Yeah this made me LOL....after the initial shock of being told it is not 'approved' you realize it is something pretty minor you probably didn't even notice...sometimes those late hours and tired eyes and mind just wont accept any more punishment and we get lax. Your stuff is great!

@Rolfy,



I don't know how I missed your comment! I have only just seen it.



Completely agree. I am more than happy with the level of scrutiny that our media is put through before hitting the store. I think it gives people the confidence to buy.

I have been busy with my competition level, but, in the spare moments I find, I have been making progress on the SciFi pack.



I have been working on an idea I have had for a while. I want to create an indoor SciFi area. So, I present to you, the floor and a door frame.



Door Frame











Floor











I have already modelled and animated the door, which I have recorded a short video of as I really like the animation.



Please excuse the 'shakiness' of the video, I need to find a better screen recorder. The one I have is great for tutorials, but, terrible for recording games.



Door







Comments ad criticisms always welcome. Good, bad, indifferent, come one come all.



As always with my models, I have 5 colour variants of these models.

Look great as always cant wait to get my hands on them

Can't wait to see them in the store!

AWESOME !!

Thanks for the comments guys.

I have made some headway on these models today. Just need to start working on the corners, rooms and other sections.







After taking these screen shots, I realised that I should have really populated the corridors with my other entities, just to showcase how it will all look when together. I will do that tomorrow, when its not so late!

Cheers

Jay.

That alone has me drooling

Just brilliant mate !!

Try not to drool into your keyboard, they tend to break!

I am really enjoying making this SciFi series of models, so, there will be plenty more to come soon.

Cheers

jay.

Nice work Jay, looks really good.

Is the corridor modular?

looking cool mate keep at it

cheers henry

As it is at the minute, yes. I am going to be making the corridor as once entity which should make it easier to place, rather than having to add the floor, then ass the walls, archway, doorframe, door, and ceiling. But, when I finally get around to getting these in the store, I will be releasing them as premade corridors, and all the separate pieces that make them.



Cheers mate.

Jay.

the light is cool, just purchased it and it works well (and even better still once we get actual light control i am sure)



will keep an eye out for that door too as it's looking great too... no idea what i'll do with it but still worth buying just to support your work!



for the turrets i'm not sure if it's possible (i have zero clue about modelling and have no intention of learning im afraid) but is it possible to make the top part a 'limb' so that it'll automatically turn when using the 'LookAtPlayer' command? i kinda feel that it'll not look very smooth in it's current form if you simply rotate the whole object as it's not very circular

you can see what i mean from the way the stock characters work (they have some "head limbs" defined inside their fpe file... would be a brilliant little addition if it is possible without a lot of work?

Thanks for the purchase and I am glad you like it.



I have decided to hold back on uploading random models here and there, so, I will be uploading ALL of the SciFi pack once it is finished. I will sell the different models off separately and will put it together at a reduced price if anyone is interested in buying them all together.



It wouldn't be too much work at all. I had full intentions of keeping the top section separate from the base and the the actual barrel is again separate from the brace it is in, to allow for vertical motion. I can send you one of the turrets if you want to take a look and see what you can do?

Cheers

Jay.

Yeah, it just seemed to follow me over here (I think it likes me), I have grown really attached to it now though and no-one will take it from me as it compliments my colour scheme, they will have to design new badges if ya want to start up new comps, y'all will have to prise it from my cold dead fingers.

Haha.

I must admit, If I were to see your name appear without the badge, I would feel as tough something was missing! But, I miss mine! Its cold without it. How about you host the comp and hand out the other two badges! Just ask Lee or Rick to make you an honorary mod for a few weeks so you can hand out badges!

Cheers

Jay.

Now that the competition is done and dusted, I have more time to concentrate on my models!



I have been working on the 'indoors' sections a bit, I have made a computer console that will be able to give players information (animated of course) and last but not least, I am working on a little character that will come in three varieties - One patrol drone that will move around the level and attack on site, one drone that will be a 'heavy' and can be placed at crucial points, such as doorways or near objectives and a little green one that can be the players ally.



Here are some WIP pictures.



Firstly, the computer console. When the player gets within a certain distance, they will be prompted to press the action button and the front of it slides down, then the screen comes forward to give the player any information that might be helpful.















Now, on to the little beauties. These guys are not yet animated, this was just a test to see how the textures came out.



First up, we have the White version (Patrol Drone)















Then we have the Black version, The 'Heavy'







And lastly, we have the ally, that can assist with gaining entry or helping with the players health.







As always, comments and criticisms are always more than welcome.



If there is anything that you might want to see in this pack (except weapons, they are coming, just not yet) then, please let me know.



Cheers



Jay.

@unfamillia

cool looking , however i hope iam not late mentioning that the scale of the corridors is a little off....Just some thing that caught my eye, but really cool looking and very useful.

WOI,

I tried to go for a double width corridor, but, ended up making the whole thing bigger. Do you think it looks out of place? In your opinion, do you think it would look better if I scaled them down a little?

Cheers

Jay.

If you put an AI in there might get a better feel for scale It is not so much the width as the height being an issue I think, even thought I love what you did, some thing feels odd, I can't quite put my finger on it

Give the pillars a bit more width and a bit fatter.

I will lower the height of them and see what does.

I see you have noticed the little badge as well. I will wear mine with pride for as long as it is there! haha.

Cheers

Jay.

very nice work indeed will be enjoying this thread

Where have the other posts gone?

That is a very good point! Where have the other posts gone? I haven't removed anything.....not that i think you can anyway!

How strange. I can imagine The Next is on top of this soon enough.

Cheers

Jay.

Yes sorry we had to revert to an older backup not much was lost but this thread appears to have been affected the most.

Ok, I guess The Next hates me
I will have to write the post again to showcase the new weapon I have been working on. I apologise if the post isn't as awesome as last time, but, you can blame The Next for that. (because he hates me)

The general idea for this weapon is; I wanted it to look like the player has cobbled it together out of things he found in a shed.

So, this one is made from,

Old oil canister
Blue Plastic fuel container
Rubber tubing
old battery pack
broom handle
and tape............mustn't forget the tape!

If anyone is interested in this becoming a pack, please let me know. I will work harder to work out how to make custom weapons function inside Reloaded.















Comments and criticism always welcome!

Cheers

Jay.

You're welcome

Thats one awesome looking weapon... my only question would there actually be anything left in your game after you've fired it??? lol

Looks Brilliant .....Has to be named " The AK "

The A** Kicker !!

RustyNuts, I don't think there will be much left after pulling the trigger on this! haha.

Syncromesh, I like that name! I might actually add it to the texture!

Cheers

Jay.

I have posted a comment in here earlier today telling you how awesome this is!

Nice to see that you are working on a scifi pack too! Far cleaner and better executed work than I ever did
I feel a lot of Portal, Teamfortress 2 and perhaps some Bioshock influence on these.
I feel like a scifi pack by you would sell well on here and on other engine stores.

Can't wait to see more!



-Wolf

Hey Wolf!



Yeah, The Next doesn't like me and decided to purposefully delete a load of posts from my thread.



You.........you mean........it's not grungy enough. *rubs more dirt on*



Strangely, I didn't really have an influence when creating this one. Well, no intentional influence; there is probably a large amount of sub conscience influence in there!
I do love Portal and BioShock, but, have only played TF2 once. I wasn't overly keen on it. Weird.



I keep making models for the pack, then making more and more. Then I stop and think,
"right, that must be a good number of models to upload".

I take a look at the first model I produced for it, and looking at the newer ones, it look rubbish, so, I start again!

This is going to be a long process.

Cheers

Jay.

I do this also, I think anyone that does modeling thinks after they have made a model, that they could have made it better. I look at the first lot of models I made for my game project and some of them are truly shocking.

I think this is the curse of the artist! I know a few modellers and I know they all suffer from it! However, this curse is also a blessing! It only makes you grow and improve.

Cheers

Jay.

No! Not at all! I mean its done more professionally. I don't have a good synonymon in english, sorry.



I was always annoyed when people implied that something I made looked similar to something from "that game" and now I did it myself. Sorry 'bout that
But...by that logic... does that mean that I will say the same things to my kids my dad annoyed me with. Unthinkable!



Whenever I take a look at my first models, I wonder wether or not I was drunk when I made them ...what I want to say is, I know the feeling



-Wolf

That means a lot from you Wolf. Thanks for that. Although, I did understand your original comment, I was just playing with you.



I don't mind. I find it quite a compliment for my models to be compared to some AAA stuff! That just means I am improving.



I already do mate! Although, MY dad, not yours.........



I have always admired your models. But, an artist is always their own worst critic.

Thanks for the comments.

Cheers

Jay.

Following on with the weapons theme. I decided to make a SciFi rifle. Well, truth be told, I re-textured one of my old models......

After re-texturing it, and rendering the images, I am undecided as to whether or not I like it. It looks a little bland and I feel it needs something to juice it up a little. I'm not sure if it's because it doesn't look 'beefy' enough, or whether the mesh lets it down; I'm truly not sure. If anyone feels like chipping in and giving their feedback, I would be most grateful.







Cheers

Jay.

For a player weapon, it definitely lacks fidelity and detail in the mesh for the areas you would see in the game view.



Design-wise there are some oddities such as the display screen on the side. The little sun shade is a bit awkward and the positioning isn't ergonomic for the user. It seems like it would be better for giving your position away to enemies on your flank than for providing useful information. If this is an energy weapon then disregard what I'm about to say. However, if it is a firearm, then the magazine is far too close to the rear of the weapon. There's no room for the bolt and carrier to travel (the bits that scoop up rounds from the magazine and press them into the barrel for firing). The guard rail around the magazine is a little awkward as well. I would think it would interfere with magazine changing. There is also no cheek rest. The rear portion should be at least with rounded edges otherwise that would be very uncomfortable to shoot. I would also extend the knuckle guard all the way to the bottom of the pistol grip. As-is it looks mismatched reduces usable gripping area for users with gloves or large hands.



The trick with good sci-fi is to not feel the temptation to rationalize every design decision with "future technology". Be considerate of things like ergonomics and mechanical function in weapon design. All of that aside, I like the overall shape and proportions of it as well as the blocky forearm.

EAI,

Top notch advice there. Thank you for narrowing it down for me. All of what you have said actually makes sense and I can see how I should be applying it.

I did design this as an energy weapon, so, I can disregard the info for firearms, but, I will go back and revise the model with your words of wisdom.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Jay.

First of all! Glad you updated your thread with something cool. Second of all, its a good model.

Now, about juicing it up, Errant already gave you some input and unlike me he actually knows what he is talking about...but I'm gonna go ahead and add my thoughts anyway:

The handguard is finely swung which looks out of place on the otherwise hardedged weapon. What is that screen for? If you want to add some kind of screen-device you should attach it to the left side of the gun on the longer below the barrel. (Perhaps work lower part into a grenade launcher or laserweapon-spindle?)
An alternative or addition to the screen would be a holographic emitter.

Suggested working parts you could add:

Switch to eject magazine
If its a laser weapon: parts that cool it, perhaps visible wentslates or something that ejects plasma cells.
If its a conventional firearm: cocking mechanism (don't get TOO cocky), extractor (which I believe to be the part where the shells eject.)
Firemode selector-switch
torch
lasersight
rework the underbarrel-handle in a shotgun

Either way! Cool Model. Do you plan on animating it/rigging it to a set of hands...or claws....or tentacles?



-Wolf

Thanks. You gave me inspiration to add something new. I had already made this a while ago, but, when I showcased it back then, I felt something wasn't right. This is what led me to re-texture it.



Very good point. I will address this soft wimpy curved hand guard and tell him to straighten up!



errr.................that's all to do with .................... the .............it makes it look more SciFi? No, but, seriously, this was supposed to be a big bad ass plasma weapon that obliterates it's enemies in one blast. I envisaged the screen being used for ammo and temperature gauges. Although, both EAI and yourself have pulled me up about it, so, something needs to be changed with it. I like the idea of a holo screen.



Makes sense!



Again, makes perfect sense. I never thought of that!



Like it!



As you can tell, I got bored with quoting each of them individually.

Torch is a great idea, however, may be difficult to make it function properly inside Reloaded in its current state.
Laser sight is also cool, but, I have no idea how to implement it properly, except, extruding a cylinder out for miles?
I like the idea of having the underbarrel as something different, but, I just though, how about having the underbarrel as a way of building up the energy? The player has to 'pump' the underneath a few times to generate the energy required? Not, each shot, just every time they reload?



Funny you should say that, I was making a rig last night and was in the process of texturing it. However, I am initially making the rig for the other gun I made, the home-made one. Oh, I am making hands........nothing else, not claws and tentacles, sorry.

I appreciate the feedback. It looks as though I have a lot to be working on.

Cheers

Jay.

I have taken on board what feedback I had regarding the rifle.

Here a few amendments I have made so far.


I have rounded off one corner for a pseudo cheek rest...





Done




I added it to the left of the gun and made it like a modern camera screen, whereas it can be folded away (should be nice for a simple animation)




Done




Done




Kind of done......I added a pump, but, I feel this would be better for just 'priming the weapon'.



Here is the finished weapon with the amendments.



If anyone has any further comments or potential additions, please feel free to comment below. I am open to ideas. EAI or Wolf, if you have any other pearls of wisdom, I would be most grateful.

Cheers

Jay.;

I have a few more crits for you (normally I wouldn't care but you seem receptive and open to improving)...



The cheek rest area is really short. I would extend that contour to about within one inch of the hooded sight thing and then angle your transitional step so the rounded shape transitions into the boxy shape less abruptly.



I honestly prefer the old handguard shape to the new one. It just didn't extend down far enough to be sensible before. The new one looks like it was cheaply cut out of a piece of plate steel and tacked on rather than using futuristic (or even modern) construction methods. You could also potentially beef out the one side a bit and integrate your screen there and maybe some control switches ( the foregrip on the Felin FAMAS may be good inspiration here). Now, that might be lower and off screen for the most part but I think it brings up an important question and my next observation/crit..



Why have a side mounted screen at all when it is essentially right next to that hooded sight thing. Would it not be better and more futuristic to have whatever information it displays projected as a HUD in the sighting device itself? That way the user has access to that information without breaking their sight picture. From a gameplay standpoint, that means it would be viewable when aiming. It would also protect the display by keeping it in a hooded enclosure. Having it pop out on the side like that would mean it would be likely to be damaged easily in a drop or get snagged on things. I do understand the artist desire to have a neat little animation for it popping out or whatever but also realize that it will obscure much of your modeling on the fore-end. Side mounted screens are ok for games like COD where the weapons they are mated to were designed in the 1960s or thereabouts but don't make as much sense for brand new designs. These tropes are also ok in movies because they are presented in the third person and it's easier to show the audience what the character is seeing even if they can't really see it themselves.



The magazine release is really small and in kind of a bad location for your particular design. It serves to reinforce why bullpups aren't more popular (the ergonomics are often bad). It also lacks any sort of fence/raised area to prevent accidental release. Then, there's also the issue of that magazine fence. If you were to manipulate the release button with your thumb, it's not possible for your hand to make contact with the magazine because the fence is in the way. While it's not really important if you drop mags to the ground every time, it doesn't make sense for tactical reloading or if the user is logistically meant to save magazines to be recharged later. The fence also would slow the speed of loading and removing magazines because there are potentially additional areas of contact/friction other than the magazine well itself. This basically just gives something to get the magazine hung up on when trying to change them out. The front corners are also really sharp and would probably dig into the user's wrist.



The accessory rail is a little bit bothersome because it's just a series of blocks. In reality, these rails have a set, consistent design specification.



The pump handle looks too small and appears to have a very short distance of travel. Honestly, I liked the slab shape of the original forearm much better because it provided a flat surface for resting on a barricade for accurate shooting (the idea behind the original triangle shaped handguard for the M-16). I could also imagine that block serving as a containment for a pump and reservoir for a closed loop cooling system that feeds from opposite ends of the barrel shroud. However, with the pump area cut into the shape like that it removes internal volume and sort of just looks like a low poly shotgun to me now. This also accentuates the overhang of that rectangle shaped link between the barrel and lower part. It didn't seem too out of place before but now it does. Shortening the angle and beveling the corners might help that out a bit.



OK, that's it for now. Please don't take my criticisms too harshly

the weapon looked good before, but now its awesome

EAI, Thank you so much for commenting again. You are helping me a lot. I don't really have any experience when it comes to guns, so the information you are giving me is gold. It won't just help me with this model, it will help me with my future models. I do tend to get hooked on just adding things for the sake of adding them and thinking they look cool. So, I will take a step back and try to think function over fashion.

I will go through everything you have said and will revise my model again accordingly.

Again, thanks for the comments, I do truly appreciate you taking the time to give me advice.

@Slaur3n, sorry buddy, the gun is going back to the drawing board for now. I will post more pictures once I have fine tuned a few things.

Cheers

Jay.

EAI,



I took on board what you said and have made a few changes.



I extended the rounded edge for the cheek rest. You were right, the fade off of the curve is a lot less noticeable now.







I changed the magazine release. It is no longer a tiny button in serious danger of being pressed by accident. I added a lever that sits flush with the body of the gun and has a nice easily accessible groove for the finger to fit in to pull it down.











I changed the accessory rail to the specifications that you linked. They are no longer just blocks.







I remodelled the fire selection switch and moved it closer to the thumb for easy access.







I also changed the hand guard, added some small details to the magazine, completely changed the butt of the gun and removed the magazine fence, removed the 'shotgun pump' and changed the ironsight on the tip.







Obviously, you have to imagine this with a texture. I am trying to keep this as low poly as possible and will be relying on the texture for a lot of the detail.



Again, any further comments or advice is more than welcome. I want this to be as good as I can make it.



Cheers



Jay.

This is looking great Jay, have you tried rigging a weapon yet?

Cheers mate.

I haven't yet! I managed to get a weapon working in classic with all of my own animations. It working quite well. I don't know if this will be any different, but, I will be trying soon. I just need to get the weapon to a standard that I am happy with. As you can see, the 'Digital Gunsmith' himself has been giving me some great advice, so, I should be able to get it textured again very soon, in which case, I will be teaching myself how to get it working in Reloaded.

I must say mate, I am hugely surprised that you haven't posted more of your work in the store! Your fantasy stuff is great and would sell really well here!

Cheers

Jay.

I have taken on board everyone's advice and have made some fairly large changes to the model. After the changes, I was happy with the mesh (kind of), so, I decided to texture it.

Here is the finished result. There is still something that I am not happy with, but, I can't spend my whole life on one model! I think I will get this one out of the way and move on to a different weapon.















Comments and crits are welcome, but, I won't be changing anything on the mode now. The next step is to see if I can get this working inside Reloaded.

Cheers

Jay.

Looks great mate