[Wipz] My Holiday Gift: New Model!

[OdysseusB]

Hey guys!

I found myself with some free time for the first time in a couple of months (to think that finals week is when I finally get free time) so I decided that I should begin work on a new weapon model. After five minutes of pondering, I decided to with Soul Calibur from the game Soul Calibur II by Namco.

Screenshot1

Screenshot2

Screenshot3

It's going to be a bit high-poly for a weapon mesh (at least compared to my normal polycount - I believe it's actually lower than a lot of the better known weapon mods), but I think the quality makes it worth it.

I'm currently trying my hand at hand-painting all the textures. If I run into issues, I may end up using some reference photography I have. After this is done, I'll bring it into blender to generate normal maps and then throw it into Oblivion.

I do plan to release some more stuff if I can find time after January 9th - as it is I'm going to be lacking access to my 3D computer after this Saturday, so I won't be able to do much over my break.

[Si-Shen]

That looks great, I can't wait to see your progress on it!

[grond]

Love it! Great work!

When you say you'll bring it into Blender...does that mean you're using Max to create it?

Just curious.

Here:

[OdysseusB]

Yeah, I generally prefer to use Max for my modeling needs, and Blender for any sculpting/fluid dynamics. When Blender 2.5 comes out, I may have to re-think my workflow. I've already been loving the alpha.

[PacificMorrowind]

yeah that alpha of 2.5 is just awesome... though the nifscripts aren't yet supporting it (but they will soonish... a fair bit of api changes in blender need to be taken into account though)

Speaking of Max, as a quicker method for fixing up your collision exports to be nonstatic rather than blender import and reexport/manually changing with nifskope you might want to use PyFFI... has a nice new spell to do that very quickly. I'm also figuring out C and the max plugin code to see about fixing that properly for exporting from Max to support any col type.

... oh almost forgot: the weapon looks real nice, and I can hardly wait to play (ie slaughter mine enemies) with it.

Pacific Morrowind

[yu-gi-oh-fan]

Looks great

Yugi

[OdysseusB]

yeah that alpha of 2.5 is just awesome... though the nifscripts aren't yet supporting it (but they will soonish... a fair bit of api changes in blender need to be taken into account though)

Speaking of Max, as a quicker method for fixing up your collision exports to be nonstatic rather than blender import and reexport/manually changing with nifskope you might want to use PyFFI... has a nice new spell to do that very quickly. I'm also figuring out C and the max plugin code to see about fixing that properly for exporting from Max to support any col type.

... oh almost forgot: the weapon looks real nice, and I can hardly wait to play (ie slaughter mine enemies) with it.

Pacific Morrowind

Sweet, gonna have to try that out. Does it also fix the animation export issue? Otherwise I need to re-write the max exporter or something.

I mostly use blender just for normal map creation.

[The Vyper]

Wow, I can't wait to use Soul Calibur on some Daedra. Are you going to make Soul Edge too?

[OdysseusB]

Wow, I can't wait to use Soul Calibur on some Daedra. Are you going to make Soul Edge too?

Won't have time to get it done by the Holidays (gonna be about 1000 miles from my graphics computer by Sunday), but I may at some point in time.

[InsanitySorrow]

Wow its looking great . I don't mind high-poly models, especially when they are worth it

[OdysseusB]

Was trying to get the weapon exported before I had to leave today, but it seems the exporter is incompatible with Max 2010. I'm going to have to export a .obj and hope to succeed at pulling the sword from blender.

[_echo]

need help with exporting from blender, just give me a PM.

[OdysseusB]

So there are a few things of news:

I fixed my installation of Blender and got the model exported. Yay! Unfortunately, the computers I can get access to can't run Oblivion, so unless there's a spare video card lying around, I can't shove it in game.

This may be a blessing in disguise, though. I had to resort to doing the normal and specular maps out here without a tablet, photoshop, or xNormal and I am not certain I'll be happy with the result as is. When I get back to my apartment I may completely re-work the specular map and finesse a few of the UVs, which should lead to a better image.

So my holiday gift is becoming more of a post-holiday gift. Oh well.

[Zabre]

Always loved SC... can't wait to see them ^.^

[nateneurotic]

Very nice weapon model, the mesh looks good already, even sans-texture. I just want to give a big thumbs up for willingness to hand paint the texture! I do it myself and it's a lot more gratifying, as well as fully customized for your well made models!

[The Vyper]

So my holiday gift is becoming more of a post-holiday gift. Oh well.

This is not a bad thing. I've always preferred to wait longer and get something better than getting something that ended up being rushed at the last minute because of a deadline. Take your time and release it when you feel it's ready. From the looks of it, it'll be well worth the wait.