First animations

I spent very little time this months and I've had little progress although quite relevant. Finally, I exported and tested successfully an animation in CQB (a new knife set animation) and it seems that that the neck deformation area was much better. It's very positive because it means that all problems should be solved and I can start doing more bodys and start seriously with the animations (though I'll have to redo the rig). Now the only problem left is to find the time. This is a shot of the new idle knife animation ...

Since realizing animations without using a motion capture gives satisfaction but it is very complex & tedious (currently I'm redoing a "pain/death set" animations) I break a little trying to complete this old projet (this "bad guy" is from "Wargames" - 1983). Maybe it can be used as objective...
 

Finally...

Finally I should be able to share something with the ETL\CQB dev team. Nothing special, it's just my working copy, but it might be interesting for someone to give a look and maybe make some experiments. The content of the packages is still at an early stage and it's very rough. Nothing is completed and there is still much to do but it can be a starting point. I decided to work on ETL and CQB at the same time even if it was much more time expensive, hoping in this way to increase the opportunities of collaboration and feedback. I decided to release 2 packages (ETL/CQB) under Creative Common by-nc-nd license, which include all models, textures and future animations but the content cannot be distributed separately.
Any copyleft (or creative common licensed) contribution will be truly appreciated and will be added to the package giving all credits to the author (look at README file inside for details) otherwise if someone wants to use "non-approved materials", he/she must make a further separate pk3, to overwrite the mine for the parts of no interest.

Notes and bugs for the Z_ETL_player package:
- headset and accessories need to be completed
- the models maybe need to be scaled because they seem to be lightly smaller
- problem related to the neck deformation (even if I can minimize it with a better rig of the model, the definitive solution is to remake from scratch the animations)

Bugs for the Z_CQB_player package (tested with TCE):
- Sniper2 ignore the configuration and use same cap of Assault1
- md3_rank --> why use same md3_hat model in the .skin file? null.md3 --> works!

Bugs for the Z_CQB_player package (tested with CQB_DIM):
- lean left/right has different angle inclination (you can see it with cg_thirdperson 1, probably not related with the Z_CQB_player package)
- no blood when you damage a player (probably not related with the Z_CQB_player package)
- missing headset model or texture for all players
- all allied players use the same head (Assault1)
- all axis players use the same head (Assault1)

In the "source" directory you can find:
- reference of model texture
- ambient occlusion of the model
- .skl file (very useful to see how a correct skl file is made)
- .mds file
- .mdm file (with right tag orientation)
- .mdx file (just 10 frames of the animation that I use for rig the player model)

Maybe it would be interesting to give a modern look to the ETL mdm player and a WWII look to the CQB mdm player ...

WW2 allied airborne model

I have been very busy in the last period but I have made some progresses. The model of the allied paratrooper is finished and the textures are well under way although I'm not completely satisfied, because - for budget reasons - I had to delete the shoulder straps and paint them on the texture. I found a very low limit for all the polygons body models (I think due to export plugins) ... it's around 1600 verts or 3050 tris.

The specops model for CQB is also finished and the texture almost completed.

I'm putting what I did in order and soon I should be able to release two packages to be shared with the CQB\ETL dev team. The content of the packages is still at an early stage: it's very rough and there are still some problems (for example, the ones related to the neck deformation, which I previously written of). All the textures are hand painted and improvable, it is necessary to make more head models (also with face animations) and more body models, synchronize the arms models increasing the number of their polygons, make the tuning of the models rig, check the tag position and of course all the mdx animations from scratch. For the ETL package, headset and accessories are missing, and the models need to be scaled because they seem to be lightly smaller. I tried to maintain compatibility with the original asset, but it was not always possible. I decided to work on CQB and ETL at the same time even if it was much more time expensive, hoping in this way to increase the opportunities of collaboration and feedback. Nothing is completed and there is still much to be done but it can be a starting point.

WW2 german paratrooper (fallschirmjager) progress

WW2 German paratrooper player (work in progress) for Enemy Territory Legacy http://www.etlegacy.com/ 

Just some renders to see how it looks. There is still much to do. After the rig I'll have to see how the mesh behaves with the animations. Then tuning and the export phase (that always has some problems...)

Here some useful links that I used for reference

- great painting and guide for WW2 camouflage
http://www.artizandesigns.com/painting-guides.php

- very useful miniature's blog
http://drjaykim.blogspot.it/2012/11/fallschirmjager-wwii-116-alpine.html
http://www.themodellingnews.com/2013/10/jeff-shius-new-parra-figures-have.html

- great site with real soldier turnaround
http://www.paratrooper.fr/en/pages/mannequins.aspx

- WWII Airsoft Association
http://ww2aa.proboards.com/board/15/axis-impression-information
 

helmet --> tris: 558, verts: 319
head (+ eyes & teeth) --> tris: 1254, verts: 682
u_body --> tris: 1222, verts: 642
l_legs --> tris: 1142, verts: 634
u_rthand --> tris: 392, verts: 198
u_lfthand --> tris: 392, verts: 198

enemy territory axies paratrooper (fallschirmjager) progress

I had very difficult days since the last update but despite the short time I managed to have some progress. I used a bit of time to learn more about uniforms of World War II and the first patterns camouflage used. Some patterns are really great (my favorites are Splittermuster 31 that I rebuilt from scratch and Sumpfmuster 43).

The geometry and the uv map of the new axis's player (and the m38 helmet) is essentially complete although some adjustments after the rig and the export will be necessary (for example, I modelled the y-straps instead of painting them but I have to see what happens to the mesh with the automatic lod calculation). I also started the base texture but is still rough and flat (as soon as I have something that is acceptable I'll do a render).

Some pieces like some heads are now mature and I do not think that they will be modified again (as it had already been completed for Enemy Territory Close Quarter Battle) and I thought that if I release the reference someone could help me with some photosourced texture (maybe using their own face). We'll see ...

crazy flying tag ... solved

I finally figured out what happened.

1 ) It seems that the verts of the neck are not assignable to any bone and can not be deformed. They simply follow the rotation of the head managed by tag_head. I made some changes but as long as you use existing animations there are no good results.

2) assign different materials it's necessary to be able to export the player mesh in different pieces (l_legs, u_body, u_rthand, u_lfthand). The bones are not involved in this process because aren't visible in the game... but for most 3d modeling programs the tags are triangles and are not considered bones so they maybe can receive a material by default when they are created. This can be a problem because they are considered as part of the player mesh when you make the export process.

I found a great resource with a real axis soldier tournaround and since the Enemy Territory Legacy project looks really active I currently start to work on ET axies WWII paratrooper player mesh (also i'm tuning a raw texture for CQB blue player body).

Next steps:
- 1 ET axies WWII paratrooper player body
- 1 ET allies WWII paratrooper player body
- WWII headset & accessories
- Raw texture for all the mesh to be used as referece if someone want to improve it.

mdm mdx export problem

I like making animations but I'm much more comfortable with modeling so I am now a bit faster. I make a new body for the Allies for the recon class (fieldops and engineer) and I'm making another one for the Axis

I'm fighting with mds/mdm/mdx exporter and converter. It's really a challange, every time there is something wrong. Currently i have two problems:
1) wrong torsion of the head when is handle in real time with the mouse (when you look up)
2) crazy flying triangle just near the shoulder/neck (... probably wrong a tag_something).

I double checked everything but i did not find any reason. It's so frustrating ...
Anyway probably i can make some workaround:
1) change body rig / modify head mesh / tuning of tag_head position
2) texture with alpha for hide the triangle

Would not be bad to have compatibility with the Inter-Quake Model (IQM) Format.

 I also started to test / tune and reorganize all / write something about the licence and credits.