[Official] Behind the scenes

General discussions about X Rebirth.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

Post Reply
linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

[Official] Behind the scenes

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 10:41

Welcome to the "Behind the scenes" thread, where we would like to show you some details on what and how we are creating the game.

This thread will be more focused on art assets, as its simpler to show their workflow.

We will try to avoid posting gameplay spoilers, but if we post something which could take away the joy of discovering it yourself, we will use the avaliable spoiler tags.

If you have suggestions on how to improve this thread or have some questions on how we created something, just ask.
With some luck we will be able to show some behind the scenes pictures of your desired topic.

Covered topics so far:


ART

Creating a spaceship from scratch

Teladi stationpart #1(modeling)
Teladi stationpart #2(modeling)
Teladi stationpart #3(texturing)
Teladi stationpart #4(texturing)
Teladi stationpart #5(setup)

Masstraffic setup

Creating a teladi fighter

Interor modules and setup

Creating a lockbox

Creating our textures

New shaders being developed

Damage areas

New Ship: Nyanea

SOUND

Sound production

FUN

"Draw a cat without looking"
Last edited by linolafett on Wed, 11. Nov 15, 16:18, edited 7 times in total.

linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 11:07

I model and texture my assets in Blender, before exporting them to 3dsMax, as all our tools work with this suite.

"Give an artist a concept art and some time and you will be awarded with some pretty polygons!"

[ external image ]

In a later post, I will show in more detail how such an asset is created. So do not worry about that ;)

[ external image ]

After creation, the asset is given its working name, in this case "units_size_m_ore_collector".
Its an medium sized ship, which will (surprise!) collect ore.

In 3DsMax I use vertexcolours to colour the ship, as our textures are all grey.
By doing that, we can use the same textures on different ships, but have a variety of different colours on our assets.

We also use a new UV Layer (This tells a Texture where it should be) to place the "paintoverlay", so all the small details such as coloured stripes, numbers and decals of all kinds are placed in this way.

[ external image ]

Setting up the ship with lights! These are placed in the 3D viewport.
I start a game viewer, where I can see how the lights look on the asset.
I can adjust the lights in realtime and don't have to export the asset for this step.

[ external image ]

Now I add connections. These are used later on to tell the game where to place things.
For this ship we will need connections for: Engines, shieldsgenerators, the mining laser, a drone dock and a cockpit (invisible, as one is modeled into the ship)
For example the shieldgenerator connection is displayed with a bluish box.

[ external image ]

Our setup is now ready to be exported!

Sadly our work doesn't end when we hit the "export button".
We have to set it up in the database to give it all the necessary information to work in the game.
In the database we also use the connections placed in 3DsMax to connect the missing parts to the ship.
Ship descriptions are added and balancing will be done there too. I may show some more detailed information later about this process.

[ external image ]

Our ship asset is now ready to be used in-game.
Some additional steps are needed to make it usable by NPCs, but the work for me as an artist is over at this point. :)

lordpazuzu
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun, 15. Jan 12, 22:34
x4

Post by lordpazuzu » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 15:29

Thanks for this linolafett!! :)

linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 15:39

My pleasure ;)

Now to the interesting part, how to we create such assets.
I am currently working on an asset for the teladi DLC. Its going to be a production component for a asteroid mine.
As i work on the asset, i post some images and tell something about it.

[ external image ]

Corrently i am just modeling it. I will texture the asset later.
No conceptart was used, a bit of talking and a blockout we knew how it should look like.
At this stege i just have to take care of the design, size and to not "kill" the polycount. The asset is roughly 2,3 kilometers long.

User avatar
Earth Ultimatum IV.
Posts: 5280
Joined: Mon, 3. May 10, 14:39
x4

Post by Earth Ultimatum IV. » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 15:40

Epic... I want to see you creating and importing the upper Skunk floor, which contains engine room and captain quarters to the game :wink:

JClosed
Posts: 627
Joined: Thu, 23. Dec 04, 01:56
x3tc

Post by JClosed » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 16:27

Just curious, but what version of blender are you using?

It is now at version 2.72a. I run it under Linux and like it so far (no - I'm not a "pro" by an long shot, but know my way around it an bit).

linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 16:36

I use the latest officially released blender build. So yes at the moment 2.72.

EDIT:

Modeling is mostly done now. Additional details may be added while adding materials/textures to the model.
Next update will then be on monday ;)

[ external image ]

Artean
Posts: 1094
Joined: Tue, 14. Feb 06, 17:41
x4

Post by Artean » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:09

Ah, a glimpse into factory floor! I have always liked the various designs in x-games and XR is certainly not an exception.

Asteroid mine? Can we build and place them? :)
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - D.N.A

pref
Posts: 5589
Joined: Sat, 10. Nov 12, 17:55
x4

Post by pref » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:09

Artean wrote: Asteroid mine? Can we build and place them? :)
This made me curious too :)

lordpazuzu
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun, 15. Jan 12, 22:34
x4

Post by lordpazuzu » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:11

About Asteroid field, what its the approach? Procedural modeling?

linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:11

Artean wrote: Asteroid mine? Can we build and place them? :)
I have to dissapoint, at the moment this is just a station from the teladi. Mining should remain as it is at the moment.
lordpazuzu wrote:About Asteroid field, what its the approach? Procedural modeling?
Teladi have the knowledge of how to properly bump into asteroids to move them to the mining facility ;)

Artean
Posts: 1094
Joined: Tue, 14. Feb 06, 17:41
x4

Post by Artean » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:13

linolafett wrote:
Artean wrote: Asteroid mine? Can we build and place them? :)
I have to dissapoint, at the moment this is just a station from the teladi. Mining should remain as it is at the moment.
That's totally okey! I have a rather long wish list and it does not contain mining stations. I would like to see other deployables, though!
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - D.N.A

dougeye
Posts: 2409
Joined: Sat, 7. Mar 09, 18:29
x3tc

Post by dougeye » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:42

at least teladi ships and stations no longer look like compacted scrap welded together :D lol
I used to list PC parts here, but "the best" will suffice!

lordpazuzu
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun, 15. Jan 12, 22:34
x4

Post by lordpazuzu » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:45

[/quote]Teladi have the knowledge of how to properly bump into asteroids to move them to the mining facility ;)[/quote]

jejejej I mean about the modeling approach for the game development!

:)
Last edited by lordpazuzu on Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:45, edited 1 time in total.

Vim Razz
Posts: 1842
Joined: Tue, 2. Nov 10, 02:20
x4

Post by Vim Razz » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:45

Very cool stuff. Thanks!

wwdragon
Posts: 3746
Joined: Mon, 1. Oct 07, 02:18
x4

Post by wwdragon » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:46

Well that was cool to see. Thanks! 8)
Editing posts since long before I remember.

Slashman
Posts: 2514
Joined: Tue, 12. Oct 10, 03:31
x4

Post by Slashman » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 17:56

That looks cool.

Do you do interiors for stations or NPC models as well?
If you want a different perspective, stand on your head.

User avatar
spankahontis
Posts: 3242
Joined: Tue, 2. Nov 10, 21:47
x4

Post by spankahontis » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 18:21

linolafett wrote:*snip* here was the entire first post




I take it that Dwalin(?) is a single object? not a number of objects put together?

I'm working alongside a games developer at the moment and from what he's told me that objects for Games are 1 object only?
Not a number of them merged to look like 1 object?


EDIT: removed full quote of entry post -Linolafett
Ragna-Tech.. Forging a Better Tomorrow!

My most annoying Bugs list 6.0 Beta 4 + [All DLC]
--------------------------------
Nvidium Worshop Animation Enlarge Broken :(
Building Modules causes low frame rate :o
Massive Framerate drops freezing game! :doh:
Save Corrupted Fixed the Crash! :-D

linolafett
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
x4

Post by linolafett » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 19:08

lordpazuzu wrote: jejejej I mean about the modeling approach for the game development!

:)
Ah, you asked how we model the asteroid fields?

Simple thing: Model a few different asteroids. Put a nice texture on it. Then we create regions in the map, where the asteroids will be placed. The asteroids will be instanced in the gameengine (identical copies of each other-> saves VRAM) and now you have your asteroid field.

Archaeosis
Posts: 328
Joined: Sat, 3. May 14, 12:36
x4

Post by Archaeosis » Fri, 17. Oct 14, 19:11

Interesting insights, Linolafett, and an excellent way to connect with the community that bit more - whoever came up with this, good idea! Look forward to more updates in future.

:):thumb_up:

Post Reply

Return to “X Rebirth Universe”