as far as i can tell
), which is no problem if you only have a couple of items that you want to edit, but if you have like 10 or more files that you want to delete (or whatever), it'll take quite some time. Also, a shortkey to do these actions (delete, copy/paste) would be very handy and time saving. - In the 'Scene' tab, a feature to double click on an item in the list, and make the cam (in perspective mode) focus on that particular item. This would be very handy to quickly find back any particular object/item in your scene. Maybe the same principle could also be done when double clicking on any object in the perspective window, thus highlighting the double-clicked item in the 'Scene' panel.
I also noticed that the colour of the highlighted item in the 'Scene' panel, is almost the same as the white background. A more noticeable colour would fix that.
- When in 'face select' mode, i noticed that the related buttons/options for that mode are in the 'Objects' panel. No problem with that, but it would be great to have the panels switch automatically whenever you select either the 'Select Face' mode, or the 'Select Object' mode.
- Selecting an object (which has a material applied) doesn't always show the material name used for that object. It would be great to always see the material name (in the 'Appearance' tab) for all objects (csg or custom models).
That's about it for now. Thanks!
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Thank you, mate! I hope they're usefull.
Let me know what other 'themes' could be of use, and i'll have a go at creating them.
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Thanks a bunch, guys!
Well, i've just uploaded the free texture/materials pack. You can find it here:
http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/files/file/469-wallandfloorzip/
The theme of this pack is 'Wall and Floor'. 10 high detailed materials (each with it's own diffuse, normal and specular texture!) for (worn and used) floors and walls, suited for FPS games (such as Half Life, Doom, Unreal, etc...), horror games, space/tech or games that need realistically looking wall/floor textures.
I've spent quite some time on creating them, so i hope to see some great games made with them.
Also, comments or suggestions are much appreciated.
You can use them for commercial or personal use, as long as you don't sell them, or claim them to be yours or made by someone else than me.
Here's a screenie of some of the textures:
Cheers!
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Ah yes, very true, SarperSoher!
I'm gettin used to the LE 3.1 commands. Thanks for pointing that out.
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The above script, i had it attached to a camera. The draw commands need a camera to work (either created in the code, or by attaching the script to a camera). The fpsweapon.lua script doesn't have a camera (in the code), so it won't work. It should work in the FPSPlayer.lua script, since there is a camera created in the script.
) to be uploaded on the workshop.
What are you working on :
in Showcase
Posted
Thanks, Haydenmango!
Agreed, some of the effects i got can be very usefull for a wide range of game types...space games, arcade, action, horror, fantasy, adventure...basically any game that uses particle fx.
I have plenty of such effects...fire, explosions (with and without debris), magic, torches/flames, dust, a variety of impact fx, etc...all animated.
Good news, btw! Our shaderwizard Shadmar fixed the issue where the particles were not drawn on top of a skybox. Great work, shad!!
As soon as the prefab creation 'bug' is solved, i'll be uploading looots of these cool fx!