no
no, no no no no, no no.
AO is dependent on how light reflects, whereas the blue channel stores zdepth. multiplying the blue channel of a normal map does not emulate AO as it will not properly convey shadows.

the left is a normal map's blue channel whereas the right is the AO bake. notice how, in the blue channel, shadows aren't properly conveyed in the corners and insets, and only the 2 pieces' shapes are identifiable. on the right, insets get darker as they get further from the light and more shapes are easily visible/defined. the completely black parts are where shapes intersect/where the render cuts off, allowing for a more visual representation of where shapes slot into the mesh, allowing for an easier time painting things like rust stains, leaks, dust, or other corner-dependent details.
Edited by master noob on Jan 13, 2014 at 07:16 PM

You're not wrong, but utilizing the Blue Channel is a very common technique used by industry artists. If you have a good normal the blue channel can easily be Blurred Multiplied to created a believable AO.

It should be noted that when using the Blue Channel Method you do want to have an AO bake of the lowpoly to combine with.
Edited by YakZSmelk on Jan 13, 2014 at 08:48 PM



I'm assuming you mean the lowpoly? And the answer is no, you tend to get artifacting in the bakes if the models sit directly on top of one another but this can be remedied by applying a transparent material to the lowpoly before baking. Also you will want to play around with the anti-aliasing setting in your rendered to try and keep edges clean.
Edited by YakZSmelk on Jan 13, 2014 at 10:29 PM

bad industry artists, yes.

and if you have the time for an AO bake then go all out for the good looks. the job calls for what will look good, not what might look good.

Eh.....I'd give them more credit than calling them bad, since they have to pump out numerous amounts of assets in a short amount of time. As opposed to the years the Halomaps community has to finish a single asset. :P

But if time permits there's n reason no to bake an AO, which brings me to the next post.


I use Scanline for it's speed, Mental Ray seems a little funny on my computer, from time to time it's really fast! But the majority of the time is slow as hell... I usually end up using Mental Ray when GoZ turns it on for me and I don't catch it before the render.

Starting to model H4 Light Rifle. Could pr0lly ripp it from the game but where's the fun in that?



as well I haven't modeled in 3 years so I guess this is a good start-up project.

Just in case you get lazy
http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/halo-4-light-rifle-49251.html
Edited by spiral on Jan 18, 2014 at 07:08 PM

I think I did a bit better this time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8CHgnf1oqM&feature=youtu.be

For the firing and melee anims, you need to up the initial speed. Like, for the firing animation, the gun should be the farthest back at around 3 frames in (just an example frame)

It may look too fast (or just weird at worst)

A revival of sorts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPejiGEG1wA

I bet it looks quite nice when played at a different speed.

Animations are extremely stiff. I think you'd be better off firstly finding a better model to work with so that you can get the hang of animating. GameBananna has some good ones you can use.


HARSH CRITISISM WARNING
Firstly, those origins are terrible. The gun is too low and the hand position is just no. Look at this to see about where the hands should look like. Positioning of the gun itself could be different but the hand position is about right.

Secondly, there's literally no force being shown through your animations. Its a tough thing to get used to (I still haven't gotten 100% used to it, i'll be honest), but practice does make perfect. Looking at some references, you might be able to understand how to emulate force. I'll link you some animation tutorials at the end of this post, but here's a video of somebody using a UMP45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFqr1NKccwM
Try to see how that works

Thirdly, Even for halo you wouldn't Melee like that. The gun is bigger than you have it, and you have to recall it still has weight.

The fire animation has a LOT of recoil and is really slow. Speed up the animation and make it less overdramatic. The reload animation's method is ok but I think execution could be done better.

Here's the links to Lag's and Flame's tutorials

Lag's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTOv4O6ZlRo
Flame's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKRjrSwVNVM
And as a bonus here's Broke's channel with a TON of tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/imbrokeru/videos

Thank for the tutorials (I already know where to get em) and I am aware of those issues you mentioned.

However, I do not really understand why you think the origins are so "bad".

i explained why already. Gun is too low and the left Hand position is bad

Left hand position is bad? That hardly seems like a legit reason to consider the origins to be bad.

Why not explain why and how it's bad?

It's a pretty natural position and that's not too bad of a way to hold the weapon.

Edited by Dumb AI on Jan 26, 2014 at 12:58 PM

pose as if you were holding a rifle. more often than not your elbow would be near-level with your left hand, if only a little lower. a human's torso has a tendency to push the arm outward and upward, especially if said person is muscular. having the arm face downward as in your animation causes stress on the shoulder. same can be applied to punching; you don't flex your arm completely straight(elbow pointing down), you flex your arm outward so that your elbow faces to the side.

most animation questions/problems can be solved by trying to replicate them yourself and seeing what is and isn't awkward for the human body to do.


Edited by master noob on Jan 26, 2014 at 01:28 PM

Thank you for explaining why.

So, I've got a problem with animating the slide/charging handle/op handle...
With the way it's set up in most models, the child bones affect the parent bones when moved. I can't move any child bones without affecting the parent bone.

Any ideas on how I can fix this? I looked on Google but I couldn't find much relevant information.

Edited by Dumb AI on Jan 26, 2014 at 10:48 PM

Glad to see you've still got it.

Nice.
Edited by Wiki on Jan 28, 2014 at 11:18 AM

You would use nodes instead of bones and you wouldn't have an issue. If you have xfire, PM me and i'll be willing to run you through animation in a nutshell to help alleviate your issues.

Oh, I see.

Thank you for your offer. :)

this is good for my second weapon

so...you removed the muzzle?

EDIT: and the magazine?
Edited by Bottletopman on Feb 1, 2014 at 08:41 AM

i have not made them yet I wanted to do th uvw unwrap so I can try to leave room for the detail

http://www.halopedia.org/XM510_Multishot_Grenade_Launcher
Speaking of Halo Wars weapons, has anyone considered creating something based on the XM510 grenade launcher?

That gun is so cod no.

It's so CoD, it's in Halo. O:

make it halo like!

That's a different thing, although I wouldn't mind seeing a man-portable variant of that in the spirit of the support weapons in Halo 3. The revolver action one from Halo Wars seems like it'd be better suited for general use, though. A bit like a UNSC equivalent to the Brute Shot.

Edit: "So CoD"
Edited by Echo77 on Feb 1, 2014 at 04:27 PM

a gl is a gl not cod

My thoughts exactly. It'd be cool to see a little more variety in regards to the available UNSC grenade launchers in CE, rather than just the break-action M319 from Reach.

CMT had the BR grenade launcher that was awesome. Not sure of any others I've really seen.

As far as I know though, no one's really animated this thing well/I've not seen it so...

The zteam tag pack included an animated HR grenade launcher.
as for a revolving grenade launcher, I haven't seen any high quality tags.

Ah, there was a ZTeam tag pack? I know they released the Halo 3 tags (<3), and I was kinda guessing there was something else cause there's Reach tags flying around. Saw CAD's concussion rifle in one map so that had me wondering. Where is that?