Animated HQ Datapads

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

It was an idea I had many years ago. Never found the time to go through the concept. Then Lucas forums closed. But now I have some to wrestle this. Since 2023, everything is in HD, 4K, AI Upscaled. So I thought, why not make a new texture for the datapad for the Dantooine cutscene.  

I've redone the texture of both datapads models (regular and with severed arm). I tried to upscale the textures with some success. Now I don't have a working 3DS Max license nor the will to re-learn the tools of Blender 3D. So I didn't unwrap the UV Mapping to see where everything goes. But it a start. I was inspired by this concept.

I also plane to add animations choices for the display screen. I will also rework the texture of the datapad on the severed arm. My broken screen don't real shows and I want to add some random damages on the metal. It surely had been dropped on the floor, if the arm was ripped off or something in this line of idea.

Here are the results

Addendum... DarthParametric has answered a call to aid here, by remaking the severed arm model and by providing me the UV Mapping images of both datapads models. I'm adding his great contribution to this project as stipulated in the request.

 

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[LORD SPARTAN 34]

Small Update

I've made a concept for the screen. Since I'm not that talented in painting. I've use some of my texture to build this small animation of the broken screen. Right now making a broken glass is beyond my skills. It look like white paint in the screen. So I opted to static with a VCR like noise.

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Here is a lame render in Model Viewer. If someone knows how to change the axis in the view. Let me know.

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[DarthParametric 3,782]

There are a bunch of broken glass/screen textures available. I recall in the past also having a PS brush preset for it. You should be able to find something suitable under one of the Creative Common licenses (for example). And of course these days there's always the "AI" route to generate your own from scratch (for example here or here). Here are handful of AI ones I got with some quick messing around:

AI_Glass_Images.zip

People more familiar with that sort of thing could no doubt produce some better quality images, but I don't think you need anything crazy for a tiny datapad screen, especially since it's only going to be a semi-transparent overlay.

As to the model viewer, I have never used it, but assuming it doesn't have a readme explaining it I would probably take 3DS Max controls as a good starting point to test.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

10 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

There are a bunch of broken glass/screen textures available. I recall in the past also having a PS brush preset for it. You should be able to find something suitable under one of the Creative Common licenses (for example). And of course these days there's always the "AI" route to generate your own from scratch (for example here or here). Here are handful of AI ones I got with some quick messing around:

AI_Glass_Images.zip 5.12 MB · 0 downloads

People more familiar with that sort of thing could no doubt produce some better quality images, but I don't think you need anything crazy for a tiny datapad screen, especially since it's only going to be a semi-transparent overlay.

As to the model viewer, I have never used it, but assuming it doesn't have a readme explaining it I would probably take 3DS Max controls as a good starting point to test.

I will look at this. I'm not sure how this works. But I'll definitely try it. One thing was sure. I'm playing in 1440p and under 1024 pixels the crack screen don't really shows. It looks more like a bird poop or splashes of white paint. That's why I've chose to make the animation more bugged like they do in movies with smashed tech. But your new made from scratch model might be the fix for the animation. It could be more clear and the overlay might show more.

[DarthParametric 3,782]

17 hours ago, LORD SPARTAN said:

I'm playing in 1440p and under 1024 pixels the crack screen don't really shows.

Yeah to be honest unless you are planning on adding a cutscene where the player picks up the datapad so that you get a good look at it close up, it's probably just too much noise for such a small object.

Edit: If you really want to add the broken screen, one option would be to add an additional floating mesh above the screen that has its own texture that you could use for the broken glass effect. Breaking it out separately from the animated screen texture might help it via more pixel density.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

23 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

Yeah to be honest unless you are planning on adding a cutscene where the player picks up the datapad so that you get a good look at it close up, it's probably just too much noise for such a small object.

Adding datapads on desks at some key points in the game was in my plans. But right now I trying to fix something in my txi file. I'm doing some tests. I'm also trying to make a good looking texture for your model. It's very high in details and I want to give the proper work to honor your model.

23 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

Edit: If you really want to add the broken screen, one option would be to add an additional floating mesh above the screen that has its own texture that you could use for the broken glass effect. Breaking it out separately from the animated screen texture might help it via more pixel density.

At that point I might give up on a broken screen. The model is beautiful as it is and I don't want to ask for more since you've already gave so much. I'll try to make the animation look like it's bugged and in a loop. Adding static and some swirls lines to add some effect. I also said I will try to give the players some animations options. So I'll work on this for the week-end 

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

Would the data pad as seen in the Jedi Enclave be using a different texture that isn't glitched?

I am impressed at the work by all involved so far! I've been working around screens for years and I am glad there's one that I won't have to tackle.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

10 minutes ago, Sith Holocron said:

Would the data pad as seen in the Jedi Enclave be using a different texture that isn't glitched?

I am impressed at the work by all involved so far! I've been working around screens for years and I am glad there's one that I won't have to tackle.

Yes there will be two different animation for the datapads. In fact, the default models already use different textures. But now with the great work of DarthParametric, not only the datapads will have different textures. But they will also have a HQ model and higher resolution screens. 

[DarthParametric 3,782]

1 hour ago, LORD SPARTAN said:

The model is beautiful as it is and I don't want to ask for more since you've already gave so much.

It's really not a big deal. It's like a 5 minute job. Duplicate the screen mesh, raise it up a couple of mm, assign it a unique texture, export the ASCII, compile to binary model.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

On 9/22/2023 at 1:37 AM, DarthParametric said:

It's really not a big deal. It's like a 5 minute job. Duplicate the screen mesh, raise it up a couple of mm, assign it a unique texture, export the ASCII, compile to binary model.

I saw the updated model. I really appreciate all the work you did for this project. I just hope my texture work will be rendering your model as good it's looking right now. I'll post an update as soon my back let me sit for more than 15 minutes.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

Hi everyone, I'm finally back. Not in pristine condition. But the flame still burns. Also, my back.

I also want to thanked everyone who showed me support in this project.

I did work on the project in the last three days. I'm not satisfied with my texture work. I overdid the reflection and lost a lot of details. Some parts are not textured the right way. It's all my fault at this point. But I will try to get there soon. Then after the datapad itself. I will do some animation test. But as for now...

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[Salk 374]

Good job, l say.

I agree that the reflection is way too much, but that's something you could easily remedy, right?

Welcome back!

[DarthParametric 3,782]

You can either tone down the intensity of the alpha channel, or switch the envmap to a different one. I assume you are using CM_Baremetal? You could try mycube instead. That tends to be a little less intense.

[Dark Hope 1,444]

Good afternoon. I can offer my help, if you allow.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

Hi everyone,

I had problem with my electricity and internet since Saturday night because of really bad weather. So I couldn't answer quicker. But I'm still working on the texture. It's going as fast as I can. I've tried some alternative. With and with out alpha channel. I was not satisfied with the results. I've even tried a global tint with some details. With some fine results. But I'm far from done. 

On 10/15/2023 at 2:08 AM, DarthParametric said:

You can either tone down the intensity of the alpha channel, or switch the envmap to a different one. I assume you are using CM_Baremetal? You could try mycube instead. That tends to be a little less intense.

This is my .txt file:

envmaptexture CM_baremetal

Should I write:

envmaptexture mycube or just mycube

I never used mycube before.

 

On 10/15/2023 at 1:54 AM, Salk said:

Good job, l say.

I agree that the reflection is way too much, but that's something you could easily remedy, right?

Welcome back!

Yes, there's some trials to do. But I'm already near a more suitable reflection. I also corrected some parts that are supposed to be dark and mate in finish. 

 

On 10/15/2023 at 9:25 AM, Dark Hope said:

Good afternoon. I can offer my help, if you allow.

I'm sure you could help. But I still want to try all the possibilities I can come up with before. It will be the first public KotOR mod I work on since my collaboration with Oldflash on this... So I'm trying to work things out and improve myself in the process. But if I can't succeed I'll keep your offer in mind and I thank you for it.

[Salk 374]

Hi!

Thanks for the update!

1 hour ago, LORD SPARTAN said:

Should I write:

envmaptexture mycube or just mycube

envmaptexture mycube is right.

And this is what it looks like:

mycube.tga

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

11 hours ago, Salk said:

Hi!

Thanks for the update!

envmaptexture mycube is right.

And this is what it looks like:

mycube.tga 96.02 kB · 1 download

Thanks I'll try to test this today. I will also try to post screenshots.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

Hi everyone, I'm not dead, and I'm still working on this mod. I just got really bothered by lots of things recently, and I also did quit the painkillers. I couldn't think clear, but now I'm in a lot more pain. Anyway, as soon as I had the chance, I've jump back on this mod. I've decided to restart from ground up the main texture. Lowering the reflection revealed that my texture was too blend and I thought it was really ugly. I also did some animations. But I've found out I'm doing it the wrong way. Here is the comparison with the game vs the concept...

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When I'm making the animation sheet. I'm laying the images from top to bottom and from left to right. Am I wrong?

Also, this is the .txi infos

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proceduretype cycle
defaultwidth 256
defaultheight 256
numx 8
numy 8
fps 10
#blending additive
#decal 1

Did I made a mistake here?

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Flipbook animation order is always left to right, top to bottom:

Are your numx/y values actually representative of the number of tiles/frames your image has?

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

57 minutes ago, DarthParametric said:

Flipbook animation order is always left to right, top to bottom:

Are your numx/y values actually representative of the number of tiles/frames your image has?

Yes, my image is 8 frames by 8 frames of 256x256 pixels each. On a image of 2048x2048 pixels total. Like so...

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[DarthParametric 3,782]

So make your TXI:

proceduretype cycle
defaultwidth 2048
defaultheight 2048
numx 8
numy 8
fps 10

Btw 2K is complete overkill for an animated texture on an object that tiny. I would drop it down to 1K at most.

[LORD SPARTAN 34]

13 minutes ago, DarthParametric said:

So make your TXI:

proceduretype cycle
defaultwidth 2048
defaultheight 2048
numx 8
numy 8
fps 10

Btw 2K is complete overkill for an animated texture on an object that tiny. I would drop it down to 1K at most.

Loll I should have known that was the problem. As for the 2K. I'm still in the early stage, I was lazy and didn't scaled down the resolution. It was just easier to see what I was doing. And it makes better screenshots loll But it is in the plans to lower the resolution for optimization.

[Salk 374]

Nice to see you back and at work on this.

I'd say that even 1K resolution would be overkill in this case. 512 would make everyone more than happy, I'm sure.

Godspeed! 🙂

[DarthParametric 3,782]

4 minutes ago, Salk said:

512 would make everyone more than happy, I'm sure

An 8x8 array flipbook at a resolution of 512x512 would only be 64x64 per frame. Not really ideal even on an object that small given the apparent complexity of the image. You'd have to drop the frame count down to something like a 4x4 array to make that work.

[Salk 374]

Oh okay. Got it.

I didn't think the animation needed to be particularly fancy.