Environment Pack release, Bundle
by Apparatus · 06/26/2008 (9:04 am) · 27 comments
The Environment pack is available on my website. Also, Apparatus Bundle Pack featuring BridgePack and Environment Pack is available there.
An important note - I dropped the prices (now in USD) and will try to keep them as long as possible (maybe reduce again); it is hard to keep it that way but otherwise it would miss the point of content packs: providing affordable content for indie developers. I have a couple of side projects I hope will keep me afloat to make more packs and as fast as these (12 days between 2 releases).
I am almost satisfied by the content, though some of the stuff couldn't make it; the river is not included as I still have to figure out a decent way to make it look better, though a hack would be to use the waterfall model for small creeks with loads of water splashes and boulders to hide the connections.
I still work on some other stuff (birds fx and tree animation); Overall the pack is a good starting point for everyone aiming at making rich environments. An example video (with stock TGE sounds) can be viewed here (with audio).
The pack features a whole bunch of trees and grass, wood rails and barrels, the waterfall, the rainbow, example mission, fixed detail maps tge executable, big rocks and boulders, particle effects - splashes, falling leafs.
I have a lot of ideas coming up and I might need a programmer to help me out; one thing I want to fix is the particle editor - i don't really focus on realtime editing - as it is the particle editor 1.3 is a good start, it really could use an update on the code - slightly different than the 1.5.2 particle datablock format.
Now I have some contract work to go figure out but in my spare time I will try to push the Siege Pack (still in prototype but is already fun).
Thanks for reading!
App.
About the author
Tarakibu Studio
#2
06/26/2008 (9:20 am)
I have a couple of test models still working on better ways to achieve it; as for trees, they do cast shadows, slightly, as the collision meshes ar only on the trunks; could be fixed with a png shadow texture I guess, good ol' level design tricks you now :) 
#3
06/26/2008 (9:20 am)
very very very nice!!
#4
06/26/2008 (9:23 am)
Looks really good. When do you think the TGEA patches will be ready?
#5
That doesn't mean you can't use the pack for tgea. All you need is the materials.cs I think, and appropriate maps (normal+spec). With color maps available, that is easy to hack if one's in a hurry.
06/26/2008 (9:24 am)
Jason, TGEA patches are a priority but since they will be released for free (for licensees) they gotta wait the contract work :)That doesn't mean you can't use the pack for tgea. All you need is the materials.cs I think, and appropriate maps (normal+spec). With color maps available, that is easy to hack if one's in a hurry.
#6
06/26/2008 (10:59 am)
I'm still willing to help on the TGEA stuff Apparatus. Just drop me an email with how you would like to proceed. 
#8
06/26/2008 (11:16 am)
@Apparatus, have you checked out the GroundCover stuff in TGEA? 
#9
The groundcover code in TGEA is pretty cool, but for TGE I bet that Ben Garney's forest pack code would go a long way towards creating some insanely huge and detailed forests.
about the river: There was a procedural road object code that someone was working on a couple of months ago . Something like that may be useful to make a river.
06/26/2008 (12:43 pm)
Good looking pack that is! You'll be hearing from me come payday! Does the big rocks mean the cliff faces objects you've mentioned before?The groundcover code in TGEA is pretty cool, but for TGE I bet that Ben Garney's forest pack code would go a long way towards creating some insanely huge and detailed forests.
about the river: There was a procedural road object code that someone was working on a couple of months ago . Something like that may be useful to make a river.
#11
06/26/2008 (1:07 pm)
Awesome! thanks Apparatus...looking forward to using this! 
#12
06/26/2008 (3:05 pm)
Just a friendly advise, if you are using quickmenu on a commercial site .. you should consider to buy it. 
#13
Will be nice when you get around to the TGEA "upgrade" for these packs ;)
For now I just run the textures through nvidia's normalmapfilter, but I'm sure your artistic touch can provide much better normal maps.
06/26/2008 (3:37 pm)
Awesome gonna grab this right now.Will be nice when you get around to the TGEA "upgrade" for these packs ;)
For now I just run the textures through nvidia's normalmapfilter, but I'm sure your artistic touch can provide much better normal maps.
#14
06/26/2008 (4:29 pm)
Hi - looks good, though I don't know if you'd want to go any higher in price, but anyway... are all the sources in OBJ format? Can you do that? I know like myself, a lot of indie's don't have the money for Maya or especially 3dMax licenses.
#15
Andy, meantime remember that you can always use Shaper to edit the DTS models themselves. ;)
Oh, definitely a 5 for this one - please keep the packs coming!
06/26/2008 (5:17 pm)
Looks great! I'll second Andy's comment though - a "generic" format might be nice, if it's possible, for easier editing/tweaking in an indie software package. Maya and 3DS formats are notoriously hard to get imported into anything costing under $1000 or so.Andy, meantime remember that you can always use Shaper to edit the DTS models themselves. ;)
Oh, definitely a 5 for this one - please keep the packs coming!
#16
06/26/2008 (10:36 pm)
The video looks really great. When/If I get some extra cash I'll be looking to buy this.
#17
Hans- Unity needs a mac around (w I don't have) so you will have to use the Maya sources (stripped of LOD and nodes) to port the assets into Unity; Unity uses a hidden FBX converter to claim it imports maya scenes.
Alienforce - that was a temporary solution till I got my flash top working; visit the site and see if you like it now; thanks for advice though, nothing to worry.
Leslie - make no mistake will port everything to TGEA : )
Andy/Kevin - i wrote a longer answer but lost the post :P / anyway, even if I were to make 4 packs a month it is still not worth working on other sources (especially obj); that's for turbosquid users. My aim here is to make stuff available to torque users in specific format (DIF, DTS); in any case, anybody who really needs another source format can email me for help/assistance, no trouble at all.
Zach - the audio on the video I made is a dirty hack - overlay over the video after recording, because I couldn't record video with sounds at all; i guess i'll have to install OpenALl to do so, can;t remember why this occurs. In the mission though it sounds a lot better (stereo, 3d and all that)
@all - thanks
06/26/2008 (11:03 pm)
SilentMike - I just got my TGEA license, will dig into it; looks really great;Hans- Unity needs a mac around (w I don't have) so you will have to use the Maya sources (stripped of LOD and nodes) to port the assets into Unity; Unity uses a hidden FBX converter to claim it imports maya scenes.
Alienforce - that was a temporary solution till I got my flash top working; visit the site and see if you like it now; thanks for advice though, nothing to worry.
Leslie - make no mistake will port everything to TGEA : )
Andy/Kevin - i wrote a longer answer but lost the post :P / anyway, even if I were to make 4 packs a month it is still not worth working on other sources (especially obj); that's for turbosquid users. My aim here is to make stuff available to torque users in specific format (DIF, DTS); in any case, anybody who really needs another source format can email me for help/assistance, no trouble at all.
Zach - the audio on the video I made is a dirty hack - overlay over the video after recording, because I couldn't record video with sounds at all; i guess i'll have to install OpenALl to do so, can;t remember why this occurs. In the mission though it sounds a lot better (stereo, 3d and all that)
@all - thanks
#18
06/27/2008 (4:48 am)
Isn't maya's default file type OBJ? No problems though. If I need source I will ask you. Awesome job. I really need those bridges for my game. I'll grab a copy soon.
#19
06/27/2008 (4:58 am)
OBJ (from the Waverfront days) is indeed a common format exported from Maya, but also a limited one; no support for multiple UV's, no support for animation. Exporting a tree model setup with lod and collision and bounding box and detail nodes in OBJ format makes no sense. However, if one needs the source model to change it according to his needs, we can find the direct link between whatever I use and the other party (Milkshape, Houdini, whatever).
#20
06/27/2008 (11:03 am)
Looks great!
Torque 3D Owner Morrock
I'd be glad to help you with the programming if no one else offers. I don't have any game dev work I need done for myself for a while.