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Kinky
Developer


Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:28 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

But first im declaring INTERNATIONAL PHONG DAY

Yep... you heard me. Phong now WORKS. Last night after MUCH playing about i managed to get what i wanted out of it. When Jules wakes up ill post an awesome screen of Invasion with phong. Ill post Steel with phong at a later time when more is done.

EDIT - BOOM

Image

But first how about a short tutorial...

Phong Tutorial

Right. In the same way as we were attacking reflections using the "$envmap" shader parameter phong uses the alpha channel of the normal map ($bumpmap) as a mask to define reflections much like a specular level in 3ds MAX. This normal map must now be exported to VTF with the "Normal Map & Alpha" option or IT WILL NOT WORK!

Now these lines should be added to the VMT.

Code:
   $halflambert 1
   $nodecal 1
   $model 1

   $phong 1
   $phongboost   6
   $phongfresnelranges   "[0.05 0.5 1]"
   $phongexponent 5.0


$nodecal and $model just help VRAD light the object correctly
$phong enables phong

Now for the more important tweaky bits..

$halflambert enables half lambert lighting like the example below which allows reflections to wrap around the model (left = 0, right = 1)

Image

$phongboost provides overbrightneing which seems to work really well for sharp highlights on metal.

$phongexponent is a bool parametter that can be used in place of a mask texture named the "phong exponent". This defines how tight or broad a highlight is. (See below)

Image

$phongfresnelranges controls the rim lighting from various viewing angles. (see complicated diagram below)

Image

All the values ive used are fairly common. And all this information is available at Valve Dev Wiki

Ill quickly post the phong mask for the generator and its affect ingame so you can get a feel for how bright the mask should be ...

This is the mask map in the normals alpha channel

Image

And this is its affect in game. Not in direct light i should add.

Image
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2010 1:23 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

After working on steel consistently there has finally been a week to get all the work i've done on tempest compiled and working in game

These are all the props built for tempest apart from some decoration props like foliage. As you can see everything apart from the island itself is done outside hammer.
Image
Image

All these props finally went in game replacing the 3 month old placeholder that have been in since pre production, they all have base textures and normal maps on them, no real texture work has been given to them yet as attention has been shifted to getting them working in game and laying out invasion pathing lines. Steel being an A asset will get most of the texture love first.
ImageImageImageImageImage

Fog has been added to create atmosphere, it still needs some tweaking to get it right as it obscures render angles when viewed from afar, lights in hammer need repositioning and adjustments to fit with the new prop layout.
The 3d skybox recived added detail such as large rocks and islands that appear to be looming in the distance.

I am currently working on placing invasion lines and doing invasion textures as well as moving the lights about to suitable positions and brightness
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Kinky
Developer


Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:47 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

Nice work on the post Jules. Need to get Ogg back on it now...

Quickly posting what Steel looks like with phong and also i just finished the invasion textures for the brushwork and the finalised props (those which have final diffuse, normal, phong) so im going to post a comparison shot of the same room from invasion view.

Ive used the back room because all the props in there are done. (They are in the side rooms and corridors aswell but theyre less interesting)

Resistance view...

Image

And Invasion view...

Image

*EDIT - Probably the end of my working day.. minor updates

Code:
finish glowing invasion lines         +
work out invasion line transparency for res   +
Fix floormesh alpha            
Fix white seems on floormesh         +
Fix nonrendering bridge texture
Reflective brushwork
Self Illum invasion textures         +
decal flickering            +
Invasionweapon phong            +
Fix controlpanel normal


This was my todo list for today ... "+" means i did it. So the to do list for steel stands at..

Code:
Fix floormesh alpha            
Fix nonrendering bridge texture
Reflective brushwork
Fix controlpanel normal


Currently no idea how to fix these 4.. so problem solving it is. Other than that its just the remainder of the props to retexture, phong and invtexture and iv_steel is fooking done.

Code:
Pipea & Pipeb      +
Generator      +
Trolley         +
Barrel         +
Tank         +
Fuseboxes      +
Extinguisher      +
Control Panel      +
Girder         +
Railings      +
Supporta      +
Redlight      +
Lamp         +
Lightbase      +
CZ75         +
Galil         +
Assault Hands      +
Blastdoor      +
Crate         +
Invasion Character   +
Walllight      +
minilight      +
pipec         +
sidedoor      +
alarm         +
bridge         +
bigfan         +
Invasion Weapon      +


And a list of what has invtextures and phong. Thats it.
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ogg the logg
Developer


Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Southampton

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 11:57 am Reply with quoteBack to top

Image

- robot 1 3 days had been scheduled for this process which in hindsight was too short as problems occurred later in the build that meant that there was back tracking in the pipeline

-the first problem that was faced with the invasion character was its proportions as it came under scrutiny on many occasions. The robot had to fit the standard source character rig which limited the creativity of how the robot could look.

-The second main problem was the legs as they looked far too blocky and mismatched to the rest of the model which gave the impression that it was two separate robot designs merged together in further reflection it was decided that the legs didn't resemble the legs drawn in the concept very well so they were remodeled

- the head was modeled but it was criticised as looking to simplistic for a robot which should look as though it was made of lots of small plates and separate working parts, however initially it was created from a single box which lacked the detail. The head was a difficult task as it was quite complicated trying to work out how to link the small parts together efficiently.

Image

- poor Uv unwrap came out with blurred segments on the model which effected the baking process.

- after unwrapping again and re zbrushing the segments that were blurry the problem was fixed however it was a lengthy process.

-hands were models for the view perspective with the intention of adding them to the character after they had been created however in reflection I believe they should have been created with the character as problems arised with adding them later such as lighting maps and texture space.

- self illum was added however I think the model would have benefited from having some coherence with the pattern the self illum uses for example have it run across the robot in the same fashion veins are in a human however this should have been nailed in pre production.

-the self illum also overwhelms the character which creates a visual barrier in some respect

- the head is in my opinion the most successful aspect of the invasion character

Image

-Image shows the original poor unwrap of the robot. I honestly don't know how this was overlooked aside from putting it down to time pressure.

-fixing it was time consuming as z brush assets had to be re baked and some re z brushed as they had been created using the old UV map.

- In reflection making sure that each stage is signed off before moving on is essential.

Image

- version 1 after scheduled 3 days. In reflection 3 days was not long enough as the rushing to meet the deadline meant that there were errors that needed fixing

-The Israeli scarf that the character wore created difficulty in getting the head proportions correct this took a lot of tweaking, additionally the proportions were scrutinized on the Solent gamers forums the characters arms were considered too thin

-the knee cap was on the wrong the leg if he was to knee this was flipped

- legs and feet were broadened

-legs given more definition notable around the knee pad

-character was considered to neat this was notable around the ammo pouches which should bulge out rather than being blocky and stiff

- the ammo pouches needed more geometry after trying to z brush them

-buckles for the strap were added as they looks poor z brushed on

- arm pouch removed and knife adjusted

-trouser zip removed

- geometry added to knees and elbows to allows for collapsible joints when rigging.

Image

- texture seams fixed they are much more evident in game

-scarf had multiple problems including texture stretching and seams which are now fixed

- whole model required brightening

- mask given a new paint design which is more menacing and interesting

- knee pad and boot caps given a new texture looks much more metallic and less blurry.

-extra tape around the left knee to justify the was the trouser dips in around the knee without the pad.

Image

- new knife texture and model old one was too low poly for a view weapon and the texture was poorly done

- handle texture was difficult as wood didn't look right. after research it was found that the type of knifes handle was made in bound leather which resembles a wood texture but obviously isn't.
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ogg the logg
Developer


Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Southampton

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 12:05 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

Image

- metal was bland

- the red parts look out of place

-didn't suit the invasion character when put together

- didn't looks robotic enough

- new one addresses theses points.
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ogg the logg
Developer


Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Southampton

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 12:12 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

Image

Image

- new HUD

- original had really bad issues with the alpha map.

- orange in invaders is used to signify danger to the invasion side so it was deemed appropriate to be used for the HUD

- the blue indicators on either side of the cross hairs are where we would have the weapons heat and ammo indicators
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ogg the logg
Developer


Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Southampton

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 2:14 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

Image

-Invasion textures

- resistance in orange to signify danger

- eyes a brighter orange hue to draw the players eye to the head as it is the weaker part of the character

-resistance weapons brighter orange as they are the most dangerous part.

- purple/ blue for invasion. blue is a color used to connote the good side and when playing as invasion,the robots are the friendly side.

-purple and orange have a strong contrast

- textures need to be simple as to not confuse the player as it is intended to make the game easier.

-colors based of our chosen color swatch created from 80's film cover which had been pix elated.
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ogg the logg
Developer


Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Southampton

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 2:31 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

Image

Image

- for the background we wanted something that looks like an 80's film cover

-when researching 80's film cover a lot of them had a layering effect which we liked

Image

-however a lack of characters in our game meant that we couldn't really get this effect and none of us had the time to hand paint a background as well not wanting to aspire to be concept artists.

-Instead the characters were rendered out in different poses and merged together we wanted the robot to have the main focus and as it is the enemy to be towering over the resistance side.




- the resistance character was posed in 3 different positions of different heights to make it look like a small squad[/img]
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Sun May 09, 2010 8:43 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

good posts ollie, also finished my map with placing walkable space invasion view lines today
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2010 10:51 am Reply with quoteBack to top

A huge oversight for iv_tempest, the material proxy doesn't work on alpha blends which is all tempests world textures are made from meaning there could be no invasion view for invasion on the floor.

The work around was creating another island over the top made of one texture created 1 valve unit higher than the resistance views island, resistance players will appear like they're floating a tiny bit off the floor but it isn't that noticable. Invasion players will see everyone running on the proper ground.

I will go back over the level and tweak all the verts to be as close to the floor as possible to avoid gameplay changes and try and keep the flating rom being noticable
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 2:17 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

...the fix didn't work as it created a shadow on resistance view blacking everything out. as displacements are an entity already and can't be tied to a func_brush to rectify this problem.

The other workaround was to place overlays on top of the geometry...which is easier to pull off and turns out to be better for gameplay and visuals too.
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Wed May 19, 2010 1:47 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

all maps done, iv_tempest still has overlay flickering which i can't work how to fix before the playtest video gets made, i have a few ideas on workarounds but no time to implement them before we make the video in 5 mins
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:21 pm Reply with quoteBack to top

turned foliage brightness up on the hedge prop as the phong showed up as quite a disfiguring white glow on the darker texture, the brighter texture toned down the obviousness of the white

iv_steel no phong on the world textures on the floors due to material proxy, eg the tiled floor in the control room

the decision to not do modular walls greatly impacted the texture size the walls could utilize , we had to half res all textures so that the game would run smoothly on lower spec machines, this resulted in texture blurring on iv_tempest as there are no area portals due to it being an open map unlike iv_steel where you can section off areas so they render seperatly rathr than always being there adding burden to your ram and cpu



lack of tufts of grass as there was no code written for the team texture proxy we were using and these would have detracted from the invasion view, these would have broken up obvious geometry seams and completely straight lines



no tools black entity to make the 3d sky box seamless as this blocked environment light and turned props pitch black

black props are also created due to extreme texture size, some textures will render pitch black if you hit the texture limit cap



limit on decals in multiplayer for iv_steel was 200 ( 199 were used leaving 1 decal left for bullet impact decals on gun marks) , iv_tempest had a limit of under 30 decals for reasons unknown and they would dissapear when gun shots were fired



iv_steel had a smaller amount of overlays than iv_tempest, we didn't hit the limit on either of these, overlays are quite system taxing so we put an internal limit on the usage of these at under 30



had to use overlays for the invasion texture on iv_tempest as the material proxy wasn't coded to work with alpha blends





overlays not crossing over seams for an unknown reason so texture seams were hard to erase had to use multiple overlays, overlays stretching due to displacements not being as malleble as once thought and causing texture blurring and stretching



there is a seamless scale option for the vmt file that you can enter with a number and this triangulates the texture from the triangle points to avoid texture streching, the value used for tempest is 0.005 but this messes up the 3d sky box 0.16 scale and it's then divided or multiplyed by 0.005 making the texture always appear too large



ladders a pain to ultilize on props due to custom collision being invisble yet effecting mounting and dismouting issues, also the look at entitys for easy ladder mount and dismount don't seem to apply thier effects on props whereas they work on brushes fine, thus climbing ladders in iv_steel is much simpler than climbing "ladders" in iv_tempest as steel is mostly brush based and tempest is mostly prop based



32 limit on collision blocks making perfect collision nigh on impossible



play test



red glows on demo playback, may result in more recording for un tainted clips, cause of error unknown



collision bugs on tempest may be due to vphys not applying and hammer just using default bounding box as collsion mesh



gameplay more balanced on assault classes map iv_steel due to more close quarters driven combat,

iv_tempest proves to be one sided due to the long range and resistance players ability to hit properly at such a range due to unpredictable bullet spread.

gameplay would be more blanced if the sniper character was in game to give resistance the long range support they need

due to time constraints the team decided to scrap the sniper character too pool our resources into other areas of the game to add polish, as expected the map designed round this character suffers imbalance in gameplay when a close quarters combat class is placed in a long range dependent map

lights from the generators seem to effect the wrong side of the clastle lighting it up and pulse like the generator


invasion weapons effective in both levels
invasion claw world model still has the stun stick glow floating 3 feet in the air, no idea how to fix this one


resistance knife was missing a world texture



nothing noticably wrong with game play , signaling was clear on both teams, nothing noticably wrong with textures



gameplay was fun and challenging on both sides, both teams throughly enjoyed themselves and appreciated the difference in art style



gameplay recorded using in house valve demo recording software, avi's came out in 6,000 parts a frame each or so, the compiled video size non compressed is around 30 gigs per demo, problems with uni computer free space on drives had to copy stuff about



compiling and copying in process



more play testing due tommorow for more untainted footage
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Coltaine
Developer


Joined: 19 Nov 2009
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2010 9:21 am Reply with quoteBack to top

Learning Outcomes of the FMP



Knowledge and Understanding



K1 Demonstrate critical and conceptual understanding of practices involved with creating computer and video games. LIST ENGINE LIMITATIONS, CREATING PROCESS SHOULD BE DOCUMENTED ALREADY IN THIS BLOG, EXPALIN FURTHER WHAT WE LEARNED OLLIE/ MATT/ JULES PERSONAL ACCOUNTS OF WHAT YOU LEARNED AND GAINED FROM THE FMP



The team will show critical and conceptual understanding through the creation of levels, props and ultimately creating a game MOD for the source engine. RENDERS OF LEVEL AND VIDEO


· Blogs on the projects forum (website)



Discussions with tutors and peers LIST AND NOTE NOTABLE HELPFUL CONVERSATIONS SUCH AS COLOUR CHANGES SWATCHES GENERAL ART STYLE GUIDANCE/ TECHNICAL HELP SUCH AS MAX TO HAMMER SCALE SCRIPT THAT NEVER CAME TO FRUITION BUT ALMOST DID


· Working with other mod teams to solve technical issues that arise during development MATT SHOULD MAINLY BE DOING THIS SECTION AS HE HAD THE MOST CORRELATION BETWEEN CODERS, ALSO HAS SOME DOCUMENTATION TO BACK THIS UP, SCREENSHOTS CHAT BOXES ETC



K2 Identify the creative and industry factors, processes, operations and techniques involved in computer and video game creation.



· Gain an understanding of the following three tools the team will need to use for the Final Assessment asset.



- Further evidence and demonstrate an understanding of Hammer level editor and reflect this is our final product using proof of concept MATT AND JULES SHOW INCREMENTAL PROGRESSION OF THE LEVELS TO FINAL

- Further evidence and demonstrate an understanding of Z brush and reflect this in our final product OLLIE POST SCREEN OF ALL ZBRUSH WORK

- Further evidence and demonstrate an understanding of the Source engine and reflect this is our final product DOCUMENT ALL PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND THE LIMITATIONS THESE PROBLEMS IMPOSED ON US



· Show proof of knowledge through diagrams and annotations
DIAGRAMS? SCREENSHOTS + ANNOTATIONS WITH POINTERS



- Tutorials demonstrating proof of knowledge. LINK HERE
FURTHER TUTORIALS ARE NEEDED ?



Cognitive Skills



C1 Define game play and the characteristics of game art as distinguishable from other entertainment media.
LIST AND SHOW SCREENSHOTS OF USP, COMPARE TO L4D ON SIMILARITES VIA SCREENSHOTS+ ANNOTATIONS AND POINTERS/ THINGS WE DID BETTER, HAND OUT BETA VERSION OF THE GAME FOR MORE OUTSOURCED GAME PLAY TESTS, RECORD THIER THOUGHTS ON GAMEPLAY / THINGS THAT THEY'D LIKE TO SEE


· play will allow inexperienced players to match experienced players on an equal level

· Research demographics thoroughly` so the final game relates to their relevant time periods SWATCHES FROM MOVIES POSTERS VS REALISM SHOW CAMPARISONS OF TRON TO INVASION AND COUNTER STRIKE TO RESISTANCE

Create a survey questioning whether players views match those of the demographics the team is trying to appeal too



- checked through play testing of the final game through its production.DONE 3 TIMES OVER THE COURSE OF PRODUCTION, ONLY ONE ON FINAL BUILD AND ALL BUGS LISTED IN THE POST ABOVE



· Game art will have two different styles within a single level.



- Final game will allow players to play the level in two different styles



Practical and Professional Skills



P1 Demonstrate an interrogative attitude to game analysis, showing awareness of the limitations and creative possibilities of technology.LIST POSSIBLE THINGS WE'D LIKE TO HAVE DONE BUT COULDN'T DUE TO LACK OF CODING AND ENGINE LIMITS, THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING IN A TEAM THAT CAN COMMUNICATE WELL AND STICK TO A SCHEDULE SO YOU KNOW WHEN ASSETS ARE DUE



Research into platforms and their limitations DONE IN PRE PROD ALREADY DOUBLE CHECK IT AND MAKE REVISED IMPROVEMENTS WITH THE THINGS YOU'VE LEARNED OVER THE COURSE OF FMP


- Research pc requirements for Half Life 2



Triangle counts DIDN'T OLLIE DO THIS ALREADY? FURTHER SHOW INDEPTH COMPARISSON TO L4D


- Deconstruct a character created for the source engine to find out the triangle count.



- Deconstruct a prop for the source engine to find out the triangle count.



Texture sizes


- - Deconstruct a character created for the source engine to find out the texture size.



- Deconstruct a prop for the source engine to find out the texture size.



Research into demographics and their relevant time periods


- -



P2 Show final product of a playable game and an .avi of the game being played through. MUST BE AVAILABLE IN AN OFFLINE FORMAT



· Show product from original concept to final design WE HAVE DONE THIS ALREADY... PLACE REVISED PRE PRODUCTION TUTS AND CONCEPTS WITH UPDATED NOTES EXPALIN WHY WE SCRAPPED THE SNIPER CHARACTER

SHOW THE PLACEHOLDER PROPS NEXT TO THIER FIANL PROPS



- Create a page in the document for each character showing annotated concepts which show the pipe line of the character design process.



- Clearly drawn final concepts



- Draw a turnaround for each character in which the modeler will be able to use for the final asset.



Transferable and Key Skills



T1 Use information technology to locate retrieve and process material.



· Use web based search engines to gather reference images



- Gather images for reference then create HTML pages that reference links to their original URL’s so as to not infringe copyright laws.



· Use a word processor to write the preproduction document



· Use Microsoft Excel DONE ALREADY JUST NEEDS IMPLEMENTING INTO FMP DOCUMENT



- Create a table for the preproduction 6 week plan LINK HERE

- Create a table for a final assets list

-

· The team will uses an SVN to share and store files. An SVN allows users to upload files from any computer to an online file storage system. Once uploaded the team can download files from the SVN to any computer.
LIST PROBLEMS WITH SVN



T2 Organise work and manage time effectively to meet deadlines.



· Create a schedule for preproduction SHOW SCHEDULE



- Create a table in excel for the preproduction 6 week plan. This includes completion times, asset priorities and team responsibilities.



· Communicating and working with the team over weekly discussions on Skype and Steam over many different times zones ranging from +8 and -8 Gmt
LIST CHAT LOGS, OR IF THESE DON'T EXIST DOCUMENT RECALLED CONVERSATIONS AND THIER FRUITIONS


T3 Collaborate and engage in supportive academic and artistic activity.



· All members will be working as a team



- Give team members constructive criticism as to better their work SHOWN IN BLOG IF NOT LIST THINGS PEOPLE FROM THE TEAM HAVE SAID THAT HELPED YOU IMPROVE



- Support team members with advice and creative techniques which they can use on their own work.


These are what we said we'd do for the fmp, document construction to prove these outcomes begins asap, preperation gathering required rescoures begins today,
don't forget to inlclude artist annotations and thought processes and discussions held at the time revolving round the relevent subject matter

NOTE ALL THINGS THAT WENT WRONG IN COMPARRISON TO OUR RISK ASSESMENT HOW OUR BACKUP PLANS WORKED OR DIDN'T WORK, THINGS WE DIDN'T PLAN FOR, CLOSE CALLS DEATHS SVN DYING DATA LOSS HARDWARE FAILURES HELL ON EARTH ETC
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