Modeler update.

Anything to do with Drakan level editing and modifications, post it here! Also this is the place to tell us about your new levels and get player feedback.
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Drakon Rider
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Modeler update.

Post by Drakon Rider »

added new featurs for 'converting' 3D meshes of a character's models to .RECs ... your 3D mesh has to be close enough to 'base' REC you use as 'source' of weighting map in 3D space, skeleton and bounding data ...

may be useful for character's MODs design and also easiest LODs design for your MODs - support any combination of vertices number and amount of 'base' and new char.

finally next working and bugfixed build (i hope :) )

ftp://au:au@files.drakan.ru/pub/dev_too ... 140403.exe

added:

1. auto-bugfix around skeleton elements becoming 'empty' after re-weighting new mesh to old/base sleleton
(adds 1 new vertex with coordinates 0.0 0.0 0.0 and weight it to all 'empty' joints...) WARNING: if you using
your new character as 'base' for next characters you must remove that vertex ! use 'Remove Unreferenced' command from
"Vertices" menu...

2. interpolation of selected groups of vertices (really work in both directions - old -> new and new -> old
if somebody want it for some reason)

3. additional command for selecting groups of vertices having weights to skeleton element (usually JOINT)

4. some minor features like saving your last Min int radius to registry and a bit wider startup screen for
new button to fit ... lots of new windows :) ...

tutorial:

1. File->Open... load Rynn MP Banded.rec as base/old character. it has not any fake vertices so nothing more required
2. File->Import->Mesh for Char open your new character's mesh (.reo)
setup 'Minimum Interpolation radius' to 0.0001 , Invoke old vertices: All and set flag 'Check for empty joints'
if you want bugfix enabled right now ... if not you can perform it before using this char in game at any time even after saving and so on...
3. now you have your new Char ready for gameplay :) ... you can Save As it and lok how it work in Riot Engine
4. if you see some bugs in weighting (and you possibly will have them because auto-interpolation is very simple distance-based now)
you need to correct it further... for example you in most cases will get errors in weighting of vertices of
inner parts of the legs (they are too close each other) ... to fix it in GUI mode:

5. switch to base/old char (SoftAnim (old) - you will see '(old)' addition to char's name usually) in Model main menu,
go to 'Character Skeleton' window and Hierarchy -> Expand entire tree
6. select 'Ltoe' joint and right-click -> Select Influenced Vertices, now hold 'Ctrl' button and select 'Lfoot'
joint... again right-click -> Select Influenced Vertices - now you have more vertices selected and your selection grow...
in the same way (holding Ctrl key) add Lcalf and Lthigth influenced vertices to selection.
7. switch to your new char model and 'vertex edit mode' - select vertices of the _left_ leg only in a bit smaller
area then covered by 'base' model - see height of the green marker
Image
8. go to 'Vertices Weights' window and Actions-> Start Interpolation...
9. select Old char - your base character (usually with (old) at the end of the name - like a reminder)
and New char - your char in progress...
10. in the 'Vertices Interpolation' window - switch 'Invoke new vertices' to 'Selected' and
'Invoke old vertices' to 'Selected' too, you may also uncheck 'Check for empty joints' and
left 'Minnimum interpolation radius' as old 0.0001 ... Ok
11. now you have weighting of the left leg of your char corrected (removed errorneous influence
of the R* joints)
12. repeat steps 5..10 for right leg of the base and new chars.
13. Save As and test it in game again.

if you get horrible char's distortion of engine crashes at loading of level - try to
check for skeleton elements without weighted vertices after 'converting' (if you has 'Check for empty joints' unchecked all time or occasionally remove that bugfix
vertex with 'remove unreferenced' command or manually or whatever) - go to Vertices Weights window and perform
Actions->Fill empty joints command...

send found bugs to admin@drakan.ru

Drakon Rider
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Post by Drakon Rider »

i make some screen-capture tutorial for Chars mod design ...

base Character is Rynn MP Banded and new mesh is pc_newchar.reo

ftp://au:au@files.drakan.ru/pub/dev_too ... _tut01.wmv

you need Windows Media Player 7.1 or later to play it

it shows initial character's loading with full-auto weighting and weight correction on the legs ... at the end there is some bugfix for left arm because in Drakan's databases there are some bad animations for Lhand joint (no weapon in left hand and too low poly mesh hides that bug in retail Drakan)... but when you design detailed hand with fingers it is recommended to set it weight as 0.5 to Lhand and 0.5 to Lforearm for better looking with animations... when you keep 'Normalize' checked it is enough to set only new weight to Lforearm and engine would auto-adjust weight to Lhand to 0.5 too to keep summary weight = 1 (or may be = summary weight before operation, it is usually = 1 for most of character's vertices)...

most of operations are visible i hope... for additive selection and to switch between skeleton elements without loosing your current selection in main window you need to hold 'Ctrl' key ...

Drakon Rider
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Post by Drakon Rider »

posting about alpha-release of Modeler's mod :

ftp://files.drakan.ru/pub/dev_tools/Lev ... 030703.zip

it is sort of a demo of a new technology i going to add to Drakan render engine ... some of a description you can found at http:// sf.net/projects/farscreen ...

to work with this mod you need some video camera and video capture board (or analog Video-In at video card)... you can also use WEB cam USB, but it usually worse than any home video camera... also it has to work only with WDM device drivers (new hardware in Win2000 +), old VFW may not work... it is recommended to have DirectX8 or better DirectX9 ...

setup video source as black and white (set saturation to 0) 352*288 YUY2 (recommended) or 352*288 RGB24 (worse but many USB web-cams have it).

after Modeler started open Window->Tracking setup ... if for setup your video capture right you have to see a pictue of you ... left- click of mouse at the point on the image where your head located (like eye, nose or other) - that will start tracking... to disable tracking - right click anywhere inside that window ... left-clicking again would select new searching block (32*32 pixels in size)... in the status bar you see some debug info - X and Y found and MinDiff - the less value the best tracking work, if it exceeds 4500 tracking stopped untill restoring good conditions...

tracking data forced camera to additional rotation as you work with 'rotate' tool before... but now you can use your own head to 'look around' your 3D model... to close Tracking setup window - click on the same command Window->Tracking setup this would not stop tracking.

screenshot: ftp://files.drakan.ru/pub/dev_tools/Lev ... rMod01.jpg

Drakon Rider
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Post by Drakon Rider »

being busy with texture mapping some new char i finally remembered
some old ideas about its process with Modeler...

1. added feature - when you drag 'texture vertex' in Texture Mapping window it
cause flicker (depend on framerate though - one frame On and one frame Off)
of the mesh's vertex, that this 'texture vertex' belongs to in the
main Modeler's window... now it is much easier to understand what
texture vertex of current polygon do you draging even with
low-contrast low-detailed texture...

2. reassigned 'S' hotkey to 'Use Selected Polygons' command of
Texture Mapping window ...

3. possibly fixed most of bugs with system STOP errors and corrupted textures in Textures and Texture Mapping windows - have tested now with GF Ti4280 and Win2000SP3 + DX9 with Detonator 42.30 video drivers with 'full hardware acceleration' enabled in desktop's properties.


ftp://au:au@files.drakan.ru/pub/dev_too ... 050803.zip

aka v. 2.56

Sonic 69
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Post by Sonic 69 »

I need a nude mod for Rynn on order of the Flame and a mod forArokh in blue and silver can any one help please. Sonic 69 at StargKeith@MSN.Com

AXE
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Post by AXE »

Check ur e-mail

Sonic 69
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Post by Sonic 69 »

I can't get it to down load

Sonic 69
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Post by Sonic 69 »

how can I get it to work on my new computer in XP but the G-card is new

Sonic 69
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Post by Sonic 69 »

Thanks for the nude patch.

UCyborg
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Re: Modeler update.

Post by UCyborg »

Has anybody saved the file? Neither old or new login works. I wanted to include it with AiO Patch.
"When a human being takes his life in depression, this is a natural death of spiritual causes. The modern barbarity of 'saving' the suicidal is based on a hair-raising misapprehension of the nature of existence." - Peter Wessel Zapffe

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mage150
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Re: Modeler update.

Post by mage150 »

UCyborg wrote:Has anybody saved the file? Neither old or new login works. I wanted to include it with AiO Patch.
the REO to REC converter? I might be able to acquire it for you.
Moderator Of Arokh's Lair.

UCyborg
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Re: Modeler update.

Post by UCyborg »

Well, if I understood correctly, the link in original post links to updated modeler program (version 2.56) that comes with the editing tools, which has this converter among other fixes/additions. So if you can get it, I can include it with AiO Patch. We must have all updates to the game and the accompanying tools in one place.
"When a human being takes his life in depression, this is a natural death of spiritual causes. The modern barbarity of 'saving' the suicidal is based on a hair-raising misapprehension of the nature of existence." - Peter Wessel Zapffe

Drakon Rider-16
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Re: Modeler update.

Post by Drakon Rider-16 »

The links to ftp files are still available via http mode - http://drakan.ru/FTProot . Unfortunately the hosting/server was many times bugged with viruses so may be executable files are damaged.

UCyborg
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Re: Modeler update.

Post by UCyborg »

Thank you, the modeler files seem intact. Didn't know there was also an update to it from Surreal in 2000. Sucks about the viruses though, must be why drakan.ru made it on some lists of malicious sites.
"When a human being takes his life in depression, this is a natural death of spiritual causes. The modern barbarity of 'saving' the suicidal is based on a hair-raising misapprehension of the nature of existence." - Peter Wessel Zapffe

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