WIP Model Package: Island Set

[WindexIsBack]

Hello, some of you may recognize me from the Modern Objects and Lighting http://www.thehelper.net/forums/showthread.php?p=812439#post812439 package.

I am in the process of creating a texture library before I make the models, and would like to ask this site; what would they like included in a massive model package of an island?

These aren't just nature models. Many of them will be man-made. From
http://knowledge.insead.edu/images/africanShanty_insead.jpg
To
http://www.british-filipino.com/img/shanty1.jpg
And
http://www.british-filipino.com/img/shanty2.jpg

Will be the general style of the buildings. Buildings will be constructed out of individual metal pieces of varying angles, instead of a pre-constructed building. This allows the terrainer maximum creativity.

While based several years into the future, modern technologies of this day is finally reaching of this island. Refrigerators, coffee pots, and so on.

For example, these are the bases of a shanty.
-Metal Slabs (for walls, floor, and ceiling)
-Foundation (to allow a more flat surface)
-Foundation Wall (varies the structure)
-Roof (while metal slabs, the roof will have multiple slabs as a single object. This makes it useable as a destructible that turns transparent when entered)
-Steps (for foundation)
-Pillers/Columns (metal, wood, ect)
-Wood Boards

Those pieces would have many variations of texture, angle, size, shape, and so on. For example, I have 25 metal-sheet textures, most of which will be used on a metal sheet. Each metal-sheet model would have at least 3 different angles on it.

There may also be a city architecture (depending on size). These would be much more 'solid' houses and would be created out of actual walls, instead of many pieces.


So, go crazy with your ideas. Maybe one of the villages fishes for a living; suggest boats, fishing gear, ect.
The more pictures you provide, the better.
Suggesting enough will get + rep.

To all the smart-asses: This is a project I am making, which is why it's in the Members Projects section. When completed, I will create a topic in the proper directory.


Personnel List (extremely small list)
-Air Conditioner parts
-Drainage
-Telephone Pole
-Wiring (telephone pole, misc, heavy)
-TV, TV parts (attena, dvd player, ect)
-Road
-Rocks
-Kid Toys
-Lights (pole lamps, flashlights, ect)
-Sewage Gutter
-Pictures
-Garbage Can
-Garbage Container
-Sidewalk
-Rail road parts
-Wooden Steps (+ metal)
-Tools (lawn mower, chain saw, ect)
-Piping
-Vents
-Parking lines, blocks, meters, ect
-Fences
-River Canal Cement
-Stop Lights
-Signs
-Debray (bricks, cement, metal slabs, ect)
-Rubble
-Shopping carts
-Abandoned cars (individual parts)
-Trash
-Tomb Stone
Here are some pictures of the concept in action. Around 3-4 different metal slabs at 3 angles. Each metal piece is it's own object, as shown in the third picture.

Spoiler

EDIT1: 11-26-08

Spoiler

The main metal textures have been picked out. 48 Metallic textures, all of which will be used on the metal slabs.
Current idea is to have 3 wall paneling for each texture (varying in size and angle) along with 1 floor, and 1 roof.

Remember, there will be other materials too. Plastic (if a noticeable difference), wood, concrete, ect. Also, these textures aren't just used on walls and floors. They are used on the vast majority of objects proving a worthwhile investment.
Total Map Size: 347kb [99 imports at uncompressed 672kb]

EDIT: 11-29-08 (Almost December, hooyah!)
Total Imports: 288
Size of Imports: 1040 (On average, this is reduced by 1/2 in the w3x)
Mood from Project: Nervous about space restrictions (aiming for 2mb in w3x)

Spoiler

Big update (for myself at least)
234 models, using the same model and 48 different textures on 5 variations of both scale and angle, have been exported into wc3.
The purpose of the models are to construct houses.
The purpose of the textures are for future objects; ranging from teapots, refrigerators, telephone poles, and tanks.
However, the fun part comes again. 50 textures get to be resized, tiled, ect. Many of which will get the same treatment (or reduced) as the metal slabs got. Most likely it will be reduced. Most will have a main slab, roof though.

After which, will begin actual models. Hooyah!
As I go on, textures I notice I rarely use will be replaced with better ones. This update will also reflect the wall, often times making more useful.
And, to show you the scope of what I have done..
Full model list

A wall using these pieces.

Project Canceled. And I had a vast section of the list completed to. 600kb left to fill also.

 

[MurderMode]

I believe this will be quite useful when made, and will inspire a lot of people to make maps based around this theme... but until then I wouldn't expect much feedback, I doubt people's imaginations here will venture far from their own ideas until some visual stimulus is present and then they will come running.

Just do it, you know how slack people are around here with commenting... it takes something awesome to see before they do and you can't blame them... 95% of projects never reach completion so it's smart not to get excited until something is done.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Thanks, some pictures of the house construction concepts are up. They work, but will be much more varied (For example, not all metal pices will have horizontal/vertical pices. Some might be tilted forward and slightly sideways, others may be bent, ect)

 

[TriggerHappy]

Looks sexy. could be used for some marine map. +rep.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Making A Texture Tile-able​

For some, making a texture may seem like a hard task. However, it's relatively simple.
You'll need several very important things.

• Photoshop [I am using cs3]
• A stock image. Preferably something that is both evenly shaded, and does not have many blemishes
• Medium knowledge of photoshop

Now, let's get started. For this small tutorial, great places to find stock images besides from Google are CG Textures, which provides great high-res textures and Stock.chng.

For this tutorial, I'm using a very low-res rock texture.

First, let's load it up in Photoshop.
After it's finished loading, click on the toolbar Image>Image Size and set it to a nice resolution.
For me, I prefer the nearest ^2 number, such as 256 or 512. Remember, warcraft3 only uses power^2 resolution, else it will crash wc3!
Tip: Since we're reducing, I recommend Bicubic Sharpener. This makes the texture better looking at lower resolutions.

After it's resized, we're going to apply a fun effect called Offset.

Remember, to make sure Wrap Around is chosen!
If done correctly, your preview should look exactly the same as mine.

Now, the fun part!
We're going to be using the clone tool for this step.
To use, hold down Alt and than click. Now, click somewhere else on the map, and you'll notice a new texture appears there.

Use this tool to remove the icky lines on the texture. On most textures, I'll use the general strategy. It works quite well!

Next, use Offset twice more. Make sure no more crosses are seen, no major blemishes, ect.

Finally, we can choose to either Save it as it is, or reduce it.
For me, all of my tile-able textures in WarcraftIII are 64x64 which tends to be 11kb in TGA format.

TIPS​

• Don't use a soft radius when using Clone. This can cause 'muddy' looking textures
• Don't over-use clone. Remember, this isn't creating texture, it's only copying it from another part of the texture. Over time, the texture will look very bad
• Remember to offset at least 1 or two times after finishing. This may make glitches noticeable
• If you're getting into modeling, I highly recommend making your own library of textures, not just for Warcraft III
• Make sure you know the copyright stance on the website. Stealing work is not cool.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Added date log. While simple, I highly believe these textures will create kick-ass walls and roofs, along with providing a worthwhile library for future objects.

 

[WindexIsBack]

The new models are here.
While not as impressive as I was hoping, the textures will prove to be usable on an extremely large amount of doodads that go along with the model pack.
Along with that, some textures may be improved over time.

Some things I want to do before releasing an extremely early version of this:
-Create 'wood' textures
-Create Foundation blocks
-Create wooden/metal support beams for houses
-Create steps
-Create concrete wall
-Create 'blinds' for house
-Create wide assortment of wooden boards
-Create roof props (spinning thing, TV attena, ect)

EDIT: Found a strange graphics glitch.

When two metal pieces are near each other, certain ones will appear to clip into each other at certain angles, while at other angles they don't. It's like it changes shape.
This has only happened with one model so far.

 

[Vestras]

 

[bananaHUNT]

Very impressive, though I doubt I'll be using them myself 'cause they lack that cartoony Warcraft feel. They can be very useful though, so good luck with this!

 

[WindexIsBack]

Going to be awhile before another update.

I still have dozens of textures to make tileable, and probably 2 dozen more house construction slabs to make out of the new textures.
After that, smaller pieces for the structure (foundation, steps, wood boards, ect) will come into creation.

After which, geometry will be made. Rocks, terrain rivets, ect. All the fun stuff.
next, large-objects will be created. Refrigerators, barrels, broken cars, ect.
After that, smaller 'misc' items will be added (pots and pans, food, pictures)
Finally, we have a larger collection of goods I forgot to add.

 

[TriggerHappy]

It's coming along nicely , GJ.

EDIT : The rep i gave you , granted you your second

rep icon

 

[CysticCraze]

EDIT: Found a strange graphics glitch.

When two metal pieces are near each other, certain ones will appear to clip into each other at certain angles, while at other angles they don't. It's like it changes shape.
This has only happened with one model so far.

Repeatedly?

 

[WindexIsBack]

While I haven't tested it very far, I have noticed it happen on about 3 textures. I need to look more into this, but it is not a rampet problem, and is easily fixable with an alternate texture.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Yes yes, double posting is against the rules; but I can't upload this file to the first post for some odd reason (I'm guessing it's a new firefox plugin I just got)

Anyway, you can see the glitch from the map I gave. I'm using an extended tileset, so you MAY need to use newgen to open.

3 textures have the strange glitch. This happens regardless of light.
It is texture related; not model. I know this because the roof model has this glitch, and they were done separate from the walls.



If anyone knows why, please respond.

 

[MurderMode]

looking good, it reminds me more of far cry 2 (african junkyard setting) then it does of an island theme tho... which isn't a bad thing. IMO being a modern themed pack it's better off not having the cartoon warcraft feel to it anyhow... fantasy characters look alright with a slightly goofy design but people who cry for modern warfare want a more realistic look to their game.

 

[WindexIsBack]

This model package is quickly moving towards a land-locked theme, instead of an oceanic one. However, the same style will remain.

A slight update: 35 new textures have been added.
22 of those textures got 7 models each.
12 of those textures got 2 models each. (around 175+ total)
Total textures with glitch: 4 (still an unknown reason)

Showing off the construction of a house. Each of those pieces are individual (the ground border is actually many pieces, to be honest)
I'm going to experiment in houses construction; creating a frame, and adding pieces onto it. This can yield a more realistic and layered effect.

The total amount of boards. (154 total)

 

[Jolly chap*]

Excellent work. I might be using this when I have the time to tackle on terraining. Thank you for this as it is very useful.

 

[WindexIsBack]

In this post, I'm going to show how a house was constructed.

It took awhile to reach the end product, but I'm very happy with it.

You'll notice that in one picture the roof is present, but in the next it's gone. All I did was move it off to the side so I had a better view of the inside.

The Final Product:

Spoiler

 

[WindexIsBack]

I still heavily encourage users to submit a list of models that would fit a pack. An example is in the spoiler.


Also: Current Map size (w3x) : 1.09mb
Total Imports: 615
Still have 1mb to go before the pack will be considered finished.

Spoiler

Walls (Concrete, wood)
Barrels
Pipes
Pipe Valves
Lights (light bulb)
Telephone pole (several variations)
Wires (several variations)
Tables
Picnic tables
Chairs
Couches
TV
TV antenna
TV table (end table)
Refrigerator
Freezer
Stove
Counter tops
Microwave
Bathtub
Shower
Toilet
Sink
Trash
Canal pipe
Road railing (for cliffs)
Things lumber on are
Trash can
Dumpster
Fans (outhouse top spirling fan, big floor fan, table attached fan)
Shelves
Road
Sidewalk
Mailbox
Canned goods
Parking meter
Parking block
Cart
Cart corral
Metal fence
Store shelve
Checkout lane
Broken glass
Broken cement
Bricks
Outside grill
Table cloth
Plates
Modified fly fx (darker, more)
Empty circular store shelf (gift card holder)
Metal Stairs (correctly sized for destructible)
Beds
Hanging decorations
Pots and pans for stove

 

[WindexIsBack]

Please suggest some objects for me to do!
This dumspter turned out much better than I expected. Just needs some top-lids (not connected to the model) and it'll be finished.
Reason why I don't have those side-bars for dumptrucks to grab is I expect to align those side to side.

The texture is 64x64kb (around 11kb as blp) and used in more than 1 model.

Spoiler