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Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 16 Sep 2009, 17:36
by winsrp

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 17 Sep 2009, 00:25
by -Kosh-
Xanax, unf*ckingbelieveable!
Image

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 17 Sep 2009, 03:32
by -Kosh-
Zarel wrote:The current readme doesn't even list anything at all... O_o

Do you mean the AUTHORS file?
whippersnapper wrote: It was a .txt file from a recent distro I read for the first time a couple months ago and it just about floored me with convulsions mingling an urge to deep belly laughter and being utterly aghast. I've known all these peeps up close and personal for years - know whose stand-up and solid and who is mostly full of chit.
Ok I admit it, this piqued my curiosity.
I had a look at Authors.txt and saw "The Warzone 2100 Project team and former contributors to the GPL version, in alphabetical order:"
That is SOP for pretty much every open source project I have seen. Once you submit a patch/do some work, then you are on the list.
It is not a ranking system but that is not a bad idea. It would show who helped out the project the most and give them their due credit. I will dig a bit more, and post something in the lounge with my findings. :ninja:

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 17 Sep 2009, 04:06
by Zarel
The file was later split up into three lists, by the way:

http://developer.wz2100.net/browser/trunk/AUTHORS

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 17 Sep 2009, 13:53
by whippersnapper
Zarel wrote:The file was later split up into three lists, by the way:

http://developer.wz2100.net/browser/trunk/AUTHORS
Thanks for the link and clarification. :)
-Kosh- wrote:
It is not a ranking system but that is not a bad idea. It would show who helped out the project the most and give them their due credit. I will dig a bit more, and post something in the lounge with my findings. :ninja:
Ranking contributions is not what concerns me.

There is enough accurate information scattered out there to do a job of inferring who is full of chit and who is bonafide. But that takes work, which for the mainstream majority, is anathema.

The Wikipedia article on Warzone 2100 is rife with misinformation already and I've concluded it is the best place to make factual corrections and also address gross oversights and shameful inequities. It's on my WZ to-do-list. It also illustrates to me the old adage that official history texts tend to be slanted in favor of the prevailing hegemony; editing-out anything that conflicts with a self-serving portrait is S.O.P. and "omission" is the most powerful strategy to accomplish that end as George Orwell brilliantly dramatized in his "1984" novel and also spoke to in a series of seminal non-fiction essays..


K.... back to XANAX's WZ Mechs and their evolution.... :D

crockerjc82 wrote:i found a cool pic, not sure who made it but it gives an awesome idea, found in on flicker or whatever its called

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpl3k/2175731879/

hope the link works.
That fits well within a faction based construct which at present can only be feasibly implemented with Campaign style scripting.

As for animating such Mechs with the current state of WZ - I'm not sure it's possible to make it look good enough so it does not come-off as cheesy.

Regards, whip :ninja:
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Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 09 Oct 2009, 20:16
by whippersnapper
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Some of XANAX'S latest Mech creations:


Image



Image

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Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 10 Oct 2009, 07:43
by No_256
Why not shrink the model to just about the size of a cyborg?

Limit the options to light bodies, and you have a perfect clone of an ED-209 (Robocop).
:twisted:

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 10 Oct 2009, 16:21
by whippersnapper
No_256 wrote:Why not shrink the model to just about the size of a cyborg?

Limit the options to light bodies, and you have a perfect clone of an ED-209 (Robocop).
:twisted:
Yea, the Robocop look is cool. I also like the new Ironman. :)

XANAX will be able to speak to this with more authority but what I can mention is that the Light Body Borgs are on the drawing board.

In anticipation of the Light Body Borgs re-creation and integration we've changed the nomenclature of XANAX's modified .anim files to have 2 different "walking" propulsion animations in the data-set: 1 dedicated to Borgs and 1 dedicated to Mechs. This way all Mechs within the modified data-set are additions to (rather than the initial replacement of) - net result being the data-set will include New Light Borg GFX with possible weap modifications. Not to mention, Jet-Pack Borgs and buffed-out Scavs which will include XANAX's new Scav Structs, various Scav Choppers by Black Project and my "Tumbler" enabled Scav APC "The Locust"... among other new stuff.... But that's a whole other story O_o

One of the biggest challenges in all this, on top of creating the fabulous new art and new walking unit animations, is implementing this stuff in a balanced way such as, for one, tanks and Vtols are NOT obsolesced in the process. Presently Tanks and Vtols dominate GPMs to the detriment of Infantry style game play. The ultimate goal is to make all 3 viable and combined-arms distinctly advantageous.

A definite revolution in new, inspiring, immersive, WZ art is going on in this neighborhood if you look at the work of all the active artists - work mostly embraced by the vocal minority contingent.

There is also a revolution in GPMs that is obviously not so readily embraced by this vocal minority which I take as a sign, contrarian that I am by nature, that we are on the right track !! Meaning, that I posit the silent majority will take to the revolution in GPMs like ducks to water and perhaps even make stock GPMs retro and nostalgic, if not entirely passe. But whatever the final judgment in this regard it is of little consequence to the present on-going joy of doing and making real a fresh and generative vision of WZ into the future which also very much reflected in the Development Team's Project Road Map.

Some of this last disposition I'm sure rankles the vocal minority to the point where their only recourse is an infantile attempt to pretend none of it is of any real consequence or value simply because it is blatantly obvious that their mere biased, tunnel-vision, utterances control absolutely nothing.

Trying to ride rough-shod over maverick creator-doers is really the naive tactic of the lazy, ineffectual and close-minded seeking a hegemony they could never attain by way of their own wherewithal.

Ironically, this situation with the vocal minority is 180 degrees different than the community continuum that spanned the greater part of WZ's history from Pumpkin's original BBs clear through NEWST, Pumpkin-2 and RTS.net and the German community spear-headed by Speedy & BOTMAN's seminal work.. A differential in temper, tone, creativity, philosophy and even good manners I find terribly interesting - almost akin rubber-necking on a highway when passing the scene of a major collision. O_O

Regards, whip :ninja:

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Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 12 Oct 2009, 20:22
by XANAX
=========================
making random note:

1. walk cycles are hard without a constant like a skeleton
2. the more moving parts the harder it is to pull off
3. medium mech has five moving parts in each leg, it will take longer than the others
4. it's very annoying

end of note
=========================

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 13 Oct 2009, 08:23
by astorian
XANAX wrote:=========================
making random note:

1. walk cycles are hard without a constant like a skeleton
2. the more moving parts the harder it is to pull off
3. medium mech has five moving parts in each leg, it will take longer than the others
4. it's very annoying

end of note
=========================
Hi XANAX,
you can use blender armature/bones to animate your mech and then use the animation keys to create model frames.
with changing of the frame rate you can shape the animations to frame models.
Astorian

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 13 Oct 2009, 20:40
by XANAX
I tried using those but I would need to experiment some more

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 14 Oct 2009, 07:32
by astorian
XANAX wrote:I tried using those but I would need to experiment some more
Even you probably did think about this: Try use the py object script in blender to apply deformation on the keys you want.
You could do a nice animation in 11 frames.
There would be a way to export ANIM3DTRANS animations directly from BLENDER! I takes at least one person good in Python. Just imagine the result! One object animated using rotation and movement! (even without mesh deforming its cool)
Best Regards
Astorian

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 14 Oct 2009, 18:50
by XANAX
I'll keep that in mind for later models

BTW- I'm haveing a problem with blender
I made a 10 level animation so 5 per step
it lets me export 9 levels, but as soon as I link LEVEL_10 to the main Connector it says

expecting levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and sometimes 20
I've only got 10 so... I don't know Blender's problem is, but I suspect the "PIE export python scripting"

I'm going to experiment with pie slicer & note pad, hopefully I fix this problem

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 14 Oct 2009, 21:57
by astorian
XANAX wrote:I'll keep that in mind for later models

BTW- I'm haveing a problem with blender
I made a 10 level animation so 5 per step
it lets me export 9 levels, but as soon as I link LEVEL_10 to the main Connector it says

expecting levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and sometimes 20
I've only got 10 so... I don't know Blender's problem is, but I suspect the "PIE export python scripting"

I'm going to experiment with pie slicer & note pad, hopefully I fix this problem
Well maybe its the LEVEL_10 - number 10 has a 1 and a 0. So it is possible the 0 is deleted and you have an collision with the LEVEL_1
My proposal: Rename the object to LEVEL_11. Leave the ani file pointing to object 0 to 9 - the LEVEL_11 should be the object 9 in the line called by ani file. If not, just change the object 9 in ani file to object 10
Best Regards,
Astorian

Re: Mech Prototypes WIP

Posted: 15 Oct 2009, 20:19
by XANAX
I tried LEVEL_11, 12, 13, 14, etc. it didn't work

but I got it to work by exporting each frame (object) separately and using Pie Slicer to fix another error; then copied & pasted each Pie data in one pie file & done