Machinery Faction ideas

[Fluffy203]

Well just saying before doing animations it is highly recommended that you do texture your model , cause your animations will probably stretch and distort your texture which means you will have to re-animate your model , which is alot of work for no reason in my opinion .

[jacko161]

talk to bruce about it but we just finished the animations and we are moving back to modeling but our lesson will end in about 2 minutes

[Fluffy203]

lol i'm just letting you know for a better result , but do it however you want to

[sand_drew]

We're not doing it however we want to, we have already specified that this is a school project.

Therefore, a large portion of what we work on and when we do work on it, is designated by Bruce and the tasks set by him.

Our current task is to complete an animation tutorial and then complete a draft animation.

We do not choose whether we texture first or do this, because this is our current task and is part of our grade.

[jacko161]

Do any of us actually know how to texture yet??

[sand_drew]

I have some idea, haven't put it into practice, though.

But, it's pointless worrying about texturing at the moment, we still have to finish the draft models, and complete the aniamtion and planning tasks. 

[Bruce]

Figured it might be time for me to jump in here...

Another group (the one doing the FPS) has one of the guys who is a bit ahead in terms of models and he has got the texturing sorted, so the knowledge already exists in the class.

However, it's important that before they get too far into the modeling they realise what sort of restrictions and complications can be introduced with animation. So, I've set a tutorial task (basically its animating a shark swimming using armatures, paths and keyframes) and a simple draft animation (they need to make their character walk on the spot or something) so that they can see how it all works. They only need to spend a week for the draft, so its more an introduction to concept than anything else.

Then, once the plan is sorted, they'll have all of the skills they need to start dropping their models into Glest and a timeframe to work with. Once they have the technical understanding of exporting and preparing the .g3d files, I'll go through texturing and from there, it's a simple case of completing the work in their time.

[Fluffy203]

very nice bruce i like how you laid that out , i was simply projecting my advice from my trial an error of modeling, texturing , and animating   

[-Archmage-]

Paths? I never use paths, I actually don't even know how to use them.
I can provide you guys with a blend I worked on, just so you can see some stuff about animation....if that's ok with Bruce of course.

[Bruce]

You don't need paths really for the animation required in Glest, but another group is making an animated movie and for them, paths are crucial. Makes life SO much easier for certain types of animation - and they're relatively simple.

If you want to share stuff with the guys, that's fine with me. That is, of course, assuming they ask... that is what forums are for, right?

[-Archmage-]

Why don't I just put up a link, and they can download and take a look if they want?

[jacko161]

Yeah sure that would be great

[-Archmage-]

I can upload in the next few days, but I'm not near the computer it's on right now...

[jacko161]

ok well its not a high priority we are just finishing our draft models at the moment

[sand_drew]

Just a quick status update, we've finished a good three or four models, can't remember the exact number and done some basic animating. However, we are currently completing ABW, or Australian Business Week as part of a school program and then it's the holidays for two weeks, so we work completed will be minimal, to, more realisticly, nothing.

[-Archmage-]

Could we see some examples?

[ElimiNator]

Yes, can you take a screen shot of your model so we can see?

[Fluffy203]

i would like to see this progress 

[sand_drew]

If you read the above post, in particular, the part about completing ABW, then you might of been able to figure that I'm not completing normal classes at school, and therefore, do not have the time to get those models.

[-Archmage-]

I know nothing of how Austrailian Business Week affects your schedule, I was just hoping you might have some of the models with you...

[sand_drew]

I never said you did, I was just saying you might have been able to assume, however, that is clearly not the case. I also do not have any models on me, as the lab at school is the only place we can work on them.

[ElimiNator]

Take a screen shot of one of the models when you are at the lab and stick it on a flash drive, then when you go home upload it. 

[Fluffy203]

yea that is pretty simple lol or upload it to a file website 

[jacko161]

Well we are now on school holidays so that is not a possibility but i may have some models on my USB so ill see what i can do

[sand_drew]

My point was that we couldn't get access to the lab, at all.

So, that solution is not a viable one, like Jacko said, we're on school holidays now, but I promise we'll upload the models when we get back to school.