Planet Postmoderna Blog

Yes, I know it has been awhile since I have written in my blog. I have been pretty consumed with my personal life (another story) , RL work and management tasks for this project. Nonetheless, I was able to get a few things done this weekend that I have been needing to do. One of which was the forestation of the Base Camp Eastern Zone.

I spent some time today working on foresting the zone just east of Base Camp. I am using the demo for SpeedTree that is included with Multiverse. Eventually, when we get funding, we can purchase a full license for the project (about $1495 for the initial part of the license…the rest due at launch).

Eastern Base Camp Forest

What I really like about SpeedTree is the ease of creating foliage across the landscape with it. Of course, since it is just the demo, we don’t have the full library to work with and the ability to create custom plants and trees is also missing. When we can get some funding for the project, one of the initial things we will do is get the licensed version for our project. For now, the demo trees will do a good job for filling in the areas we’ll want permanent plants to go down the road.

This week I speant time working on the background for the Character Generation Screen. The plan was to create the model that characters would be created in before they later appear in Base Camp.

I started by modifying the pod model. My initial pass at it required that I delete the exterior geometry. I worked with the remaining parts to build the interior. I textured the individual parts, one by one, until I ended up with what you see below.

Initial Pass in 3dsMax

I wanted to get the general textures in place so I could test the “Render to Texture” function in 3dsMax and make sure that everything would render properly in the Multiverse Model Viewer (which it did).

I continued by adding more detail so as to get the model closer to what I imagined.

Second Pass in 3dsMax

The challenge I was presented next was when I unwrapped the model. Everything changed. Most of the textures stayed put but as I reorganized the UV (resizing and rearranging the individual parts) some of the textures changed their scale and orientation. That was a little frustrating.

What I proceeded to do was re-texture the individual areas in PhotoShop and added further detail. This included, caution stripes, lighting and other features as you see below.

Additional Detailing in 3dsMax

What I really like about 3dsMax is the ability to generate the individual maps (diffuse, normal, lighting, shadows, etc). That is something I never quite learned to do in Blender. It is not to say you can’t do the same in that open source application. I just never learned how.

I was able to overlay the shadow and lighting maps over the diffuse texture and add an emit map (for the lights) from what I created in PhotoShop.

This is what I imagine the inside of the pods look like. Compartments in the walls provide space for small components and equipment. The version you are looking at is empty but is usually filled with equipment, crates and other components. There are also areas where chairs can be mounted to seat personnel for the ride down to the planet.

After I converted the end model to Collada format, renamed it to match the existing Gazebo file (the model used in the MV Sample World) and imported into the Postmoderna World file, I had to play with the settings in the Character Generation Python Script file. It took some time to figure out where each setting that I needed to modify was but, I did so eventually.

The first settings I altered were those for the camera position. Once I got the camera where I wanted it, I modified the ambient light and the directional light for the environment. The directional light frustrated me because no matter what I did, it was just too bright and created artifacts I did not like. Eventually, I decided to turn if off entirely.

Next, I modified the settings for the point light (similar to an area lamp). I moved it to a more realistic point within the pod and modified the brightness and the color. I tweaked it a bit more after I figured out how to move the avatar to the location I wanted it.

At first, I could not find the settings for that. What seemed to make sense, really didn’t work and the actual settings were in another part of the file. Of course, had I been a programmer, maybe I would have figured it out sooner but trial-and-error got me where I needed and I made the adjustment.

Finally, I copied all the modified files to to my server and tested the new screen.

Character Generation Screen

I am sure there are a few other tweaks I can make to the textures, lighting and UI but for now, I think the Character Generation Screen came out pretty close to what I imagined.

I did not get to do too much project work this weekend as I was at a church retreat with my daughter. It was a really great break. I volunteered along with many others from church to work the camp’s kitchen and serve the 200 or so Jr HS and Sr HS Students. It was exhausting but fun at the same time and I know the students had a blast. It was a really nice break from the stresses of life and a nice distraction from this project. I also made some new friends and that in itself is a reward on top of the reward of just being able to serve these kids and help make their retreat memorable.

Now, let’s recap on some of the work that we did the previous week.

Ion created some new textures for the toolshed, a structure in-world created from pod parts and resources gathered from the surrounding area. We modified some of the shaded texture areas which created a little more realism. Notice the brightness under the roof of the first image below. We both agreed; that needed to be fixed.

Original Toolshed Textures

Now look at the following image and take note of the differences. Notice the interior roof and some of the other shaded areas.

Toolshed Texture Revamp

We updated the textures for the grain and fertilizer bags. Ion created an alternate texture for the grain and a lighter version of the fertilizer sack. The original was a darker green. The newer version was a tad bright so I toned it down with a trick Ion taught me. In Photoshop, I made a copy of the image and used a special blend option called satin. I played around a little with the transparency settings to get the texture to just the right tone. The final image is what your see below. I also kept the original texture for use in shaded areas.

New Sack Textures

Last but not least, we put in some foliage using the built-in SpeedTree demo that comes with the Mutiverse World Editor. To use it, I created a zone for a forest within the Multiverse World Editor and populated it with trees, grass and roses (those came with the demo). If we want to create more custom foilage (which we will someday), we will need to get a license from SpeedTree. That initially will be around $1600. After the project goes live, we pay the additional $7-10,000. I know it is steep but for it does, I think it is worth it. Right now, the demo objects will work just fine for the purposes of the Planet Postmoderna demo.

Farm Construction Zone with Trees

What excites me about this is the difference the trees and grass make to the scene. It adds a new dimension to what was a seemly flat landscape. Oh, okay, I lied. It is more than a few trees.

Well today was a monumental day for model testing. We have a complexed two-sided model called the Foreman’s Shed. This workman’s shed is found in many places on the planet where construction is being planned and is usually surrounded by crates, tools and other objects. An avatar could walk into it but would find it rather cramped. Besides, the structure is designed to be as its name, a shed.

Foreman's Shed

The shed is constructed from various parts and resources from the pods and the surrounding area. The ribs are metal and the canvas is from pod parachute material. The doors and the handle are from pod equipment and the wood is from the nearby area.

Foreman's Shed Other Side

Although the pictures don’t reflect the trees and shrubs in the zone right now, they do exist.

The original model concept was done by one of our early team members, Matic Mirnic, a teen Blender artist from Slovenia. He had a part in many of the models and concept used in Base Camp. He was the original artist for the domes.

Jitse “Ion” Akse, our artist from Holland, is also a very talented Blender user as well as master of many other 3D and digital tools. He created the texture that is now the final for the shed model and even added its missing internal mesh. I didn’t realize it was missing until I ran my initial tests only to find that the interior was invisible.

After taking the model and creating the needed collision volumes, I made the specular texture from the Ion’s base texture and layered his normal maps for added depth.

Now when you look at the model in the Multiverse World Browser, you can see the shine on the door and bumpiness of the raised surfaces of the paint, canvas, etc. I can only imagine what this will look like using CryEngine2 within Entropia.

We have been plugging away and now producing some new additions to Postmoderna’s Base Camp.

One of our newest team members Jitse “Ion” Akse, created a few new models for the Base Camp POI in our Entropia Partner Planet Demo of Planet Postmoderna. We decided too to have a little fun with the screenshots from the Multiverse Prototype and dressed up the images using ComicLife. Testee-bub is my testing avatar.

Ion created the new models using Blender and I took the diffuse texture and made the spec and normal maps from it. Being that the model was made in Blender the units of measurement are pretty small. I had to scale up the model before I could create the collision volumes for it. After that exported the model to Collada format and converted it into a Multiverse mesh.

After playing around with it a bit more, we got this.

We also worked on a portable reactor model. This one was a little tricky with the color balance and normals but I think we got it where it needs to be. The neat thing about a project like this is, you are always bound to get feedback and that is a good thing. We then can always make changes based on that feedback.

The reactor is a portable power source for the field.

Up and coming is the foreman’s shed. This structure will be placed in areas where construction is planned. It is built from parts from the equipment pods, pod parachute material and resources from the nearby land.

One of Jitse’s Poser Models, is showcasing the concept for us in this shot. Maybe we should name her.