StarDestroyer.Net BBS

The grass was an experiment, I just wanted to see if it would work ok. I was thinking of those old Command and Conquer cutscenes with the launcher popping up out of it's bunker and blasting a passing Orca. To get decent smoke basically involves a lot of processor time, there's simply no getting away from it. I just leave the thing running overnight or when I'm out of the house or watching TV so there's no great hardship as long as there's no rush for a finished product.

For Plutoniums info Lightwave does indeed support multi-processors, but what I had in mind was to get 2 or 3 dual Xeon servers that are being decommisioned at my workplace right now and network them together as a little render farm to speed up animation rendering. As lightwave supports dual processors AND network rendering it would have left my trusty P2000 free for modelling and pr0n browsing.

Since it took me an hour to resurface the fighter I think I'll beef it's role up a little and have it strafe the bunker before flying past and getting blown away on the climb out. Give me a chance to try out some machine gun effects...

I just about died when I saw that fighter. Looks great, reminds me of old Wing Commander, like the Sabre. But if there's any chance of seeing into the cockpit, I don't think you want the pilot to look like he does. Purple and blocky...ew.
Can't wait to see final results.

Y'know, wasn't this thread about some O-shaped thing? I'm not sure anymore..
I want more missile launcher & superplane pics!!!1!

Yeah, the pilot is a bit of a drag, I stuck him in as I'd made the cockpit semi transparent and needed something to see through the glass. I tried to change his colour but forgot he's actually got an image map for his overalls, not just a coloured polygon, so I'll have to redo the image map to change his look. Normally he doesn't look quite so bad because you can't see him that well, but as I was using a new plugin it seems to have made the cockpit a bit more transparent looking han usual so he'll need reworked or the cockpit darkened again.

The missile launch is still rendering right now, and I've begun animating the aircraft flying in for the attack, just getting the ground and vapour trails to look semi-decent. Still not sure how I'll do the gunfire hitting the bunker just yet, but it'll be fun trying...

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Yeah, the pilot is a bit of a drag, I stuck him in as I'd made the cockpit semi transparent and needed something to see through the glass. I tried to change his colour but forgot he's actually got an image map for his overalls, not just a coloured polygon, so I'll have to redo the image map to change his look. Normally he doesn't look quite so bad because you can't see him that well, but as I was using a new plugin it seems to have made the cockpit a bit more transparent looking han usual so he'll need reworked or the cockpit darkened again.

The missile launch is still rendering right now, and I've begun animating the aircraft flying in for the attack, just getting the ground and vapour trails to look semi-decent. Still not sure how I'll do the gunfire hitting the bunker just yet, but it'll be fun trying...

Personally, I'd darken the interior and maybe make the glass a little more reflective. I loved the look from the earlier render. And remember, the first question to ask when talking about rendering weapon impacts is, "what is it shooting with?" See sig

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote: The missile launch is still rendering right now, and I've begun animating the aircraft flying in for the attack, just getting the ground and vapour trails to look semi-decent. Still not sure how I'll do the gunfire hitting the bunker just yet, but it'll be fun trying...

I don't know what you're going to hit it with (Cannons?), but if it's reinfocred concrete, it'll tend to powder at the impact point and the fracturing will follow the lines of the reinforcing rods (So for a cannon burst, you would have craters with large sections broken off in a line, following the direction of travel for the round and the layout of the reinforcing Rods), th same for fracture lines. Hits anywhere on the raised side parts of the hardstanding will tend to knock peices off the outersides near the impact (from the transmitted shockwave). I've fired a round into a concrete block (6'x1'x1' pillar laid end on for a Firepower demo) and though the round was stopped inside the block, a deep scab of concrete was ejected from both sides, and there were fracture lines along it's length corresponding to the placement of the rods inside it.

Depends on how accurate you want it to be (how much detail you want to show after the dust from the strafing run).

Fuck That!

There'll be some little puffs of smoke or dust all over the shop and that's yer lot!

I've already done the bit with the missile pod firing and the bunkers pretty much untouched, so I'm afraid the cannon fire is going to do nothing. Of course I could make the target something else, perhaps my humungous APC thing, and the missile pod goes unseen until it pops up and hits the plane in the butt. Yeah, that might work...hmmmm. Now I have to think about maybe blowing up an APC. Anyway, the plane flying in is rendering right now, I'll check how the firing looks when I get home.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Fuck That!

There'll be some little puffs of smoke or dust all over the shop and that's yer lot!

I've already done the bit with the missile pod firing and the bunkers pretty much untouched, so I'm afraid the cannon fire is going to do nothing. Of course I could make the target something else, perhaps my humungous APC thing, and the missile pod goes unseen until it pops up and hits the plane in the butt. Yeah, that might work...hmmmm. Now I have to think about maybe blowing up an APC. Anyway, the plane flying in is rendering right now, I'll check how the firing looks when I get home.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

That should be a nice show. Please give us the link to the MPEGs when you're done.

Also, please email me, ok?

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Fuck That!

There'll be some little puffs of smoke or dust all over the shop and that's yer lot!

Awwww, but I want you to age noticably in making a 1 minute animation.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:I've already done the bit with the missile pod firing and the bunkers pretty much untouched, so I'm afraid the cannon fire is going to do nothing. Of course I could make the target something else, perhaps my humungous APC thing, and the missile pod goes unseen until it pops up and hits the plane in the butt. Yeah, that might work...hmmmm. Now I have to think about maybe blowing up an APC. Anyway, the plane flying in is rendering right now, I'll check how the firing looks when I get home.

That could be good, instead of having the APC explode, have it get rocked around on it's suspension as the rounds just plough straight through (maybe a guy diving out the main hatchway with a wave of flame following him out, rather than a huge explosion of the vehicle).

Well, I've rendered the flyby sequence where the plane swoops across the countryside and opens fire, before pulling up and away. Shite. The countryside looks too small, it looks like a model plane flying over some lawn. I'll have to figure out a way to get some proper trees or a house or something in there to give it scale. I added a load of 'hypervoxel' bushes and stuff, but they make it look even smaller. I have a couple of tree models I made but if I include them in the scene it'll take more than a simple overnight render to get it done, i'd need a HAL-9000 too.

Einhander, don't think I've forgotten your little Camaro, I've managed to finally get the discovery edition of Lightwave 7.5 sent to me so that I can legally install it on my PC at work and do simple models while sitting bored. Fortunately the Camaro is simple in terms of polygon numbers so as soon as I get a chance at work I'll add the wings and tail again.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Well, I've rendered the flyby sequence where the plane swoops across the countryside and opens fire, before pulling up and away. Shite. The countryside looks too small, it looks like a model plane flying over some lawn. I'll have to figure out a way to get some proper trees or a house or something in there to give it scale. I added a load of 'hypervoxel' bushes and stuff, but they make it look even smaller. I have a couple of tree models I made but if I include them in the scene it'll take more than a simple overnight render to get it done, i'd need a HAL-9000 too.

Einhander, don't think I've forgotten your little Camaro, I've managed to finally get the discovery edition of Lightwave 7.5 sent to me so that I can legally install it on my PC at work and do simple models while sitting bored. Fortunately the Camaro is simple in terms of polygon numbers so as soon as I get a chance at work I'll add the wings and tail again.

Oh ok, I'll quit buggin you about the Cammie. I thought the Tiscali DDoS attack ate all my emails or rendered the internet nearly unusable for you or something.

Here's a Google search for Lightwave Tree Object so you can (hopefully) find some trees to use for your Kameri Strafe and Shootdown Sequence (hey that's what we'll call it!)

BTW Congratz on the LW Upgrade! Have phun with it!

P.S. I'm giving serious thoughts to a design similar to the Camaro, but a bit sleeker and more fighter-jet-like. I think I'll call it the Corvette!

Let's just stick to the Cammie for now, eh?

You guys with reasonable connections can download the fighter flying in and firing at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenny7/Comp1_6.avi if you have the DivX codec and time to download 1 meg of animation. It's 8 seconds of the fighter coming in low over a bloody cartoon landscape and firing it's nose cannon at an APC I've yet to render. All you'll see is muzzle flash, I was going to add the actual shots post render, but now I think I'll do it with a particle emitter in Lightwave directly. I like the idea of a ton of shot rocking the APC violently as they cut through it like butter, so I'll try for that effect after I finish this bit. Still 40 or so frames to render to finish this sequence.

As you can see, in common with many Lightwave hobbyists I'm crap at landscapes and stuff, too much space stuff for my own good. This is how I learn I suppose, next pass at it will be more believable.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Let's just stick to the Cammie for now, eh?

LMFAO!!! I don't have the 'Vette even designed yet! And still j00 Ph34r!! LMAO!

You guys with reasonable connections can download the fighter flying in and firing at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenny7/Comp1_6.avi if you have the DivX codec and time to download 1 meg of animation. It's 8 seconds of the fighter coming in low over a bloody cartoon landscape and firing it's nose cannon at an APC I've yet to render. All you'll see is muzzle flash, I was going to add the actual shots post render, but now I think I'll do it with a particle emitter in Lightwave directly. I like the idea of a ton of shot rocking the APC violently as they cut through it like butter, so I'll try for that effect after I finish this bit. Still 40 or so frames to render to finish this sequence.

As you can see, in common with many Lightwave hobbyists I'm crap at landscapes and stuff, too much space stuff for my own good. This is how I learn I suppose, next pass at it will be more believable.

Excellent! Maybe this is a grasslands region a bit like Ireland? All we'd need is a couple sheep scattering, and maybe a couple burning farmhouses on the hills...

Ireland, eh? Hmmm

I've begun work on making some cardboard cutouts of my high poly tree models, but it'll take a little bit of work to integrate it into the scene. Once I figure it out though I can redo the scene a little more realistically.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:Let's just stick to the Cammie for now, eh?

You guys with reasonable connections can download the fighter flying in and firing at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenny7/Comp1_6.avi if you have the DivX codec and time to download 1 meg of animation. It's 8 seconds of the fighter coming in low over a bloody cartoon landscape and firing it's nose cannon at an APC I've yet to render. All you'll see is muzzle flash, I was going to add the actual shots post render, but now I think I'll do it with a particle emitter in Lightwave directly. I like the idea of a ton of shot rocking the APC violently as they cut through it like butter, so I'll try for that effect after I finish this bit. Still 40 or so frames to render to finish this sequence.

As you can see, in common with many Lightwave hobbyists I'm crap at landscapes and stuff, too much space stuff for my own good. This is how I learn I suppose, next pass at it will be more believable.

With the cam scheme on the Missile site and the Plane, I'm surprised you didn't use the terrain from canyonRun.

Nice smooth run there, but is it only firing as it's doing that climb at the end, or is it firing the whole time it's onscreen? There's either a bit of light flare from the nose as it starts the run or the cannons firing. I'm guessing it's light flare, but i thought I'd ask, just to be sure.

I take it the Vehicle is on the slope and the Missile site will be on the reverse slope hidden from the fighter (he pops over the ridge and the launchewr deploys, tracks and fires).

That's exactly the plan Rob; plane flies in low and blasts the APC off a ridge, then pulls up and gets nailed by the missile launcher it never noticed. This IS the terrain from the canyon run test film, it's just been halfed in height and resurfaced slightly. As I said, i'm crap at landscape stuff and it'll take me a little work to get it looking right. As the missile launcher is in grasslands i tried to match it with grassy terrain, but the colouring and look are too bright, too cartoony. I'll get there though, with some trees and features to give it scale and a decent colour match for the ground we should be in business. It only took 1 night to render this anyway, there's nothing terribly processor intensive in this bit.

I can only think the glare is from the sun, the fighter has quite a high specular component to it's surface and the muzzleflash and light only come on from frame 200 to 240 or so. I'll double check though, sometimes Lightwave just decides to ignore envelope control settings. I'll also add visible bullets so you know exactly when it's in action. The actual missile launch sequence will be finished rendering by the time I get home today, so you can check it out later tonight.

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:That's exactly the plan Rob; plane flies in low and blasts the APC off a ridge, then pulls up and gets nailed by the missile launcher it never noticed. This IS the terrain from the canyon run test film, it's just been halfed in height and resurfaced slightly. As I said, i'm crap at landscape stuff and it'll take me a little work to get it looking right. As the missile launcher is in grasslands i tried to match it with grassy terrain, but the colouring and look are too bright, too cartoony. I'll get there though, with some trees and features to give it scale and a decent colour match for the ground we should be in business. It only took 1 night to render this anyway, there's nothing terribly processor intensive in this bit.

Ah. You mentioned something earlier about scale, well in the part at the beginning when the plane dives down into the depression, you could put some buildings (Farm buildings or such) on that ridge or slope and have the plane going straight over them as it begins its approach. (Can you tell I was watching the 'Dambusters' programme last night? )

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:I can only think the glare is from the sun, the fighter has quite a high specular component to it's surface and the muzzleflash and light only come on from frame 200 to 240 or so. I'll double check though, sometimes Lightwave just decides to ignore envelope control settings. I'll also add visible bullets so you know exactly when it's in action. The actual missile launch sequence will be finished rendering by the time I get home today, so you can check it out later tonight.

The flare was only really noticable when I used Media Player, in straight Divx it's hardly there long enough to notice. If you're going to have grasslands as the terrain maybe you should change the launchers cam, as it's going to stick out lke a sore thumb as a square of desert cam in the middle of grass.

Just to update that the O-Wing details are just about done now, I've had a few personal problems that have kept me away from doing this but I'm back now. On another note my Y-Wing is finished, thank to my friend Andrew March for the excellent texture job on it. A great job



That's all modeled details, took me bloody ages.

Dangerous Beans wrote:Just to update that the O-Wing details are just about done now, I've had a few personal problems that have kept me away from doing this but I'm back now. On another note my Y-Wing is finished, thank to my friend Andrew March for the excellent texture job on it. A great job

http://freespace.virgin.net/lightwave.user/yw.jpg

That's all modeled details, took me bloody ages.

*Droool!!*

Holy shit that's incredible!!!!

Dangerous Beans wrote:Just to update that the O-Wing details are just about done now, I've had a few personal problems that have kept me away from doing this but I'm back now. On another note my Y-Wing is finished, thank to my friend Andrew March for the excellent texture job on it. A great job

http://freespace.virgin.net/lightwave.user/yw.jpg

That's all modeled details, took me bloody ages.

That's amazing stuff.

On a side note, I assume you're familiar with the Amazing Maurice?

Dangerous Beans wrote:Just to update that the O-Wing details are just about done now, I've had a few personal problems that have kept me away from doing this but I'm back now. On another note my Y-Wing is finished, thank to my friend Andrew March for the excellent texture job on it. A great job

Amazingly detailed Y-wing

That's all modeled details, took me bloody ages.

That is some detail work, obviously a labour of love there. Very nice.

Thanks for the comments On the side note Dalton, who is this Amazing Maurice I never met the cat.

Great book

On another side note, I can't be arsed to find the thread again so we'll just slightly hijack this thread as the 'lightwave model' thread and I'll stick this stuff for Snoman here. I finallly cleared my feet a bit with the models I promised to make people, so I spent this evening rebuilding Einhander Snomans Camaro design to his more exact specs received in recent e-mails between ourselves. This should be more to his liking, including the cranked wings (20 degrees up, 5 down) and the fuller body with circular engine. He'll also be making the bump and colour maps once I show him how

Once Alan finishes the O-wing detailing I'll texture the bugger and we'll see how it looks in a few pics and stuff. We wait with baited breath....

Dangerous Beans wrote:Thanks for the comments On the side note Dalton, who is this Amazing Maurice I never met the cat.

Great book

Your handle, it's a Discworld character (rat) from the book Amazing Maurice and his Educated rats, hence his comment.

ADDENDUM: You know, it would reeeeaaaalllllly help, if I read the posts I reply to and understand what's said - like, for instance, not missing the last line that shows the person making the post actually knows what I decided to lecture him on.

Me am Stoopid

Kenny_10_Bellys wrote:On another side note, I can't be arsed to find the thread again so we'll just slightly hijack this thread as the 'lightwave model' thread and I'll stick this stuff for Snoman here. I finallly cleared my feet a bit with the models I promised to make people, so I spent this evening rebuilding Einhander Snomans Camaro design to his more exact specs received in recent e-mails between ourselves. This should be more to his liking, including the cranked wings (20 degrees up, 5 down) and the fuller body with circular engine. He'll also be making the bump and colour maps once I show him how

Once Alan finishes the O-wing detailing I'll texture the bugger and we'll see how it looks in a few pics and stuff. We wait with baited breath....

http://www.axeman3d.com/posts/cam_3_1.jpg
http://www.axeman3d.com/posts/cam_3_2.jpg

W00tage!

That was a very nice surprise!!

Thanks Kenny!