I'd really like to know.

Well, I've modeled quite a few ships by now, and I'd really like to know how to do the egnine flares. It would be quite helpfull to know.

Also, How do you spin ships? This is another thing I'd like to know so that I can finally put my ships into the game.

This post has been edited by Septcanmat : 18 September 2004 - 12:02 PM

Engine flares? Is that what you mean?

As for spins, I don't know what program you're modeling in, but basically if you can create a movie animation or a series of picture renders with the ship at a different angle, you can bring it into a program like m2s or p2s.

They are available from w00tware. All of the NovaTools are great and you should have them all, but the ones you want for this situation are in the Sprites package.

Yes, engine flares, thats the one!

Oh, and Im modeling in wings, and texturing in Strata.

I have figured out just barely how to come up with decent-looking flares about 40% of the time in Bryce. And I just manage by doing random stuff. I haven't played with Strata for years, so I'm probably not the one that could help you.

Don't forget EnRLEDeRLE, you're going to need that as well.

Septcanmat, on Sep 18 2004, 09:22 AM, said:

Well, I've modeled quite a few ships by now, and I'd really like to know how to do the egnine flares. It would be quite helpfull to know.View Post

There are many different ways of making engine flares, and sometimes even multiple ways to create the same style.

What style of engine flare are you wanting to create? What do you want it to look like?

so, exactly what ap's do I need? And once I get them, what would I do?

movie to sprites (m2s) or pictures to sprites (p2s) to get your sprites, and also EnRLE/DeRLE all by w00tware to fully convert your 36 frame spin into game sprites.

What kind of styles do you mean for the engine flares?

Septcanmat, on Sep 18 2004, 09:38 PM, said:

What kind of styles do you mean for the engine flares?
View Post

The simplest way to make engine glows is to just add them to the 3D model. Then render the base image by disabling rendering of the glows. Then, don't disable the model, but set it to render matt black (or whatever color the background is), and enable the glows. Then render, and the glows will show up properly, including being eclipsed by the ship when appropriate.

As for how best to make the glows......I'm no expert, but I've found that starting with a super-short cylinder, re-shaping one end, and adding a fog texture works pretty well.

This post has been edited by Lindley : 18 September 2004 - 07:42 PM

Quote

What kind of styles do you mean for the engine flares?

If you want to do flame-like engines (as in the default scenario), read the post above.

If you want actual flares (somewhat like the corsair in StarCraft), then it depends on what app you use. I recommend strata, there's a very good flare effect in the "optical fx" menu. just put small spheres right behind the engines and drag the flare fx on it. Then go on as in the post above.

If you want to do simple glows, use strata (which has a glow in the optical fx, I think) or Maya, which is rather expensive. On the other hand, it is the best program there is, and if you use it, you'll find that its just perfect.