Environments
I'm in the slow process of improving my photoshop skillz. I was thinking that it might be fun to make some new environments for Alleg! However I have no idea how to do this, what .mdl files to open, etc. I also don't see any info on it in the stickies... Any pointers to get me in the right direction?
"Leave Bacon alone. When he's unsure of what sector he's in somehow it works out better." -Lee
Yeah, there couple things to know, and they are spread on several threads.
The actual files used are environment##bmp.mdl (goes from 1-10 or 01-10, something like that). 9 & 10 don't actually get used (which is a shame, the original 10 is pretty sweet), so you can ignore them.
The model is a sphere, but the textures have a weird mapping. Basically its a polar projection for the top/bottom that then gets distorted into a square. Except for the Equatorial region with is unrolled and placed on the right side of the image.
Quia made a template of the mapping as well as a Photoshop macro to help you correct the distortions.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index...c=26031&hl=
A Mercator/cylindrical projection would probably be easier to work with. Making the new model would be easy enough, and I'd make one for you if you wanted to go that route instead.
If you want source images to look at/use, NASA of course has some pretty nice ones and they are even public domain (for the most part).
www.hubblesite.org
jpl.photojournal.nasa.gov - Doesn't have every single image taken, but does have non-Hubble instruments like Spitzer, Chandra, etc, as well as a good selection of solar system images.
You'll find some pretty good tutorials floating around the internet as well if you are wanting to go completely from scratch. You could also pm Loriana, she did a couple great nebula desktops, you might ask her what she did.
The actual files used are environment##bmp.mdl (goes from 1-10 or 01-10, something like that). 9 & 10 don't actually get used (which is a shame, the original 10 is pretty sweet), so you can ignore them.
The model is a sphere, but the textures have a weird mapping. Basically its a polar projection for the top/bottom that then gets distorted into a square. Except for the Equatorial region with is unrolled and placed on the right side of the image.
Quia made a template of the mapping as well as a Photoshop macro to help you correct the distortions.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index...c=26031&hl=
A Mercator/cylindrical projection would probably be easier to work with. Making the new model would be easy enough, and I'd make one for you if you wanted to go that route instead.
If you want source images to look at/use, NASA of course has some pretty nice ones and they are even public domain (for the most part).
www.hubblesite.org
jpl.photojournal.nasa.gov - Doesn't have every single image taken, but does have non-Hubble instruments like Spitzer, Chandra, etc, as well as a good selection of solar system images.
You'll find some pretty good tutorials floating around the internet as well if you are wanting to go completely from scratch. You could also pm Loriana, she did a couple great nebula desktops, you might ask her what she did.
Last edited by Adaven on Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Oh yeah, I'm OK in the creation of the environments department. I've been following photoshop tutorials lately making space environments (I made the banner on my portal page mock-up from scratch!)... so I thought it'd be cool to turn them into environments for alleg =)
What do you mean make me a projection model? What does that entail for you and me?
Thanks Ada! Appreciate your time =)
What do you mean make me a projection model? What does that entail for you and me?
Thanks Ada! Appreciate your time =)
Last edited by Bacon_00 on Sat Dec 19, 2009 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Leave Bacon alone. When he's unsure of what sector he's in somehow it works out better." -Lee
basically, instead of trying to twist and distort your texture to fit the current texture coordinates, we could create an environment model texture mapping that doesn't require as much distortion correction.
I'm just saying, make an awesome environment first and we'll figure out a way to get it looking good in game.
I'm just saying, make an awesome environment first and we'll figure out a way to get it looking good in game.
Last edited by Adaven on Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Will do! Gonna work on one tonight. I have one done already... it's the full version of the background to my banner on my portal page. I think it'd be a cool backdrop. I'll PM you w/ a link once I have a few. I'd love to release a "Bacon Environment Pack" =PAdaven wrote:QUOTE (Adaven @ Dec 18 2009, 06:31 PM) basically, instead of trying to twist and distort your texture to fit the current texture coordinates, we could create an environment model texture mapping that doesn't require as much distortion correction.
I'm just saying, make an awesome environment first and we'll figure out a way to get it looking good in game.
edit:
Holy crap, no wonder the default backgrounds suck. Talk about super low resolution!!! I opened one in photoshop and it's a freakin postage stamp! I'm hoping that if I make a higher res one, it'll show up in alleg OK?
Last edited by Bacon_00 on Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Leave Bacon alone. When he's unsure of what sector he's in somehow it works out better." -Lee
yeah.
The stock environments were 256x256 resolution. Alleg supports up to 2048x2048 for a single texture. Working larger than that in photoshop is okay, it'll help preserve details later if we have to do some distortion to make it line up properly on the model. Then when you make the final image, you can scale down to 2048^2 and be confident that you made good use of all the detail available.
The stock environments were 256x256 resolution. Alleg supports up to 2048x2048 for a single texture. Working larger than that in photoshop is okay, it'll help preserve details later if we have to do some distortion to make it line up properly on the model. Then when you make the final image, you can scale down to 2048^2 and be confident that you made good use of all the detail available.
Last edited by Adaven on Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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well this is an image i made last week, but i dont really get the UV layout. and why is it not square
the original is 4096x4096, but i couldnt find any site that accepts images of that resolution without rescaling them.
the original is 4096x4096, but i couldnt find any site that accepts images of that resolution without rescaling them.
Last edited by Loriana on Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Try imagining wrapping a ball in a square piece of paper with no bits of the paper overlappingLoriana wrote:QUOTE (Loriana @ Dec 20 2009, 10:21 PM) but i dont really get the UV layout. and why is it not square
You need to stretch/squash some parts of the paper and fuse some parts of the edges together - like the whole top edge of the paper would have to get squashed into a single point.
Wow nice Lori! That is a fantastic image. How'd you make that?? The lighting is great.
Last edited by Bacon_00 on Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Leave Bacon alone. When he's unsure of what sector he's in somehow it works out better." -Lee
Seeing that as a background in Allegiance would be... impressive. 
