Character mods [Archive] - Epic Games Forums

Legendary_Lee

11-02-2007, 02:57 PM

Thats kool. I would like to see it when youre done Geona. The collectors editon will come with a 10 hour dvd tutorial on the Unreal Editor. That should help alot. Make sure you pick up the collectors edition of UT3. So far Ive found alot of good info from this link here.. http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml

heres a peek to what my female model looks like that I want to import..
http://www.3dtotal.com/home2/gallery/getgalleryitem.asp?id=2740

if the first one shows a blank try this one:
http://www.dominancewar.com/wallpapers/2/wall_clee101_1280.jpg

Patarak

11-02-2007, 11:15 PM

Wow man, that is pro...

Do you have a modelling software you could reccomend?

ScottUT

11-03-2007, 05:42 AM

Id hit that!

Patarak

11-03-2007, 05:46 AM

She is going to get shot through that pretty belly of hers and then she will die.

eckz

11-03-2007, 06:47 AM

She is going to get shot through that pretty belly of hers and then she will die.

creepy :p

10 char grr

Legendary_Lee

11-03-2007, 01:33 PM

Wow man, that is pro...

Do you have a modelling software you could reccomend?

I would recommend using either Max or Maya to do your base modeling..then of course Zbrush to do your high poly work.

DS3

11-03-2007, 02:00 PM

Mr.UglyPants

11-03-2007, 02:07 PM

I know that Evil_Engine (haven't heard from him in a LONG TIME) was working on a Skaarj model for UT3, but that was like more than a year and a half ago.

Nice model L_Lee.

Legendary_Lee

11-03-2007, 07:22 PM

2 Legendary_Lee
This is YOUR model? Its just GODLIKE!
But i don't think it will fit game. UT3 seems to use new character system. Now we've got parts of models from which player could make his own char instead of single model. Maybe they'll left some option... dunno. Anyway. I like this model. Remember. Her hair must be physicalised like flags. I like look of such things. :P

Thanks. The model should fit into the game. I think youre talking about the character customizable option that will be included in the game.. That is not a mod. The game will have an editor that allows you to bring your mods into the engine just like the past unreal tournaments. Now I am just waiting for the tutorial to come out so I can learn to import my model into the game. I hope it will be a pretty easy process..

Patarak

11-03-2007, 07:31 PM

AWWWWSOME!

I want to make a model, and make its head hitbox its entire body...

bweehehehehe

Caravaggio

11-04-2007, 01:55 AM

DS3

11-04-2007, 01:47 AM

Mmm, those customizables should just be about hats and external armor and stuff.
According to
\Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3 Demo\UTGame\Config\UTCustomChar.ini
there are:

PART_Head
PART_Helmet
PART_Facemask
PART_Goggles
PART_Torso
PART_ShoPad
PART_Arms
PART_Thighs
PART_Boots

See for yourself. But i hope we will be able to see this great model ingame anyway. Maybe you just need to "separate" it. :D

Legendary_Lee

11-04-2007, 02:17 AM

Thanks guys. hmmm.. if all the characters are set in that standard then I may have to separate it somehow, without showing any seams.. But looking at other ingame characters such as Jester which is not in the beta demo, looks like shes all in one or two pieces. Im sure they would have a good structure for the rigg to go thru.. We'll just have to wait till the collectors edition game comes out to know for sure.

Geona

11-04-2007, 03:15 AM

well to be honest I was going to make something more cartoony. in all honesty I had this great idea to make some sort of system that changes facial expression via a texture rather than modelling it out to get the overall toony nature to work.
Problem is, I think that would take scripting that has to do with state change and things like that. and in all honesty, "HOW DOES A SLUG KNOW WHAT SCRIPTING IS?" IE mostly it's moon langauge to me.

iycgtptyarvg

11-04-2007, 09:35 AM

@Legendary Lee
OH... MY... GOD... !!!
If the end result will be anywhere as good as the screenshots, Epic should hire you NOW!

Legendary_Lee

11-04-2007, 06:25 PM

iycgtptyarvg- Thanks. I too hope the end result will turn out nicely.

Geona- For facial expression state changes, it can be done by using morph targets. Now, I dont know how that is translated in the unreal engine3.

Mandinga

11-05-2007, 11:29 AM

Great model Lee, how much do you charge for normal map generation in brush? I have a char that needs it. Also do you know if zbrush is good for mechanical normal mapping IE tanks and spaceships.

Some of my stuff here, rather untextured.

Geona

11-05-2007, 06:46 PM

interesting how do morph targets work exactly? I've never heard of that technique before so anything to fill me in would be helpful.

NakhtiUT3

11-05-2007, 10:54 PM

Caravaggio

11-05-2007, 11:12 PM

interesting how do morph targets work exactly? I've never heard of that technique before so anything to fill me in would be helpful.
As I understand it, it's a lot like the old vertex animation from UT99. Make two meshes in different positions and the engine interpolates between the actual points instead of using bones to move predetermined areas.

They both have their ups and downs but it doesn't really matter. I'm pretty sure unreal engine doesn't use this anymore. Look at the udn and you can see a bunch of bones in the facial areas now.

Geona

11-06-2007, 12:29 AM

I can see that not working well for many reasons, if not mostly the fact the face would switch fluidly from moving polys. what I need is a way to make an animated texture, then call frames based on something arbitrary like "if playing idle animation" or "if killed" and stuff.

Legendary_Lee

11-06-2007, 12:54 AM

Mandinga- I dont know until I see your model. And yes zbrush is also good for mechanical details too.

Geona- Morph targets are different sets of facial states the model is in and will morph to any expression from the neutral state. So you will model as many sets of different facial expressions using the same model and then throw a morph target modifier in Max. Then you will be able to see all the expressions animate. There are detailed steps to this process in Max so I would try to find detailed tutorials for it. But I dont even know how this will tranfer over in the unreal engine3 yet..

Legendary_Lee

11-06-2007, 12:58 AM

Anyway you could repost the model link ... I just get a blank page when I use the link on the first page. I would really like to see this great model ... our mod team could use a good character model maker. :)

Heres another link to my model:

http://www.dominancewar.com/wallpapers/2/wall_clee101_1280.jpg

Geona

11-06-2007, 01:05 AM

wait so it could work in a sense as being able to "jump" the face polys into place without an odd transition of the polys moving fluidly as if through a keyframe?

NakhtiUT3

11-06-2007, 03:18 AM

Heres another link to my model:

http://www.dominancewar.com/wallpapers/2/wall_clee101_1280.jpg

Thank you so much ... that is a fantastic model and I look forward to seeing that in game ... also I would like for you to just think about joining a mod team and doing the model work as lead modeller. If you have any interest in zombies and infected people then the current mod I am the Project Coordinator for is right up your alley.

Legendary_Lee

11-06-2007, 03:19 AM

wait so it could work in a sense as being able to "jump" the face polys into place without an odd transition of the polys moving fluidly as if through a keyframe?

I am not exactly sure wat u mean, but yes, the transition is smooth.

Legendary_Lee

11-06-2007, 03:23 AM

Thank you so much ... that is a fantastic model and I look forward to seeing that in game ... also I would like for you to just think about joining a mod team and doing the model work as lead modeller. If you have any interest in zombies and infected people then the current mod I am the Project Coordinator for is right up your alley.

I would be interested in a mod team but I may not have much free time on my hands.. I do have another male soldier I have in mind to make next... I'll see how things go.. And thanks for the invite.

Geona

11-06-2007, 01:51 PM

I am not exactly sure wat u mean, but yes, the transition is smooth.

What I mean is, something like... think about how the original quake's animations (through the software renderer mind you.) "jumped" from one frame to the other. if the polys move fluidly inbetween each other there's gonna be a small period in which the face is not visible between each movement, which is something I would like to avoid. If they "jumped" into place it could be pretty seamlessly done without any problem.

Mandinga

11-06-2007, 08:47 PM

[QUOTE=Legendary_Lee;25075130]Mandinga- I dont know until I see your model. And yes zbrush is also good for mechanical details too.

http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/Promo-64345254

the red female character. I've got the black one done, it just takes me so long, and class keeps getting in the way.

hmm on a side not may just have to save some money for zbrush now that I got the mechanical detail issue out fo the way. god knows when i'll have the money for it.

Legendary_Lee

11-07-2007, 12:39 AM

What I mean is, something like... think about how the original quake's animations (through the software renderer mind you.) "jumped" from one frame to the other. if the polys move fluidly inbetween each other there's gonna be a small period in which the face is not visible between each movement, which is something I would like to avoid. If they "jumped" into place it could be pretty seamlessly done without any problem.

Now I think I understand what u meant. The animation of the morph targets do not jump from one to the next like frames being skipped. It has a smooth transition where it changes from neutral state to another expression fluidly(its why its called "morph" targets). If thats what you want to aviod, then I guess its not the way to go for you...

Legendary_Lee

11-07-2007, 12:45 AM

Mandinga- Ok, yeah that could definitly be taken into zbrush. But I would first build the low-poly base mesh in max or maya. Make sure the topology is good and is in quads. I would recommend you to go to sites like www.polycount.com to get good help, crits, and feedback on your model. Go there and post up your work. goodluck.

Legendary_Lee

11-07-2007, 01:00 AM

Mmm, those customizables should just be about hats and external armor and stuff.
But that is a sweet model Lee.
My question is; did you have any help sizing the proportions? Epic models always seem strange to me. The shoulders are broad, the legs are long. When animated a perfectly good ut2004 custom model suddenly became a hunchback when attacked to the default skeleton. It's worse for lathe models like that one.

Thanks Caravaggio. When I first began making this character, I didnt plan on it going into UT3, until recently. But I can see what you mean about their proportions. They always seem to like exaggerating those areas ie. bulky legs/arms, thick heavy armor, broad shoulders.. In a way, Ive kinda grown to like it now, but I hope that is not set as the default skeleton. Im sure theyve got female skeleton which are used for characters like Jester and Lauren, so it should be ok..

Mandinga

11-07-2007, 11:41 AM

Legendary_Lee

11-07-2007, 12:55 PM

They really need to let out those skeletons so we can begin incorporating it into our work flow.

Legendary Lee: Thanks I posted on polycount, god knows if anyone will take interest. Heres to hoping.

BTW whats the target polycount for UT3 characters, mine average out at 7,000 poly's. Any thougts?

The polycount for UT3 characters are from around 5,000 - 6,000 polys. I would prolly drop your polycount to 6,000. Heres a link that should help out more: http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html...ogy/ue30.shtml

Mandinga

11-07-2007, 02:28 PM

The polycount for UT3 characters are from around 5,000 - 6,000 polys. I would prolly drop your polycount to 6,000. Heres a link that should help out more: http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html...ogy/ue30.shtml

Sadly the link is dead :P . I was able to peel it to 6,500 poly's, should work a tad better.

BTW now that you know what the char looks like, can you giv me a ball park price on a diffuse texture? Want to see what I'm able to stretch to.

And thanks for all the tips man.

Legendary_Lee

11-07-2007, 04:47 PM

Sadly the link is dead :P . I was able to peel it to 6,500 poly's, should work a tad better.

BTW now that you know what the char looks like, can you giv me a ball park price on a diffuse texture? Want to see what I'm able to stretch to.

And thanks for all the tips man.

hmmm... try this one:

http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml

Emmet Otter

11-07-2007, 05:20 PM

Thats a kick ass model lee. I would love to see that in game. Kick ass and yet sexxy:cool:

Jocked

11-07-2007, 06:10 PM

I'm not digging the duck-lips on that model, good stuff otherwise.

Caravaggio

11-07-2007, 07:40 PM

At beyond unreal there was a good stance pic posted of one of the female characters recently...

http://www.beyondunreal.com/daedalus/singlepost.php?id=11182

You might just animate it yourself. I've always hated epic's skeletons.

PS: I'm pretty sure you guys can just forget about morph targets, it's all bones as far as I know.

Geona

11-07-2007, 11:05 PM

there's always a few things that can't be done with bones though. say, a pulsating brain on a monster.
then again I could be wrong. :/

Legendary_Lee

11-08-2007, 03:32 AM

Yeah, I will stick to bones and see what the editor allows me to do. And yes Geona, that can also be done with bones.

Caravaggio

11-08-2007, 06:47 PM

Personally I hope the next generation of games introduces some kind of standard deformers, so that you could just add a bend or a ffd to meshes. To make something like a pulsing brain pulse evenly on all sides it'd be nice.

Unless it's a huge brain you can see the contours of easily you might consider an animated normal map which I think is possible. It'd take a while to make but the constantly appearing and shrinking shadows would give an unsettling effect.

Mandinga

11-08-2007, 10:38 PM

Couldn't you achieve a pusating effect with vert animations? I remember evil engines liadry angel had a custom gib that was a beating mechanical heart. I suppose you can tweak the scale volumes on stretchy bones and them export the results.

Patarak

11-09-2007, 12:43 AM

Yeah, I will stick to bones and see what the editor allows me to do. And yes Geona, that can also be done with bones.

Large, pulsating bones?:D

Denny

11-09-2007, 02:24 AM

UE3 supports both rotational, translational(movement) and scale in joint animations.

So if you want a pulsating brain, consider it scaled. ;)

Patarak

11-09-2007, 02:36 AM

Thats quite a lot of joints...

Denny

11-09-2007, 01:23 PM

Lots of joints? If you need a pulsating brain you'd only need one extra joint in the head joint hierarchy. You'd center the joint in the center, skin the necessary parts (for example the veins on the brain) and scale that joint. How does that become many joints? In most cases you can use the default structure without any extra joints.

Legendary_Lee

11-16-2007, 02:46 AM

So looks like UT3 has already come out in Europe. I saw some of those character selcetion screens and looks like Ill be able to port over a character without having to separate them up into pieces. The different customizable parts were to select different armor and face mask and accessories on top of the characters.

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3315/customize02en2.jpg

Only 2 days away! cant wait...

ScottUT

11-16-2007, 03:18 AM

Hey legendary lee, you should make a Duke Nukem model. Need someone with skill to do that one.
Duke was really popular in UT1

Legendary_Lee

11-16-2007, 01:06 PM

Hey legendary lee, you should make a Duke Nukem model. Need someone with skill to do that one.
Duke was really popular in UT1

Hey, thats a pretty good idea. I think I will go with that for my male character. I also been a Duke Nukem fan back in the days. Thanks.

VACkillers

11-17-2007, 03:32 PM

dude i think that will be one of the best custome models for a long time for UT3, thats just simply awsome Legandry_lee

ScottUT

11-17-2007, 08:19 PM

Hey, thats a pretty good idea. I think I will go with that for my male character. I also been a Duke Nukem fan back in the days. Thanks.

Awesome. YOu have the skills for it. Cant wait.

also, if you didnt see my first post, I like this model as well.

Phoenix86

11-22-2007, 02:04 PM

NALI AND NALI WARCOW ASAP

caps cruise ftw

L_L i recommend you start a custom model collection for UT3

kthnxbye :)

Legendary_Lee

11-22-2007, 03:18 PM

NALI AND NALI WARCOW ASAP

caps cruise ftw

L_L i recommend you start a custom model collection for UT3

kthnxbye :)

Thanks! I now have the collectors edition UT3! I will be researching thru the tutorials to dig up the character modding section. Anyone with good info or more info please let me know!! I want to make lots of kool characters for this game.

Rhyder

11-22-2007, 03:47 PM

Could anyone possibly make me a Homer Simpson model? :(

I'd really appreciate it, 1 of the best models ever or w/e :)

Caravaggio

11-22-2007, 05:12 PM

Thanks! I now have the collectors edition UT3! I will be researching thru the tutorials to dig up the character modding section. Anyone with good info or more info please let me know!! I want to make lots of kool characters for this game.
Inaction made a nice post at bu... (#13)
http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?p=2393810#post2393810

iycgtptyarvg

11-22-2007, 05:24 PM

@Legendary Lee
What I like best about your model is the fact that you can actually see the model. On most of Epic's characters there is so much armor, everyone looks like a robot.
With full armor it's almost impossible to see whether it's a male or female.

BeerBrain

11-22-2007, 07:49 PM

whoever said that the character 'doesn't fit in the unreal world' is thinking too much inside the box. the whole point of making content is creating something original and creative - not something that epic would've done. BUT, if you want your character to be a part of the unreal world, then i guess you'd better start doing characters with huge Megaman boots. :p

Paincakes

11-22-2007, 08:01 PM

A high detailed character of Mr. Crow and Cobalt from UT2k4 but with the UE3 would be totally awesome.

Legendary_Lee

11-22-2007, 10:29 PM

Inaction made a nice post at bu... (#13)
http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?p=2393810#post2393810

Thanks for the extra info there. Ill try it out. I have already rigged my character with a biped.. I wonder if that will work instead of rigging it with skin. Ill see how things go. Ive quickly skimmed thru the dvd tutorial, but unfortunatly there wasnt any info on how to export your character into the game. Im gonna look around elsewhere and find out. Please let me know again if anyone has more info.

Denny

11-23-2007, 02:40 AM

Hey everyone, InAction from BU here. If you want to get your character into UT it must be skinned to a standard skeleton as far as I'm aware. Never heard of a game that uses biped in anyway, unless the biped animation is baked to a joint rig / skeleton. :)

Legendary_Lee

11-23-2007, 03:18 AM

Ok, Ive done some research online, and looks like you will need the ActorX plugin. I have found the download here: http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/ActorX.html#MAX%20exporter%20plugins: There were some good step by step tutorial there too.

I think it might be the plugin for past UT games. I wonder if it would work for UT3..

Denny

11-23-2007, 03:50 AM

Don't know how many times I've said this over the net - but these plugins works excellent with UE3. Both Roboblitz and UT3. :)

One important note which is worth to mention. If your mesh is made up of quads, make sure to activate the triangulate feature in axoptions before export.

DavenH

11-23-2007, 04:22 AM

3leggedFreak

11-23-2007, 04:51 AM

This is how unreal characters should look like.

And someone remembers how to model feets, amazing. :)

r1esG0

11-23-2007, 05:46 AM

To import a model, just do the model in low poly (talking in ue3, this is about 10.000 polys)

Then do the animations in separate files, then
charge the animations into the editor using an special plug in for max that should be out soon.

For facial animation, morph targets is the way to make them on max, but for making on the ue3 there is an special tool included that you must learn.... i dont remember the name but i think it was available for modders.

Caravaggio

11-23-2007, 06:30 AM

1. the included models have between 6-7 thousand polys.
2. animations can all be done in one max or maya file, if you're using the psk route and not the COLLADA it'll still be 1 .psk file once you've sectioned them off using actorx in the 3d package.
3. I'm not even sure what you mean by "charge tha animations". change?
4. Forget about morph targets. There's a difference between morph targets and vertex animation, which is what you're probably thinking about but hasn't been used since ut99. If you want facial animations you'll have to make a custom skeleton because the only improvements they've made to the stock skeletons are to add fingers.

Inaction, er Denny, you wouldn' t happen to know why some of the parts of that model have skinwrap modifiers on the mesh would you? The skeletons made me remember the possibility of four bone assignments per vertex which makes me even more anxious to bone something (feel free to read into that), but I can't see that that would change the modifiers...

Some people mention bipeds because it was used sometimes by modders, but I think you're right when you say it was baked.

Elis

11-23-2007, 08:04 AM

someone in those udn sites theres the 3 standard skeletons that are in use in ut3, they come with the skeleton, which on my first look does appear as u say, a biped with an interior bone structure, they also come with meshs which total 12k poly, however this is also with thier phy model included.. although phy models are never that big to begin with., im assuming that when u make ur model, before u export be sure to make a phymodel for it and include it exactly how it should be, its very similar style to the doom3 engine that also includes the phymodel with the model as well, im more used to them being seperate like the source engine, but whatever,

so with these 3 skeletons, u can see a few things, in the end after studying them take them and dell all the crap but the bones, and use those bones with what u learn to attach models to them, ull get the proper scale, and ull be able to use that bonesets animations saving u time making animations,.. unless its somethign u want to do,

important note is that these skeletons only work in max9, i could perhaps convert them to another format to help whoever out :)

so, recap, model mesh + phymodel + skeleton + actorx, go into ut3editor, import the psk and edit all of the properties that need to be edited, animations, textures, etc,

then find the ini that deals with the custom chars, and make what u wish to make, for me id make my own "faction/family" and add all the ports i do under it,

sry if im too vague :), if u need any other help let me know, btw this is based on info gathering ive done.. ive gotten as far as the ut3 editor part but my comp is weak, overheats and shuts down.. so i cannot finish the properties of the model.. however im getting a new compy soon so ill be able to keep up :)

Denny

11-23-2007, 08:30 AM

Inaction, er Denny, you wouldn' t happen to know why some of the parts of that model have skinwrap modifiers on the mesh would you? The skeletons made me remember the possibility of four bone assignments per vertex which makes me even more anxious to bone something (feel free to read into that), but I can't see that that would change the modifiers...

Hmm, no idea - skinwrap modifier is a Max thing right? I'm currently a Maya guy.

All I know is that I haven't had the need to use more than three influences so far / 3 bone assignments per vertex. The more you use the more performance it needs.

Elis

11-23-2007, 04:14 PM

i dont know too much about skin wrap.. but in the end it cant be too important, u rig a mesh to a bone, done.. skin wrap as far as i know is kind of like an auto-rigging thing, takes a mesh and attachs it to what it thinks is the best vert to bone setup, kinda like a phy mod, perhaps this is how they do it, not needed really, but then again these are "reference" models, these are meant to teach us etc, these are not specifically models direct from the game, at least i assume.

so just rig as u normally would.

Legendary_Lee

11-24-2007, 03:00 AM

Legendary_Lee

11-24-2007, 03:09 AM

Heres something kool i found in the editor. Was able to open up a character in the game and check it out in a 3d viewport:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/SolidSnake79/UT3editor1.jpg

Rhyder

11-24-2007, 06:14 AM

ya I got into that or w/e then had no idea wth I was doing hahaha :)

Elis

11-24-2007, 08:59 AM

yes i saw that too, nothing special,

btw, after some skeleton study, dont rig it to the biped :P, it just happened to be included in the reference, what ill do is ill take the 3 reference files and pull only the needed parts from it, and make a new pack, both in max and obj format and ill upload them somewhere (we need attachments here),

the actual skeleton u want to rig to is bones named b_etc only. and there some fancy teqs u gotta use, they have bones called rolls that take up 60% of its former bone, not sure why or how it works., but ill post somethign up soon :P

brdempsey69

11-24-2007, 02:18 PM

Hello Legendary_Lee,

That female character looks just super awesome. Please finish her and get her into UT3, she's far superior to any of the stock female characters. I'm still picking my lower jaw up off the floor from looking at that pic you posted the link to. Looking forward to this.

Lord Vipes

11-24-2007, 03:43 PM

...custom characters... gets approved by Epic before they allow it to go into the game...

So before you can play as your character, before people can download the character, and before you can go into a server with your character, it has to be approved by Epic? man that will take a while. And when you go into a server, will everyone see the character you made from scratch?

Caravaggio

11-24-2007, 04:57 PM

Legendary_Lee

11-24-2007, 07:00 PM

So before you can play as your character, before people can download the character, and before you can go into a server with your character, it has to be approved by Epic? man that will take a while. And when you go into a server, will everyone see the character you made from scratch?

I dont know if that is true.. I just read it in a section in EGM magazine. But they also said they dont know how that process will go.. As far as getting my character in game, I am a complete noob at it. Im just trying my best to get it into the game offline first. Im also hoping someone will do it first and show the ropes here...:)

Mandinga

11-24-2007, 08:13 PM

I dont know if that is true.. I just read it in a section in EGM magazine. But they also said they dont know how that process will go.. As far as getting my character in game, I am a complete noob at it. Im just trying my best to get it into the game offline first. Im also hoping someone will do it first and show the ropes here...:)

agreed, I'm in the same boat Lee.

Lord Vipes

11-24-2007, 08:14 PM

agreed, I'm in the same boat Lee.

Is there room for 3?

ez_jamin

11-24-2007, 08:42 PM

Get the character rigs here: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UT3Mods.html#Custom%20Characters

Try to keep to those skeletons if you want to get your model in game without having to re do all the animations. Then when you've joint assigned it to those rigs** (which ever one you want to use) You'll need to export a .psk file using the actor x pluging for 3ds max. Then it's a simple case of importing your .psk mesh into the editor. But don't ask me how to make a new character slot... I get other people to do that for me XD.

**Make sure you assign it to the yellow bones using the skin modifier**

If you already knew this just ignore me.

Caravaggio

11-25-2007, 12:45 AM

I thought that approval thing would only be for the possible ps3/xbox mods?

...those skeletons if you want to get your model in game without having to re do all the animations...
I've been asking this is a few different threads so I'll ask you too :p, do you know how to copy the animations to a new model?
At this point I'm beginning to think it's not possible. All the animations are in cooked packages and can't be copied out or exported just like people are finding with the stock maps, music and textures. Unless they release the animations too the community will have to come up with it's own.
edt: (at least not in your own package, I'm thinking it may be possible to link to the regular humanmale animations once someone figures out the actual code...)

Legendary_Lee

11-25-2007, 01:54 AM

Yeah I think your right Caravaggio, the mod approval is for the console versions PS3 and Xbox360, not the PC.

Get the character rigs here: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UT3Mods.html#Custom%20Characters
.

I looked into the character section. Looks like the complete info is not there yet.. http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UT3Mods.html#Characters

ez_jamin

11-25-2007, 09:51 AM

I'm sure it will be possible to link up anims to which ever anim package you want when people figure it out like you said.

and Lee, Even tho the character section is empty it's looking as tho the process to import stuff is pretty much the same as Unreal 2k4's editor with some differences. So I have a pretty good idea of what to do, all I have to wait for is an Actor X version that is compatible with 3ds max 2008 then I'll have an even better idea of what to do.

Mandinga

11-25-2007, 06:07 PM

Hmmm have you been able to prove this in ut3? IE importing a .psk and linking animations.

If I modify the skeleton even slightly, will it impact the animations negatively?

Must I rig using skin, or can I use physique instead?

Caravaggio

11-25-2007, 07:14 PM

The similarities stop once you have the mesh in the editor as you can see in denny's posts...
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=585728&page=3

For now I wouldn't mess with the skeletons too much, they look to rely mostly on rotational info, but it's rotational info designed for specific limb lengths.

Denny

11-26-2007, 02:34 AM

Calm down people! It's not as critical as you all make it out to be!

If you want the existing animations to work there's two important steps to make them work and look right.

All skeletal meshes may be linked to a specific AnimSet. (you need an AnimSet to have animations at all) To get a working animated character you need;
1. Skeletal mesh (imported .psk)
2. AnimSet (in it you import the .psa - your animation sequences)
3. AnimTree (to tell Unreal what goes where from your animations)

The last two already exists in the packages for your pleasure and should work with your custom character as you don't have to edit them. What you need is a skeleton that is as good as identical to the original (download the existing ones if you may). Then all you need to do is export and tell uED to use your Skeletal Mesh with their AnimSet. Hell, as long as the joints are named right you could create a ****ed up horse that moves like it just ate a cyalis - as uED tries to apply the animations from the AnimSet to the Skeletal Mesh as all uED does is apply rotations/translations/scale to a specific joint by name.

So, in short.... If you have your mesh, skinned to the skeleton applied by Epic, all you should have to do is export it to uED and tell it to use the specific AnimSet created by Epic. (perhaps the HumanMale or HumanFemale ones)

-----------------------------

Mandinga >> Yes, I think you can modify the skeleton without horrible results. As long as you only move the joints it should be fine, I still think though that it might look ****ed up if you do too much.

Mandinga

11-26-2007, 10:50 AM

Mandinga >> Yes, I think you can modify the skeleton without horrible results. As long as you only move the joints it should be fine, I still think though that it might look ****ed up if you do too much.

sounds good, I had to scale the arms and fingers an legs slightly. So it shouldnt look horrible.

I wonder if UED has some sort of joint retargeting like in max. This works great for the female character but the other 2 custom ones with 6 extra bones will probably require custom animtions.

All epic needs to do is release the source animations a transferable format like .bip so we can retarget in max to suit our more "Unique" meshes.

Denny

11-26-2007, 01:36 PM

You know that you can add joints without a problem right? Remember that the animations are still based on joint/bone names. Which means that it uses the .psk file as reference and then add rotations to it. Which means that if you added an extra bone as a child to, let's say, the head (for a ponytail or whatever) it wouldn't destroy the rest of the hierarchy as they still have their names intact. The only thing that would happen is that those extra joints will be static and won't move - so yes, either make a custom animation or phys them if possible. :)

(there is a problem with exporting animations to .psa though if ActorX detects different amount of joints in the older and newer animations in Maya/Max/XSI)

Legendary_Lee

11-26-2007, 02:10 PM

Hey Denny, so I have my character physiqued. Is this good to go? I have installed the ActorX plugin on Max8 and seems to be working fine.

Denny

11-26-2007, 03:55 PM

What do you mean by Physiqued? Did you create collision boxes?

AnubanUT2

11-26-2007, 04:14 PM

How long do you estimate it will be until you release a beta model for us to to play with and report back bugs to you? The model looks amazing :eek: and I too can't wait to see her in game and I really look forward to your male model ... I can only imagine that he will make the current musclebound dudes look weak and like pantywaist by comparison. ;)

Mandinga

11-26-2007, 05:42 PM

[QUOTE=Denny;25123449]What do you mean by Physiqued? Did you create collision boxes?[/QUOTE

he means he used the "physique" modifier to rig the character instead of "skin"

Denny

11-26-2007, 06:41 PM

Yet another Max term I don't know anything about. If skin is the same as skin in Maya, he should go by that - I don't know if this "physique" thing works with uED at all. All I know is that you should skin your mesh to a skeleton using a maximum of 3 bones/joints influencing each vertex - anyway, you're all free to try other things out. I'm actually quite new to some of this myself. :)

Legendary_Lee

11-26-2007, 07:00 PM

Yes, Mandinga knows what Im talking about(Max talk). Thats how I have it rigged. hmmm, since your a Maya guy Denny, that step might be a bit different.. Anyway, Im gonna try this out. Will let you guys know how it goes..

AnubanUT2: Thanks. Im not sure when Ill have it ready, but if everything goes smooth, it should be very soon(maybe in a month or so).

Caravaggio

11-26-2007, 08:57 PM

I'd be interested in knowing too, but I've never seen a raw max file that did you physique, only straight up skin mods with the bones inside.

Bitter-Pill

11-27-2007, 07:01 AM

You might need the skin wrap modifier for adding your LOD models. I found this thread for the C4 Engine:

http://www.terathon.com/wiki/index.php?title=Creating_Levels_of_Detail

Denny

11-27-2007, 07:34 AM

Not to sound like a Maya fanboy. But if you're making LODs in Maya you simply just have to copy skin weights from one model to the other and they're identical even though they have different polygons. Quick and easy.

I suppose Skin Wrap does something similar?

Bitter-Pill

11-27-2007, 07:59 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/thebitterpill/destroyerofworlds.jpg

Mandinga

11-27-2007, 09:51 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/thebitterpill/destroyerofworlds.jpg

interesting, you used the current actorx to export the mesh? BTW where exactly do I iimport a .psk in unreal ed?

Legendary_Lee

11-27-2007, 12:55 PM

Hey Mandinga, do you have your model physiqued or skinned in Max?

Bitter-Pill: That looks pretty funny

Mandinga

11-27-2007, 07:17 PM

Hey Mandinga, do you have your model physiqued or skinned in Max?

Bitter-Pill: That looks pretty funny

I currenty have them physiqued. I can convert them to skin with a few scripts if neccesary

Caravaggio

11-27-2007, 08:18 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/thebitterpill/destroyerofworlds.jpg
If we were real friends this would be the part where I declare; "f*ck you!"

But this is the internet and I don't want any misunderstandings, so let me just go find a lolcat...

TrunksJae

11-27-2007, 09:58 PM

Dude! Love your model, it looks really great!

Bitter-Pill

11-28-2007, 09:05 AM

interesting, you used the current actorx to export the mesh? BTW where exactly do I iimport a .psk in unreal ed?

Yeah, the current Max 9 ActorX works fine. Inside UnrealEd open the generic browser and go to file, then import, then browse to your file. While you have the import dialog box open, take a look through the files of type drop down. It can import many different file types.

Shakeno

11-28-2007, 10:18 AM

I am making a model for UT3 too... and I need to ask... is the model forced to use the different parts or can I just get it as one piece of polygons without customizable parts? and what about the custom first person hands? any idea about them? :P

(Since the collector edition was not released where I live, I had to buy the common UT3 version, so I have no idea about the documentation...)

Mandinga

11-28-2007, 03:59 PM

I wonder? can I rig the character using physique? or do I have to use skin?

ez_jamin

11-28-2007, 04:12 PM

I highly doubt they would make it so that you can't use physique. But if it doesn't support physique Just move on to skin... It's 100 times better than physique and 100 times easier to use.

Denny

11-28-2007, 05:57 PM

See and behold, the worst creation anyone have ever seen! What the hell is it? Whatever it is, it sure as hell is getting rigged and animated in a couple of days by yours truly. :D

http://xs121.xs.to/xs121/07483/SkellyWip05.jpg

Caravaggio

11-28-2007, 08:34 PM

I don't like you having two names. I think you stole inactions model!!!

Transmissive nodes on the tentacles?

I am making a model for UT3 too... and I need to ask... is the model forced to use the different parts or can I just get it as one piece of polygons without customizable parts? and what about the custom first person hands? any idea about them? :P

(Since the collector edition was not released where I live, I had to buy the common UT3 version, so I have no idea about the documentation...)
As I understand it the CE didn't go into model making much at all, so no big loss.

Mandinga

11-28-2007, 08:51 PM

I highly doubt they would make it so that you can't use physique. But if it doesn't support physique Just move on to skin... It's 100 times better than physique and 100 times easier to use.

I beg to differ, skin won't allow me to use character studio to the fullest. You seem to know how to use skin well, how can I have the skin modifier not creat evelopes so i can assign my vertex weights by hand? I'm a complete noob to skin.

Anyone : Iv'e got my mesh imported into UED now how do I test the animations and stuff to get things to work in game???

Denny: hat looks funky.

Denny

11-29-2007, 02:29 AM

I don't like you having two names. I think you stole inactions model!!!

Transmissive nodes on the tentacles?

As I understand it the CE didn't go into model making much at all, so no big loss.
Transmission nodes on everything. ;) Just for your convenience I added a little proof in both signatures to prove that I am who I am. :)

Denny: hat looks funky.
Don't insult his property. :mad:

;)

Bitter-Pill

11-29-2007, 08:52 AM

how can I have the skin modifier not create envelopes so i can assign my vertex weights by hand? I'm a complete noob to skin.

You can adjust all your weights manually. There's a button called Weight Table on the Skin Modifier rollout that lets you assign weighting numerically.

Shakeno

11-29-2007, 01:10 PM

As I understand it the CE didn't go into model making much at all, so no big loss.

Aah... then thanks for the information... seems like everybody is in the same place I am now... lol...

And... about that brain with tentacle legs... it should be a mini-vehicle!

Denny

11-29-2007, 06:35 PM

Here's my thing animated. Flash format for everyones convenience.
http://www.dennylindberg.com/animations/skelly.swf

Now it's time to make something more serious. :)

Mandinga

11-29-2007, 09:59 PM

Don't insult his property. :mad:

;)

O.o :). BTW I like the materials on it.

username2109863423

11-30-2007, 12:31 AM

She is going to get shot through that pretty belly of hers and then she will die.

hahahahahahaha Oh goodness. Man... That's comedy gold. hahahahahahaa :D

Legendary_Lee

11-30-2007, 02:40 PM

Nice Denny. Now please show us the ropes.. And hey Mandinga, how far are you now?

Denny

11-30-2007, 03:22 PM

I'll see when I can show you the ropes. ;) I could always make a recording with the process from Maya to UT3. (not creating the actual assets, but connecting them and making them work)

geodav

11-30-2007, 03:28 PM

a quick pic in the behindview
http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/team/geodav/screens/firstcharacter.JPG

still a bit of work till its done and a few log errors to clear up

Mandinga

11-30-2007, 05:12 PM

Nice Denny. Now please show us the ropes.. And hey Mandinga, how far are you now?

I've got her in unreal ed wih all nims working fine. What do I do next, how can I get this in game????

http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/UT3-prview-71064842

Legendary_Lee

12-01-2007, 12:03 AM

Kool Mandinga! So You didnt have to use skin? Did you just export her with physique modifier?

Mandinga

12-01-2007, 10:20 AM

Kool Mandinga! So You didnt have to use skin? Did you just export her with physique modifier?

I tried it 2 ways, I re-rigged her using skin, the only issue I had using physique was the following, the CS biped won't allow you to assign weights the the yellow skeleton of the UT rig provided by epic.

The biped has different names than the yellow bones on the ut rig, therefore I had to change all the bipeds bone names by hand. Kake sure that your biped has the correct number of joints before you use physique to assign weights, (IE it must include the ik joints that epic put in) you'll notice hat epic has a yellow skeleton (joint names start with "b") and a noral biped skeleton where all joints start with "bip" (all of epics anims go by the yellow "b" skeleton)

When you rig with physique you can bind verts to the yellow skeleton which is what you need to bind them too.

so you have to attach the ik joints (they are blue in the epic rig) to the biped, rig our biped, and then change all the bone names to match what the yellow ones say (IE bip01 forearm must be changed to b_ForeArm)

If you have questions post or contact me dirrectly. I'll make a video tutorial once I get it all down (I'm gonna need hosting space).

--

I do have a question, what do I do now, I am lost do I make a .upl like ut2004? Please let me know.

Thnks folks :)

Denny

12-01-2007, 03:09 PM

Okay people, I have a thread up where I show you the ropes. It's not a tutorial on custom characters but rather how the whole exporting to uED works and using Skeletal Meshes at all.

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=589475

Over and out. ;)

Caravaggio

12-01-2007, 04:55 PM

a quick pic in the behindview
http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/team/geodav/screens/firstcharacter.JPG

still a bit of work till its done and a few log errors to clear up
Now did you just replace the parts of an existing character in an ini or did you write a new ini with its own paths or what?

Legendary_Lee

12-01-2007, 07:29 PM

I tried it 2 ways, I re-rigged her using skin, the only issue I had using physique was the following, the CS biped won't allow you to assign weights the the yellow skeleton of the UT rig provided by epic.

Hey Mandinga, thanks for the info. Glad to hear you can still use physique. Where do you get that yellow skeleton provided by Epic from? Ill try looking around too. Kool that you will make a video tut soon, thanks.

Denny: Thanks, Ill check out your link too.

Mandinga

12-01-2007, 08:39 PM

Hey Mandinga, thanks for the info. Glad to hear you can still use physique. Where do you get that yellow skeleton provided by Epic from? Ill try looking around too. Kool that you will make a video tut soon, thanks.

Denny: Thanks, Ill check out your link too.

the epic rigs cn be found here http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UT3Mods.html at the bottom of the page.

You'll see yellow bones bound to a characer studio biped (links only)

CARAVAGGIO: Can you please tell us what you did scriptwise to get the character working in game, I really need to know what files you modifed ( .ini or otherwise) and how on earth you got the behind view to work.

Legendary_Lee

12-02-2007, 12:51 AM

Thanks Mandinga. Although Im on the same boat as you on getting the character in the game, I do know how to do behind view. When in the game, open up the console window and type behindview 0, or try behindview 1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/SolidSnake79/ScreenShot00072.jpg

Caravaggio

12-02-2007, 01:30 AM

CARAVAGGIO: Can you please tell us what you did scriptwise to get the character working in game, I really need to know what files you modifed ( .ini or otherwise) and how on earth you got the behind view to work.
Um... ...zebra?

Legendary_Lee

12-02-2007, 02:29 AM

Mandinga, I think it was geodav that had the behindview of his character into the game, not Caravaggio..

Mandinga

12-02-2007, 11:14 AM

Mandinga, I think it was geodav that had the behindview of his character into the game, not Caravaggio..

yeah thanks, Now all we need to know is how to get them in game, christ epic tell us what to do.

geodav

12-02-2007, 01:42 PM

ok guys if you pop over to my site, i've started doing a quick and dirty tutorial on how to get your characters into UT3, you'll have to be a bit clued up on max and Ued but i'm putting as many pics in as i can.

yes so far i'm using the Rohin as a base and editing the ini file, i'm still having a few problems so it's far from perfect, if you can't access it thats because i'm uploading an newer version

Denny

12-02-2007, 02:52 PM

Before asking us to visit your site maybe you should tell us the url?

geodav

12-02-2007, 03:56 PM

Mandinga

12-02-2007, 10:50 PM

its in the sig but just for you ut40k (http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/)

ps page 1 - 3ds max setup and export, page 2 - materials setup in Ued, page 3 - mesh import + sockets, page 4 editing the custom character ini

This is great for segmented characters, but Lee and myself are making female characters, the epic rig has the female character separated into to big chunks, arms and body. So how can I tell unreal to use my mesh as 2 pieces??? what do I type in the .ini?

geodav

12-03-2007, 09:38 AM

you don't simple, sorry but to do that you'll have to make some new code have a look at utpawn.uc + UTCustomChar_Data.uc + UTFamilyInfo.uc + other family files.
it might still be posible to use a 2 piece mesh, you'll have to do all the materials and sockets on to the 2 pieces, have a look at the ini for characters that don't have part entries and try and follow via code or Ued where the info comes from. if i find it i'll let you know here

Caravaggio

12-03-2007, 09:57 AM

Quite a few seem to have body part id's set to "NONE", so I can't imagine it's impossible to have a 1 mesh character.
But for that matter you altered the original ini yes? Have you tested just stripping it down the the lines for your character and making a separate ini? It's not going to work very well for custom characters if people who download them have to edit text files instead of just unpacking files to folders.

Denny

12-03-2007, 01:07 PM

Just a question. If I have a custom character, is there an option for others to see mine over network?

Caravaggio

12-03-2007, 01:17 PM

In all the previous games they had to have downloaded it too or your character would show up as a default model, probably reaper in this game, othello in the last. If they don't I think it's possible for the server to force push packages, but that'd be kind of rude really...

geodav

12-03-2007, 01:51 PM

i still get this error in the log
Error: Character creation package 'CH_SMUM_Trooper' doesn't have ServerSideOnly flag set. Set this using the 'SetPackageFlags' commandlet.
i've asked all over the place but still no answer on how to solve it which might be what you guys are on about.

Mandinga

12-03-2007, 02:28 PM

HINT HINT EPIC, TELL US WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW. I'll keep fidling myself and see what happens.

[s§s]Bison_Boy

12-03-2007, 04:11 PM

Zoweeeeeeee, I knew a girl like that once, not in the Biblical sense, she went all Old Testament on me just for asking :)

So wow what a job you did! Just curious, how many polys?

Mandinga

12-03-2007, 08:33 PM

Any updates, anyone?

dpsygnet

12-03-2007, 08:57 PM

Bitter-Pill can you explain us how you got a model to appears in the character building screen ?? :)

Legendary_Lee

12-04-2007, 01:00 AM

Bison_Boy;25142859']Zoweeeeeeee, I knew a girl like that once, not in the Biblical sense, she went all Old Testament on me just for asking :)

So wow what a job you did! Just curious, how many polys?

Thanks, the polycount on my female model is at 5,700 polys.

Kankipappa

12-04-2007, 05:10 AM

How about if someone would do a new harlin face mod, with the hair and the beard like in the UT1. It just doesn't look like harlin in this UT3, too much of a hitman instead...

[s§s]Bison_Boy

12-04-2007, 11:41 AM

Here's my thing animated. Flash format for everyones convenience.
http://www.dennylindberg.com/animations/skelly.swf

Now it's time to make something more serious. :)

I can't get it to open - 403 error forbidden access!

Would you please put together a tut fot this brainiac start to finish? PLEASE???:D

Discmage

12-04-2007, 01:48 PM

Nice work there Lee. Pretty sharp stuff.

I have been tinkering with the starcraft 2 marine now for a long time now and now that I have the collectors edition I can start trying to get him into the game, however all I have managed to do is make the game crash :) Still a few things to try however before I am at a complete loss.

Has anyone used the UT3 rigs they have released on UDN? It has a Biped AND a custom rig in the file. I can't seem to move the custom rig on its own, only by moving the biped does the custom rig move. But supposedly you have to get rid of the biped before you export, making any animation impossible.

geodav

12-04-2007, 03:32 PM

Denny

12-04-2007, 03:43 PM

As far as I'm concerned, Biped is a rigging system. Which means that when you've animated the bipeds you have to bake the animation onto the skeleton and then remove the bipeds.

Bison_Boy;25144906']I can't get it to open - 403 error forbidden access!

Would you please put together a tut fot this brainiac start to finish? PLEASE???:D
It should work, it could've been a temporary hosting problem. This domain is unlocked regarding hotlinking and I've tried from different computers. Anyhow, I already made a videotutorial using my brainy thing there as an example. If you have any questions that are not covered in it, feel free to ask.
http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=589475

Mandinga

12-04-2007, 06:36 PM

I'm still at a loss, I still crash the game. Sadly I think the current solution by GEODAV only works for male characters. not female ones. Guess I'll have to wait. There are some character meshes in UED that are one single piece. How do these work scriptwise? where are the scripts for these, can I set the id's for some parts to 0???

Caravaggio

12-04-2007, 07:54 PM

I keep trying to copy the custom char.ini to get a new name to show up in th elist, but that's not working, even when I use the exact same information as the default models. I'm beginning to think my hope about a new ini is just wrong. Hopefully that means it'll be even easier than that, but that still means it's an easier way that's completely unknown?
Or did I miss something. This thread has gotten so long. :p

L0rdGunn3r

12-04-2007, 09:12 PM

the anims are linked via code, i mentioned this a few posts back, you must use a skin modifier and delete the biped then you can export each section one at a time. the biped is only there so that you can check your skinning or have you seen a character do a breakdance ingame.
if you need more info ref me tutorial let me know and i'll try and clear it up

You don't have to remove the biped. If you do you'll notice your animation goes away. Make sure you have "remove Helpers" checked in ActorX and you'll be fine keeping the biped in place. Just make sure you have one mesh in the scene at a time. So for example delete all the meshes but the full body mesh and keep all of the skeleton and biped objects.

L0rdGunn3r

12-04-2007, 09:17 PM

Nice work there Lee. Pretty sharp stuff.
Has anyone used the UT3 rigs they have released on UDN? It has a Biped AND a custom rig in the file. I can't seem to move the custom rig on its own, only by moving the biped does the custom rig move. But supposedly you have to get rid of the biped before you export, making any animation impossible.

The custom rig is used for skinning the character mesh. The biped is then bound to the custom rig. You then use the biped for motion captured animation and the custom rig to tweak where needed. Skinning using the biped exclusively is extremely limited on vertex weighting so this setup they have is ideal.

L0rdGunn3r

12-04-2007, 09:23 PM

As far as I'm concerned, Biped is a rigging system. Which means that when you've animated the bipeds you have to bake the animation onto the skeleton and then remove the bipeds.

No baking required with these animations. Simply animate your character mesh and export it using ActorX. Whether you're animating the full body mesh or just the arm meshes, the animation result is the same. You can take the animation from the arm meshes and us it in the UE to animate any character mesh in the game that uses the same underlying skeleton. The stand alone arm meshes, leg meshes, shoulder meshes, and etc. share the same skeleton as the full body mesh.

Legendary_Lee

12-05-2007, 02:01 AM

Discmage

12-05-2007, 06:41 AM

I would be very surprised if Physique doesn't work...although I could be wrong on that. However it seems that Skin is the more popular of the two and should be learned either way. I remember back when I looked at Skin with a wary eye but once I learned how to use it I never looked back.

Finally got my marine to a point where I can show people my Work in progress. Textures need a lot of work and some of the normal maps aren't done etc. But its getting there.

Starcraft 2 Marine WIP (http://www.neomagination.com/downloads/render_01.jpg)

Now I am torn between waiting for a surefire way to make custom characters, or venture into trying to find my own reliable way to make things work. *shrugs* Hard decision. Impatience is a pain in the butt!

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 08:39 AM

Hey LordGunn3r, Im still confused..some people say only skin modifier works and some say physique modifier will also work. Can it be exported with it physiqued instead of skinned? In any case, I do want to learn to use skin to rig characters now. Seems lot better than physique.

Skin works Lee, it;s just a different way to bind the mesh. I've tested it and it works. If you want to use the default animations, your mesh must have 70 joints once actorx culls unused dummies. the only issue is that epics anims follow the yellow bones instead of the biped bones. In your biped scene simply rename all the bones to match the epic yellow bones.

ez_jamin

12-05-2007, 08:59 AM

I had to copy the default ut3 meshes properties (pitch -90 and Z -51.something) and use that on my mesh otherwise the game would crash when trying to use my character. I figured this could be problem you're having.

Discmage

12-05-2007, 09:26 AM

I forgot how frustrating all this can be.

Followed Geodav's tutorial to the word and couldn't even get a new character listing up (even though I got that working yesterday). Although I only tried with one part, in order to add a new set of shoulder pads to the range already.

So many small things that if you don't pick up ruins everything. Either I used to have more patience or something...but I dunno :) Maybe I'll look at mapping. That looks EASY in comparison to this stuff :)

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 09:54 AM

your mesh doesn't have to have 70 bones.... I just left the biped in the scene and just linked the root of the yellow bones to the root of the biped. Everything worked fine on export into the game but I did have a little problem, nothing to do with bones tho. I had to copy the default ut3 meshes properties (pitch -90 and Z -51.something) and use that on my mesh otherwise the game would crash when trying to use my character. I figured this could be problem you're having.

Mesh properties, hmm, did you copy them by hand or is there a copymeshproperties button in UED.

ez_jamin

12-05-2007, 10:25 AM

I copied em by hand, I couldn't find a copymeshproperties button anywhere.

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 11:06 AM

Great thanks to ez_jamin I've got the character done, only issue is that I can't view the character ingame (game no longer crashes but theres no character in the viewer) not sure what do do here, I followed Geodavs tut to the letter. Is there something I missed in UED???

Cold_Killer

12-05-2007, 11:23 AM

I love the pioneers who struggle through the learning curve to make way for the masses. Thank you guys for making it possible for us uneducated folk to have new game content without rattling out brains for hours on end. Also, I love your model Lee and hope to see her for the PS3.

Discmage

12-05-2007, 12:31 PM

OK, heres something that I didn't know. Call me stupid, but it could be an honest mistake by others.

the character config file is not in the actual game directory. Its somewhere else. in my case its C:\Documents and Settings\MyWindowsNameHere\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config\UTCustomChar.ini

Editing THAT ini file actually does something. Modifying the DefaultCustomChar.ini in the GAME UTGame/Config directory doesn't actually do ANYTHING...I assume it is used when you select default attributes inside the game.

If this is the case...where should the packages go for custom stuff? In the actual game directory, or this annoying documents character folder that is also there and saved packages seem to go by default.

So this change I get a 7th option in the shoulder pad section, but it doesn't actually load anything. So I'm assuming its not liking something in my package, or can't find it or who knows what :)

Personally I think everything should be in the game directory. Throwing files all over your computer is annoying in my personal opinion. But there you go.

ez_jamin

12-05-2007, 01:15 PM

Discmage

12-05-2007, 01:28 PM

Yeah, seems when you save from UT3 Editor into the CookedPC directory it then sends it over to the My Documents/Unpublished section. Which is annoying. So just copy the .upk packages you make into the C:\Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\CookedPC\ Folder. In this case I put my package in the Characters folder.

I just got my Space Marines Shoulder Pads working on Reaper, all is said to be coming along nicely. So my tips so far, although some might be obvious...they weren't to me so you never know!

- Make sure you are editing the correct files (eg. ../My Documents/My Games/Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Config\UTCustomChar.ini )
- Copy any packages you make into the correct folders (eg. C:\Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\CookedPC\Characters and NOT where the editor sends them)
- Shoulder pads need EXACTLY the same name conventions to work properly.
(eg. meshes in the packages >> PackageName.GroupName.insertmeshname_LShoPad01 and PackageName.GroupName.insertmeshname_RShoPad01 with PackageName.GroupName.InsertMeshName_XShoPad01 in the .ini file.

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 02:08 PM

geodav

12-05-2007, 02:13 PM

watch the naming of the shoulderpads eg meshname_LShoPad01 otherwise they won't work !!
maybe i should add the name for the righthand mesh and make it clearer which character.ini to edit, i'll do that when i've got my system re-built

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 02:18 PM

If you want to understand how rigging and skinning work I recommend the below DVD tutorials:

CG Academy Rigging (http://www.cg-academy.net/dvds_menu_3dsmax.php?Result=rigging)

Discmage

12-05-2007, 02:23 PM

Good idea Geo. Good tute by the way, its got me a fair bit in. But still coming up against some walls which is par for the course.

My current issue is other custom parts aren't showing up at all. I imported some boots and when I select that option in the customise character screen no model loads up. Same with a torso.

However I think Skin is doing weird things to my model in Max. As soon as I apply it and try to work with it the mesh goes dark. I don't recall this is normal. Anyone know why Skin modifier would be doing this? I can still export, but I dunno. Things like that could mean anything.

...and I thought I was doing so well getting the shoulder pads in. *sigh*

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 02:29 PM

Another helpful video tutorial:

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v15242846WjnDG2C

This doesn't have all the answers for creating a custom UT3 character that works with the skeleton in the Epic supplied max files but it does give you a very good understanding of how to animate and export your work. The tutorial uses Maya but the same concepts can be applied to 3DS Max. If you apply what you learn in this video to a character mesh bound to the standard player skeleton rig you'll be good to go.

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 02:33 PM

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 02:59 PM

My current issue is the following, my character stretches in some areas (neck, toes, and fingers). It works fine in unreal ed beacause of the use rotaion only check box, even though I've checked it for all parts it still streatches in game. Any ideas on how to fix this???

please follow this link t a picture of the problem.

http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/stretch-error-71436997

geodav

12-05-2007, 04:03 PM

@disc sent you an email with the max_marine setup it might help you with how i did it

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 05:00 PM

Anyone have any idea how to fix the stretching issue, prefereably without having to re-rig everything?

http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/stretch-error-71436997

ez_jamin

12-05-2007, 05:42 PM

don't delete the biped? Cus when I tried to outright delete my biped it streched the wrists into really weird positions. But that was visible in max.. So that may not work.

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 05:46 PM

Anyone have any idea how to fix the stretching issue, prefereably without having to re-rig everything?

http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/stretch-error-71436997

The skeleton dimensions are common across the board for all Human based character players in the game. So the neck has a fixed dimension and etc. You have two choices, Adjust the scaling/dimensions of your mesh parts or create a mod that introduces a brand new race with it's own skeleton matched to your existing setup. No quick and easy fix I'm afraid.

Caravaggio

12-05-2007, 05:57 PM

In roughly 2 weeks from now I'll have my custom character done and ready to play in UT3. I'll post a tutorial when it's done. I'll also post how to create a custom faction and populate it with your new custom character.
You phrase that as if you already have the .ini situation worked out, so would it hurt to make a quick post now? :P

Mandinga

12-05-2007, 06:00 PM

The skeleton dimensions are common across the board for all Human based character players in the game. So the neck has a fixed dimension and etc. You have two choices, Adjust the scaling/dimensions of your mesh parts or create a mod that introduces a brand new race with it's own skeleton matched to your existing setup. No quick and easy fix I'm afraid.

hmm how would I go about doing a new species? sounds kinda complicated, but scaling may work guess I'll give it a try.

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 08:41 PM

You phrase that as if you already have the .ini situation worked out, so would it hurt to make a quick post now? :P

To make a custom faction you need to actually mod the game. After you export the packages to source you can use the below as an example to make your own faction:

UTCustomChar.ini
UTFamilyInfo_TwinSouls.uc
UTFamilyInfo_TwinSouls_Male.uc
UTCharFamilyAssetStore.uc
UTCustomChar_Data.uc
UTCustomChar_Preview.uc
UTUICharacterFactionMenuList.uc
UTUIDataProvider_CharacterFaction.uc
UTUIFrontEnd_CharacterFaction.uc

There is no quick hack like modifying the .ini files unfortunately.

Discmage

12-05-2007, 11:04 PM

You would think with UT3 trying to be such a highly moddable friendly game that they would have implemented an easier way to distribute custom characters.

If the download custom characters thing works through a network game that may be ok, but as I see it if everyone had to make the modifications to so many files to add a new custom character theres a lot of room for error for people who don't mod and just want a new character to play with.

I wonder if there is a way that we just don't know about yet.

Another thing I just noticed with the Shoulder Pads I have managed to get working. Even though they appeared fine in the character customisation screen there is mapping issues IN game. And weird ones too. It looks like the front of one shoulder pad is mapped correctly, while the rest of the pads have got the Twinsouls map applied.

So just be sure to check you modifications work in game, just because they work in the setup screen doesn't mean they do in game. Weird.

L0rdGunn3r

12-05-2007, 11:50 PM

You can make custom characters for an existing faction using the .ini file. Its just when you need to create a custom faction that it gets a bit hairy.

Legendary_Lee

12-06-2007, 01:25 AM

Hey LordGunn3r, thanks for all the help. Seems like you know the stuff pretty well. I cant wait till you make that tutorial. Are you gonna make it coming from 3dMax or Maya? I wish it is coming from Max. A quick skin tutorial would be awesome as well..

Im gonna try exporting out my character with physique on like Mandinga. I hope I dont run into the stretching issues as well.. Great progress by the way there Mandinga. Ill be sure to PM you if I get stuck.

Caravaggio

12-06-2007, 08:04 AM

Which is another issue, if we have to divide custom work into factions, should modders decide at some point what this "miscellaneous" faction should be called? Should everyone just use "custom" as the faction or "factionless" or what? What should the call letters be in the custom code?

Discmage

12-06-2007, 09:46 AM

I agree, if we could come up with a custom faction that might make things easy for all the non modders out there, and us too. I don't know how Epic intend on doing the network download custom content stuff though. It might clash?

'Custom' would be the simplest most logical faction name in my opinion.

Mandinga

12-06-2007, 10:29 AM

I think that epic is going to release custom content in things such as editors choice bonus packs, or with patches. Thats how I'm expecting it to be. They'll do all the .ini work, test for bugs and then add it to a big community bonus pack.

L0rdGunn3r

12-06-2007, 10:50 AM

Hey LordGunn3r, thanks for all the help. Seems like you know the stuff pretty well. I cant wait till you make that tutorial. Are you gonna make it coming from 3dMax or Maya?

I'll be using 3DS Max. Rigging and Skinning can be very in depth but I'll see if I can add a good overview and how to skin a leg for example. I learned most of what I know from the CG-Academy Rigging tutorial DVDs. They are worth the price tag if you plan on doing a good bit of this type of work whether for a hobbie or for a career.

L0rdGunn3r

12-06-2007, 10:54 AM

People interested in this thread should also find this article interesting:

CG Society UT3 Article (http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4346)

Legendary_Lee

12-06-2007, 01:40 PM

Wow.. Inspiring stuff... Cant wait to make more of my characters. Thanks for showing that LordGunn3r. Glad you're making the tutorial coming from Max.

Discmage

12-07-2007, 02:49 PM

OK, well its been an interesting day.

I have managed to get my space marines shoulder pads, boots and torso working in the character customisation screen (although last time I played the game the textures were doing funny things but its a start!)

It basically came down to where your packages are saved. So I can't stress enough saving your packages in the correct directories. I think the editor puts them in funny places by default. I eventually copied my final version of the package into every conceivable location it COULD need to go, tested it and it did OK. then renamed all but one of them to try and cut down the choices of where its looking. In MY case it looks in the GAME directory for .upk's. A friend mentioned they need to go over in that My Games/unpublished/CustomChars folder. So I dunno.

so in my case C:\Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\CookedPC\Characters

I also can't stress enough naming things in your .ini correctly. Simple mistake, serious repurcussions. Last time I did it the Torso was sucked into a vacuum. It COULD have been the end of the UT3 universe as we know it and Epic might have had to find a new IP. :)

geodav

12-07-2007, 02:58 PM

Thanks to Discmage for pointing out some important points which wher missing from my tutorial eg names and locations.
to and to that what also might help those using the
\Documents and Settings\<UserID>\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Unpublished\CookedPC\CustomChars
you may need to start ut3 via

Since cooking/copying all the time is tedious, while testing you can pass the game the "-useunpublished" command line parameter to tell it to use the files in the Unpublished branch.

Discmage

12-07-2007, 03:28 PM

ooooh, that might help heaps! thanks for that. I was just coming to the realisation that something to this effect was going on. Even when I was saving to the Game directory inside the editor, it only updated the unpublished folders therefore none of my updated material was actually going in. Trial and error is a pain I must admit :)

And as I am one of those stupid "GUI's are the only way" persons...how do I 'pass' that command to UT3?

Discmage

12-07-2007, 03:57 PM

OK, now that I have parts of my model in and its working. A new problem seems to be that in the custom character screen the textures work fine. But IN game most of the parts use the Twinsouls materials...however some SECTIONS of my meshes are textured correctly. Even parts of the same UV map section.

This was using the method of making materials that Geodav mentioned in his tutorial.

Really, REALLY weird

I also tried making a new material from scratch. Just a plain material, not the instance and trying THAT in game. Instead it just used the twinsouls textures even in the custom selection screen.

THEN I tried using an Instance material, and used my new basic material as the parent. That, too, came up with the Twinsouls textures in the custom character screen.

Anyone had this problem and if so have they managed to get over it?

I might go over Geodavs tutorial one MORE time in regards to the texturing and see if I missed a toggle button somewhere.

PoopaScoop

12-07-2007, 05:09 PM

Hey, I'm probably one of the many following this thread religiously, noting down all the great progress you've all been making while I make my model. I have a few questions :-

GeoDav - At this time are you getting you model in game perfectly, and would you say your tutorial is flawless or are u having any kinda of errors>

Mandinga - My characters body (http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3994/staticmj1.jpg), I think like your is 1 mesh. I think it was you who said earlier the body of your model, Torso and Thigh was one mesh? Did you get the animations to work with your 1 mesh model ok? Or did you divide your model in the end?

I feel cheeky for saying this but... Thanks guys, you make life a whole lot easyier! :D

Discmage

12-07-2007, 05:49 PM

My theory is that if you made a new character, using the void/no visible model examples for body parts and apply your whole model to ONE part like the head. Set that part up as viewable in the ini file then it should work fine as one mesh.

eg. All but the head mesh are hidden in the ini files. Make a custom character default setup. OR if you want there to be NO custom options, only your one mesh, I assume a custom faction would need to be made with only one option for each section. I assume it would crash if you took out the options completely.

Hope all that makes sense. As much as I haven't got into custom factions, I have played with the mesh and ini file enough to say this would pretty much work ok. However in MY case the textures wouldn't ;)

For another, possibly more stupid and obvious, way to copy unpublished packages to the game directory, just make a shortcut to the games cookedPC Characters directory in the Unpublished characters directory. ctrl-C the new package, double click the shortcut, ctrl-V the package. Simple but effective, and all GUI based! :D.

@Geodav: You mentioned somewhere your textures are really bright. I have a theory that has to do with the parent of your texture coming from the Twinsouls. If we can figure out how to make our own texture base, that doesn't do the things that the Twinsouls one does (in this case I lthink emission is at play, making the character glow or brighter than it should be) then we can solve that problem.

My theory on this is because in my mapping, some of the glowing lights (orange dots in a row) showed up over my model, even though there was no material in the emission channel for the particular instance. I think there is more to materials than we know. I have watched all the material tutorials on the DVD, and they are really cool, but I don't recall they mention anything about Material Instances. Characters might need special attention, and I assume a special toggle button depressed that noone has found yet. its ALWAYS one of them.

Finding this elusive button, or getting materials to work in game how I want them, will be my next task. Unless someone beats me to it. Might look over all the tutes, content, forums, and VTM's one more time to be sure as well :) So close...SO CLOSE!!!

Alex Drake

12-07-2007, 07:10 PM

@Discmage: Ok so in regards to your first proposition I ahve a fully rigged and saved character with a single mesh. Looking at the ini we see the following:

;;;;;NEW HEAD (Custom Mesh)
Parts=(Part=PART_Head,ObjectName="CH_AIA_SOLDIER.Mesh.aiasoldiermesh",PartID="E",FamilyID="TWIM")

;;;;; New Character "IMP"
Characters=(CharName="IMP",Description="<Strings:UTGameUI.CharLocData.Reaper_Description>",CharID="E",Faction="TwinSouls",PreviewImageMarkup="<Images:UI_Portrait.Character.UI_Portrait_Character _TwinSouls_Male_Head03>",CharData=(FamilyID="TWIM",HeadID="E",TorsoID="C",ShoPadID="C",bHasLeftShoPad=false,bHasRightShoPad=false,ArmsID ="C",ThighsID="C",BootsID="C"),AIData=(Accuracy=0.5,StrafingAbility=1.0,CombatS tyle=0.5,FavoriteWeapon="UTGame.UTWeap_RocketLauncher"))

Looking at the following:

bHasLeftShoPad=false,bHasRightShoPad=false

are you implying that there also exist boolean function calls for all the other body parts as well?

bHasArms, bHasLegs, etc?

or is there some other example for supplying a null or void part that I missed in this thread?

Discmage

12-07-2007, 07:47 PM

@Alex Drake : If you look in the ini file you might see some lines like:
Parts=(Part=PART_Helmet,ObjectName="",PartID="NONE",FamilyID="IRNM")

I don't know what this means..however it might hold a key to a part that isn't an option, or not visible. I don't know as I haven't looked at it.

The other option is that you actually make one model asset that doesn't have anything in it. So technically you are loading a mesh, or at least an asset from the package, but it has nothing in it. OR as I have found the hard way, setting the asset to be one that doesn't actually exist. However there may be catches to this as I have crashed the game. So if you look for a package and it isn't there it will crash. But if you look for an asset that isn't there INSIDE a package that is OK and it will come up with nothing on your model. Reaper with no torso and no boots looks weird, by the way! :)

Then, in the ini file make a new character name with the defaults using your 2 new assets for the body parts. The invisible asset for all except the one main mesh such as the head. This is, of course not the best option as people can swap bits in and customise your character. But its a start.

To go beyond this simply make a faction of your own that only has one option for each body part, with the same idea of invisible parts for most except one. That way noone can modify your unit. Look into the ini files that...I think Lordgunner mentioned...in regards to making a faction. I haven't looked at it...its probably easy...ish...if a little finicky.

I don't know enough about the boolean stuff to say if that is a good way to go about it. Might be, would probably make sense if it did. but so far many things in this process have not made that much sense.

Alex Drake

12-07-2007, 07:49 PM

I figured that out a few seconds after I posted the question. Thanks tho;

Worked fine cept my mesh hovers 2 feet off the ground in-game and is also oriented wrong. My team and I will prolly post a tut as soon as wel solve that.

Mandinga

12-07-2007, 08:20 PM

Mandinga - My characters body (http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3994/staticmj1.jpg), I think like your is 1 mesh. I think it was you who said earlier the body of your model, Torso and Thigh was one mesh? Did you get the animations to work with your 1 mesh model ok? Or did you divide your model in the end?

Models looking great :) man keep at it. I rigged the character as one piece using skin, then divided it.

!UPDATE SHOT! CHARACTER FULLY WORKING.
http://megamandinga.deviantart.com/art/Progress-71603529

I''ll be publishing a video tut for you all.

Legendary_Lee

12-07-2007, 08:25 PM

yeah PoopaScoop your model is turning out nicely. post more shots of it as u go.

Discmage

12-07-2007, 08:30 PM

Has anyone looked at cloth yet? I think its a bone based thing, and you tell the engine which bones are always ragdolling...I think my next character needs to have a trenchcoat or a cape! :D

Legendary_Lee

12-07-2007, 08:52 PM

Has anyone looked at cloth yet? I think its a bone based thing, and you tell the engine which bones are always ragdolling...I think my next character needs to have a trenchcoat or a cape! :D

Yeah I wanna look into that as well.. MY character has long ponytail hair. It would be great to use cloth on it. For now it is rigged with bones.

Discmage

12-08-2007, 02:11 AM

I'm looking at making a tutorial too. Much like my original one I did with UT2004. So its pretty full on as it will probably include the process of concepting an idea, modeling, normal mapping through to importing and its significantly more specific than many tutorials you find out there it seems. Not saying they are bad tutorials, but for some beginners its quite hard to follow I have found. Video tutorials are also very popular, but I think that readbale tutorials are as useful in that you can work through them at your leisure much easier.

As we seem to have such a good thing going on this particular thread I might use it as a base for things I can't work out, or improvements, it will take a long time as I want it to be the most complete tutorial I can make it. Taking all we have learned here and putting it down. things like small things to note, workarounds, cheats and who knows what else.

My main thought for future proofing is has anyone thought about custom rigs yet? We all seem to be aiming at bending our models to the whims of the Epic rig. But what happens if I want custom animations, or more importantly different proportions or even a 4 legged creature etc.

My main issue is does anyone know how you would apply the animset and animtree to the mesh imports? If you keep the naming conventions exactly the same as the epic rig, but change everything else, theoretically it all should port across OK to the Animtree.

If I do this, and I eventually get around to making all the anims from scratch I would try and make the .bip info available if Epic doesn't release them first. Which I hope they do!

Althoguh I have to admit this is MONTHS in the making...is more a long term tutorial rather than for those who can't wait to hack through the mess we seem to be cutting through. My UT2004 tutorial is STILL getting hits, so I hope that this new tutorial gets similar and for as long.

Also, does anyone, particularly very new modders/modellers etc., have any requests?? is there anything they usually find in tutorials they think could be improved, added? That info would be appreciated so I could make it good for everyone.

If you want to see my last tutorial just click it in my signature. Its not so much a plug anymore as its past technology (no normal mapping...and that changes EVERYTHING) as an example of how indepth I get. :)

geodav

12-08-2007, 01:29 PM

just been scanning the posts from the last 24hrs, My tutorial is not complete or failsafe it's the work flow that has worked for me, and from what i hear at other forums has work for other people, please bear in mind that i'm just trying to follow how epic 'maybe' did it there are still pieces of the puzzle that need fitted in and as soon as i have them i'll add them to the tutorial. Now to a few points the characters must use a MaterialInstantConstant i don't know why but expect its something to do with the way the engine renders moving/animated objects.
@discmage
does anyone know how you would apply the animset and animtree to the mesh imports? its all done via code mate have a look at UTFamilyInfo_TwinSouls_Male.uc

trust me i've a decent idea how deep i'll have to go when i port the tyranids

Shakeno

12-08-2007, 01:33 PM

Has anyone looked at cloth yet? I think its a bone based thing, and you tell the engine which bones are always ragdolling...I think my next character needs to have a trenchcoat or a cape! :D

I have to admit that I'd like a cloth tutorial. I have my mesh rigged with custom bones for some hair and tail effects. (It is even imported to UnrealED and saved as an UPK, textured and all, just need better normalmapping which will be done later)
Anyway, I'd like to know for a good tutorial for 1-mesh characters, because all that INI edit confuses me, and I am not sure which way to follow ^^' (they look different in each post!)

P.S: @geodav, argh, yeah, I need to know how to apply an animation set too, because I guess ingame you can't do like UnrealED: Load Mesh -> Load Animation Set... too much to learn :(

P.S 2: Forgot to ask... has anyone thought about team colors? how they should be done? if it is with the <texture>_t1 and stuff like that...?

Discmage

12-08-2007, 04:24 PM

I can't even find that family stuff. I did a search for family on my whole computer and it didn't find it! Go figure?! So if you could just point me to the directory where those files are for that stuff that would be appreciated.

I have managed to get textures working correctly in game, although as it is using the base of the Ronin the glow effect is a bit much. I am looking at finalising my textures to work in game, then somehow duplicating that base material in order to modify it to not use emission or something in the material nodes. Then redoing it all over again to optimise positioning as a couple of things are off.

THings, however, are generally looking up. :D

geodav

12-08-2007, 04:47 PM

disc to get the code you need to export it from the editor, open the generic browser click the actors class tab and then from file export all scripts after a few mins you'll find all the code in your mygames/..../utgame/exportedscripts the files you need are in the utgame/classes folder.

sorry i haven't looked at the cloth bit yet, i'll let you know if i find anything

Discmage

12-09-2007, 04:48 AM

Shakeno

12-09-2007, 08:11 AM

Ah thanks for that. I hate coding stuff.

I was having a really quick look at the cloth stuff. from what I gather you can just nominate bones that should act like cloth. It would take a bit of experimentation no doubt as nothing is EVER that easy, but hopefully its close to that.

Well... maybe I did something wrong but I already tried this and I got two results:
1> Game crashes before the level finishes loading
2> Extra bones are not cloth

Anyway... so far I got the model into the game, after coding the faction thing (without modifying the original classes, just adding some of mine), and the model is TERRIBLY shiny, also some bones stays in the reference pose, and when going in-game, my model is facing 90º to the right. Now after using my "own faction", my model does not play animations ingame, just stays in a T-Pose, and when trying to feign death, the physics are not loaded and I got stuck forever (can't fire/move/jump...)

P.S: My models also floats in-game, even when it played the animations and when it didn't.

ez_jamin

12-09-2007, 08:47 AM

Well... maybe I did something wrong but I already tried this and I got two results:
1> Game crashes before the level finishes loading
2> Extra bones are not cloth

Anyway... so far I got the model into the game, after coding the faction thing (without modifying the original classes, just adding some of mine), and the model is TERRIBLY shiny, also some bones stays in the reference pose, and when going in-game, my model is facing 90º to the right. Now after using my "own faction", my model does not play animations ingame, just stays in a T-Pose, and when trying to feign death, the physics are not loaded and I got stuck forever (can't fire/move/jump...)

P.S: My models also floats in-game, even when it played the animations and when it didn't.

You have done many things wrong my freind.

b0b7h3r1pp3r

12-09-2007, 09:08 AM

is it just me or is this process insanely more complicated than it initially was in ut2k4. Tho I haven't been active in posting at all, I am working on redesigning a couple of my favorite models from ut2k4 and tho this forum has been of incredible help; this whole process is being a pain in the ass. I'm getting there though with y'alls' help

Shakeno

12-09-2007, 09:20 AM

You have done many things wrong my freind.

Well... if you explain what I did wrong, I'd be glad to read. :)

Oh, I just found the option which made the model to float and facing the wrong position. It is like in UT2004: In the Skeletal Mesh tab of the skeletal mesh viewer, the origin and rotation values are set to 0 vectors, both rotation and position. I've used these values to get it in a correct position:

Origin:
- X: 0.000000
- Y: 0.000000
- Z: -51.677998
Rotation:
- X: 0.00º
- Y: -90.00°
- Z: 0.00º

If the Origin values I used do not work, the thing you must do is get the hip position to where the grid is, then move it up or right, depending of the height of your character.

Now what I have to do is to make the model show the weapon the player has, make support for custom physics and clothing, custom factions and of course, one of the most important things: make it not to glow...

ez_jamin

12-09-2007, 09:24 AM

Make sure you read the whole thread. Most of the problems your having have already been sorted out.

Go to geodavs site to find out what sockets you need to add to your mesh (shows the weapon) http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/

And don't use custom factions yet. You'd need some experience in coding to pull that off this early.

Shakeno

12-09-2007, 09:28 AM

Ah, thank you! I didn't see that post when searching through the thread (Probably I missed that page)

Mandinga

12-09-2007, 11:31 AM

making progress on most areas.

Shakeno

12-09-2007, 02:38 PM

Argh, got stuck in the same texture problem which Discmage had... (did you got it fixed? I've checked the thread twice and didn't find it, so better being sure that I didn't miss anything)
What I can't understand is why it appears to be correct in the character selection part, but it has black squares in the texture when it is ingame, and, even after following the Geodav's tutorial (great tutorial though), my model materials still looks... not plain white, but well, still too shiny... (in the selection screen does not look that shiny though... maybe is caused by the scenery illumination)

I guess for the shiny thing I'll have to manually adjust the materials, or even create them from scratch, also, and I am trying to find a way to fix the black patches (if Discmage didn't find any...)

Legendary_Lee

12-09-2007, 07:59 PM

Ok guys, good to hear lots of you are getting your models into the game. Also, please post some screenshots of them as well.

Mandinga

12-09-2007, 08:56 PM

Ok guys, good to hear lots of you are getting your models into the game. Also, please post some screenshots of them as well.

I did a few posts back, with all the corrections done, let me know if you experience any adverse issues with physique Lee.

Kiyoka

12-09-2007, 09:50 PM

This character making stuff looks impossibly hard.. I really want to make my own female. I do have the collector edtion, and no I haven;t looked at the tutorials. They really that helpful? O.o

Discmage

12-09-2007, 10:10 PM

I don't think it is a case of harder, I think it is more a case of more.

This whole engine has been thought of with designers in mind, making the coding things easier to do using flowcharts and what not. The catch, however, is the fact this engine can do so much MORE. Bringing the difficulty level up to what I think the UT2004 was initially. So for the same amount of trouble your results can be 20 times better. Once its all been figured out and tutorialised...I think the mod community will be able to come up with some seriously cool stuff.

In regards to the 'shiny' texture. Do you mean shiny, or glowy? My textures glow too much. I think this is something that is embedded into the emission channel in the material base that Geodav used in his tutorial as a parent. I will be looking at this, maybe a mask or something, to overide the glow/emission channel, as I can't figure out a way to duplicate the base material in order to modify its information directly and then use the duplicate as a base instead (also keeping EVERYTHING to do with my characters textures inside my package).

If anyone has figured out duplicating a material in the browser then any chance you could tell me? maybe I'm missing something simple. I realise SOME materials are easily duplicated...but finding the source material that Geodav uses as a parent...I can't seem to easily duplicate THAT one.

If it IS shiny then make a spucularity texture and reduce it all to black or something :) That'll do it probably.

@Kiyoka: No the tutorials in the CE UT3 don't help with characters, weapons OR Vehicles. It mostly covers levels, kismet, particles, matinee...um...and I think another thing. Which is pretty good still, but unfortunate for us :)

Here is my Marine in the Custom Character screen...however still having issues with the textures in game. So still working on those issues although I think I know what the problems are.

http://www.neomagination.com/Downloads/InGame_01.jpg

Discmage

12-10-2007, 02:50 AM

But alas I cannot. In game the textures are SUPER bright. And oddly enough some of them aren't really mapped onto the mesh correctly while some parts are, even though it looks fine in the character setup screen. Go figure!

I tried setting a black map in the emission channel on the material, but that didn't actually do anything.

Has anyone else had/got this problem and have they resolved it?

Kiyoka

12-10-2007, 07:48 AM

@Kiyoka: No the tutorials in the CE UT3 don't help with characters, weapons OR Vehicles. It mostly covers levels, kismet, particles, matinee...um...and I think another thing. Which is pretty good still, but unfortunate for us :)

Here is my Marine in the Custom Character screen...however still having issues with the textures in game. So still working on those issues although I think I know what the problems are.

http://www.neomagination.com/Downloads/InGame_01.jpg

Oh great T.T, I better find a tutorial for character mods then.

Ah, and your character mod looks sweet :p

EDIT: I so give up on trying to make a charater with no tutorial. TOO MANY BUTTONZ *foams* Anyone got a link? ;-;

Discmage

12-10-2007, 09:02 AM

Geodav's did it for me...if you missed the link in this thread its at

http://www.ut40k.planetunreal.gamespy.com/

L0rdGunn3r

12-10-2007, 11:06 AM

Did you by chance make the 3 different LODs for the character? If you're using the same skeleton and setup that the existing characters use then that may be why your character doesn't look right when playing the game.

Discmage

12-10-2007, 11:48 AM

Its just a texture thing. unless LOD's effect glowiness or mapping...I can't see how they would be linked.

Although, just to be sure...where is the process for this? 3D program or in editor?

L0rdGunn3r

12-10-2007, 01:40 PM

The in game models are of lower detail than the version that you see when setting your character up which is the highest detail. And then the 3rd version is what you see at a distance with is the lowest LOD. So if the various LOD models aren't setup right you'll get issues.

geodav

12-10-2007, 02:03 PM

Kiyoka

12-10-2007, 02:27 PM

I'm confused, can you even make a character in the Unreal editor? I tried and the 1st window I had opened said Missing Files. Then when I tried opening the Krall skeleton in the main window, well I could see it was for map files only.

I think I'm way over my head in trying character making. Is there anyone to contact to request a character mod?

Discmage

12-10-2007, 02:39 PM

@Kiyoka: Well you need a character to actually import INTO the editor first. and to do that you need a 3D package like 3dstudio Max or Maya. There are also some free ones like Blender but I think the support for importing isn't as good for those just yet, although if you look through the forums there are workarounds I believe.

Check out my tutorial on 3D modeling. Its for UT2004 at the moment (upgrading to UT3 eventually), but it will give you a good idea into what goes into making LAST generations characters. So you can assume THIS generations are actually a little more complicated (mainly due to normal mapping).

The link is found in my signature.

If you want to just play around with preexisting characters you could always mix and match the current player elements. Swap Ronin parts with Liandri and the like. There is a post I saw somewhere where people are just playing around with the .ini files and coming up with interesting characters simply by configuring unique custom selections.

Shakeno

12-10-2007, 03:54 PM

In regards to the 'shiny' texture. Do you mean shiny, or glowy?

First, my model was a light bulb, all glowing, now I can see the textures a bit (with that annoying texture problem, I will try with the LODs once I can get back to UnrealED and editing and discover how to attach LODs) but they are too bright and the 'bloom' post-processing effect makes some parts of it completely white, like, depending of the angle where you see it, some parts go like a light bulb with black patches (again the LOD stuff to try).

About the black patches, I've tried with my own faction, and well, it had no animations, nor a physics model, but all the textures seemed to be correctly... also, to mention, my model is a (literally) gray/white character, but still, it shouldn't glow (even if it was a completely <255, 255, 255> white texture)... just a little like a common character, but if it is not possible, then not to glow... I tried setting an overriding specular map too, and I tried to kill the emissive part, and it didn't work...

Also, to mention, in the character selection screen, the extra bones go in the default model pose, (to give you an idea, with everything looking like it got sucked by a black hole), but, ingame, every bone is attached and following their parents' position and rotation as usual...

Well, I'll post any progress if I get the LODs into it... seems like today I have a busy day... hope to have it soon!

Discmage

12-10-2007, 04:09 PM

Yep, Light bulb is a good description. Mine does that also. I tried playing with overides as well today and I, too, had little effect on the glowing.

If its at all possible I think somehow finding a way to make our own textures COMPLETELY from scratch might be a good way to do it...but this might be messy and significantly hard work to do. As I get the feeling it is hardcoded in there in order to react to the character specs. eg. damage, UDamage, etc. hence the parent material Geo uses.

As we can't duplicate and edit that material...its hard to know where the problem really lies. Hopefully the LOD's thing works maybe?

@Geo: Do you have this glowing problem with your models in game? I recall a ingame screenshot and he did seem kind of bright. Have you fixed this as yet?

@LordGunn3r: I assume then that your character does not have this issue, and that the LOD's is the main thing that would stand out that you have done differently?? Just checking :)

Shakeno

12-10-2007, 05:48 PM

I saw that the damage and special effects such as the GES Biorifle, UDamage and other stuff is that vector called "Damage color" in the material instance... (I guess it is that...) ...only if I knew how to handle these material stuff I could experiment with it...

Now, my question is...
if we are using the standard materials for the game, it is supposed to have exactly the same properties as the Epic's ones... so... why don't them glow as the "light bulb"?

Kiyoka

12-10-2007, 06:04 PM

Caravaggio

12-10-2007, 06:05 PM

Yeesh, I leave it for a few days for finals and the thread grows a whole new arm.

@L0rdGunn3r do you know where we have to put the LOD meshes and how to link them to the game model, after importing a load of staticmeshes i'm starting back on my character work, i did notice that my dead(yes i play crap) didn't have the correct textures on the hands and feet !!!
Are LOD meshes not created automatically? I thought they were, or are you just talking about setting the distance shifts?

Mandinga

12-10-2007, 07:34 PM

I just want to get rid of the overpowered glow, and have my maps look right in game.

L0rdGunn3r

12-10-2007, 08:13 PM

@L0rdGunn3r do you know where we have to put the LOD meshes and how to link them to the game model, after importing a load of staticmeshes i'm starting back on my character work, i did notice that my dead(yes i play crap) didn't have the correct textures on the hands and feet !!!

Unfortunately I'm learning the details behind this as well. Since we don't have any documentation on this topic it's all trial and error until someone figures it out. Gotta love all this wasted time reverse engineering these things. Wouldn't it be great if Epic made that available in the UDN like they stated in many interviews before the game was launched! After all we don't have anything better to do right.

Legendary_Lee

12-11-2007, 02:54 AM

Yeesh, I leave it for a few days for finals and the thread grows a whole new arm.

Yeah, this has become a M--MM--MMM-MONSTER THREAD!!! Its good tho to see how much info and help people are bringing in here. Too bad I havent had much time to try things out. Been busy working on other things on my free time. But now I finally have time. Ill be posting up progress and screenshots like the rest of you.

Discmage

12-11-2007, 03:06 AM

Yep. I think our pageviews is rivalling half the ones from the more popular UT2004 threads...and that was 4 years worth :)

Maybe if it gets long enough Epic might have a peek and point a few things out. But I dunno, I assume they have more important things to do maybe at this point. Like patches, or holidays :)

In regards to glow...thats the thing that intrigues me. I don't know why the main characters don't glow as much as ours. I was trying to compare my end material to Epics and couldn't find any real differences so I'm at a loss really.

In regards to LOD's I think you have the option to manually do them in the 3D package (Maya has a good system I recall, 3DSMax has a modifier I think) or the Engine just tries to do its own if you don't force them but its less precise.

Shakeno

12-11-2007, 07:37 AM

I've tried setting LODs. It didn't change anything... anyway, after burning my eyes looking through the glow, I discovered that my faces are mapped and set to the material they want...
It is supposed to be using three materials. They are split like this:
1> Main body + head
2> Eyes
3> Tail + hair + teeth + tongue

I discovered that the faces are mapped randomly to random textures. For example I discovered black patches of that black strange texture and parts of the main body texture in the tail!

I have no explanation to this, actually... and it is really strange that it looks perfect in UnrealED, a bit weirdly boneposed in the character selection and correct bones but black patches + random textures in the mesh when trying it in-game O.o;

Discmage

12-11-2007, 08:41 AM

Sounds like you are having the exact same problems as me. And I'm all out of ideas personally.

Legendary_Lee

12-11-2007, 01:02 PM

Skin works Lee, it;s just a different way to bind the mesh. I've tested it and it works. If you want to use the default animations, your mesh must have 70 joints once actorx culls unused dummies. the only issue is that epics anims follow the yellow bones instead of the biped bones. In your biped scene simply rename all the bones to match the epic yellow bones.

Yeah Mandinga, Im gonna start out by renaming all the biped bones i have on my rigged character to match the epic yellow bones. And do I have to have a limit of 70 bones? or can I have more? Also which version of Max are you using? Thanks. Will let you know how it goes.

geodav

12-11-2007, 02:38 PM

Shakeno

12-11-2007, 04:27 PM

ok guys ref the super-nova in-game character i mentioned in the tut you need to parent your materialinstanceconstant to a certain other mic MI_CH_ALL_TwinSouls_Base if you don't use it then its sunglasses ingame, to sort out the shinyness i darken the specular map (still needs to be darker). its a lot of trial and error, what might help is if you post a few screenies for me to check eg ingame/editor mat-setup or just email them to me.

Were you able to fix the wrong material application too? I mean, the materials are applied randomly, for example, some parts have the standard player materials, other faces have the third material on the first one... etc

P.S: I've tried the hoverboard in Vehicle CTF, and seems like the IK initially are lifted too much, but after you fall for first time, it returns to the position it should be initially... I am going to try to do some bone/joint adjustements.

Mandinga

12-11-2007, 11:57 PM

Yeah Mandinga, Im gonna start out by renaming all the biped bones i have on my rigged character to match the epic yellow bones. And do I have to have a limit of 70 bones? or can I have more? Also which version of Max are you using? Thanks. Will let you know how it goes.

You must have the same number of bones or the animations won't work :(. Until epic releases .bip animations we can't add custom bones unless you want to redo all the animations. I'm using 3ds max 9.

I'll see the result when your ready.

Denny

12-12-2007, 03:46 AM

Actually you can have a different set of joints for the animations, you just have to make a new AnimSet for the different joint chain.

Legendary_Lee

12-12-2007, 03:46 AM

You must have the same number of bones or the animations won't work :(. Until epic releases .bip animations we can't add custom bones unless you want to redo all the animations. I'm using 3ds max 9.

I'll see the result when your ready.

Ok, so my bone count came out to 95 bones! including bones for the ponytail and breast and eyes... So looks like Im gonna have to get rid of some bones.. That means I have to re-rigg her huh? Is there a way around it so I wont have to re-rigg her?

Discmage

12-12-2007, 05:07 AM

You could probably just delete the bones that aren't in the UT3 rig and then rig the parts back to the parts that are. At least then it wouldn't be a COMPLETE rerig. Although depending it might not like that.

Has anyone seen or figured out anything about the animtree? I haven't really looked at it yet but it seems a somewhat complex thing without any tutorials to give us at least an idea on whats going on. Or more importantly what each bit does, a lot of its commands/shorthand information doesn't seem to make clear sense to me.