Topic: CAN 3DRAD Do THIS TOO? #1 - Building A 4 Story Walkup (Read 1449 times)

Mike Hense · « **on:** August 11, 2013, 10:03:18 AM »

Topic: ARCHITECTURE

one of my favorite games was he original Medal Of Honor...

the action and gameplay was cool, but more intriguing to me was the first person perspective set in a richly modeled virtual world, with buildings that you could walk into and explore... a full virtual reality experience which went a loooooong way to immersing the player into the game...

i've not seen too many 3DRAD projects where this level of immersion exists... where you can walk into a building and move around like in real life...

so... with this question in mind, i'm embarking on a series of CAN 3DRAD DO THIS TOO? threads across the different forums...

mainly to help organize and document my workflow (since i haven't done any of these so far), i decided to start a thread on this for anyone who might be interested to chime in with questions and comments...

the first one will be this one in the Artist's Discussion Forum, and will address the question, can 3DRAD create a virtual building where the player can run around in first person...

first, as with every project, you need a plan...

1- you need a first person player... Rad gives us one (firstperson cam object) so i can use that or use a custom made first person player object...

2- you need a building... a realistic building that players can walk around in... so, since i don't have one, and since this is a key component of the virtual immersion thing i mentioned above, the next step is to build one...

i decided to build a multi floor walk up for my project... i don't have every aspect of what it will eventually look like, but the basics will be a 4 story walk up apartment building... something like a NY brownstone...

it'll have to have a rigidbody underpinning... so that's first thing to make... here we go...

plus about an hour... the rigidbody takes shape...

--Mike

behdadsoft · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2013, 11:49:43 AM »

this is not art related and does not belong in the ARTIST'S DISCUSSION FORUM...

--Behdadsoft

Cypermethrin · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2013, 11:53:51 AM »

nice try Behdadsoft but this is discussing whether Rad can support a full detailed virtual environment - ie background artwork, there is no discussion of the mechanics here, we already know how to do that

Mike Hense · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2013, 12:02:16 PM »

3- test the rb to see if it works... gotta see if the player can move around and climb the stairs...

ok, so far it works, but a few things become apparent... the player can fall or jump off the stairs or into the stair well... gonna need to add some structure to the rb to stop this...

behdadsoft · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2013, 12:02:47 PM »

I know, Joking

Mike Hense · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2013, 12:29:11 PM »

ok... rigidbody structure added to keep player on stairs...

i also decided to add structure to the rb for the rooms

and the walls...

4- to sum it all up... rigidbodies were made in Truespace, saved as .3ds, then loaded into SketchUp for the final conversion and exporting as an untextured static rigidbody...

5- now it's time to decide on how to add the visible walls and floors to the buildings... none of the rb structure will be visible in the final so i'll be free to explore several options here...

Sorvius · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2013, 09:45:14 PM »

In the OP you are asking if this is possible. I can tell you right now that I have experimented with this concept myself. If its 1st person, yes it is possible, although I know a little trick in max that lets you export 1 solid model containing several small textures instead of making many building parts

For 3rd person the camchase really doesn't have the ability to keeping inside the walls with you (i know about setting it to AVOID but it doesn't seem to work right, unless maybe I have to attach an RB to it as well?)

Anyway, I'll follow this thread to see your progress and offer any insights if needed.

-Sorvius

Mike Hense · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2013, 02:16:55 PM »

Quote

I know a little trick in max that lets you export 1 solid model containing several small textures instead of making many building parts

that's nothing special... you can do that with any .x model in RAD...

anyway...

decided to make the stairs rigid body a flat inclined plane instead of the stepped structure... i was getting a lot of sticking if the char stopped on the stairs... now characters move better and no sticking...

--Mike

Dillon · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2013, 10:14:39 PM »

yeah, when making a building i always try to remember to make the rigidbody a slope and the skinmesh stairs, it's unnoticable really. I'm also following this topic and what ever other 'CAN 3DRAD Do THIS TOO?' topics

Sorvius · « **Reply #9 on:** August 13, 2013, 08:17:11 AM »

I understand what you're trying to do. I do, really. But what I don't understand is what would make you think that this wasn't possible? I mean we can make any model we want and have a first person camera. That right there is enough for one to say 'hmm, FPS anyone?' Please enlighten me.

Are you asking if this is possible for proof of concept or are you really not sure?

Mike Hense · « **Reply #10 on:** August 13, 2013, 09:03:56 AM »

Quote

Please enlighten me.

i don't think it's possible to enlighten someone who already knows everything... "it is hard to fill a cup that is already full"

Quote

But what I don't understand is what would make you think that this wasn't possible?

of course it's possible... that's why the question was raised...

point me to a 3DRAD project that has cars it, or is about racing cars...
now, point me to a single 3DRAD project which has a first person player that can go inside a house or building...

thick

back on topic...

i've made some changes to the stairs again... now they're simple inclined planes, as opposed to wedges...

this allows the stairs to be arranged directly atop one another, instead of the staggered box arrangement i had before, giving a lil more room for the apartments and making each floor plan identical...

just a lil experiment to see if this would work as well... if i use this in making sub interiors, the stairs are gonna be stacked like this, so...

ok... now to the visual meshes...

--Mike

Sorvius · « **Reply #11 on:** August 13, 2013, 08:03:51 PM »

Looks good so far (I know that's so clich� but its true). For something like this, textures are everything, and I'm sure the ones you use will suit it well.

-Sorv

ps. I know most rad games involve cars and racing, but that's because its super easy to make. Seems like anything with thought or planning is foreign to people, yet they want to make games, go figure...

Mike Hense · « **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2013, 09:51:18 AM »

ok... so far i've been working on the non visual parts of the building... the parts required to allow the player to walk around inside using 3DRAD's physics...

now comes the fun part (read sarcasm here)... the visual parts of the model are next (finally)...

his is where most of my projects fall apart... mainly because i don't take the time to think out what i want the final results to look like before i start work on it... sure, i have a vague idea, but having a vague idea isn't enough... you really gotta figure out what type of shading and lighting you want before you start making the models, because this will determine how you will construct the model geometry...

the outside should be pretty straight forward... the default lighting and system shaders should suffice... maybe

(get to that later)

but i can see that the interiors are gonna problematic... i want each room to have it's own lighting similar to what i've seen in Doom3, with bumpmapped shaded textures... so i'm gonna aim for something like the screenshot below, which uses Genetransfer's PointLight shaders...

i kinda like the look of this texture/lighting combination... in my opinion, this allows me to come closest to that Doom3 look i'm aiming for in 3DRAD...

so... i decided that making one room at a time would be the best way to approach this, because of the work involved... i'll need to make the walls, floor, and ceiling each different meshes, and bring em together in the final... then apply the lighting shader and see what it looks like...

--Mike

Sorvius · « **Reply #13 on:** August 14, 2013, 02:33:07 PM »

Well you'd be right to take 1 room at a time. That's how game designers do it, so your logic is sound.

Mike Hense · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2013, 08:12:24 PM »

the mesh for the first floor hall is done... or so i thought... although i got the stairwell openings in, i forgot the door to the ground floor apartment and the entrance to the building... oh well, i'll finish those tomorrow...

the textures are just placeholders for the time being... for orientation and scaling...

oh yeah, one good thing about Sketchup... it removes the back faces from single sided geometry... i do the modeling in Truespace...

--Mike

This forum is now archived!

News:

Author Topic: CAN 3DRAD Do THIS TOO? #1 - Building A 4 Story Walkup (Read 1449 times)

Mike Hense

behdadsoft

Cypermethrin

Mike Hense

behdadsoft

Mike Hense

Sorvius

Mike Hense

Dillon

Sorvius

Mike Hense

Sorvius

Mike Hense

Sorvius

Mike Hense