Quanons many projects.

[LiliArch 115]

That looks great. I'm thrilled.

[Quanon 263]

Nothing major to show yet. But I've spend some time to search for some new tools to help out with UV madness that's involved with making a new area. An annoying fact is that when making lightmaps is you are UV mapping twice.

 

And I can tell you UV mapping is a more boring part of 3D, IMO, just my 2 cents

The thing is once you mapped it and applied all your textures; you need a second UV map for the lightmap.

 

Why not re-use the first UV maps? Well . . . 3Ds Max is a bit cumbersome when it comes to UV map several separate objects into 1 big UV map. Luckily helpful 3D gurus out there have scripted a few handy tools to make life easier aka being lazy and getting away with it.  

 

Anyway for all interested here a few handy links!

 

First tool multiobjectunwrap:

 

This little tool lets you quickly UV map lots of objects.  I use it to collect all my maps of various parts of my area model.

But it's a big mess! 3Ds Max has a packing tool, but this doesn't do a very good job of it, it rips apart good UV layouts and causes mistakes in the game.

http://users.skynet.be/arketip/arketip_multiObjectUnwrapENG.htm

 

 

Tool 2 and 3: These 2 tools help out with the packing business! No more awful seams and it takes little time! 

http://www.renderhjs.net/textools/

 

Fair warning: You still need to do some serious test runs in the game. But I feel positive that I'll get some good results.

The best part is these tools are free to use. You can donate though if you want.

 

Cheers and happy modding!

 

Here's how it looks when doing stuff in 3Ds Max

 

[MrPhil 58]

Slap Sharen Thrawn's Skybox there and I'd feel right at home

[Quanon 263]

Time for an update. Thanks to SithSpecter I got back in the game to do some hard work on the lightmaps.

Oddly enough, SithSpecters advice to do smaller lightmaps didn't work out. Did a couple of retries, just to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything.

 

A small set back, I did another trial, using large lightmaps. And to my suprise this worked OK. Did a couple of test, to see if I got UV stretching; but no.
Large lightmaps seem to work for Q but not for SS... Kotor modding at it's best, complete mistery o_O


Anyhow, I'm still not 100% happy. Shadows are somehow to faint for my taste. Plus all the details get lost/ smudged out on these larger lightmaps.
I'll have to go for 4096pix sizes... Hopefully the game won't crash on that. We'll see; how far I can take it.

Here's how it looks so far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sithspecter 909]

It's weird how KotOR modding works like that!! I've always had trouble with the huge lightmaps, you have problems with the small ones, so strange.

 

Glad you got it working, see my PM about the lightmap. One thing you can do if you just have one giant lightmap is work it over in Photoshop and contrast it and such the way you need it.

[Quanon 263]

Allright did some more tweaking on the lightmap business. Again SS came to the rescue to get some nicer looking shadows while rendering.

I'll have to send a nice box of belgian choclates to the US for my fellow modder, many thanks !!! ^^

One of the things I altered was the alpha channel of my lightmap. 3Ds Max always includes a channel.
I've played around making it grey and black all over. But this doesn't seem to have any effect what so ever in the game.

 

I'll now play around with Photoshop, altering the contrast. I did a quick dirty run and that seemed to have a effect.

It's still odd, I expected the shadows to have stronger effect in the game. Oh, well. I'm more or less pleased on how it all looks right now.

 

So here's another few shots. I've added a skybox

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sith Holocron 2,477]

The skybox certainly works well with those textures. Very nice stuff. Does this version of the Nar Shaddaa streets have the bar as well?

[Quanon 263]

The skybox certainly works well with those textures. Very nice stuff. Does this version of the Nar Shaddaa streets have the bar as well?

 

Yes, those are still included. The entrances are spread out across the streets. 

There's also a 'connection' to another smaller street area. If I feel like it.

 

I'd need to check my script again, to see what's needed still

But I still need to dress up this area; it's a bit empty for Nar Shaddaa.

[MrPhil 58]

Nice work, Q, this is shaping up to be very amazing. Plus that skybox really added a little something and works very well with your map!

[Dark_Ansem 12]

Malachor rocks are still amazing!

[Zhaboka 91]

That skybox is great (bless Sharen Thrawn), but your buildings seem a little too... vibrant in comparison. Like, too saturated. But I don't want to tell you to desaturate your beautiful lightmaps... maybe kick up the skybox saturation a little bit?

[Quanon 263]

That skybox is great (bless Sharen Thrawn), but your buildings seem a little too... vibrant in comparison. Like, too saturated. But I don't want to tell you to desaturate your beautiful lightmaps... maybe kick up the skybox saturation a little bit?

 

Haha, I know. They are more colorful and the neon look makes it even more so. But I've got my reasons why it is so.

See, in the TSL you see/ explore the Refugee sector; so not much money and care is spent on it. The refugees are basically cattle/slaves. 

 

My Nar Shaddaa streets are in the Entertainment/Fun sector. It needs to look a little nicer, so captains and cargo crew go spend money on drinks, women, gambling... etc.

[Sith Holocron 2,477]

Haha, I know. They are more colorful and the neon look makes it even more so.

In addition, the buildings in the skybox are some distance away so the light wouldn't be as intense. 

 

Quanon, will any of those advertising signs be making an appearances? IIRC, you had a few signs with Twi'leks in swimsuits posing on billboards.

[Quanon 263]

In addition, the buildings in the skybox are some distance away so the light wouldn't be as intense. 

 

Quanon, will any of those advertising signs be making an appearances? IIRC, you had a few signs with Twi'leks in swimsuits posing on billboards.

 

I think I'll add in some distant  buildings to make it more 'smooth' transition between area model and skybox. It'll add some extra depth.

And, yes, I'll be using those signs again. I'll have a peek at their UVs, IIRC I did those rather quickly and dirty. Might need some more fine tuning

[Zhaboka 91]

Haha, I know. They are more colorful and the neon look makes it even more so. But I've got my reasons why it is so.

See, in the TSL you see/ explore the Refugee sector; so not much money and care is spent on it. The refugees are basically cattle/slaves. 

 

My Nar Shaddaa streets are in the Entertainment/Fun sector. It needs to look a little nicer, so captains and cargo crew go spend money on drinks, women, gambling... etc.

 

It's the posh Manhattan of Nar Shaddaa! Awesome.

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

been lurking your thread for a while, amazing work quanon!  can't wait to walk those streets ingame. 

[Quanon 263]

I found some time to start reskinning Darh Bandons armour to match with my latest helmet.

I like what I got so far, a bit to busy perhaps. Less is more. But I got the basic idea of what I want.
Here's how far I got already:

 

 

 

 

 

[Zhaboka 91]

Yeah, those are just not loading for me.

[Sith Holocron 2,477]

I see them just fine. What portion looks too busy to you?

[InSidious 237]

Very nice, Q. I especially like the chest section.

[Quanon 263]

Very nice, Q. I especially like the chest section.

 

Thanks!

 

Yeah, those are just not loading for me.

 

That's odd, I always use photobucket to show my WIP.

 

@SH: It looked all good in PS, but on the model the layers of armour, didn't work out that well, imo.

 

So I started to do minor tweaks and adding a few things. It's nothing major, but here's how it looks so far.

 

 

 

 

 

[L0ki194 82]

Okay, those look awesome. I'd also love to see these as a reskin for Bandon and the Sith Masters in K1 (With the colors matching their original color scheme.)

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

wow, these really are amazing

[Zhaboka 91]

I can see them now. They look great!

[Quanon 263]

Minor update on the Darth Bandon armour. Added gloves, belt and boots. Plus some minor tweaks to the armour plates.