Blog for Apparatus at GarageGames.com

Kork 2.0, halted work

Apparatus — 2008-11-04T09:14:10+00:00

I was playing around with the idea of a next gen looking orc and decided to get the old one and give it a try adding a million polys on top of it. Everything worked fine after I cleaned up the initial design and kept only the shoulder skull plates and the fur around the waist, removed the iron boots for something made of fur as well, you know, rough looking orc guy. However.. it has to wait until the world financial crisis is over and I can afford an upgrade so I can actually handle this pipeline. It takes forever to switch from one level to another in zbrush and 9 out of 10 times it hangs the modeling package when importing a bit under 1 million polys to create the texture maps from the high res version. So much for the gigapolygon technology for me, fully detailed characters can go up to 3-4 million (or more) polys, you know, that kind of level of detail... I am stuck and also lost some time on this one. I so much hate technology slowdowns.

If anybody wants to give it a try, I'll be glad to give them the file, in obj or ztool format, whatever. I am too pissed to pick it up again and hang the machine.

Constructor Pipeline (I)

Apparatus — 2008-09-24T23:20:14+00:00

Constructor Pipeline

I know a lot of things were left out in the initial Guide so I decided to go into more detail. Some people may consider common features or keyboard shortcuts as tips and tricks. They are, in a sense, but the term is inappropriate. I am yet to discover many things but so far I found it working with Constructor easier with each day. Introduction, then:

Introductory lesson for Constructor users and level designers

This study will show you step by step how to create detailed architecture in Constructor, how to create and add dts shapes as details using Softimage XSI, Constructor specific texturing rules, extended texture panel tips, creating proper staircases and more.
To avoid mission clutter we will create only 1 interior file and 1 dts file. The finite model will contain 5 buildings. One building will be open so the player can get in, climb to the second floor.
For the constructor detail meshes we will use XSI, importing the rough interior file into a scene and creating every dts detail shape to scale and in the right place. This is also a good opportunity to introduce xsi2dts exporter (beta).
This guide will also show you how to create Ambient occlussion maps in XSI.

There is also something most people don't really know about/take into account: the interiors, or dif files, need a bit of help to really shine in Torque. The devil is in the details. Many people give up - every job is tedious at some point - but if you can cross that line and take your time, the result will be satisfactory. Once you got through this pipeline it's a matter of how much you want the same results again and next time it will be faster - and better :)

No blog without a screenshot:

This shot features rough settings for SSAO pack, developed by UbiqVisuals.

Interior Guide Pack Free Download

Apparatus — 2008-09-23T04:14:32+00:00

For Torque SDK owners

The Interior Guide Pack is now free to download. The documentation, the support files, the sources, the mission example.

To get it, go to my website and download the archive. Then go to this Constructor forum and in the top of the page you have the archive password. This way I know only SDK owners have access to it.

Have fun

App.

Kaboom! Pack for TGEA

Apparatus — 2008-09-23T03:57:38+00:00

Kaboom TGEA

Mike did a great job again and ported Kaboom Pack to TGEA. Go to the website and check it out.

Change list. Right click, save (target) as..

About Constructor

Apparatus — 2008-09-15T18:33:22+00:00

Hi there

Mirrored in this forum post:

I thought about this for some time now and I think is time to take matters into our own hands. Following my previous plan / pack release I decided to take the Constructor documentation one step further. The nicest thing that can happen is a complete guide to Constructor book and a fully documented TDN Constructor section. A big plan but if we don't try, well..

All you need to do is list here every issue you might have with Constructor and / or ways you bypassed known bugs and successfully exported your Interiors.

So please keep this as simple as possible and do not deviate to other topics.

The least we can achieve is share information and be aware of what Constructor can do for our projects, limits and a few tricks here and there.

So a forum about all Constructor relevant issues. Success stories and troublesome export / modeling, etc.. with Constructor stories.

As I stated before, Constructor (and dif for that matter) is often overlooked in favor of third party software or left out the pipeline altogether. In my opinion this is wrong. So let's make it right.

Interior Guide Pack Released

Apparatus — 2008-09-11T00:44:28+00:00

I must say that Constructor is an elegant tool. Whoever tried Quark once knows what I am talking about. So I set out and put together a small guide, information available on TDN anyway but with more illustrations, a making of .. part for the Hangar interior, decals, props and an example mission to show just how an interior can be taken from Constructor and added / integrated into a mission.

The documentation included in this pack is free to download; Support files are available as a regular pack ($25).

More information and download link on the website

Contents:

Interior Guide PDF ~ quick introduction to Constructor basics, illustrated; Making of Hangar included;
Hangar and Warehouse interiors
Decals
F16 prop plane, Maya source
Wheeled Transport Vehicle prop, Maya source

Example mission (starter.fps)

Product page

Associate Rant

Apparatus — 2008-09-10T20:31:24+00:00

I got invited into the Associate program with Garage Games. I must admit, this gives me a nice feeling of accomplishment, in contrast with a rough 2008 year. Let's see how it goes from here on. I have some exciting stuff working on and I just love it.

I just needed to say Thank you to Garage Games.

There's a big thanks to everyone reading my rants around here and commenting nicely on my blogs as well.

Apparatus

Interior Guide Pack update

Apparatus — 2008-09-08T01:00:57+00:00

Following the previous blog post were I said I was working on a warehouse and a hangar, I am posting today some hangar shots; Altough the hangar itself is very simple and the only dts shape in there are the windows (reused from the warehouse) I like the outcome; I am making some dirt decals right now and I will also add more beam structure stuff inside, those walls are a bit empty.

almost there in less than 3 hours with breaks and all that weekend stuff:

the old stencil shadow trick does it's job again :)

I tried to cover only the important steps in the small doc I am making for this; It's not my intention to guide each posible step / click / drag and move along the way. I assume you know that already. All I am sharing here is how to come up with something in a short time, with a straightforward pipeline and with tools at hand.

Interior Guide Pack

Apparatus — 2008-09-06T21:30:34+00:00

I noticed that the official documentation (or any documentation for that matter) is many times overlooked and people are looking for shortcuts, trying many tricks to save time. Dif /interior making came to my attention lately in this regard, so I decided to pick up Constructor and give it a test. My point is to prove that Constructor is not only production ready but also fun. And it is; if you have some tricks in your sleeve the interiors can come out really nice and fast; Add static shapes decals, a couple of dts models for transparency or for the sake of detail and you have a go; Valve is using this method with success so why won't we? I mean, bsp is cheap, has lightmaps (and aoc lately), better collision information.. so why not?

Now, I know it ain't easy to make round shapes and intricate arches. But that doesn't mean is impossible. And when you really need something ultra curved and super round, you can always use the dts shape instead.

Here's a very light comparison chart, Torque Constructor versus Valve's Hammer:

Hammer has :
a. support for transparency (talking about bsp brushes here)
b. decal support (no need for extra geometry)
c. many many years of product life tested by thousands of community members.

Torque Constructor can do pretty much the same (if not better) - let's not forget LOD available for DIFs - and come up with about the same results.

a. transparent areas can be replaced by dts shapes
b. decals can be created with dts shapes as well at no significant cost (if you don't go crazy about 'em)
c. Constructor is a very young product so let's talk in a few years.

Probably the only thing Constructor can't do right now is level design the hard way - a full level exported directly in torque. But that's not such a big thing since torque has terrain support and is a lot better than Valve's so far.

So let's see what can we come up in a guide for those out there looking for a shortcut (or a nudge to pick up Constructor already):

Creating a simple DIF object, setting up materials, export configurations, using shapes and reference shapes. A few highlights in the 'this is not how it's supposed to be done' area maybe, you know, the usual. Constructor has this Lightwave feel to it and some people are consfused about it's purpose in life - let's be clear about it, it is not a high end 3d modeling program, it is a BSP editing app. For those unsure about BSP, please look up binary space partition on the web - a good read from the infant days of the industry : )

Sounds easy and fun. I think we need more guide packs around here to make people more interested in what's going on. Content is easy to find/come up with - custom content is what most people are looking for. And the best way to achieve that is to grab the tool and do it yourself. Come on, it ain't that hard. There was a time only genius freaks could make a textured sphere. Now any programmer can steal the artist's job with the aid of today's tools.

So here's what I am working on: a warehouse (shots below) and an airfield hangar (no shots now). I am trying to showcase Constructor and also show that with a well thought initial design, things can really speed up and the results can be nice.

Light tweaks ~ export your dif with custom light information

Interior shot ~ nice looking sky through those windows

Decals! Red Team spawns here...

More decals! the transparent catwalk is a dts shape

You can pick up constructor right now and give it a try.

Apparatus

"Destroyable objects for Torque" Pack Released

Apparatus — 2008-08-30T21:30:34+00:00

Ever wanted to actually affect the objects you shoot at, applying a bit of damage, maybe destroy it altogether in a ball of fire smoke and sparks, leaving only a smoking wreck behind?

Now you can.

Kaboom!Pack or Destroyable Objects for Torque will give you just that. A lot of examples to pick up from:

1. breakable objects ~ destroy an object entirely, onHit sound effect /particle effect per object;
2. breakable objects with damage states and wreck left on the map
3. explosive objects (derived from above)

BREAKABLE STRUCTURES :P ~ may seem tedious (is not really) but with a bit of work you can have your own destructive environments in Torque.

Lets explain the concept behind this pack for a little bit.

First of all, we needed a way of making things appear like they take damage. That was simple. We added onHit effects (particles and sounds) to each object.
Then we needed a way to apply 'visual' change on the object. Than could have been done by changing the texture or changing the shape altogether. Changing the shape seem the objous choice if we wanted various damage states and a broken /final model (the wreck).

Now, destroying crates is simple. Believe it or now, destroying buildings is just as simple. After all, a crate is a model and a building is a structure that can be created with many destroyable models. One simply has to design first how wants a building / structure to take damage and set out to create the parts; One of the most advanced engines around (Crytek) does things exactly the same - ok, we replaced the debris controlled by physics with debris controlled by script.

Here is a simplestructure example:

As you can see, there is a base structure model and each wall (just one in this shot) is a destroyable object.

Once we managed to destroy an object we needed to step further a bit and add more eye candy ~ after all, if you explode a barel nearby a building, you'd expect some burning / smoking debris left behind; So we added this too; After we destroyed the objects, here's how the mission looks like ~ a battlefield indeed : )

video:

YouTUBE link with alternative rock sound : )

Here are the actual changes made to the starter.fps stock 1.5.2:

SERVERSIDE CHANGES

"~/server/scripts/"
game.cs - adding execs for new files.
fxData.cs - location for shared effects (sounds, particles) new for destroyables, and generic template effects
bomb.cs
crossbow.cs
player.cs - added inventory limits for the bomb and ammo - see PlayerData(PlayerBody); commented out references to BulletAmmo, RifleAmmo, Rifle; added code for onHit style damagefx blood splatter - see function armor::Damage(), added a "damageFX" property to PlayerData(PlayerBody)
staticShape.cs - added control methods for destroyables
rigidShape.cs - moved from demo, added control methods for destroyables

"~/server/scripts/destroyables"
crate.cs
barrel.cs
tanks.cs
tree.cs
fence.cs
furniture.cs //removed chair table models
pottery.cs
simpleStructure.cs
warehouse.cs

"~/server/scripts/destroyables/rs" - example rigidshape destroyables scripts
expBoulder.cs
expCrate.cs
expBarrel.cs
CLIENT SIDE CHANGES

"~/client/scripts/"
default.bind.cs - added keybind "2" to use the bomb. Crossbow defaults to "1" DO NOT MOVE!!!

These are just additions on top of stock assets. Nothing was changed or removed.
for non-generic particle effects:
"~/data/shapes/particles/fire_A"
"~/data/shapes/particles/smoke_A"
"~/data/shapes/particles/splinterwood"
"~/data/shapes/particles/stonedebris"
"~/data/shapes/particles/spark_h3"
"~/data/shapes/particles/leaf01"
"~/data/shapes/particles/leaf02"

shared sound effects
"~/data/sound/destruction/explosion2.ogg"
"~/data/sound/destruction/destroyedcrate.wav"
"~/data/sound/destruction/woodhit.wav"
"~/data/sound/destruction/stereo/crumblewall.wav"
"~/data/sound/destruction/stereo/hitwall.wav"
"~/data/sound/destruction/stereo/hitmetal.wav"

"~/data/sound/destruction/stereo/metaldebris.wav"

for the bomb:

"~/data/special/expDecal"
"~/data/sound/h3/throw.ogg"

for crossbow:
"~/data/special/bowhit01"
"~/data/special/bowhit02"
"~/data/special/bowhit03"
"~/data/special/bowhit04"
"~/data/special/bowhit05"
"~/data/sound/destruction/quiver.ogg"
"~/data/sound/destruction/arrow_hitting.ogg"

Models breakdown list:

The pack comes with actually 2 starter.fps - a 'stock' one and a modified one courtesy of M (SilentMike) Hall. We would have liked to work more on the particle effects themselves but we decided to take the Particle editor for a fix later on, so anyone can create simple smoke or complex explosions.

All the work/scripting/coding was done by Mike. I just merely pushed the pen around complaining about everything. Much of the code is in there, ready to be discovered, cleaned up and used. Mike has a lot of experience from the Tribes days so he did a great job.

Some more screens:

Download Preview Doc Here

Product page

Special thanks to M(silentMike)Hall.