Sun and Moon

[Mark]

Very nice models, John!  I would just like to ask why he has a pillar if he is a herder?  Is he some kind of religious guy?  Pardon my ignorance, and I like the models, but why? Anyways, I can see that these models are nicely low poly.  Good, because my computer can run slow in a full blown glest multiplayer game.

[John.d.h]

Stone landmarks are used by herders and hunter-gatherers in both ancient times and also more recently (they still exist in Montana and Inuit areas), to show ownership of a territory, to mark a specific spot like a water source, or as a navigational aid.  Typically they're just piles of rocks, but I figured I'd make it a little more ornate.  I hadn't considered adding any religious significance to it, but now you've got me considering it.

[Mark]

Stone landmarks are used by herders and hunter-gatherers in both ancient times and also more recently (they still exist in Montana and Inuit areas), to show ownership of a territory, to mark a specific spot like a water source, or as a navigational aid.  Typically they're just piles of rocks, but I figured I'd make it a little more ornate.  I hadn't considered adding any religious significance to it, but now you've got me considering it.

Yeah, I have seen those kinds of things, especially in documentaries about early cattle breeders, but never have I seen a pillar.  However, I think if you can use it to further elaborate or make obvious your theme, go ahead.  And the whole religious significance is an idea, like maybe if it a building that does some sacrifices or prays to the cattle god, or whatever.  Just an idea.

[John.d.h]

When I first made the Dun, my texturing skills pretty much consisted of just the clone tool, so I figured I'd use my improved abilities to modify the texture a bit.  The result is below, but you can ignore the roof, because I'm planning on replacing it.  Also, I modeled and animated the Lifespring, so be sure to click on the thumbnail so you can see it animated.

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[URL=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/dun-wip-2#imagebox][IMG]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8191/duno.th.png[/img][/URL][URL=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/lifespring-wip#imagebox][IMG alt="Click me; I'm animated!"]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8510/lifespring.th.gif[/img][/URL]

And the whole religious significance is an idea, like maybe if it a building that does some sacrifices or prays to the cattle god, or whatever.  Just an idea.

I'm considering working that into the tech tree somehow, but it'll probably just have to be a story element.

[Mark]

Nice job on the Dun.  The texture looks to be much improved.  Maybe you could have a tiled or thatched roof?

[Loronal]

Yes that would be cool though I also like the idea of the more medeival roof like the ones in glest(and my real houses roof )

[John.d.h]

I've only got a pretty minor update tonight since most of my progress was in the concept/coding area today.  I've now got a rough idea of the numbers on most of my units, as well as the attack and armor types (yeah, I went ahead and broke Magitech compatibility).  Anyway, here's a shot of some of the Squire's equipment.

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[URL=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/squire-equipment-wip#imagebox][IMG]http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/2969/squireequipment.th.png[/img][/URL]
[url=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/fort-wip#imagebox][IMG]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4351/forth.th.png[/img][/URL]

Nice job on the Dun.  The texture looks to be much improved.  Maybe you could have a tiled or thatched roof?

Hmm... I would consider thatch, but I'm going for something sturdier.  Tile could be good.

Yes that would be cool though I also like the idea of the more medeival roof like the ones in glest(and my real houses roof )

As fate would have it, I don't know what your roof looks like, but yeah, something similar to the Blacksmith's roof is what I'm thinking of.

Edit: Included a shot of the new Fort.  The old one looked a little too much like something you'd see on a playground.

[Loronal]

It looks much like the blacksmiths one. At least in brazil the roof looks like this

[John.d.h]

I didn't do a whole lot of modding today, but here's the new Orchard WIP.  So far it's just a trellis and I need to figure out a way to simulate vegetation without encountering Glest's transparency glitch. 

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[URL=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/orchard-wip#imagebox][IMG]http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/7923/orchard.th.png[/img]
Click for full size[/URL]

[Fluffy203]

i would suggest making the texture of vegetation , but making the material a lit transparent , it works cause i made a ice man along time ago with transparent material and not an alpha channel

[John.d.h]

Err... wouldn't the vegetation be just as transparent as the empty spaces then?

[Mark]

i would suggest making the texture of vegetation , but making the material a lit transparent , it works cause i made a ice man along time ago with transparent material and not an alpha channel

He might be saying that you should make a plane and texture the gaps between the vegetation as alpha, and make the actual vegetation about 50% transparent.

[John.d.h]

I'm not seeing how that solves the problem. ???

[Mark]

I'm not seeing how that solves the problem. ???

I really don't, either, but I think that is what he means.

[John.d.h]

I think I'm just going to say "screw it" and use alpha anyway.  It's usually only noticeable if the viewer is really paying attention.

-- Quoted to avoid double-post.

I've got the Orchard textured and animated, but still needs a little more work before I'll call it finished.  It's not really much of an orchard, honestly, so I might have to think of another name.

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[url=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/orchard-wip-2#imagebox][img]http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7923/orchard.th.png[/img]
Click for full size[/url]

[-Archmage-]

Well, what exactly is this unit going to do?

Supply food?

[John.d.h]

Yes, it supplies food.

[-Archmage-]

I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but maybe a small tree growing on top would help.

[John.d.h]

Yeah, I was kinda considering something like that.  I just need to be able to do it without screwing up the texture or raising the face count too much.

[madmanntis]

The new stuff is lookin great John.d.h!

As for the orchard... it looks sorta like a vineyard. Perhaps it could be that, or some play on the word, "vine?"

[Zoythrus]

Vinechard!

[-Archmage-]

How about:

Vinealle
Vineyid
Vinelak

Tons of possibilities!

[John.d.h]

Ehh... the name isn't that important right now.  I'll sort all that out eventually.  So, in my quest to make things ever more difficult for myself by becoming more and more ambitious, I'm planning on (GASP!) not using the Magitech body on my units!  Here's my WIP male body:

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[URL=http://www.moddb.com/mods/sun-and-moon/images/man-wip][IMG]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/135/manwipc.th.png[/img]
Click for full size![/URL]
Obviously his neck and feet need to be fixed, he needs a head, and there is some other tweaking that needs to be done, but I'm pretty proud of it.  This is the body for regular-size men like worker-type units and basic soldiers.  The stronger ones will probably be more muscular.

Also, special thanks to Daowg! This model is based on his proportion drawings.

[Loronal]

I did that for quite a bit of time. But the only problem is that
1. Glests models are much better.
2. I hate u-v mapping

[John.d.h]

I can't blame you; I'm terrible at UV mapping.  Still, I never really tried to make a humanoid model before so I figured it's about time I gave it a shot.  I also agree that Tucho's models are great, but I'd like to do as much of the work myself as possible even if it means taking forever.

Edit: Progress on the model.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/319/1/0/Man_WIP_3_by_Johndh.png

As you can see, this has a much higher polygon count than Mr. Magitech (currently 925).  I still need to detail the legs and feet, but I'm shooting for a face count of around 900, so I'll end up having to decimate a bit.  Some of the more advanced units (especially heroes) will probably use more polygons than the lesser units.