New Graphics - Blender ".blend" thread (Works In Progress)

[Red*Star]

@GeekToo: Wow, /that's/ now really nice grass!

Original sprites had their own repeated patterns.

They did, but the repeated patterns were vastly overwhelmed by the tile grid. If possible, I'd like to see either no noticeable patterns, or patterns that follow the gridlines.

I had recently the same problem (in the mapviewer I was programming for a game which had grass sprites as ground), and the solution which worked perfectly was to introduce 4 (different) grass tiles and to chose them - no: not randomly , but: - "almost-randomly" in the view. That would be even possible in OTTD without any changes to the savegame: The graphic engine could choose the tile to use at a position (x, y) by the formula (IIRC):

Code: Select all

index = (x + y) % spritecount

(with spritecount = 4, x and y as tile coordinates and index as the grass sprite
index (of the 4 available ones) to choose, % is the modulo operation)

That would need not much extra work, just some additional programming by the devs . (Btw, we /already/ have the 4 different tiles for 32bpp - because we could render the grass from 4 different directions!)

To reduce patterns even more, spritecount could be increased (and/or the formula could be adapted). That would need additional rendering, but I think it's not /that/ much work.

Rubidium: Why would it not be possible to gave a grf for 8bpp which is the equivalent for the 32bpp graphics. This would then allow people to play a network game, some with 8bpp some with 32bpp full zoom graphics.

Probably because the engine /currently/ doesn't support the handling of long vehicles (vehicles in a consist, of course). That's what I read in the forum recently.

[Born Acorn]

32bpp graphics are *only* replacements for 8bpp graphics. They do not change the game state in any way, nor will they.

Second thing: any train/road vehicle longer than a half a tile is going to get glitchy virtually everywhere in the game.

That's pretty bad.
Means game will continue to have same glitches with original.
I thought the aim was to get new 8bpp and 32bpp graphics and not the current unscaled, even in for same object in diffferent views, graphics...

So for me, regarding bigger tilesets, there is no other way than extreme downscaling...

This has been iterated several times before, most notably in this blog post.

[Zephyris]

So I had a go at modelling, what do you think?

Is there any interest in updating the standard materials .blend to add more standard textures? I was finding it very hard to get a consistent apperance with other 32bpp graphics simply through specular lighting, let alone texture scaling, bump mapping, contrast etc... I would imagine a few (3?) standard brick, concrete, roof tile, corrugated metal, grass, and asphalt cold help speed up and standardise graphics apperance...

[Tom0004]

@ Zephyris, that is awesome, but you have missed on key feature, lol the front door.

[athanasios]

It may be the back view! RedStar I like your suggestion. As I have previously posted we need extra sprites to break those repeated patterns.

[Born Acorn]

@Jupix: Oh, I didn't realized that... I just took a look at the wiki.

The Wiki is horribly out of date for graphics, several pieces of claimed work haven't ever been finished and the artist(s) have gone missing, while things that display unclaimed have been fully completed and even have blend files on this forum.

This forum is the place to look for finished graphics and even blend files. In the case of the tropical bank, there's been a completely new thread on it here for over a month.

[Gramble]

Hi!
I am a fan of Transport Tycoon and I like the idea of 3D graphics much. But I think the work on new 3D graphics slowed down in the last few month. So I decided to help on this project.

As this project started a long time ago and my English is horrible I find it difficult to help. First of all the Wiki is out of date like Born Acorn already said. My problem is, that I have no idea what I could model in blender. Of course, I read the whole thread, but I doesn't remember everything and I have no clue if these building have been finished already or which buildings are in progress.
Now I read that a few objects does not consistent to the guidelines. Thus I ask myself if there are some points in the Wiki that have changed.

I hope you understand what I mean.

I'm quite new to this project (which means, that I often read what's going on here, but never participated), but I think there should be one file, thread, internet page or something like this where you can find all the information you need to work on the 3D graphics. And this thread is much too long and in my opinion it would be useful to split it into a discussion thread and a thread where the graphics are postet and discussed.

Don't get me wrong, I does not want to change everything (I still have more suggestions ) because it is not how I would do it. I just want to make a few suggestions that came into my mind when I tried to help here.

At the end I have to say, that you've already made good work and that I'm totaly impressed by the graphics which I've already seen.


Thomas

[LordAzamath]

That's very. very true that wiki is outdated.
I think it's up to artists to put their work up there.
ie. I have been doing a tropical bank for a long time now and there is a thread about it. A week ago or something like that a member RedSt*r started also doing a tropical bank.

Of the other question I think that most of the mines aren't being done at the moment.. So if you know blender and want to help You may just start modeling i.e coal mine and put the outcome somewhere here. I don't know if you should make another thread about it or put them here. (IF you choose to start modeling).

You said you read the whole topic - that's something I cannot say about myself I think it should be okay if every artist makes a new topic of him (her) own and post ALL of his (hers) work there. So the forum will not be overcrowded with different topics, but also everything isn't put in only one topic with pages over 158 etc. That's really hard to find any work here...
(That was a question for a larger ring, I think)

Welcome to the forums, Gramble

[Red*Star]

That's very. very true that wiki is outdated.
I think it's up to artists to put their work up there.

Hehe, my bank is up there. And I was first. This means yours will get overridden by mine. (SCNR, jk )

No, but I think a wiki is simply not the right place to put the graphical work for this game at (at least it should not be the "central" place for the 3D Meshes) - we need something that is easy to use, even for a lazy guy like me who don't want to learn the wiki tags, and that doesn't have a hell of a UI. Something like "1 click - writing description - upload example rendering - upload blend/max/xyz file - ready". (The corresponding wiki page could then be generated by an automatisation script, if that would be wanted.)

Some member of the forum is already working on such a system, but I have forgotten who it was.

[LordAzamath]

you mean something like Joomla of other CMS things?

EDIT: To bring things back to on-topic, I modeled tropic flats. There are still some things todo, but I will show you the current progress here now.

flats.png (39.34 KiB) Viewed 4841 times

ToDo
- Those sides are bigger than 1x1 tile. going to fix that.
- Rooftop
- Door
- More some things

[Gramble]

Hi!

After I read through about 100 pages I know most things I have to look for when I want to design some building for this project.


@lordazamath: Yes, the mines are missing. I think there is one good reason why most mines are missing. It's because they are very difficult I think. But I think I will try to modeling a coal mine in two weeks when I have got enough time.

Yesterday I was very motivated and wanted to start. I have choosen the Shops and Offices which are are still waiting to be modelled if the Wiki is right. To give you a first impression of my work I've rendered for you. The complete roof is missing and there are no windows in the basement, because I made it very quick so that you can maybe rate it or give a few hints what I have to change to make my models suitable for the game.

I used the pavement and the glass material from the official material blend file and the texture for the wall is from the Wiki.


Edit: Somewhere I read how many "blender units" (=1m) one floor have to be high (sry for my bad english), but I forgot it and have no clue where I have found this information.

[LordAzamath]

I think that your work is pretty. pretty good. very good. Actually, are you going to add some interior at ground floor, behind the "glasses". Maybe some lamps inside. You can't rely only on official lightning, when you have to have some buildings lighted inside too. (After all, it's a shop downstairs. '
Anyway good job.

I improved that block of flats a little. Tell me what do you all think?

flats.png (39.99 KiB) Viewed 4749 times

EDIT: oops. I rendered without most of layers selected. Now the lightning should be okay

[GeekToo]

Some member of the forum is already working on such a system, but I have forgotten who it was.

It was Mexicoshanty, but he has not been around for a while
http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27416
Also the Organizing 32 bpp sprites thread mentions something about it.

Gramble, welcome to the forums, nice start We sure can use some blender artists

About the scale, there has been some discussion in this thread about it, and that is not fixed yet, as far as I know. I think the safest way to go for buildings is to use a measure that renders one floor in 5-7 pixels, for a 64 px wide tile. That is the app. the measure of the original game.

Lordazamath

Very nice and promising again, as we're used from you. But I see something odd in the picture, I think it is the lighting. Is this rendered with the standard light setup?

[LordAzamath]

I made a construction site too. No pic of founding the basement though yet.
There are some error pixels on sides, but I will deal with it later

[Gramble]

Nice job lordazamath. First I though that something is wrong and that your building does not fit into TT, but as you already found out, the lightning was the strange thing in your picture.
With the correct lightning it looks very good.
Is it important to use the official glass material? I think lordazamath did not used it, but I think, that the material does not look so good in most cases. For some buildings the official glass material is quite good, but in combination with some colors it would be nicer to use a different material for the glass.
I like very much that you made a construction version. I think for most buildings these 3 construction graphics are missing. Is that right?

[LordAzamath]

Nice job lordazamath.
Is it important to use the official glass material? I think lordazamath did not used it, but I think, that the material does not look so good in most cases. For some buildings the official glass material is quite good, but in combination with some colors it would be nicer to use a different material for the glass.
I like very much that you made a construction version. I think for most buildings these 3 construction graphics are missing. Is that right?

When I was modeling the Tropical Bank (thread here) I used the official. When I made the bank brighter, then noticed, that those violet windows don't suit. So I changed the colour and texture. But I didn't change the props of material.

So to say I use official setup of glass, I just changed the colour.
I think that the glass to be official was more for glass setup not for window colours, if you understand what I mean.

The second thing sadly is yes. There are missing construction sites. Though in wiki there are several things to use for construction sites, noone has cared about them.
http://wiki.openttd.org/index.php/Props ... raphics%29

I think you should check that out. If I will make the first level of construction for that building then I certainly will use the tractor :D
That work there hasn't been done for nothing I think


LordAzamath
(btw I should ask some mod to change my user name to LordAzamath not lordazamath )

EDIT: I uploaded the image to wiki

[Gramble]

A saw these props, but most of them got the status WIP. It would be very good if they would be done, so that everyone can use them without having to replace them when they are done. I think they look quite good, but the "WIP" makes me think, that I better do not use them to avoid unnecessary work

When I'm ready with the Shop&Offices building I'm going to make suitable construction graphics. The "first" construction graphic could be the same for every building so that there is a construction graphic for every building. Furthermore it would save much time.

[Jupix]

I made a construction site too. No pic of founding the basement though yet.
There are some error pixels on sides, but I will deal with it later

Nice, although for detail I think it's missing some cranes, scaffolding, yellow ducttape, etc...

[athanasios]

Building is nice. Only the color is a bit purple. It would be OK for a modern temperate buiding, but tropic buidings the preference is white (Even though I hate white). So you have to change the hue or reduce saturation of that purple hue. Current color would fit in a night version of the building. This is what I thought when I first saw the building.

[Gramble]

Hi!

Here is my homework :

Shopsandoffices0_5.PNG (106.62 KiB) Viewed 4426 times

Things that are still in progress:

• the whole gound floor
• maybe interior for the ground floor
• details like windowsills or signs for the shop
• the construction graphics
• the other side of the building

Things I have to change:

• the graphic error on the right corner
• adjust all the textures (you can see how often the roof texture repeats)

Things I'm thinking about:

• the building looks quite modern because of the colourful bricks and the aluminium; the building in the orginal game is built very early
• maybe I make 2-3 versions of this building with different stores and for different centuries

Any comments?


Edit: in Wiki