Boothand

Cool! It still kind of looks like it's tapering in the viewmodel, a bit more than what it should though?

Not sure if the screenshots are helpful enough, but anyone has some tips or suggestions? @@AshuraDX? Again the main concern is maintaining good edge flow while reducing the density on the back of the head. I don't like these tris! I'll probably fiddle around with more fine details in the high poly sculpt soon. Also, if this was to be an interchangeable head, is there something I should take care of regarding vertex count of the neck?

Hahaha, when McFish used splash!

Hey If you're interested in seeing a discussion on JKHub about your project, check this thread: http://jkhub.org/topic/2413-jko-in-unreal-engine/

Holy mantracker, how cool! ?!

So I decided to make an attempt at a trandoshan head, for starters (based mostly on this picture). If it turns out well enough, I suppose it can be used as one of the interchangeable heads. It will have a normal map from the sculpt to make it look good in rend2! Right now I'm working on topology, and currently at 572 polygons. I've done the entire topology from scratch, vertex per vertex - so there are some things I'm not all too experienced with, but I've given it a try. Mainly I'm concerned about the transition from higher to lower densities of polygons, and would like some tips and feedback on how to properly deal with the obligatory triangles, and feedback about the general poly flow for animation purposes. I think some of the loop endings look awkward, and they're not very hard to spot here. Harp!

Not sure if your two last replies were in part directed at me, when I said I believe everyone knows what constructive criticism is. I could be wrong. Now I'll do my best to be objective and helpful, and if I fail to do that, please point it out. Please don't end the thread yet. It would be helpful if you responded more precisely to what I said/suggested and what others have contributed with here. It's on topic after all. Don't disregard all of our responses when someone else is saying the thread sucks with no reasoning included. Ok, so many of us have given reasons why we think another approach would be better. I hope you see nothing wrong with that. Now, one thing that objectively should be insulting, is to call people close-minded. I'm not sure which response made you say that, but it would be nice if you pointed it out as well, for clarity. To be clear myself: I don't think you shouldn't write about good and bad criticism, but be mindful of how you angle it and how you think others will read it. If you do have something about constructive criticism that you think most of us are missing out on, I'd be grateful to see that. If it's only about a few people, I suggest PM again - would be nice with a response to that too.

I'm not personally seeing that much un-constructive criticism on people's work, except a few recent occasions. Most quarrels seem a bit unrelated to WIP, in my eyes. I'm a bit skeptical to the angle of this approach, mostly because I believe everyone knows what constructive and un-constructive criticism is. Perhaps a misunderstanding could make it seem otherwise, but yeah, I think that's very basic schooling. What Xycaleth said about text and communication is one of the most important factors, as I see it I appreciate the good intentions though! But if this is not meant for everyone, perhaps it could be solved through PM with particular members who'd you like to speak to? I fear otherwise it's more likely to feel a bit lecturing when really it should be more about mutually agreeing to not be a jerk ^^. As for criticism itself, I think stating our opinion and giving a proper reasoning for it, gets us a long way!

Cool. Maybe you could include a wireframe overview on the next update?

I agree trandoshans could be placed there with credibility. I tried to cook up something in Zbrush now, based on the one you see in the movies. If you're interested, I could try to make a (rend2 optimized) trandoshan variation, and make a WIP thread about it? Here's so far:

I play JK2 1.02 very much, and the difference in gameplay keeps me from really playing Jedi Academy. However, most of the mapping potential is in JKA, because of things like icarus scripting and more functional entities in MP. Also JKA has a bigger modding community nowadays (and a history of impressive maps), which motivates me to mod for JKA instead. I may not achieve what I want with lightsaber combat (unless JKG makes it work like I hope (which partially drives some of my motivation (sorry for all the parentheses))), but it has the right atmosphere still. There's something about the whole setting of the game which appeals for making totally custom things, whether it be for duels, gunplay or just adventures/campaigns. I suppose there's some nostalgia involved. And it's a game I know, along with the players that inhabit it. Not who they are, but how people play/enjoy these games. Also, with rend2, I get to do a lot of the work that goes into creating content for newer engines. I've occasionally looked for other games, and sometimes I'd want to mod for things like Mount & Blade Warband. But it's not as carefree as JK modding, and there are so many things that annoy me with that game anyway..! Which leads to my next point, that I don't really get excited about many other newer or older games to the extent that I'd like to join in a modding community for it (which is a little bit ironic, since I'm starting a 3-year game technology study in a week, but also a possible explanation for wanting to make games of my own), which also leads to the next point that I'm kind of into this community and its people, which again is enough to make me want to push my non-Star Wars creations onto it (coming in.. a while.. or some years.. probably).

It has been discussed to some extent before: http://jkhub.org/topic/4094-request-models/?p=59581 My opinion: http://jkhub.org/topic/4094-request-models/?p=59599

Yeah, using Max 2013 on this computer. Okay, will have to check out what shadow rigs are! Ingame null bones = the actual skeleton? Hehe yeah, doing it this way for nostalgia mostly + it reflects the kind of questionable state of the rig. Alright. I'll get back in this topic if I need more immediate assistance. I'll see if I can set the pivot point at the feet, without causing a disaster ^^. Actually, you can see in the video that the hind legs kind of bend both ways. I suspect it's because the bone isn't so much in the middle of the leg (?). I might have to re-do some things because of it though.

Some progress: Not finished weighting completely, but getting close. On the other hand, I've already warned the public of my experience with animation, so this is what I with my very limited experience managed to piece together, in the first round of things (some of the body swaying motion disappeared now though, when putting an IK chain there.. for now). @@DT85, @@minilogoguy18, I suspect you guys know more about frames than I do. Would this be enough to make a looping walk cycle (blend the first and last frame of the loop)?

Shader: (Snatched from Forest House) In my test map:

I colorized one of my own textures to what I imagined it could look like, but not sure how you want it to look. It might also be a bit too unclean? Tile preview.

Yeah, definitely added all bones. Okay, one of the most annoying things in the world just happened. It started working for no reason. Really, I'd rather it was still broken I suspect this is something that will haunt me all my life - I get persistent problems until I ask someone for help, then it fixes itself. Seems my Max 2013 can save 2010 compatible files, so if I get stuck again, I'll gratefully throw a 2010 file in your direction ^^ Thanks.

Any chance @@Psyk0Sith knows what could be causing the mirror weight tool to not mirror correctly? The vertices are mirrored perfectly and work that way as well, however are assigned to bones on the side I'm mirroring from instead of the corresponding mirrored bone. Googled it, and have tried the suggestions, such as resetting the Xform. Bones were mirrored by Bone Tools mirroring, and then positioned at the exact negative value of its position. Pivot point of the model is centered. Any possibilities without re-doing the skeleton and starting over? (Max 2013: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58757568/ZOrray3_Rig.max)

Hmm, I think it's a bit scary to try to equalize the game's (already mastered) music to sound better. The quality of the music is one of the things that weren't lessened by the time of the release or the engine, after all. Personally, I wouldn't touch it, or at least not use any plugins (such as normalization). Without the single tracks it's also quite limited what you can change with precision, considering every instrument will be affected equally. If you'd like a more bassy sound, you could try to play around with the equalizer, but I think that's very risky, and making a change there that will be noticed might do more to clutter up the sound image rather than just strengthen the bass or the treble. I seem to remember the in-game music (at its loudest) was quite balanced. It's already as loud as it gets, in my opinion, and you'd risk clipping by pushing it. Making a fuller sound shouldn't involve turning up the volume anyway though, at this point. Anyway, it sounds as if the track you posted went unharmed through the changes, and there's indeed stronger low frequencies which can be nice. Always check every track closely for clipping though.

If you feel like using any of these textures, feel free! No need for them to stay in limbo for years until I can release maps with them myself anyway http://jkhub.org/topic/3429-some-mapping-textures-im-working-on/

Not too happy with this yet. Just wanted to see how it currently looked. So the normal maps don't work on the legs. For no reason (I've triple checked 20 times). When I assign the normal maps, just like the head and torso, they can't be found in the console. Have tried giving them different names and all, copying the exact recipe, only switching out the names, but it was not meant to work this time. JKA wins!

Yeah, I fixed it now by welding manually before mirroring (actually didn't keep the symmetry modifier when weighting, so collapsed it instead. It duplicates vertices in strange places. I didn't understand it. But for now it's okay.) I'm having some other issues though. I'm not sure how to word this correctly, but I'll give it a try: The orray has four legs obviously, and I'm using the "Paste green to blue vertices" weight mirroring method. But this means that when I'm choosing the left leg, and fixing the weights for that leg, and then mirroring it, the mirrored vertices on the other side will also be weighted to the left leg bone, instead of the right bone. All the bones are mirrored (Bone tools) before weighting. This might also just have to do with me not reading enough manuals, so in the meantime, I'll do that

Aaah thanks! Seems like a lot of the progress survived there Now I've just got to deal with a mirror seam that refuses to weld...