Here are some screenshots (sorted by date) of the development:
7.16.06 - click for larger image
7.18.06 - click for larger image
7.19.06 - click for larger image
7.21.06 - click for larger image
I have a few issues I need to resolve too.
Why do the lasers not reflect in the windows?
My walk cycle won’t play (NLA Strips) when I select “Stride Path” in the Transform Properties of the NLA Window Editor. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong with that.
Still need to texture… not a real issue, I just haven’t made it that far yet…
STUFF I NEED TO FIGURE OUT (if anyone wants to help or suggest):
a) Need to make the mech walk backwards.
b) Need to make some glass shatter.
c) Need to make explosions - I don’t know how to use the particle system yet.
d) Need to make things blow up/crumble/blow apart/break…you get the idea.
Yeah, sounds like a lot of work for something not that noticeable… unless I start showing static shots of the Mech in front of the glass… but I haven’t made it that far yet. This is only week 3 of “learning Blender” for me.
I always wanted to create such a scene, but I never found the time.
So here are some more things you could do to really improve it:
find some decent free sky-maps and add a really dramatic sky to the scene (as a world texture if you want to animate camera-movement)
add some procedural cloud textures to almost all materials in your scene to make them appear more dirty (that’s just a start, you can go very far to make things look more realistic with dirt and rust)
work on you light-setup by considering where you’d like the higlights to appear on you model and setting the angles of lamps accordingly (once again you may spend a lot of time to get this right, lighting is all-important!)
use the sequencer to add postprocessing to your renderings: depth of field, motion-blur and glow will really spice up the look of your animation at almost no cost in increased rendering-time.
All these things don’t take too long to implement and they’ll make an enormous difference in visual quality.
Wow, Konrad, thanks. Those are some really good tips. I will start working on those things. Very cool.
I’m think I’m going to start texturing the mech before I build some more models to add to the scene. Helicopters, tanks, fighter and bomber jets and (of course) more Mechs. It really is going to be an all out war!
I’ll post more work as I get it done. These comments are very encouraging and I appreciate all of them.
I’ll post questions to when I start to get into the things I can’t do. Thanks agian.
It’s unlikely that a camera would photograph the scene with any apparent DOF(Depth of Field) as the lens is to wide and the ambient light in the scene to bright, causing the aperture to close thereby increasing the DOF (making the shot sharper). Fake DOF looks like fake DOF when you don’t know the rules, the viewer may not know the rules either but will still think it looks fake.
Good luck though looks excellent for such a short turnaround!
I’ll do better than that… just let me know what kind of mech you want and I’ll build you one specifically for the game.
I’m afraid this one has WAY TOO MANY polygons to be used in a game… I had no regard for the poly count because my system is pretty good and it was intended for animating and not for “in-game” use.
Anyway, let me know what kind you want and I will build you one complete with the skeleton and a walk-cycle. No textures though… sorry.
My e-mail is public here (I think) and it is on my web site too: www.artwurk.net. Just e-mail me with the details - [email protected]
It would be no problem.
Thanks everyone for the comments and the critique. It is all very helpful.
okay i need one rigged but i cant get a good walking cycle and turning and stuff. here is current one. if you do manage to do it could you pm it.
and ill be happy to accept mechs you put in it mechs you make but if want to add weapons i need ipos for them or actions. if you want just tell me how want it textured and i will do my best. http://www.wikiupload.com/file_store/upload_1/113659599044c5496d7d5c0.zip
I don’t remember if they still have it in 2.42, but try using the Unified Renderer. If you can’t find it, get 2.41 and it’s under the presets for the image resolution in the render buttons. It will render slower, but I think it will alow raytracing to see the halos.
Faked DoF looks fake to me because REALL DoF doesn’t blur the same way fake DoF does. I can tell the difference even if the fake DoF follows the same rules.
For instance, a hard and small specular highlight will not be blured out in reall DoF, it will become larger and just as hard, and it will become the sape of the lens. Fake DoF will blur it out.
It will take a while to render, but if you’re going to use DoF, use Yafray and turn up the samples to 25 x 25 in the Yafray settings tab.
And, it will always follow the rules for reall life DoF if you use yafray’s internal DoF instead of nodes.
Ahhh your right Tynack, isn’t the apeture shape called Bokeh? You aften see this in TV shows where they shoot a close up of the actor at night with city lights in the background. The lights loose no intensity yet turn into interesting shapes. Wasn’t Purple suggesting a fake DOF with good bokeh for Blender? I wish that would get up it looked cool on his thread!
here is an image of that Mech I’m making for your game. I’ll post the .blend file here as soon as I get the rigging and walk cycle done. I’m going to build the skeleton next and then animate the walk cycle so it won’t be too much longer (maybe another week?).
You should make tutorials for yor mechs and buildings, you make nice models and i’m sure many blenderers would like to make mechs, and the building are pretty cool (i’m sure easy, but…). i just think that’d be cool…
You, unlike me, are a natural at modelling. My only complaint is your helicopter. Over subsurfed, not smoothed, no windows… Basically a brown blob (not that I could do any better… I would end up with a brown square ) I really hope you post the game as soon as you’re done, it sounds like it’s going to be great. If your animation is as good as your modelling, this game will be perfect.
I think the onlyproblem I have is the coloring on the mech(s), they’re too hodge-podge, there isn’t a color scheme, it sorta looks like a kid was put to a coloring book, y’know? (the first few look good, but the second ones aren’t so hot…)
) I really hope you post the game as soon as you’re done, it sounds like it’s going to be great. If your animation is as good as your modelling, this game will be perfect.
.PDF!!! lol…