New Field backgrounds/CG Cutscenes thread

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Right, i figured the earlier discussions about this kinda stuff were kinda just in other threads, and it was a topicless topic of discussion. Now it has its own thread  :lol:

So yeah, at any rate, i've been playing around with it a little bit, and i can get perfect camera angles, and accurate models.

The only problem is, unless somebody has an autodesk 3DS Max subscription, UV maps will have to be entirely custom mapped, if we're to export into 3Ds Max. i'm not sure about blender, but i dont think its possible in that either. You do, however, get seperate textures for each face you create in sketchup. so anyway, Here's a screenshot of a really rough taster of the things we'll end up being able to do when this is done.



EDIT: I just noticed Photoshop snapped the original picture way too high, and threw the new/old sync out a bit, that's why it looks way too high.

to be honest, we don't even need perfect precision with geometric-unfriendly areas. even if we just model things based around what we see, we can just change the walkmesh so it lines up decently. it's not like you can interact with the scenery anyway.

Oh, and i'm not the best texturer in the world, either, so, I might need a few recruits. the plan is, people with sketchup find the perspective and camera angle with the "match photo" tool, and create the necessary 3D references. The sketchup files are then uploaded somewhere, and the 3D artists go in and model a pretty high-poly scene with what they have. Texture artists collaborate, then the model and textures are rendered with the exported camera sketchup provides. At present, most of these people will probably end up being the same guy, which will obviously make this the slowest project in this forum's history (yes, even Qgears and FF7voice)

But more to the point, we need people with experience and the will to help out with this. i'll also eventually need someone to share what they know about the how the walkmesh camera is changed over time in cutscenes that include realtime rendered field models.

uhhh. i hope i've covered everything. if i forgot something, i'll edit this post with what info i missed.
 
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Looks promising. The other thing we need to look into is procedural textures. Im not sure if anyone knows how to make them but this is how square did it, and if it is easier to do then regular textures it might be an avenue to explore.
 
This is a free procedural texture generator, i've used it before(for HL2 mapping) and it's a good program. I prefer PS or GiMP since i'm more familiar with them, but it's a great way to get natural looking textures. One word of warning though, you need a fairly decent computer(at least dualcore with 4GB RAM), otherwise it takes FOREVER to render you results. Also it's completely free.

http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/?PAGE=HOME

You results so far look very good, the best we've seen so far. The only flaw i see with this method is the sheer amount of time it will take to do all of the field background, but you've taken this into account.

lee
 
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This is a free procedural texture generator, i've used it before(for HL2 mapping) and it's a good program. I prefer PS or GiMP since i'm more familiar with them, but it's a great way to get natural looking textures. One word of warning though, you need a fairly decent computer(at least dualcore with 4GB RAM), otherwise it takes FOREVER to render you results. Also it's completely free.

http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/?PAGE=HOME

You results so far look very good, the best we've seen so far. The only flaw i see with this method is the sheer amount of time it will take to do all of the field background, but you've taken this into account.

lee
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Quad core, baby :D

aight, that's texturing seemingly almost completely avoided (in these kind of situations, things like this never work out properly). i dunno how this works, but it looks promising, so i'll play around with it.

and yes, i have taken this into account.

Also, I forgot, unless you're playing in windowed mode or have stretching disabled, the original backgrounds are just stretched over the entire screen. what we want is the thing in my screenshot, a widescreen field of view (i.e walkmeshes scaled, but not stretched). i don't know how to accomplish this, but maybe it's a question for Aali?
 
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If you can, send me the exported model/textures, so i can play around a bit. also, I'd suggest against procedurals... thats what square used, and thats why the backgrounds look dumb.
 
O.o what is this? A new project or something? lawls.

If so then it'll be interesting!  :mrgreen:
 
Yeah, that's it. eventually, I'll be able to re-shoot some FMV's with this, as well as get every single field background re-done -  Although nobody seems too interested in helping out, which is kind of a shame.
 
yeah, it works great  :-D. the only problem is, we'll never be able to get total 100% accuracy. I mean, images when changing views don't always line up perfectly, but we don't really need to get stuff 100% perfect anyway.
 
but but but 100% perfection would be the best

i would help if i had the free time/knowledge to having to jobs has its bonus' but you lose free time if you sleep
 
I've been practicing because I need to do this for something else, so I'm improving nonetheless.

Untitled4.jpg


Anyone wanna take a stab at what that says?
 
north? I know "north gate station" is written all over the place
 
"North Edge Station" actually.

It looks like you aren't using my model. You have my permission to have it. You are going to find that rooftop really hard :)

I worked so hard aligning everything too. The model doesn't seem level and you can erase those cross members edges. Sketchup works much better with quads.
 
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Hey guys, actually you can view the actual 3D walkmeshes of these backgrounds by using the meteor program. However you will be very dissapointed because those walkmeshes are very poorly done, almost looks 2D. For example this is the Wutai walkmeshes. With meteor you can view the orthographic camera, perspective camera( although this may not show in all backgrounds) and field camera which is the game camera. The green square objects are coordinates of field models which will appear in the game. The top joint-2-box is the game camera. Meteor is still in alpha version so it definitely can be better. I think you guys should contact the guy synergy blades who developed this program. Maybe he will be able to export those walkmeshes into editable and importable format in google sketchup. They look horrible but you can extrude the vertices to create the temple meshes as in this background, and their positions will be almost 100% accurate. If not this can still be used as references.

ScreenShot002.png


ScreenShot004.png


ScreenShot003.png


ScreenShot005.png
 
I know this, in fact, i'm sure i even made a reference to walkmeshes earlier in this thread. The walkmeshes won't help very much/at all though. for one we can't export them, and it's probably just easier to build from scratch.
 
Actually the walkmeshes are not precise. they are the boundaries of play, the limit to which you can move, but that isnt right up to a whall or something, its actually short of it, and the outlines are vague. The actual floor/walkmesh is fairly easy to do in sketchup, so its not a big worry.

EDIT: just thought of something - one thing we could do is retextured the projected textures n render, but another possibility is to get the exported model, and drop it into a program like zbrush or mudbox. I'm not very familiar with these, but i do have zbrush and do need to learn it. They are used for 3d sculpting, and could greatly help get all the details into the environments. for example in the first scenes of midgar the rough metally texture of the train could be bumped in, the cobblestones moulded etc, then you apply a simple texture, mainly color, and render with good lighting. still, - i need the models and need to learn zbrush. :P
 
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I took one of my practice models from sketchup and converted it to .obj with blender with texture maps
I dont know If i did it right, but whatev.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7R17HHQR

You can play with it or something, until someone posts a real model.
 
Neo what have you ever completed or released? I find it hard to get on your band wagon. You talk allot, but do very little for the public. You seem to suffer from " look at me" syndrome.
 
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