Some beats for the retro boys.

ytcracker - sf2k10 (c&v.d demo) by ytcracker

Woke up to hear this beat. Pretty inspirational for the inner nerd ;)



Alright, so I've missed the last 3 days of school due to various (albeit stupid) reasons. In the extra time at home, I've been diving into educating myself on python and trying to lock on to an efficient work flow. It's a slow start, but things seem to be picking up as I go.

Tank Complete

Finished the tank with a base texture, will probably redo the texture a bit better, but no time atm. Here's the current stage.

From Blog_Uploads

UDK GamePlay Almost Done

Here's a video of the current state of the UDK game. Hope you like it, I'll post the changes soon for those who want to know how to fix the aim.

UDK Scripting = You are WinRar (Winner)

Alright, I'm fairly new to scripting but finally picked up some tweaks today and things are definitely looking on the bright side!

So, that being said. There's a series of changes that are required to complete that 'side-scroller ' game concept that are fairly simple, but a total struggle to try and track down if you're new to this.

So essentially, we're going to start up UDK and let it all load. Start building your base level (player start, lighting, and something to stand on).

Next we're going to position the camera.

So click on "View" at the top and branch out to Browser Windows>>Actor Classes.

Once the window pops up, you'll be met with a variety of classes. (See figure 1.1)

From Tutorial Files

//Tip: Use spacebar to switch between Translate/Scale/Rotate modes in the viewport//
Create your camera actor and position/angle according to where you want it to point (typically the Player). And then hit the "K" icon on the top bar. This will open the Kismet Editor.

Now, I'm not going to get too specific into the parts you need, but be aware that if you click on an object then right click in Kismet, it shows the option "New Object var using "_Object_name_".

This creates a variable for connecting your object to nodes, but in this sense, the "Camera_Actor0" will probably be the only one you need.

So I'll just throw you a screenshot (See figure 1.2) of how you should lay out your Kismet graph to position the camera. Unfortunately, you'll have to figure out where these objects sit since I'm running out of time to compose this quicky tutorial.

From Tutorial Files

Since this is laid out you'll find that when you build and start your game, you'll have a sidescroller view. But the gun shoots terribly off kilter, your player is looking around funny, etc etc... And worst of all, they key binding is terrible!

This is composed in our scripts sets. So redirect yourself to the UDK install folder and we're going to start at:

C:\UDK\UDK-2011-01\Development\Src\UTGame

Open: UTPlayerController.uc using notepad or any text applicable application.

We're going to search for this code set. Add in the red text right after this.

function Rotator GetAdjustedAimFor( Weapon W, vector StartFireLoc )
{
local vector FireDir, HitLocation, HitNormal;
local actor BestTarget, HitActor;
local float bestAim, bestDist, MaxRange;
local rotator BaseAimRot;

return Pawn.Rotation;

This will force your mouse to no longer have input in the direction that the gun fires, it will simply fire straight from where the player's character is facing.

Next, we're going to vary the direction the player faces (in this case, directly forward).

I'm just going to copy and paste the code in the same file that you want to reference.

Where the "\\" sets have been implemented, it's simply to 'comment' out the code so it does NOT compile, but I strongly suggest you don't destroy it. Again, red text is what we add.

function UpdateRotation( float DeltaTime )
{
local rotator DeltaRot;

ClientMessage("This code is running in UTPlayerController!");

if (bDebugFreeCam)
{
// Calculate Delta to be applied on ViewRotation
//DeltaRot.Yaw = PlayerInput.aTurn;
//DeltaRot.Pitch = PlayerInput.aLookUp;
//ProcessViewRotation( DeltaTime, DebugFreeCamRot, DeltaRot );
//Rot.Yaw = 0.0;
//Rot.Pitch = 0.0;
}
else
{
//super.UpdateRotation(DeltaTime);
//Rot.Yaw = 0.0;
//Rot.Pitch = 0.0;
}
}

Whoever is reading this will probably find faults, but this is how we did it (I had a mentor assisting me and he essentially altered this section). From what I'm collecting, he canceled out all inputs.

So save this file, I suggest you keep a backup of the previous copy somewhere.


Next we're going to the directory C:\UDK\UDK-2011-01\UDKGame\Config
Time to track down the file: DefaultInput.ini

Towards the bottom of the document, you will see 2 sections. Editor Bindings and Game Keyboard/Mouse Bindings.

Find the keys and commands under the Game/Keyboard change your coordination as you please. It should be pretty easily identifiable.

Make sure to incrementally save and reload UDK to test your scripts, if you compile after every short change, it makes it easier to identify where the code has issues. Best of luck, and if there are any questions, comments or critiques I'll do my best to reply and/or fix those issues. If you want to find out how to do something, I'd be more than happy to research and share the information as I come across it. Thanks guys, and good luck on your endeavors.


Finally, here's the final screenshot of this actually working. (Figure 1.3)

From Tutorial Files

Satisfaction

There's nothing like actually finishing something on time (without pulling an all-nighter!).

The high-poly model of the tank is complete. Still need to create some low poly geo's to transfer over the displacement/normal maps. I'm actually very happy with the current stage. Will be texturing and uploading as it comes up.

From Blog_Uploads

As per the ZBrush midterm project. I didn't get around to finish sculpting the hand in time or adding some extra details. But here's what I handed in, maybe I'll come back to this later. :P

From Blog_Uploads

From Blog_Uploads

From Blog_Uploads

From Blog_Uploads

Haha, big update for today. Hope you enjoyed guys.

WIP -- Bust of Character

Just an update, I need this done in the next 36 hours, and will probably only have a little bit of time tomorrow night to work on it. Here's hoping for the best.

Oh, I was playing around with rendering layers in Photoshop, came out with a pretty cool comic book look.

From Blog_Uploads Edit: here's the completed version. From Blog_Uploads didn't really get around to that last hand..

ZBrush Assignment

Alright, so I really underestimated the requirements on this project. The teacher created a base model and we had to play with brushes to detail and texture this guy. I ended up waiting until last minute and I'm not exactly happy with the current state, but I don't have enough time to continue enhancing. So without further adew, here's the Frog from Chrono Trigger. Credits for model go to Chris Holbrow.

From Blog_Uploads

Also, I haven't gotten back to that Tank, will be resuming it shortly.

Maya: Ambient Occlusion

For those guys that are just learning Maya, I stumbled upon this tutorial involving your hypershade, and accomplishing that awesome ambient occlusion look.

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/spotlight-articles/1317-tutorial-ambient-occlusion-maya-alchemist101.html

This is great for getting an idea of what you want for baking light maps to textures. Afterwards, just throw it on as a layer in your photoshop texture.

Hope this helps a few people out there. Props to the creator.

Lighting/Texturing Midterm

Just finished our midterm for the lighting and texturing class. The teacher threw us a ship he modelled and told us to utilize procedural and photoshop textures. Anyhow, I spent about 1 1/2 hours pissing around with it. Here's the result.

From Blog_Uploads

Sketching with ZBrush

Created this using the sketch tool in ZBrush. Just playing with new concepts.


Time Approx: 10 minutes.

From Blog_Uploads

Learning UDK

Alright, so we've had about 5 classes dealing with the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). Covering basically importing of static meshes, constructing maps, materials and basic multiplayer level creation.

We've learned that our final projects will be to either:
a) Construct a map that demonstrates good
gameplay dynamics.
b) Construct a non-playable map that
demonstrates artistic ability.

I specifically asked, "How often do you get both in one package?"
The response was "Never, considering the time frame. Focus on one attribute or you might not finish."

I plan to challenge that, so I'm creating a 3d/sidescroller.

Currently, I'm just playing with general technicalities to get an idea of what I need to know, and a sidescroller was strongly recommended against for the difficulties (in UDK atleast).
As it stands, I've figured out how to create the sidescroller view and lock the players view to [forward]. The problem I'm trying to beat is that the crosshair will point directly at the player, shooting the wall behind him, instead of forward.

From Blog_Uploads

So, I'll be powering at this tonight and seeing if I can beat this little bump, then move on to aligning the controls to see if I can give it a good feel.

Will update, wish me luck.

Mammoth Tank Project

Hey, now have to work on a vehicle. So I'm modelling a detailed Mammoth Tank from the Command and Conquer Series, Yeaaaah. Here's the current progress.

From Blog_Uploads Edit: Finished the treads, here it is. i think that's all we're getting in today. From Blog_Uploads

Experimenting

Got into a car accident this morning totalling the Suburban. Guess I'm staying home today.

In that time frame I started playing with the physics nodes in Maya and came up with a pretty cool mix between the nCloth & Ruins plugins. Here's a small animation of what I've been playing with.


ncloth ruins test by ~XDrako on deviantART