ChrisV

Now THAT would be really cool, shad! + 1000!

Actually, it's not in debug mode. I rarely run my games in debug mode. The 30 fps i get (in run mode), is not constantly, i get around 45 to 60 fps in less populated areas, and around 30 fps when i'm standing in front of the panel to activate the crawlers to come out (AI and Events -map).

Here's my list of things i'd like to see improved/added. - Performance improvements (both in editor, as ingame): I currently have quite a powerfull machine (Specs: Intel® Core™ i7-4770 processor 3.4 GHz, Windows 8.1, 16GB Memory Type: DDR3 1600 MHz, Hard disk capacity: 2.000GB, SSD Capacity: 256GB, Video Card: NVIDIA ® GeForce ® GTX 760 graphics card with 1.5GB of GDDR5 video memory), but yet the framerate drops to around 30 fps (ingame) when running the 'AI and Events' -map on a screen resolution of 1920*1080. Even a simple scene (1 directionnal light, 1 terrain, 10 low poly models (1K each), the crawler and three postscreen fx (bloom, dof and vignette) makes the framerate drop to +55 fps. I can also notice lag or stuttering when moving the character (it's even more noticeable when looking down to the ground). - Editor improvements: - Uniform scaling (transform widget); - Vegetation painting; - Road/river tool (the road tool in LE 2.5 was pretty good, maybe something similar for rivers); - Scene view enhancements (search box, method to organize the items in scene view better); - GUI editor: a very basic GUI tool should be available for those not willing to buy third party tools, or don't know how to make one; - Water/Ocean (buoancy, underwater fx, maybe even watersplashes/ripples ); - GSG (slice, carve, extrude, etc...); - If possible: option to hide/show/dock panels, customize the window layout; - Option to have custom icons on items we create, so that we can quickly see what is what in the scene views; Import enhancements: - When importing a model that has names for the different meshes, they all get renamed to 'surface01', 'surface02', etc... Why not have them named after how they are called in the original model? And, of course, all improvements on shaders that have been mentioned are also greatly appreciated. I love visual fx, so anything that is added, is a plus. I might add more things later, but this is it for now. Thanks!

Both would be equally usefull. Thanks!

Not sure about that, but it is possible to make custom clothing (using templates, i think), and import them...so basically, the variations are 'endless'. For people not good at modeling/rigging/animation, it's quite good, it seems.

Yeah, i got the same problem. The black triangulated 'spots' appear when looking to the sky at a certain distance of the sky model and get bigger the further you go away from it (stepping backwards). Probably just the sky model that isn't big enough, as cassius said.

Really great job, shad (and, klepto too, i think?)! !! There's still room for improvement, but what you have already done, is really awesome!! Some godrays coming through the clouds would really be great! *HINT* *HINT*

I have noticed the decrease in texture quality on terrain textures also. Must be something in the conversion, or something similar. My terrain textures look high detailed and crisp before importing in LE, but they clearly loose detail/get blurry after import/conversion. I think this should be added to the bug section.

Not normal at all!

You're welcome, Alvaro! Glad it's sorted out. As for skyboxes, don't forget to check out my packs on Steam. Plenty more skyboxes to come.

In the 'Root' of your level, there's now an option to choose a skybox .mat or .tex file to your scene. It should fix the models (using transparency) not showing up in front of the skybox. ;-)

I think one of the most important things in any team, is a good vibe/team spirit, dedication, communication, mutual interests (game ideas), and honesty. Roland and me have been a team (and still are) for two years (could be more ). I'm very proud of that and also very happy that i got to know Roland. He's become a very good friend, fun to work with, and we do share the same ideas. Also important, is find a good solution to share and store your project (files). We also live away far from each other, but have been managing quite good so far.

Added a cool sanddust particle effect (prefab) to the Desert Pack on the Workshop. As you can see, it nicely blends (no cut off edges that might occur when particles and other 3D models contact) with the surroundings. Also working on another skybox, and models to add. One thing that bothers me a bit, is that the particles rotate (face) towards the cam (for example, when they come from behind the cam. Having particles face the cam is good in most occasions, but for a sand dust (or fog/cloud) effect, it might be better if they stay at the same angles, no matter where the cam is. There are three options in the particle emitter, and i tried all three of them, but none gave me the effect i was looking for. Maybe a good suggestion to add it in a next update, Josh?

Good to know, TJ! Will test this out asap. Might serve as a temporary solution untill Josh fixes the issue. ;-)

Working on a sunset/sunrise skybox pack for the Workshop. Finishing up another skybox to go in the pack. Currently the pack has three skies in it, and i'll be adding more later and update whenever a new skybox is added. More (themed) skybox packs will get uploaded, ranging from sunsets/sunrises to daytime, stormy, night time, and also special ones (alien environments, space, etc...). If anyone has suggestions for custom skyboxes, let me know, and i'll see what i can do.

Good idea, YouGroove. Was going to upload the files, but got too occupied with the wip desert art pack i'm working on. Not really a demo, but i'll get those files attached asap so that Josh can have a look at the problem.

Thanks, Haydenmango! Agreed, some of the effects i got can be very usefull for a wide range of game types...space games, arcade, action, horror, fantasy, adventure...basically any game that uses particle fx. I have plenty of such effects...fire, explosions (with and without debris), magic, torches/flames, dust, a variety of impact fx, etc...all animated. Good news, btw! Our shaderwizard Shadmar fixed the issue where the particles were not drawn on top of a skybox. Great work, shad!! As soon as the prefab creation 'bug' is solved, i'll be uploading looots of these cool fx!

Hello! Yesterday i was trying to create a prefab from a particle emitter that animates using spritesheets. The idea is to create dozens of such cool particle fx (as a prefab) and then upload them on the workshop. However, the prefab creation somehow messes up the animation rendering. After creating a prefab of the particle emitter, i saved it in the same folder where the media (.mat, .tex) files are for this particle effect. I drag and drop the prefab in the scene, and in the editor, the particle effect animates/renders as expected. However, when in game mode, i no longer see the animation (frame by frame), but i see the whole spritesheet (not animating). If you'd like me to upload some files to test out, please say so. Thanks!

Hello guys! I've been working hard (depending on how much spare time i find) on some new art. Media (free for the time being ) to be uploaded on the workshop. In this screenie, you can see a few examples of particle fx, a skybox, and some terrain and other textures. I have dozens more of such cool particle fx, and will be uploading prefabs (probably in packs) to the workshop. However, there's two problems i encountered. Firstly, it appears that particles don't show up on top of a skybox. Secondly, for some reason, the prefab creation feature in LE overwrites something (or such) and causes the particle effect to not animate as it should. What i mean is...the particle fx are created using spritesheets, and then animated frame by frame using the uv options in the particle emitter. When i create a prefab of such a particle emitter, save it and drag the prefab in the scene, everything renders (animates) properly in the editor, but in game mode, i don't see the animation, but the whole spritesheet (scaled down, of course). Which is what is preventing me at the moment to upload these particle fx prefabs. I told Josh about it, and he told me to mention this in the bugs section, so that's what i'll be doing next. Besides the particle fx, i'll be also creating skyboxes (various weather types/conditions) and upload on the workshop, aswell as textures/materials and 3D models (characters and props). Anyways, here's the screenie, hope you like what you see. Cheers!

That looks superb, paramecij! Very nice atmosphere! Looking forward to more of this.

Well, you already know that i am a 3D Coater, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, and i'll answer them as good as i can. For modular design, here some tips: - Use a grid system. The idea of modular models for 3D environments is to create fast environments with small tiling models and maximum flexibility. Before you start modelling, be sure that your grid for the 3D package you use is exactly the same as the grid of the engine you make the model for. - To make the model as easy to use as possible, always align it with the grid lines. To make it exact use the “grid snap” function in your 3D package. - Use a power of 2 for measurements. This means when you model a wall segment, don't make it 248 units wide and 240 units high. The best matching value here would be 256 units, which is 2 to the power of 8. So the perfect solution here would be to make the wall segment 256 wide and 256 high. If, when modeling for some real-life environments, your model doesn't fit into a power of 2 measurement, it's best to just add or subtract to the next power of two. For example, if the proportions of your wall segment doesn't fit into a span of 256 units, which is 2 to the power of 8, then you can add 128 units which is 2 to the power of 7. You can now fit your model to a width of 384 units. If it still doesn't fit, you can add or subtract the next smaller power of 2. You can repeat this process untill you find a power of two that fits, but just don't overdo it... - Make sure the measurements of the models that will be used together match (if your wall segments are 256 wide, then also make your floor/ceiling segments 256 wide). - Pivot placement: the aim here is to place the pivot in the most useful position for the level designer, so he can place the model quickly and easily in the 3D space. There are 5 steps for pivot placement that can be used with every model, and will result in a perfect pivot position: - The first step is to place the pivot in the focal point of the model. While some models already have a good pivot, for most models, you have to refine the pivot position to get an easy-to-use model. - The next step is checking your mesh for symmetry lines. As soon as a mesh has one or more symmetry lines, the pivot should be on this line or in the point of intersection. The intersection point of all three symmetry lines is also the focal point. - The third step is to think about how the model will align with the environment. There are three basic types of alignment: aligned to the ground, to the ceiling and to the wall. The aim is to place the pivot where the model just touches the ground, ceiling or wall. When we move the pivot of a model to the very bottom of the model, and we place the model on the floor, it will stand exactly on the floor without clipping into the floor or floating a little bit above the floor. - Fourth step: as soon as a model is made as a tiling segment, the pivot has to be moved to a point where it matches with the next model. The advantage of this pivot position is that, when you want to scale the mesh inside the editor, one side of the mesh is always fixed. So it is possible to place it aligning with the mesh on one side and then change the scale value until it aligns properly with the other side. - And finally, some modular models are created as a part of a circle, and need to be rotated in the editor to make bigger curved geometry. In this case, the pivot must be in the circle center of the model. On some models this can result in a pivot that is very far away from the mesh. This is usually a bad pivot position, but in this case it is much more easy to use as a pivot that is in the focal point of the mesh. - Use texture atlasses (less memory footprint, environment will load and run faster). It takes longer to plan, but less production time. - Planning is very important. The longer you spend planning an environment the easier it will be to make and the more things will make sense to the player. Hope this helps you? ?

Yeah, i have to agree on this too. LE 2.5 ran much faster than current LE version. In LE 2.5, you could run a scene with a large terrain, filled with trees and vegetation, realtime shadows, a bunch of animated characters and plenty of fullscreen shaders on and still have a good framerate. Current version seems to have problems with much less than that. I also noticed that the editor gets slower and slower the longer it runs. It seems to be getting slower on each launch of the game (F6). I always run the game using F6, and i see no speed increase or difference, but i'm sure you'll be able to optimize LE as you did with previous version. And, by doing so, you'll make everyone happy. Thanks!

Another great program (maybe less known), is Hexagon (which is at version 2.5) now. I think you can download it for FREE! I mostly use 3DCoat (sculpting, uv mapping, painting, etc...), blender (for rigging, modeling, uv mapping, etc...), Truespace (also a great program, and FREE, only problem is, there's not much support), and Hexagon. I guess each has it's preferences. Best is to try out the free 3D modeling programs available. Here's a list (not complete) of more good 3D programs: - Carrara 8 (not free, but affordable) - Wings 3D (open source, free) - AC3D (free to try, buy for commercial use) - Cheetah 3D (low price, MAC only!) - LightWave (not cheap, but free to try. Amazing program, though ;-)) - RealSoft 3D (affordeable, free to try, available for Linux, Mac, Windows.) - Shade 3D (free to try, affordable, Windows and Mac) - 3D Crafter (free to try, affordable) There are lots more, though.

1) Yeps, 3DCoat is totally awesome! I prefer 3DCoat over ZBrush. Not that ZBrush is a bad program or so, but firstly, 3DCoat costs LESS, has an easy workflow, and has really great tools for retopology, painting, uv mapping, etc, etc... 2) Yeps, you can import models (from fuse or whatever), and save them as low poly version, and then import that low poly version as a retopo mesh, and then you'd use the high poly version of that model as a bake object, to bake the normal map (which is then used to 'project' the finer details of your high resolution model) onto the low poly mesh. Then, you can also bake ambient occlusion onto that low polymesh for even more realism. When done, you can paint diffuse, normal, spec, glow, etc...using layers that can be blended together (using a variety of image filters if you want that, like in a paint program like photoshop, such as 'burn', 'desaturate', 'darken', 'lighten', etc...). 3) Yep.

I usually keep my models (for characters) between roughly 2500 and 8500 tris polies. I'll always keep them lower than 10 K tris. Why spend more polies on a model if it looks good with less? A good topology with a good normal map baking should be enough to give low poly models a very high detailed look. When i model/sculpt in 3DCoat, i'll start off with a basic shape for my models (the final 'basic' outer shape of the model), and then export it as a (fairly) low model (i go as low as i can, while still keeping the outer shape and details intact). Then, i increase the polygon count off the basic sculpt to much more (1 or 2 million polies), and sculpt in the finer details untill satisfied. Then, i re-import the low poly mesh and bake the high detailed voxel mesh onto the low poly one.