Cerez

Thanks

You're quite welcome.

I look forward to watching your version of A New Hope and your other videos.

Basically from what I'm understanding what you want is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVBPHI4UXfE

 

Only for JKA instead of Unity (not sure if it supports other things properly yet).

Not quite, Darth. I'm not looking for a character builder. I'm looking for an easy-to-use export-import model tweaking tool. But that tool looks interesting for its own purpose, nonetheless.

Yes, it'd be a lot of work.  Remember this guy is making this all out of the goodness of his heart and free time.  Maybe if you decided to pay Rich a competitive salary to compensate him for all his hard work in making such a package, it might happen, but really...what would it be able to do that Blender (which is free) couldn't?  Just seems like a waste of time overall to me.

I repeat that this wouldn't necessarily benefit advanced modellers, as you guys can already do all the tweaks you need with your skills and setup. It would be a big help to character designers, painters and skinners, who have had no previous knowledge with professional 3D editing software.

I never said I'm not ready to finance this project. With the right incentive maybe I will… (In either case I will certainly donate to Rich for his efforts.) But more importantly I'm offering a new idea that may help to elevate Neosis to a whole new level and gather attention and support from the greater community. Especially if Neosis was made available for the Mac and Linux platforms as well.

I speak from experience when I say that ModView has been a nightmare to work with on the Mac platform. And Max, Maya, Blender, and Mod Tools are a nightmare to work for a beginner.

Thanks Rich.

Regarding display of textures, Noesis will auto-display them if it can find them on the path or in the model directory, and if they're specified in the surface's shader field. That works well for JK2 models, but JA models usually have their shader string cleared because they rely on the skin file to specify shader/texture for each surface. Noesis doesn't parse that file at the moment, but if you'd find it helpful that'd be simple enough to add.

I think that would come in handy if we're using the software to preview/convert JA models. It should be something the user can toggle (along with the shading and wireframe). If it's not too much trouble, I think it would help to add.

With a texture refresh option it would essentially replace the need for ModView, and combine its functionality with the many conversion features of Neosis.

On a related note, any plans to port Noesis to Mac/Linux?

I've generally gone out of my way to avoid adding interactive editing features to Noesis, because I feel like it'd expand the scope way beyond what I could comfortably maintain in my spare time.

With all that Noesis can render already, do you think it would be a lot of work to add just basic mesh stretching/editing options that leaves the general structure of the model intact? I'm really curious about this because it would really create a unique tool for character designers/skinners/painters.

Boothand, does Zbrush allow you to stretch and shape certain surfaces and adjust vertices with just a select and drag of the mouse?

 These changes would still mandate you to fix weights. If you move a vert even a millimeter in a direction, it's data will change.

Thanks for your input, CloudStrife. I'm trying to understand this... what sort of implications would stretching the cheek to a rounder shape have on the in-game model for example? Why does it need weight fixing?

I would expect the weight and other data to shift with the moved mesh surface. Is this not the case?

Thanks for these thoughts and suggestions, Boothand. The kind of tweaking I am talking about would be facial features, arm and legs width/size, etc. Things that help with skinning. I imagine you wouldn't need to do re-weighting with such simple tweaks, but they would help tremendously when it comes to fitting a new skin design onto an existing model.

How many times have we wished we could just change that nose to be a bit flatter or those eyelashes to be a bit shorter to fix the look of our character! With a simple shaping tool like this skinners could do their own little tweaking without the need to bother model-makers unnecessarily with minor edits. I honestly think a simple tool with a feature like this would be treasured.

What's so hard about existing modelling programs?

Only that they take a technical mind to learn.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Noesis should be turned into 3DS Max or Maya. All I'm saying is that it would really handy to have a software out there that allows almost everyone to do minor adjustments and shaping in a model without the need to spend much time learning the nuts and bolts of 3D modelling software.

Don't be an elitist, Darth Futuza. Just because a tool that makes editing easier is available doesn't make modelling less of a challenge or skill.

You have digital tools for painting that make certain aspects of painting easier. They don't make the art of painting any less of a challenge, however. The best of a trade will always stay the best. Tools cannot change that.

Here are a couple of useful camera setups. I use these for gameplay, but they can be used for filming, too:

Make sure you enable cheats first. Use the ,./ and ' keys to switch views with this setup.

Action View:

bind , "seta cg_thirdpersonrange 40 ; seta cg_thirdpersonvertoffset 0 ; seta cg_fov 97 ; seta cg_thirdpersoncameradamp 0.9 ; seta cg_thirdpersontargetdamp 0.9 ; seta cg_drawcrosshair 0 ; seta cg_thirdpersonalpha 1"

Fixed Camera:

bind / "cg_thirdpersoncameradamp 0.0 ; seta cg_thirdpersonalpha 1 ;"

First Person Lightsaber (MP only):

bind ' "seta cg_fov 97 ; seta cg_thirdpersonalpha 0 ; seta cg_thirdpersonrange 0.1 ; seta cg_thirdpersonvertoffset 0 ; seta cg_thirdpersontargetdamp 1 ; seta cg_thirdpersoncameradamp 1"

Default View (Reset):

bind . "reset cg_thirdpersonrange ; reset cg_thirdpersonvertoffset ; reset cg_fov ; reset cg_thirdpersoncameradamp ; reset cg_thirdpersontargetdamp ; reset cg_drawcrosshair ; reset cg_thirdpersonalpha"

There is also this bullet time visual effects script:

Level shot basicly removes the HUD so when you film (I use fraps) there is no stupid HUD in the way.

You could just bind cg_draw2d:

bind O "cg_draw2d !"

This will bind the HUD visuals toggling to the O key on your keyboard.

Otherwise you can "set" the value to 0 (to hide HUD) or 1 (to show HUD).

Have any of you signed up for a free student license of 3ds Max or other Autodesk software? The only requirement is that you are a student, somewhere.

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all

I think we're both looking for a tool that doesn't require advanced training to use. Just something simple that allows you to drag and sculpt portions of the model on the fly. Thanks for the tip, though.

I don't know, I marvel at this myself. I think it's a bit like drawing or painting. When you start, you have no idea what you're doing and your drawing/painting is really primitive. As you continue to try, you start to gain an understanding of the medium and start to see beyond the technical details to feeling the shaping of the work itself.

When you get to that advanced stage (after a lot of practice), it allows you to focus on details that consciously you'd never think of trying to create. At that point you're sculpting with your full creative potential and can create things you didn't think you were able to.

At least that's how I would roughly sum it up. That's what people mean when they say "living and breathing" something. You really need to dig deep into it.

In any case, the choices made are made on the fly and in the moment -- they are not really conscious choices. You need to feel it rather than trying to reason your choices, and just follow what your intuition's telling you.

Trust your intuition, and as your skills improve, so will your work.

He looks hunched because of the model design -- I'm not sure if this was intentional. But the skinning job here is amazing. Great work, Kaivyd. This place has a lot of talent, guys. I hope you're all proud of each others' efforts.

o.O Wow! DT85, you're hitting HapSlash quality here!

(Not for the sake of competition, but for the great level of quality.)

Amazing work! Keep going!

When this is finished, you guys have to make sure this is uploaded to all JK hubs online for the sake of the community.

Rich, I definitely like what I'm seeing so far. It's a well designed software, and it's certainly importing/displaying the JKA models correctly.

A couple of questions:

1. Is there any way to toggle the display of textures on the model (in the way that ModView does)?

2. Is there a model editing interface that allows one to tweak the model (i.e. select and grab certain points and portions to move, scale, and deform them)? If not, this would be a great feature to add. A simple to use editing interface for tweaking models.

This sounds very interesting, Rich. I'm going to have to have a look at this software and browse through the documentation in detail. Is the link you provided above the most current release of the software?

EDIT: Nevermind, you have it clearly informed/linked on your website. Downloading now.

And one last problem, when I use the cheat `Levelshot` the game crashes with a error saying  `z_free(): Corrupt zone tail` 

 

Any suggestions on making this would be greatly appreciated. 

For the voice actors, I recommend sourcing from: http://voiceactingalliance.com

Machinimas are not the preferred production type there, but if you can show a serious level of commitment with a detailed script and concept character images, you should get a good response.

Regarding the "levelshot" problem, if you are on Windows I know there are some third party utilities that allow you to take a screenshot in game. If you are on a Mac, you can use Command + Shift + 3.

Here is an excellent tutorial on how to film in Jedi Academy:

http://www.chopshopservers.com/education/video_editing_tutorial_by_commodore/

The Force Temple used to have a great one, too, but that's gone now…  How I miss that site...

Still doesn't do the skeleton shit for me, unfortunately.

So the export feature is still not complete?

If nothing else it would be really neat to have a tool that allows you to import JKA models, tweak them, and export them back into the game. This would allow skinners to create whole new characters based on the existing models out there.

the procedure about make a model compatilbity is...

Thanks for detailing the steps, Asgarath. It really helps to understand the full scope of the procedure.

I can take care of all the text files if you like, including the bot and npc files, as well as the shaders, sounds, and icons. That way I take a bit of workload off you.

Ok i imported into 3D max. the uvmapping is fine, i need to fix the pose legs, i already make the scaling and merging with skeleton.

the vertexes limit of 1000 seems to be okay, the head "lekku" of the Togruta race not exceeed of 1000 verts and so i not need to detach, however i will check the vertx number of every meshes for be sure.

PM me when you wnat know how proceed the works. i need a lot of days, but i can weight the model in my free time.

However, it's fine. It's possible to work on it.

That would be awesome! Thanks Asgarath! Looking forward to testing it in-game. Let me know if you get stuck, and I'll try to help (or find help).

Other than that, I totally know the feeling of wanting really badly to get something in game. And now that I know how, more or less, I also understand why only some requests are taken, in the sea of requests on this forum.

Thanks Boothand. It feels like a waste for me to sit down now and start to learn modelling from scratch only to be able to get this model in-game. It all seems way over my head now. I just want to somehow get this model working decently in-game.

I cannot made a new model of ashoka, but i pass a years to rig with 3d max all Legacy of kain models for my mod\ conversion...

i know how to rig, weight, adapt etc etc the modesl for JKA, and i can manage this character, if is only for your personal use, it's a ported model. cnanot be uploaed here.

now i am ending a little work about the effects of my mod, after i end, maybe i can help you. i need a pause by the coding\effectis work.

@.@

problem is: 1 you need to convert into 3DS, or GLM, or OBJ format the Ashoka model. because i need to import on 3d max 5.

problem numer 2: and more big: into the exporting the model can lost the Uvmapping, if tha's happened... i cannot help ypu. i cannot remake all uvmapping >.<

it's not a difficult work adapt a model for JKA, if you have the sounds, the textures and the combat files i should rig the ported model. 

Mmm, need also to set into root pose, the root pose of the other game is wrong. JKA has another root pose for the skeleton.

>.<

Hi Asgarath83, thanks for entering. I have already exported the model into an OBJ format, and to the best of my knowledge the UV maps have been retained. It seems the textures are not loading in Mod Tools, but that could be just my lack of knowledge with the software. There is already a skeleton rigged to this model, which will first need to be removed/adjusted to match to the JKA skeleton instead.

I will upload the OBJ model in a moment and attach it to this post if I can.

Do you think you can get her mouth moving in-game as well? The model does have the mouth cut properly.

EDIT: I've uploaded the entire resource archive here: http://www.gamefront.com/files/24337815/CWA_Ahsoka_Tano_Season3_Outfit_TRDaz.zip

I've included a reference model sheet as well.

But really, learning the process isn't such a massive undertaking. Look at this thread on lucasforums, from just 2012. I was quite fresh, made some ridiculous models, asked Psyk0Sith a hundred questions, but after not too long I learned how to get the characters in-game and I even got a bit better at modeling. http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=209247 (unfortunately, a lot of the pictures have disappeared)

Boothand, that's not entirely fair... You've had a big advantage over my current position: you knew how to model (and work modelling software) to begin with before trying to get things in game. I understand if you just don't have time, but I can't help but feel sad. I was somehow hopeful that with your skills you would come to the rescue.

By the way, you really did a great job on that Plo Koon model, and I don't think it was wasted time. True there is a nice Plo Koon model out there, but it is part of a different set and has an entirely different design.

What makes Ahsoka different is that there isn't a good model of her anywhere in sight, and I don't think there'll ever be in JK unless we do something about it.

I am a fan of the original Star Wars saga myself, and don't like the prequels either, but I do find the animated series interesting. With the LucasFilm/LucasArts buyout and the sudden closure of the animated series, this really is the last chance to have this character move freely in a game.

If that isn't a worthy cause for making/porting a model, I don't know what is.

* Well, if someone (and with this I mean Boothand) already ported the Plo Koon model from that same game, he could do the same for Ahsoka too: http://jkhub.org/topic/4077-plo-koon-clone-wars-model-help/

Hey, that's outstanding work! o.O The only thing missing is some shaders and sounds, but I can help there.

Do you think you'll have time for this, Boothand? If you can get the GLM model prepared, I can take care of the skin files, texture adjustments, shaders, sounds, icon, and packaging.

I'm trying, but I'm having a real tough time just understanding the terminology in those videos. They kind of assume that you know what you're doing to begin with… :/

What about this tool? Since the exported model is already rigged to a skeleton, could it get me at least halfway there?

http://jkhub.org/files/file/1945-noesis/

I really don't know how I'm going to do this. I don't want to spend a whole year on learning this… I have other skills I'm better at that I need to work on.

Still, I would love to have a nice JA model of Ahsoka...

*bangs head against the wall*

*whispers* Help??

>.<'

I'll try, thanks.

Wow, that skinning/tweaking job looks amazing! o.O High talent here.

Boothand's got a point. HapSlash's models are great for a reason. They are low poly, but they have poly where it counts and the skinning on them is outstanding. Just because a model is lower in detail does not make it necessarily worse quality. Especially if you take the stylised approach into account.

(Not that I'm one to lecture, but I thought I'd put it out there…  )

Thanks Boothand, yes, I am working through minilogoguy18's tutorial. It's the only one I could find that's closer to detailing the steps I need. Does it eventually explain how to break up / group the model into body parts and rig it to the JA skeleton? Is it the part 2, or the animation video that explains this? (Sorry, my bandwidth here is really limited...)

Edit: But I'm still doubtful whether I can accomplish this on my own. I've never worked with Softimage Mod Tools before… :/

Thanks for the support, Palpatine. And the model could (and perhaps should) be tweaked to look better in JK, as well. It would be more an adaptation than a straight-out port, I suppose. If more than 30% is changed, by law it is not considered the same work of art anymore… I think I read that somewhere.

Either way, Ahsoka is not an insignificant character in the Star Wars universe, and I believe the community deserves a good JK model for her. I know I'd love to have one.