Hey guys, new guy here. Been watching the project for a while and thought it might be fun to contribute
So I started working on the Lanterns (I'll post a claim shortly) and have got a prototype going. I've got a model in game, but have a few quirks I'm having trouble figuring out.
I'm building the Lanterns off the skyrim torch file.
1. Collision Mesh
What is the best way to go about this. I've got a bhkConvexVertexShape going, but lantern just bounces all over the place and acts like it has little to no weight. Is there a good/better way to make it manually in 3ds?
2. Materials
In nifSkope under the BSSShaderTextureSet it shows Normals/Gloss on the same line. I'm assuming I get gloss in the Alpha channel of the Normals Map; am I right?
What about Specular Maps I don't see anywhere to use them. Do they exist?
What about animation, it might be nice to have a pulsing glow map. Any resources on how to do this?
Lastly any place to read up on how exactly tes treats the maps?
3. Location of light.
I'm not really sure how to move the light emitter to line up with the lanterns, or where to modify anything about that really.
Solved It
Here have a couple nice screens from Marmoset. Feed back is welcome and thanks for the help:
Feel Free to check out my portfolio: alexh3d.com
Nice, keep the great work up...
Nice, what are the animations like?
I think paper/glass texture needs glowing, it looks dull now for a light source. I know there are "glowmaps" for meshes, but don't know the actual technical details.
I really don't want to be a killjoy, these are looking solid but why not just see if Skywind can use SMIM's? lanterns? Saves work and those lanterns are compatible with multiple mods.
I think that what he is doing is great. The more unique item we can make the better. From what I have gathered, is that the team would like to do most of the work in-house instead of using Skyrims assets or borrowed assets. Plus it will give Skywind a very unique feel with never before seen items.
The Lantern is turning out great. It looks like an older Chinese paper lantern. But, it does need more brilliance from the paper.
LASentry wrote:
Are you referring to block and attack animations? They are a bit funky as they are the torch animations, but not particularly unbearable. To be honest I don't really think you should be able to block with the lanterns, doesn't make much sense really; haven't found a way to disabling that though. I have pretty limited animation experience, but might look into it after getting the rest of the models/textures done.
I do agree, that the paper looks a bit bland. will have to do some experiments. I did figure out how to get the glow maps on. Wish i could animate the intensity of it though to make it pulse, it would make it look pretty badass I think. I also have another idea, but more on that if it works, which will probably have video to show off.
Only one thing I have left to solve. Unequiping/swaping lanterns causes some weird glitches including fp spaghetti arms, paralysis and "light on" being relevant to what direction you face. Completely stumped on these.
Thanks for all the kind words, having a lot of fun on this. :D
Second Paper Lantern Set Progress:
Wow, looks really nice. You may could change the texture of the paper to look a little bit more rough/coarse, and the handle looks a bit too thick/big/heavy.
nice, but it needs more glow
http://crisargos.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/lantern-fest-20...
Something like that.
Holidays and what not, yada yada, I'm still here.
Just before I got busy I managed to figure out how to get TES to play nice and render opaque, transparent, and particle effects in the right order. Glass and Travel Lanterns function and render correctly, currently with placeholder textures on the glass and flame particles. Vid Demo:
http://youtu.be/U1rULnfiWMA
I'll come back and revisit all the textures after I "finish" the last two lamps. Any suggestions on the Bug Lamp, I have no idea what its supposed to be/made of? I figured I could make it a variation of sorts of the redware lamp, of do an Aladdin type lamp. Neither really replicate the original too well though, so I'm open to suggestions/pointers.
Nice work!
You can try to ask Ehamloptiran on how to add some fx to your nif meshes so they look like the true light sources.