Here is a doosie: Why does my custom animated static mesh show up in G

[Ghogiel]

 

The broken version I have placed all of the nif nodes under a single node and then imported the .kf file after deleting the old kf file.

without even looking, i think i know the issue. you moved things under a new node that is not targeted by the animation. you will need to add this new node to the sequence. as it stands i think what is happening is it can't find the the blades anymore, if you see what i mean

the easiest way would have been to create this node in blender, then link the blades to it, then animate it. that way the sequence would be correct, and target everything correctly.

 

edit:

and btw the mesh itself has some pretty bad shading issues. you should set up some hard edges- specifically on the blade. the normal map is baked, but even so a tangent space normal map cannot correct for this ever. so you'd still want a hard edge on the blades anyway.

 

also you have saved the diffuse map as format that contains alpha channel. yet you do not have any alpha map on this mesh. save as a dxt1 no alpha. this will drop the file size from 1.33mb to 682kb

 

Just saying.... the UV map is wasting a lot of space. you could increase texture resolution by maybe 70% if you laided it out better.

 

also the specular map is like nonexistant. for any kind of metal, the specular map is very important. even more important than the diffuse imo. you can basically put a flat midtone gray in the diffuse and get it to look great with a well tailored specular map.

[Guest Messenjah]

So, I'm not sure what you refer to by specular map. Most models released that I have seen only come with a normal map and a diffuse map and no specular map, unless you are talking about the specular shader? And I thought how "shiny" an object is, is determined by the alpha channel in the normal map anyway? That is where I usually define it. Besides, I don't have a ton of time to spend per-model for Boomtown to be honest as I rarely have time to spend with my wife due to this mod as-is and I'm pushing to get it done before Spring and I am pretty much the only guy developing an entire town for the game.

 

I can see what you mean by hard edges but really the entire fan blade would need to have hard edges in order to correct the shading issue. The real problem lies in the way that I have set up the geometry and I set up the geometry in this way to reduce the polycount as my cells already contain a TON of detail with custom clothing meshes, which I usually spend a LOT more time on. However, this fan has become a complete pain in the butt so far as far as getting a working version. I'm not really sure how to set up nodes in Blender to be honest. I do all of my work with poly modeling and sub-surf modeling.

 

As far as the UV layout... do you mean make it smaller? I'm not really sure by what you mean when it comes to wasting space and increasing the resolution of the textures by changing the way my UV's are laid out?

 

The biggest thing is that this fan is placed in darker locations and honestly, there isn't that much detail to be had so I really didn't put as much effort into it's creation as I have models that are of higher priority than this one. I can always make a new texture set later if I want too and clean it all up when I'm done. I figured on doing that anyway after I get the initial release of Boomtown done anyway.

[HugePinball]

...And I thought how "shiny" an object is, is determined by the alpha channel in the normal map anyway?

That is the specular map.

[Guest Messenjah]

Ah, that's what I thought. I could make it a bit more shiny if you would like. I kept it kind of dull because it is meant to look war-torn and rusted and usually that doesn't involve much shine. ;) Ever look at a lawnmower blade that has had the crap kicked out of it? I suppose I could add some shine though but very slight. But yes, I intend to fix the alpha channels of the normal map before everything is released. That is a last touch up though.

 

 

The reason I ask is that specular can be created in a variety of ways. You can make a model specular via shaders and materials and some artists even bake a specular map outside of their normal maps from what I have read so it would be a texture map baked inside your application after you apply the normal map. The texture created with this is a specular map so I was a bit confused. ;)

[Guest Messenjah]

Ok, so I tried it one more time. I actually set up the parenting in Blender and figured out how to get things set up to match my nif file and re-imported the new animation called idle.... and the sequence imports without any error reports and after setting it up to loop no errors in GECK viewer. However, it still won't play the idle animation in GECK viewer? I'll try uploading my current file tomorrow after work so please bear with me for a while.

[Ghogiel]

I'll just clarify a few points.

 

the specular maps in F3 are i guess specular intensity maps. these are not the combined color/intensity maps often seen in other game engines. the way bethesda has it set up is a bit crap. they use the alpha channel in the normal map to controll specular level. ideally as an artist i would prefer that they have their own rgb map/slot so i can make use of color in them like most other modern game engines. but oh well.

what i do recomend is making some noise of some sort in the spec map. as it is it is a flat gray, and is not realistic at all. look at any inorganic game asset, from nearly any game. and look at the spec maps. even if it is not brightly reflective, the wear and tear and build of of grime and dust will affect the specular level of an object. and your spec map should reflect that. extra noise and sharpening in the spec ftw :tongue:

 

when i say you can increase the texture resolution by about 70%, what i am saying is your UV layout basically sucks. it's wasting way too much space. if you packed it correctly you could have increased the pixel density on your model by about 70%. thus affecting how detailed it actually is. it is carrying a 1024 map. which is huge. this should be 512, and better UVed.

 

hard edges- i don't know what your saying about the who thing would need hard edges, because it doesn't, but you can absolutely fix all your shading issues by making a few selective hard edges. if you do subd modelling for baking to a low poly, you should have come across how/why to set up hard edges on the low poly model. this topic is well documented, every single modelling forum on the internet goes over this topic a zillion times. its a necessary evil with tangent space normal maps.

 

but hey, i get it. its stuck to the ceiling and no one is really going to see it. and yeah you can just replace the bits later once you have a working nif.

 

I have an interior happening atm myself, I also need to make a ceiling fan myself anyway. I could bump it up the to do list

 

jeez animating :wacko:

[HugePinball]

what i do recomend is making some noise of some sort in the spec map.

To get confirmation on my own observations, the contrast in any such noise or details usually needs to be pretty high to see any decent effect, would you say that's correct?

 

 

I have an interior happening atm myself, I also need to make a ceiling fan myself anyway. I could bump it up the to do list

That place is gonna be pimp :biggrin:. Don't forget a change machine of some kind.

[Guest MobMessenjah]

Hey, if you want to use mine, I could re-make the UV layout and set up a specularity map.

 

Sorry if I seemed very defensive yesterday in my comment. I'm very tired and extremely stressed. I just was not having a good day that day. I'll try to get something up later tonight.

[Ez0n3]

Just hopping in here to say that this tutorial helped me immensely: Artorp Object Animation Tutorial (I could listen to him say "shlowly" all day ;)

 

What usually goes wrong for me is an incorrect flag or an incorrect controller value. I'm not totally sure, but will an anim work if parented to a node named anything other than "Scene Root NonAccum" - will just "Scene Root" work too?

 

Check out that tutorial, I reference it every time I run into snags.

[Ghogiel]

Hey, if you want to use mine, I could re-make the UV layout and set up a specularity map.

 

Sorry if I seemed very defensive yesterday in my comment. I'm very tired and extremely stressed. I just was not having a good day that day. I'll try to get something up later tonight.

the model is not in a style i am looking for. the animation would be basically the same between the 2. which is the only reason why I brought it up.

 

To get confirmation on my own observations, the contrast in any such noise or details usually needs to be pretty high to see any decent effect, would you say that's correct?

a little bit towards that yeah. things like finger prints, dust/dirt, weathering, and wear&tear are all in the spec too. so like generally, like putting ao into the map will help make it like so dust and dirt settles in the crevasses/nooks. and adding extra scratching or wear on the edges where it may more often come into contact other things.

 

What usually goes wrong for me is an incorrect flag or an incorrect controller value. I'm not totally sure, but will an anim work if parented to a node named anything other than "Scene Root NonAccum" - will just "Scene Root" work too?

I doubt it. this is one of the things wrong with the animation on this fan.