Kaftan Barlast Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 Tuesday February 6th. "Artists loves the doodoo!" As you may or may not know we now have an engine, an office, furniture, desktops toys and rubber poop. But today the programmers succeeded in getting normalmaps to work properly with specular, making our graphics look even more amazing than before. The problem is that we have to put the specular in the alpha channel of the normalmap, and with DDS textures, thats annoyingly tricky. In the art department, everything is fine and dandy. Except the coffee doesnt go well with UV-unwrapping today... and that someone stole our radiator, so my fingers are freezing off. I havent got the SDK for the engine yet, so I cant show ye any nifty screenshots, but the Alpha should be ready by the end of march and then there will be things to show! And yes, I can show them because its only the bussiness-things that I have to keep my mouth shut about. The game itself is a comical third-person action-adventure set in the fabulous world of litterature. DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
kirottu Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 You can This post is not to be enjoyed, discussed, or referenced on company time.
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 The problem is that we have to put the specular in the alpha channel of the normalmap, and with DDS textures, thats annoyingly tricky. Oh come on that's HARDLY a challenge, I oh dubious programmer that I am can do that! I look forwards to seeing more... Good luck! "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted February 26, 2008 Author Posted February 26, 2008 (edited) Well, Ive worked with DDS before and its fine as long as you dont try to use the alpha channel, then it starts acting up. Sometimes it does what you want, but you dont know what you did right, most of the time it doesnt work and you still dont know why. With one particular tree model, every leaf but two had functioning transparent alpha, and no one could say why even though every leaf used the exact same DDS texture. The other day I made a DDS with working alpha transparncy that didnt even have an alpha channel. A separate colour specular map looks and works much better, but you cant get it all Edited February 26, 2008 by Kaftan Barlast DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 Well, Ive worked with DDS before and its fine as long as you dont try to use the alpha channel, then it starts acting up. Sometimes it does what you want, but you dont know what you did right, most of the time it doesnt work and you still dont know why. With one particular tree model, every leaf but two had functioning transparent alpha, and no one could say why even though every leaf used the exact same DDS texture. The other day I made a DDS with working alpha transparncy that didnt even have an alpha channel. A separate colour specular map looks and works much better, but you cant get it all Well I wouldn't use DDS, I'd use TGA, its a good file format, infact I'd use PNG over DDS. I agree, a seperate COLOUR based specular map does look better... I'm certainly interested in WHY you haven't been given the option, its certainly not a dramatic feat of programming to implement, heck I implmented it in about 15 minutes, infact I implmented it in three seperate shaders over a very short time peroid, but we, as in my folks, have the benefit of their own engine. "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted February 27, 2008 Author Posted February 27, 2008 (edited) Wednesday 27th of February He's not bald, it's just the way light falls on his head (really) 11:54 - Awaiting lunch 14:16 - After yet again struggling with DDS, we decided to go with ordinary *.tga files instead. It will take longer to load, but thats acceptable at this time. We also ran a test with a staggering 25,000,000 triangles (and diffuse, normal and specular maps) scene in our engine with a crappy graphics card and it can take it, which is pretty sweet. Obviously we're going to have to cut it down, but it means we can have a lot of objects on screen. 15:06 - Coffee and wrestling time! We lost but the cake is nice. Edited February 27, 2008 by Kaftan Barlast DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 27, 2008 Posted February 27, 2008 Wednesday 27th of February14:16 - After yet again struggling with DDS, we decided to go with ordinary *.tga files instead. It will take longer to load, but thats acceptable at this time. We also ran a test with a staggering 25,000,000 triangles (and diffuse, normal and specular maps) scene in our engine with a crappy graphics card and it can take it, which is pretty sweet. Obviously we're going to have to cut it down, but it means we can have a lot of objects on screen. You know, I'll be shocked if the difference in load speed is ever felt in any sort of dramatic fashion. TGA is widely used. DDS's only benefit is that it stores data in the same way as its stored in memory in DX, or if you want to use a 3D texture or Cube Map. "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Gfted1 Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 Is one of those two guys you Kaftan? If so, which one? And poop is hilarious. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Kaftan Barlast Posted February 28, 2008 Author Posted February 28, 2008 Thursday 28th of February Now we can render lightmaps for out textures, so they wont look like poop anymore. It took a week of trying to do it with mental ray, but we had to switch to using max built-in scanline renderer. Its not as pretty, but unnoticeable once its photoshopped together with the texture. But now this thingie doesnt work and I might have to redo an amazing highpoly thingie because its wonky. I show you in high-tech imagery below DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 Nice... result. Have you thought about using Vertex Colouring at all? "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted February 28, 2008 Author Posted February 28, 2008 If vertex colouring is anything like vertex painting, then we wouldnt touch it with a two meter pole. We were thinking about using a vertex-thingie to blend textures on the ground, but we're going to use one huge map with incremental loading or whatever its actually called. DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 If vertex colouring is anything like vertex painting, then we wouldnt touch it with a two meter pole. We were thinking about using a vertex-thingie to blend textures on the ground, but we're going to use one huge map with incremental loading or whatever its actually called. I believe they are the same thing, it just seems like a cheap way to imbed a little extra info into the mesh itself, what that data is used for is obviously down to the application, I wouldn't use it for much, perhaps as an aid to multi-texturing or to help indicate certain things in regards to blending magnitude etc... What exactly would you say is wrong with it? "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
theslug Posted February 28, 2008 Posted February 28, 2008 (edited) Oh sweet, a vendor sim game. Can I be the fat Italian with a baseball bat? But seriously it looks pretty good. Are you going to be able to actually post your work further down the line or are you not allowed to? Edited February 28, 2008 by theslug There was a time when I questioned the ability for the schizoid to ever experience genuine happiness, at the very least for a prolonged segment of time. I am no closer to finding the answer, however, it has become apparent that contentment is certainly a realizable goal. I find these results to be adequate, if not pleasing. Unfortunately, connection is another subject entirely. When one has sufficiently examined the mind and their emotional constructs, connection can be easily imitated. More data must be gleaned and further collated before a sufficient judgment can be reached.
Kaftan Barlast Posted February 29, 2008 Author Posted February 29, 2008 (edited) Nightie: Vertex painting is ugly, thats why we dont like it. Slug: The only thing I cant post about is business related things really. Atleast so far. Friday 29th of February REJECTED IDEAS TIME!!! http://krotma.com/vid/frogbox.avi One of the enemies on our demo level is supposed to be some sort of creature residing inside a cardboard box, so I quickly doodles up a 3D model on what I saw. A froglike boxcreature that would leap around the level really awesomly. Except our producer described my idea as "something out of the nightmares of a mentally derranged person" and ordered me to stop it Hopefully, my other designs will make it into the game. 16:46 Talking HDR with the programmers, it looks like it would be easy to implement and as we have specular maps on almost everything, we could do some cool stuff with it. Shiny things, glowing things, and blooooooooom!! Edited February 29, 2008 by Kaftan Barlast DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted February 29, 2008 Posted February 29, 2008 Link's broken... Well I wouldn't know about ugly I am just a humble programmer "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Walsingham Posted March 2, 2008 Posted March 2, 2008 I like the deadly boxfrog. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.
Kaftan Barlast Posted March 2, 2008 Author Posted March 2, 2008 I like it too, I cant imagine why we cant have it in the game! Now yesterday was so straining that I couldnt bring myself to write about it. We spent the day in the Motion Capture studio, recording moves for our main character. But that's not as fun as it seems, not only did it rain so much on the way there that I had to remove my trousers and hang them to dry in the mug, but someone had forgotten to turn on the heat so it was only around 10C in the studio(its a huge concrete hangar where they used to repair tanks). I had to go to the bathroom every 20min to defrost my fingers, and the cold made the cameras/sensors(passive 12-camera IR system, calibrated to room temperature) all wonky so a lot of the captured data was garbage. DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted March 3, 2008 Posted March 3, 2008 eek, nope don't like the box frog, it doesn't make sense to my head at all... surely you can give a box alot more personality! Instead of obviouslly alluding to the thought of "Oh look a box that jumps like a frog!" "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted March 3, 2008 Author Posted March 3, 2008 Well... THE FROGBOX IS IN!! Everyone loved it so much that we convinced the producer to allow me to make it. The animations are going to be cool as hell to do. Regarding personality, much of it is going to be in the behaviour and animations since the box will be quiet small. Not sure if its going to have a face or not DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted March 3, 2008 Posted March 3, 2008 *sigh* Artists, talk about being wired different... sometimes I fail to be able to sleep because of... Artists and Designers! WEIRDOS! THE LOT OF YOU! "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted March 4, 2008 Author Posted March 4, 2008 Phhh, you programmers have it too easy. Even a suit whos never played a game in his life can have an opinion on wether your model looks good or not, but you programmers are just left alone to work in peace. I envy you. Me, I have to live with being checked on every 30min and getting "helpful" critique from everyone from satan to his grandmother. Also, no one listens to an artist. When I say that I dont think something is right, I get ignored, but if a programmer says that the same thing, people will listen and obey. It's like you possess the secret of the code, a power that cannot be understood outside the coven of programmers, but that must be obeyed by lead designer and producer alike DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted March 4, 2008 Posted March 4, 2008 It's driven by the fear of the suites that if they actually ask a programmer to explain why X is required, they actually will explain why, it it'll take several weeks, be totally incomprehansible to the suite and eventually result is suicide... It's easier to just nod and agree with programmers, that way they may actually get home LOL. Actually in all honesty I value an artist to do what he does regardless of my opinion, he should understand his colour pallette and the overall result they wish to attain over everything else, and frankly while the code can be crap if it looks good nobody will know that it's held togeather in a shabby manner... It's almost a matter of vision vs logic, the resulting game is a comprimise between the pragmatism of the programmers to provide the designers and artists with said abilities in the world, and the initiative, and imagination of the artists and designers to actually trick the user into believe something is when it may not be at all... "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
Kaftan Barlast Posted March 4, 2008 Author Posted March 4, 2008 Today, our producer wasnt at work. It was the best day ever, it was so quiet and calm and we got lots of stuff done DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
Kaftan Barlast Posted March 7, 2008 Author Posted March 7, 2008 Today we got the deadline for the alpha moved forward until next Friday, because they're comming from a Swedish gaming mag to have a look. We wont be able to make it, but what are you going to do? We're tweaking the main character as much as we can, but she's no Alyx Vance yet. We didnt want an overly sexified female character, so we got a real life girl to come and model for us, and another girl to record Motion Capture from. The first was a bad idea, because real female physicque does not translate well into game graphics. The model looks short, pudgy, assymmetrical, wonky, disproportionate and generally ugly. DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "
@\NightandtheShape/@ Posted March 7, 2008 Posted March 7, 2008 I want screenshots DAMNIT! I'll show you mine, if you show me yours "I'm a programmer at a games company... REET GOOD!" - Me
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