[REQz] I need some armorers

[Citrus]

I need the help of some good Samaritans to help me on my modding project. I need a few custom-made objects: a set of armor (five pieces: helmet, cuirass, gauntlets,greaves and boots but mostly a retexture of the vanilla Dwarven armour), a custom forge, some armor molds (a la Shivering Isles) and a custom repair hammer.

I know this sounds like a lot and it is, to a certain extent. If you want to take part in this, post here (I asked for more than one person but if someone wants to do everything, it's not a problem). Keep in mind that this means not only modelling but also texturing (I can take care of the icons; it doesn't sound like much but that's what I can do well ). I'll provide detailed feedback as to what I want once I get the candidates. I also allow for some creative freedom within my set parameters and, as such, I'm open to any suggestion you, the artist, may have. After all, you are the one creating the object so you should have a great deal of control over your work. I don't mind if what is done for this mod is used for another mod for Oblivion or for another mod for another game, as long as you state that the original was made for The Soggy Bottoms Boys .

A list of what I have in mind:

• Armour - it will look like the vanilla Dwarven armour, with some parts removed (the skirt and the flaps on the boots). Completely new texture with a darker, bronze-ish colour and new engravings.
  
• Forge - in the style of the Dwemer forge from Battlehorn Castle, albeit much smaller and based on one of the wells from the Dwemer ruins. It will need to have some sort of pulley system to lower the molds into the forge. (taken - Lady_Nerevar's got it)
  
• Molds - not much to say here except they should look like the ones from Shivering Isles, except for Dwemer armour.
  
• Hammer - it should be based on some of Morrowind's designs, namely the Grandmaster's Armorers hammer and Sirollus Saccus' hammer, with added rust. (taken - Lady_Nerevar's got it)
  

I will update this thread when needs be i.e. when someone applies. That way I can keep anyone interested up to speed with the progress of this request.

I must also state that those that apply will be credited as co-authors of the mod. The mod's thread is about to receive an update on the coming days with many new screenshots since most of the interior and exterior locations are done (the exteriors need a small bit of tweaking and the interiors are at 90%). The current gallery already shows a part of the mod and I believe it is enough for anyone interested to get the picture of what they will be doing.

Best regards,

El

[Citrus]

Sorry for the bump but it's been five days and I didn't even get a "Are you crazy?" response* . C'mon, no volunteers? Not even just for the hammer ?

*maybe I'm just being impatient...

[DarkRider]

Armor's tough, can take even a great modeler quite a deal of time and effort and it's hard to make that investment. Have you looked at armor resources? Or would a retexture of an existing armor (or resource armor) suit your needs? Textures are much easier to come by

Give it some thought, a new texture can totally change a suit of armor, I still have people ask me today if they can use the model in my sweater resource...it's a vanilla model, I just retextured a vanilla shirt.

[Lady_Nerevar]

Depending on how complex you want em, I could try and to the stove and hammer this weekend. Got any concepts?

[Citrus]

Depending on how complex you want em, I could try and to the stove and hammer this weekend. Got any concepts?

/being very nitpicky

It's a forge .

/stopped being very nitpicky

As for the forge, I can send you picture of the well I mentioned (I call it a well because it's what it reminds me of). It is something present in almost every Dwemer ruin and I can even send you the model and some screens with annotations on what I want. As far as the hammer goes, I'll have to reinstall Morrowind to get you a pic or, if you happen to have it installed, just take a look at the Grandmaster Armorer's hammer and Sirollus Saccus' hammer and mix elements from both; for the texture, take inspiration on the Dwarven armor from OB (mostly the engravings) since this is supposed to be a working tool for fancy armours. Add me on Skype or MSN (whichever suits you) so we can discuss this in greater detail. By the way, thanks for volunteering .

@Darkrider: I had no idea that making one would give some much trouble. In fact, a good retexture and a bit butchering the vanilla Dwarven armour might work since it was supposed to be based on that set. I have also looked through any avilable assets and nothing fits what I want. Unfortunately, the Dwemer are under-appreciated :/. I'll update the first post.

[Lady_Nerevar]

I've added you on Skype. I have MW installed, so re-creating meshes should be simple.

[syscrusher]

Your topic says "I need some armorers (real ones might work too)". Does that mean you need people who make armor in real life? If so, I may be able to help, because I do that. I'm not a master craftsman, just a hobbyist, but I do have about 10 years experience at it, and I have a good shelf of reference books with photos of historical sets.

Let me know if I can be of help in this respect. I'm pretty good in GIMP, been using it for more than a decade. I am learning Blender and am past the beginner stage but not advanced enough to do armor from scratch yet, so you probably want someone else for modeler.

Syscrusher

[Citrus]

Your topic says "I need some armorers (real ones might work too)". Does that mean you need people who make armor in real life? If so, I may be able to help, because I do that. I'm not a master craftsman, just a hobbyist, but I do have about 10 years experience at it, and I have a good shelf of reference books with photos of historical sets.

Let me know if I can be of help in this respect. I'm pretty good in GIMP, been using it for more than a decade. I am learning Blender and am past the beginner stage but not advanced enough to do armor from scratch yet, so you probably want someone else for modeler.

Syscrusher

Hehe, I was just kidding about the real ones though it's nice to know you're one. Must be a pretty cool thing to do. Unfortunately, I don't require such services.

You could still be of use to me (I don't mean that in a bad way ): you say you have some experience with Blender and you're past the beginner stage. That is more than enough for me, actually. You have experience with GIMP and you can certainly make some textures (why am I even asking this?) which is what I need, aside from a teeny bit of chopping some armors and maybe, and just maybe, adding one or two features to an existing set.

The one I'm talking about is the Dwemer set (or Dwarven set, on Oblivion). I wanted an armor based on that and, given the fact that making one from scratch can be a big task, even for someone experienced in modelling, I just want a bit of chopping the vanilla Dwarven set, trim down a few things from it (namely that skirt and the flaps in the boots) and a new texture (that doesn't even need to be entirely new since it can use the vanilla texture as a starting point). If you can open the armor set in blender and take a few things off and maybe add one or two (say, smaller pauldrons and a gauntlet mesh with small changes), then I think you're set for the job. This won't involve messing with anything else other than the model, I suppose. If you want to participate, add me on either Skype or MSN, or both, if you want. Once you do, we cam discuss this in greater detail so I can tell you exactly how I want things; I won't be too nitpicky though; as I said above, you guys have quite some leeway and a big say on how things will look.

[syscrusher]

Hehe, I was just kidding about the real ones though it's nice to know you're one. Must be a pretty cool thing to do. Unfortunately, I don't require such services.

You could still be of use to me (I don't mean that in a bad way ): you say you have some experience with Blender and you're past the beginner stage. That is more than enough for me, actually. You have experience with GIMP and you can certainly make some textures (why am I even asking this?) which is what I need, aside from a teeny bit of chopping some armors and maybe, and just maybe, adding one or two features to an existing set.

The one I'm talking about is the Dwemer set (or Dwarven set, on Oblivion). I wanted an armor based on that and, given the fact that making one from scratch can be a big task, even for someone experienced in modelling, I just want a bit of chopping the vanilla Dwarven set, trim down a few things from it (namely that skirt and the flaps in the boots) and a new texture (that doesn't even need to be entirely new since it can use the vanilla texture as a starting point). If you can open the armor set in blender and take a few things off and maybe add one or two (say, smaller pauldrons and a gauntlet mesh with small changes), then I think you're set for the job. This won't involve messing with anything else other than the model, I suppose. If you want to participate, add me on either Skype or MSN, or both, if you want. Once you do, we cam discuss this in greater detail so I can tell you exactly how I want things; I won't be too nitpicky though; as I said above, you guys have quite some leeway and a big say on how things will look.

I can probably help some with the textures, but the armor stuff is not yet within my Blender skills, as I haven't worked with the animation features yet. Maybe someone else can help with the modeling and I can help with the textures?

[Citrus]

I can probably help some with the textures, but the armor stuff is not yet within my Blender skills, as I haven't worked with the animation features yet. Maybe someone else can help with the modeling and I can help with the textures?

Thanks for the help but, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, editing the base mesh of the armor won't have a thing to do animations nor fitting it to the vanilla bodies; the armor is already there. There will only be deleting some appendices (or slightly altering them) and you won't need to touch the skeleton. That's just it. I'm only saying this to explain myself, not because I want you to do more work . What you already offered is commendable; I was simply wondering if it wasn't a problem for you (mainly in terms of time/schedule/amount of work, since you're doing your own mod) if you "helped" a bit more .

[syscrusher]

If it doesn't involve the animation, I might be able to offer more. I just don't have time to learn the animation parts of Blender just now, as I don't need them for my own mod. The other thing that works in my favor is that I have two modelers who've just joined my project team, so once they're up to speed they can help offload some of what I was going to do myself.

Both of the modelers joining my team need some time for the learning curve, though. In one case, she is an engineer (like me) with CAD experience but just learning Blender. The other is a professional graphic artist, and he has modeling experience, but not with game modding. So they both bring great skillz to the table but need some time to translate from what they know into the specifics of this process.

Edited May 5, 2011 by syscrusher

[Citrus]

If it doesn't involve the animation, I might be able to offer more. I just don't have time to learn the animation parts of Blender just now, as I don't need them for my own mod. The other thing that works in my favor is that I have two modelers who've just joined my project team, so once they're up to speed they can help offload some of what I was going to do myself.

Both of the modelers joining my team need some time for the learning curve, though. In one case, she is an engineer (like me) with CAD experience but just learning Blender. The other is a professional graphic artist, and he has modeling experience, but not with game modding. So they both bring great skillz to the table but need some time to translate from what they know into the specifics of this process.

As I said, it is very likely that it doesn't involve animation (and if it did/does, I wouldn't even think about making you learn it just to help me) but, either way, since you offered help with the texture, mind shooting me a PM with your contact information (Skype or something else) so we can better discuss this. We can handle the details by PM or e-mail (like you have on your profile), if you prefer, though.

EDIT: I have confirmed that, unless you plan on going hardcore with the armor editing, you only need to touch the mesh, no skeletons or even animation involved. Since I plan on having only some small changes, there is no problem whatsoever. If you still want to take up on the armor, syscrusher, you can. It's entirely up to you.

[syscrusher]

As I said, it is very likely that it doesn't involve animation (and if it did/does, I wouldn't even think about making you learn it just to help me) but, either way, since you offered help with the texture, mind shooting me a PM with your contact information (Skype or something else) so we can better discuss this. We can handle the details by PM or e-mail (like you have on your profile), if you prefer, though.

EDIT: I have confirmed that, unless you plan on going hardcore with the armor editing, you only need to touch the mesh, no skeletons or even animation involved. Since I plan on having only some small changes, there is no problem whatsoever. If you still want to take up on the armor, syscrusher, you can. It's entirely up to you.

[Citrus]

Well, I'll certainly take a crack at it. Send me a PM with your mesh and textures, and describe what it is you want. Let's start with just one item first, in case I totally make a mess of things. :-)

Syscrusher

Certainly. Expect one by tomorrow or Thursday, depending on my schedule. I'm not sure if I can finish it up in time for tomorrow because I'm not sure I'll be home on time to make something. Today I barely had time to write this post with all I had to do in ANSYS...