Unit Preview: Vindicare Assassin

[Flash]

HAH! got it to work. I just unchecked generate mipmaps on the theory that it already had mipmaps.





This is still a mildly rubbish quick job, but now that I know what to do, I can work on improving the quality

and yeah I didn't touch the rifle

[Orkfaeller]

Whoa, TOO dark, mate^^

[Flash]

So what would guys like to see done with it? Also on too dark front, almost every reference pick has the outfit being black or dark grey. My thoughts were that there is too little variation in the darkness in regards to what I have now. Almost every bit is just darker, but that's the quick method of how I did it. And too shiny.

[Orkfaeller]

Well there is black and there is "black",



and this guy needs desperatly some highlights, or lighter colours its swallowing all the details.

On these Screenshots he almost doesnt look textured.

Just all black on bump maps.

[Flash]

Ya that falls under the lack of variation. Already on it

[Flash]

rough draft 2.





Things that are still bugging me. I would like to make the imperial eagle silver. The holster looks wonky. and I want to add 2 more glowy red bits to the helmet apparatus.

Heh this is a much better use of my time than studying haha

[sterling]

Looking much better, good work.

Nice to see some new models coming in too.

[Lost Son of Nikhel]

Yeah, now it's almost perfect.

[Flash]

ok I turned the eagle silver, added/made the 2 red lights on the helmet stalk more prominent, and got rid of the annoying light brown-red spot on the holster. Those changes were only too LOD0. They were were very specific to the each section. I might add them to the others we'll see.

I plan on making the skull on the chest plate silver as well instead of black as well as starting on the rifle tomorrow. I gotta do real work now. Keep the feedback coming.

[Indrid]

Would still like to see some more geometry on the model. It's certainly competent but a bit plain. The helmet looks great and has some nice details but they're not carried through the rest of the model. Hopefully Gray/someone can add some more "bitz".

[Nuclear Arbitor]

i think he needs some team colour for situations when there are multiple on the field.

[Flash]

So that's what the _tem.dds file was for! I had absolutely no idea what that file was for and it looked like someone sprinkled random dots on the screen. The model is already set for team colors, but the current area for them is rather small. It's the skull on the chest for the primary color and then two green dots somewhere else that I can't identify. The rest is black, there is no 4th team color option. Would you like me to expand them?

[Shas'el Doran'ro]

Is there a modeler working on a new rifle for the Vindicare Assassin? Would really like to see his current rifle replaced by a Exitus Rifle model in the near future!

[Nuclear Arbitor]

honestly, i have no idea what skull you're talking about. i think either the sleeves, legs, or maybe an inquisitorial "I" patch on the back would work. or were those screenshots taken with a black team colour for the skull?

[Flash]

Will upload pics later. But there is a skull in the center of the chest and where a belt buckle would be. That is the only place that I can see that is set up for team colors atm. It also only works with color number 4. I figure I will probably add something to the holster, or just make the holster a team color as well as adding an inquisition I. That will probably go on the arm. As for the sleeves/pants, I can do those too, but let's see how the rest comes out first.

[David-CZ]

A few hints for working with team textures.

The ._tem file has red for primary and green for secondary color, blue is for accessories and alpha is for the 4th color slot. If you don't use the 4th color and rescale the texture don't forget to make a new alpha afterwards. Also you can adjust the intensity of the color added by the texture by simply lowering the opacity of the color if you use the ._dif texture or a simply black color as a background. You can see this in the banshee texture where the body and the head have less saturated color while the accessories don't.

[Gray]

A few hints for working with team textures.

The ._tem file has red for primary and green for secondary color, blue is for accessories and alpha is for the 4th color slot. If you don't use the 4th color and rescale the texture don't forget to make a new alpha afterwards. Also you can adjust the intensity of the color added by the texture by simply lowering the opacity of the color if you use the ._dif texture or a simply black color as a background. You can see this in the banshee texture where the body and the head have less saturated color while the accessories don't.

I had so much troubles editiong .tem file, that I just erased everething except the chest skull. If anybody can improve it - I'll be happy.

Is there a modeler working on a new rifle for the Vindicare Assassin? Would really like to see his current rifle replaced by a Exitus Rifle model in the near future!

I have lack of time, but currently I working on a visual attachments for upgrades. The rifle is also there.

[Orkfaeller]

I*d like to take a look at the vindis tem maps, if it has time till next weekend.

[Gray]

I*d like to take a look at the vindis tem maps, if it has time till next weekend.

Actually, specular need some love too. It has strange transparency, I couldn't edit it with my version of Photoshop. Scout elements are still recognizable there (rear torso for example).

[Orkfaeller]

yeah I noticed this today, under the right angle you can still make out that radiator grille thingy scouts have^^

[Flash]

Here's a link to what I had done in the pictures above. I fixed the specular map issue too. I don't have time to work on this for the next 2 weeks (finals), so if you guys wanna work with it, or include it as is here ya go.

http://rapidshare.com/share/DFA82129765 ... F978E3D4F8

[Gray]

Finally I did it. The rifle and an attachment for upgrade visualization. I should complete it way earlier, but had some real-life troubles.

http://rapidshare.com/share/08706848DE64B95B6BC7B88058D4C650
Note that attachment is using parent mesh textures: helmet and body.
Maybe I do something wrong, but lasersight, muzzle and extraction do not work. I suspect, it is an effect-linking issue, not modelling (all markers are on their place, as you can see)

[Orkfaeller]

Whow, extra ammo.

Your'e a saint, Gray.

[Flash]

Question regarding the texturing. Is it possible to access the uv map in max in regards to the VA model? I'm looking to start over with what I I'm going to try and do if possible.

[Nuclear Arbitor]

yep. simplest thing would be to get the original model in .fbx or a similar format and import that but you can always export it from dow2, it's just less efficient and more prone to errors and annoyances.

[Gray]

Question regarding the texturing. Is it possible to access the uv map in max in regards to the VA model? I'm looking to start over with what I I'm going to try and do if possible.

Yes, just shift down to editable mesh and apply "Unwrap UV" modifier. Don't collapse skin modifier after all and there will be no problems.
Note that Santos tools max script is likely to destroy small bones i.e. fingers. Thus I was forced to reassign whole skeleton of nearly complete model.

[Shas'el Doran'ro]

I have a question for Gray; I want to use the files for the Exitus Rifle and ammo accessories that I just downloaded from Rapidshare, but I do not know which folders to place them in, I initially tried to place the 'sniper_rifle_vindicare' folder in Elite_beta/Data/art/race_grey_knights/troops_wargear/weapons_ranged and vindicare_assassin_ammo in '.../accessories' but it had no effect, so where do I place these two folders and the files inside them?

[Lulgrim]

The VA uses Scout sniper rifle right now, so you'll have to replace that.

[Shas'el Doran'ro]

Thank you for the reply, and yes I am aware that I need to replace them, but how and where do I find the right files? Which destination are they at?
What are the files I need to replace called? etc.

Please lulgrim, can't you just tell me? I don't know this stuff, the only place there's a destination relating to the VA is under: troops_wargear/armour/vindicare assassin/ and there's no files relating to the scout sniper rifle there.

Can't you explain or tell me which files I edit, delete, remove or replace with the files I downloaded from Gray's post?

[Nuclear Arbitor]

in the SM folder for the rifle. i'm not sure about the accessories; they may not even be setup for him yet