2252 replies to this topic

[Vapor Trail]

I'm going to need a college level technical course in texturing.

Sketchup is nice for manipulating the models... but I don't use armatures (don't think there's a system for them in Sketchup, and Blender and I don't really get along, spoiled by Sketchup). I actually have to put joint alignment components in the model so each joint moves properly...

Anyway, something that I've done, that I really should learn how to texture properly... using the basic solid color materials from Sketchup for the most part. This is great for "miniature renders"... but lacks the details necessary to make them look anything like realistic.



And yes, this is the model that generated my other thread... I was thinking about the design evolution that lead to the Timberwolf... and this seemed to be the obvious prototype.

[Adridos]

Vapor Trail, on 04 March 2013 - 08:16 AM, said:

And yes, this is the model that generated my other thread... I was thinking about the design evolution that lead to the Timberwolf... and this seemed to be the obvious prototype.

Nice Timber Wolf. However, if you are realyl into making the prototype version o fthe thing, you should put Clan Wolf insignias there, instead and the overall mech wasn't built on anything resembling the Catapult chassis. Here's FD's picture of Mad Cat IV and you can clearly see the differences the chassis have. The Mad Cat was simply derived from the loadout more than anything.

[Sebastian Helvetia]

Hello all 3D guys,

i just had a fast look to this thread and i'm asking myself if you ever had the idea to export the 3D models to a format(IGES, STEP), any industrial rapid prototyping (e.g. 3d printer) machine is able to use?

You could do greate buissness with this small models...maybe together with IGP.

Greetings
Sebastian

[Vapor Trail]

Never liked the late marks... Mad Cat MKII, Mk III, and Mk IV all just look ugly to me.

I wanted to get rid of the tiny stick arms on the original Timberwolf. Like the thicker versions above more.

Sure, it's a FrankenMech as built, but the idea for the mech came from somewhere... and as close as it turned out to both the Marauder and Catapult (it did fool the IFF) the design philosopy may have started from this kind of thing.

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Sebastian Helvetia, on 04 March 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

Hello all 3D guys,

i just had a fast look to this thread and i'm asking myself if you ever had the idea to export the 3D models to a format(IGES, STEP), any industrial rapid prototyping (e.g. 3d printer) machine is able to use?

You could do greate buissness with this small models...maybe together with IGP.

Greetings
Sebastian

Doing it without IGP's (or whoever actually holds the rights to the IP and the art) permission would be a short trip to a C&D order or a lawsuit.

You CAN build your own miniatures... if you happen to have your own 3d printer. Doing it commercially (meaning you sell them) or having someone else produce them and sell them to you however... bad ju-ju.

Edited by Vapor Trail, 04 March 2013 - 10:11 AM.

[Sebastian Helvetia]

Hello
I know the ownership problem. Question is....why is pgi not selling such models? They try to get money with everything. Leasing such printers would be no problem.

Keep up the good work guys

[BLaaR]

Sebastian Helvetia, on 04 March 2013 - 10:59 PM, said:

They try to get money with everything.

Thats not very nice.

Keep in mind that it is their job, surely they must be paid to be able to make a living.

[Sparks Murphey]

Sebastian Helvetia, on 04 March 2013 - 10:59 PM, said:

Question is....why is pgi not selling such models?

Because it's a lot of work, they're a comparatively small studio, and for the moment their efforts are on making a video game, not spin-off stuff.

I'm involved in both game modelling and 3D printing (and 'Mechs) and the temptation has certainly been there in the past to get 3D prints of models. Unfortunately, models designed for rendering aren't generally set up well for 3D printing (and usually vice versa). PGI's BattleMechs are no exception to this: each triangle is a separate sub-object rather than welded together in a watertight shell; objects are sunken into one another with unexposed faces deleted; components are scaled below printable resolution; some components aren't physically attached at all; some surface details are painted on with diffuse and normal maps rather than geometry; etc.

These things work fine for a video game, and in fact are generally the optimal route for such. But converting them to a 3D printable format takes time and manpower. PGI have little of either. So, what to do? Pay 3D artists to make more 'Mechs to increase the profitability of their extant video game, or pay them to develop a different skill set to develop things for a close but separate market? At the end of the day, they make video games, and should stick to that until the project is at the minimum out of beta. The miniatures can come later.

And stealing their data that they've so kindly turned a blind eye to us using for fan stuff so that we can break into their potential future market while they're still getting off the ground? No, I don't think so.

[soulfire]

It's hard to know just what licenses PGI has also. Battletech stuff is divided up into allot of different licenses. Just because PGI has one does not mean they have others. License for things like t-shirts, 3d solid models could actually be two separate licenses that they would have to get. usually it's not worth it for them. Much easier to just make in game stuff. There are already companies out there that take game 3d files and make 3d solid models for the gamers to purchase.http://www.figureprints.com/ does them for your wow char. If you look though it's not cheap and they actually have some youtube on how they do it. For 3d printers you have to start out using cad software (or try importing into them ). In cad software your going to basically give everything in it a more real world reference like size, angle such. When your all done you run it though cam which converts all the x,y,z data to machine code which tells the printer head at what location it should put material or not. I've kind of simplified it.
Basically PGI has to decide if it's really worth the money for them. If they buy the license or have it. WIth T-shirts as an example, they cant print the shirts themselves that has to be contracted out.That means bids have to go out, t-shirt place is going to want a minimum run them more t-shirt ordered cheaper they are to PGI. Then how many of what size. will the t-shirt guy furnish the shirts or do they have to be purchased from someone else?. Will PGI set aside a room to store all the shirts and hire an employee just to take care of that or will they have a outside place do all that.After it's all said and done would it be worth it for them to make dollar or less a shirt...Easier for them to make hero mechs and such.

[Heffay]

At the end of the day, you have to give the customers what they want, assuming the resources exist to provide it. They clearly have stated numerous times that they want people to use their game assets to create user generated content (non-profit, of course), but they don't have the time and resources to develop those tools right now.

So, that's where we come in. We show people how to do this, and with tacit approval from the rights owners, we can do some pretty fun stuff!

[Sparks Murphey]

Like Jenners!

And look! He's animated too!

[Sparks Murphey]

Another Jenner, this one based off Ironhawk's Atlas Hunters scheme over at the Repainted Concept Art thread.

Ironhawk, on 05 March 2013 - 07:32 AM, said:

AH Jenner - with Classic AH colors:

Spoiler

[Heffay]

Another project I just completed. It uses the .50 cal necklace from the in-game files, so technically it falls under the auspices of this thread. But a bullet model isn't exactly complicated, so... yeah.

[Nakamura Takeshi]

I like the .50 cal animation, I really want to drop the MC and get one for my Ilya cockpit.

[JustMe SR]

Nakamura Takeshi, on 08 March 2013 - 02:27 PM, said:

I like the .50 cal animation, I really want to drop the MC and get one for my Ilya cockpit.

Here is tutorial for it.

Edited by JustMe SR, 10 March 2013 - 12:08 AM.

[Nakamura Takeshi]

JustMe SR, on 10 March 2013 - 12:08 AM, said:

Here is tutorial for it.

Thanks for the post I appreciate it , ad an editor I just want to toss in my input. Some sound effects would up the awesomeness of that. Increase the duration of the piece and have the shells drop down as if being fired from a MG and move together. So you can ad the BANGS, AMBIENT NOISES, SHELLS CLINKING (shells falling on one another) and RUBBING (shells rolling into place) together noises as they move into their final positions.

Edited by Nakamura Takeshi, 11 March 2013 - 10:34 AM.

[Agent Cooper]

Excuse me all, but if any one has ripped the Atlas out can you please give me a few shots of just the AC20? I just cant seem to find any clear shots of it.
Oh, for the plastic model Im building.
http://scott-messydesk.blogspot.ca/

[Sparks Murphey]

Agent Cooper, on 19 March 2013 - 08:52 PM, said:

Excuse me all, but if any one has ripped the Atlas out can you please give me a few shots of just the AC20? I just cant seem to find any clear shots of it.
Oh, for the plastic model Im building.
http://scott-messydesk.blogspot.ca/

Easy done! I've rendered it without texture to help give a better feel for how the contours of the mesh flow, but if you want shots with texture on, let me know.

Spoiler

And orthographic views without the rest of the Atlas attached. Be aware there's mesh here that overlaps the volume of the rest of the torso.

Hope that helps! If there's any other parts you want renders of, I'm glad to help.

(PS Loving the model so far!)

[BLaaR]

And that is why you cannot directly convert the in game meshes from MWO to paper plans, that AC20 has more detail than a whole mech from MechWarrior 4.

Amazing how gaming evolved.

[DifferentFish]

You could, however, save the meshes as .objs, import them into Solidworks and then 3d print them.

[Adridos]

Can someone give me a tip?

I'm tryig to do the Jagermech .obj in SDK, but the program is always moving the camera backwards, like when you get a stuck key in some games. It didn't do it earlier today, but from playing all sorts of games to test it out, none of them had the issue. Any ideas what could have I broken/clicked?

EDIT: OK, it fixed itself after a while.

Edited by Adridos, 20 March 2013 - 09:40 PM.