Saber's Thread

[Captain Tankman]

oh okay, good to know :D Thanks therimmer96

 

[Valck]

No thanks, would mean needing to create 2 skins, one detailed, and one not. Customizability should be as easy as it is now.

The game could generate downsampled low-res textures on the fly, either as an option if no high quality, low-res textures are provided, or just generally with no need for user-supplied low-res textures...

 

[therimmer96]

The game could generate downsampled low-res textures on the fly, either as an option if no high quality, low-res textures are provided, or just generally with no need for user-supplied low-res textures...

My biggest issue is high res textures. Very few people skin at the moment, simply because dave is a fairly high quality model and so skinning is a fairly daunting task. The last thing we want to do is further raise the barrier to skinning.

Plus, lets face it, Starmade is a low detail game. Even the LOD blocks are very simplistic. A high detail dave would just look out of place.

 

[Valck]

My biggest issue is high res textures. Very few people skin at the moment, simply because dave is a fairly high quality model and so skinning is a fairly daunting task. The last thing we want to do is further raise the barrier to skinning.

I wouldn't say the current skin textures are too difficult to create; as with everything, it takes a bit of practice, but I don't think it's that different from say, Minecraft skins. I have done a few in both games, you quickly get the hang of it; and I wouldn't call myself an artist by any means.

Plus, lets face it, Starmade is a low detail game. Even the LOD blocks are very simplistic. A high detail dave would just look out of place.

No real disagreement here, I was simply addressing your concerns. Although if Dave, and in extension NPCs, get LoD'd (), it will require lower resolution textures, no matter if they are downsampled from 1024 or 256.

 

[Captain Tankman]

The main reason why non-voxel objects like consoles and pipes are LoD-objects are that when used in masses they don't affect the perfomance as heavily as they would without the loss of detail.

Daves don't appear in such masses so they would dramatically influence perfomace (I've never seen more than a couple players in one place). So it wouldn't make huge sense to make Dave a LoD-object IMO

 

[Valck]

The main reason why non-voxel objects like consoles and pipes are LoD-objects are that when used in masses they don't affect the perfomance as heavily as they would without the loss of detail.

Daves don't appear in such masses so they would dramatically influence perfomace (I've never seen more than a couple players in one place). So it wouldn't make huge sense to make Dave a LoD-object IMO

NPCs are "Daves", too. We may get to see quite a few more of those in the near future. Whether or not lots of them impact performance, and if level-of-detail models are actually needed remains to be seen, and is ultimatively Schine's call anyway. My guess would be the AI calculations are heavier on performance than the graphics.

 

[Gamel]

talking about LoD Dave, how about keep the current
Dave 3d model and make 2 new 3d model

1.)Simplified uni-body for distance view
2.) Female body for Daisy

you might ask who is Daisy, Check this post at #3: Dave counterpart name Vote

 

[Lone_Puppy]

Saber, is a LoD Dave on the horizon?
I was thinking about a LoD Dave today to. It would allow for more diversity in appearance. I also wonder what kind of load there would be in downloading custom skins and potentially custom Avatar LoD models. Skin/Model packs would be great for factions.

I know it's probably a bit redundant, but perhaps some kind of control in-game could switch between original and LoD Dave for players and server admins to choose. That way you can continue with original dave, but if you want to try LoD Dave you could switch.
I don't think it would need to be a complicated LoD Dave.

 

[Calhoun]

It's somewhat hilarious how my half assed comment sparked a discussion :D

 

[Lone_Puppy]

It's somewhat hilarious how my half assed comment sparked a discussion :D

When I saw it I knew exactly what you were talking about though.

 

[Gamel]

When I saw it I knew exactly what you were talking about though.

This is called brainstorming, keep up the good work mate, nice "half assed" suggestion

 

[Captain Tankman]

/sarcasm
why don't we go back to the old player model?

/sarcasm


Srsly, can somebody give me an answer why we actually need a LoD Dave? The current model is simple enough so it doens't really affect performance, but also complex enough to allow for detailed skins and such. As I stated earlier I personally don't see a reason to make it more complicated.

 

[Saber]

Hey sorry about the absence everybody! I've been pretty busy so haven't been able to devote much time to the forums. Because of that extended absence I figured I'd throw some goodies your way.

First off, since everyone is talking about an LOD model for dave, I wanted to say that I don't intend to make a lower LOD model for Dave as he's already fairly low poly. The thing I think everyone would be interested to hear though is that we'll be making a new Dave model in the future. The model we have currently is starting to feel a bit dated and doesn't match the aesthetic direction we're planning on going with the game. There are a few other reasons as to why we'll have a new one, some of which I can't talk about in a lot of detail yet but that's coming some time down the road.

The next thing I wanted to talk about, was a bit of what I've been doing lately. Along with the updated flora, capsules, and light rods I've also developed some new assets driven purely by community request. First up is what I'm tentatively calling handrails, though I'm considering a different name after nailing down the final design. This was created through direct influence from the council, after hearing the request from community members. Here's an image of what the model (NOT textured) looks like in a few different orientations.

Spoiler

Next up is another thing which has been frequently requested by the community...............more pipes! Or to be more specific, pipe variants, to round out the set. Have a look!

Spoiler

I still need to do a few minor tweaks to the unwraps so that the bevels match the angles better. The variants actually use the same texture map as the original pipe, one to cut down on work Kupu has to do, and two because it helps keep file size and number at a minimum.

So hopefully that makes up for the absence I've had, if anyone has any questions or feedback let me know!

 

[Bogdan]

So hopefully that makes up for the absence I've had, if anyone has any questions or feedback let me know!

Is it too soon to ask "what's next?" ?

 

[Saber]

Is it too soon to ask "what's next?" ?

Nope, it's a good question to be honest. I don't think I can say a lot yet about what I'll be working on as it regards features which haven't been discussed with the community a lot. However Kupu and I are in our early (very early) phase of planning out what exactly we want the new model to look like, and then how that might tie into future game features. So as I wrap up the models that will replace sprites I'll be working on that.

Something that I would like to see some feedback on about the "handrails" is their position. Would people prefer them centered in the block? Or off to one side like the light bar is? The "handrail" is the same thickness as the light bar, so that should provide some context how it would occupy a cubic meter.

 

[Zernock]

oh wow saber thats great on the pipe variants and the hand rails (Prison bars)

thanks for your hard work

 

[nightrune]

Nope, it's a good question to be honest. I don't think I can say a lot yet about what I'll be working on as it regards features which haven't been discussed with the community a lot. However Kupu and I are in our early (very early) phase of planning out what exactly we want the new model to look like, and then how that might tie into future game features. So as I wrap up the models that will replace sprites I'll be working on that.

Something that I would like to see some feedback on about the "handrails" is their position. Would people prefer them centered in the block? Or off to one side like the light bar is? The "handrail" is the same thickness as the light bar, so that should provide some context how it would occupy a cubic meter.

Depending on the difficulty of doing it. I'd like to see both really. You'd have to get schema onboard but it shouldn't be too hard to have the placement in the orientation bits. So rotations 1-12 are at the sides like slabs and 13-18 are in the middle in two orientations.

 

[Bogdan]

Nope, it's a good question to be honest. I don't think I can say a lot yet about what I'll be working on as it regards features which haven't been discussed with the community a lot. However Kupu and I are in our early (very early) phase of planning out what exactly we want the new model to look like, and then how that might tie into future game features. So as I wrap up the models that will replace sprites I'll be working on that.

Something that I would like to see some feedback on about the "handrails" is their position. Would people prefer them centered in the block? Or off to one side like the light bar is? The "handrail" is the same thickness as the light bar, so that should provide some context how it would occupy a cubic meter.

Well if it is supposed to work as sort of 'handrail' then it would be better for it not to be at the center. But if is like a prison window kind of block then looks very good being at center. Very good indeed.

Haha I see as I was writing this someone else also thought about it as prison bars. :D

Depending on the difficulty of doing it. I'd like to see both really. You'd have to get schema onboard but it shouldn't be too hard to have the placement in the orientation bits. So rotations 1-12 are at the sides like slabs and 13-18 are in the middle in two orientations.

Having both would be good. Would allow for use as handrails and as prison bars.

 

[Saber]

Well if it is supposed to work as sort of 'handrail' then it would be better for it not to be at the center. But if is like a prison window kind of block then looks very good being at center. Very good indeed.

Haha I see as I was writing this someone else also thought about it as prison bars. :D

Welcome to the challenge of creating assets for multiple uses. :P haha The majority of assets I create I want to be usable in a variety of situations. The pipe for instance acts like a pipe, or a plinth, or a pillar, or any number of other things. The console can also be used in multiple ways. My job is not just to make single-use items for players, but to give players parts that they can creatively figure out how to turn into a handful of things. Often-times even beyond what I originally expected it to be used for (like the console).

 

[Calhoun]

jontyfreack there's more pipes coming!