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[Mission_bug]

That is great Work Pete.. Thank You

Glad your happy so far <Gunny> hopefully it will not disappoint when you get it in your game.

The last part is now ongoing, LODs:



This will be a new learning experience for me as I have never attempted them before, anything could happen.


The basic vehicle is currently 1075 poly, more than the original because I cloned the vehicle to allow me to flip
the front and back mudguards, they were then attached along with the levers and pedals in the cab.

Not something I usually do as I like to leave the original as near to what the original author posted, however, in
this instance I felt it necessary especially at the back so you can see a inner face through the grills above the
rear wheels.

Anyway, sorry, I digressed there, back to the story.

The IL-2 Bible seems to say you reduce by half each time the original mesh to make the LODs, however, looking
through other vehicles in game that does not seem to be what everyone does so I am am not sure exactly what
mine should be so LOD1 has become 743 poly and LOD2 508, I will not be doing any more than those.

As you see mine do not adhere to any particular rule but they seem to work, at least I can see the vehicle
easily as I scroll out in game, although I do not know exactly how you are supposed to decide on distance
or how to test if it is working properly.

This is what I have set:

[LOD]
50
500
1000

Each uses the vehicle texture as it is although I think I should actually reduce those and set each LOD with
a specific texture of its own.

Currently the vehicle in the buildings folder is the original with the additions mentioned and is the test bed
for my experiments, the ones in the car folder will have the hier parts which I think will each also need their
own LODs making as well.

Not sure how far each LOD can actually be reduced, you would think it could get to a point where the vehicle
might become un-recognisable, do we actually see it in game to differentiate one LOD from another or is this
purely so your machine is worked a little less hard?


This might take a while.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

Hello guys, the LODs are proving difficult but I think I am getting there.

I took a look at some buildings from the objects folders and decided to add one more LOD
and a new set of distances:

[LOD]
350
700
1000
1500

Also using the structure for textures from there as well:

skinHi
skinLo
skinMid

Initial testing proved interesting.






Got there eventually, I think




Trouble is I do not actually know how you test this, my rig is fairly powerful so usually I can see objects at distance
anyway.

How do we determine the actual distances we use as well, the above four LOD values were taken from a existing model
but I do not know if the distance is tied to the amount of faces or if it is a random sort of figure.

Anyway, as I said this might take a while yet, the damage model is next and actually has three textures so should
prove even more challenging.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[<Gunny>]

Looking good Pete as always.. I'm sure if you need people to help you test this out
most would jump at the chance.. All you need do is to ask.
Keep up the good work...    

[Mission_bug]

I'm sure if you need people to help you test this out most would jump at the chance

At the moment it is all over the place, the vehicle above is the original and lacks the add on stuff and is basically a test bed for the LODs for the version in the car folder that does not yet have the LODs as above.  My add on parts all need LODs of their own and the damage model is again what amounts to a separate vehicle in a sense, so really not at a stage where it could be tested as such.

That said, all of it works anyway as you have already seen but without LODs.

I could actually post things as they are and you would have something that works in your game, trouble is I am not quite sure how I am going to update the two current links yet, one has all the finished vehicles, the other contains those like this that all needed painting when I originally posted them.  Since those links were posted a few vehicles have got paint, the Abram, Ostin, FIAT_2000 and this fire engine so I am not quite sure what to do with it all.


I am tempted to put everything in one download finished or not but you might only really want the completed ones, it seems only me is now doing anything with them that I know of so should I finish this particular vehicle and delete everything else or upload everything finished or not?

To all intents and purposes you already have it all working, or at least I hope you have, just some without paint.

I need to download the links myself to see what I posted, cannot remember it is that long ago.

I do have one link I sent to Andrew as he said he might want to do some painting himself, however, that is before I started the LODs, maybe I could upload that but it contains all the java from my complete pack with just the fire engine in it.

So, you could end up with three different versions, you might have already found some of the re-paints at AviaSkins so it could get very muddled and if you are like me and permanently confused then you will not know quite where we are.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

Hello again guys, just a quick update.

The three vehicles shown here now have LODs, whether I did them correctly is yet to be determined but they are in
the mod finally:





My add on parts using the hier are next up, Ladders, bell, chassis and the various other parts, progress is slow but
hopefully another week might see the finished items.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[cgagan]

Looking great Pete, we can wait as long as you like, quality of the end product is guaranteed!

[Mission_bug]

Looking great Pete, we can wait as long as you like, quality of the end product is guaranteed!

Hopefully you will not be sick of the sight of this vehicle when it finally arrives Costas.


These are the original vehicle in live and dead form seen in the buildings static folder, the dead vehicle here
does not have any of the re-mapping you have seen on the higher fidelity version so the damage texture
has to cover the object and cannot target as many specific areas as on the other:



Here again the higher fidelity versions but in re-named folders in buildings to use as static objects, the dead is a
complete object as you have already seen, however, the live version uses a hier made possible by classes available
from AviaSkins:




Making a rod for my own back I guess but I separated various items into individual objects
to allow them to be deployed:

This allows if you want it to hide the various ladders and pipes on the vehicle to show it unloaded, here with those objects
altered to show them in their deployed state.




This gives you some control of your scene, you can remove one, two or all the parts, even make other folders and have
each vehicle in a different load out.


Anyway, I now have many more LODs to do so I will leave you in peace for a while.



Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

Okay, I know I said I would leave you in peace, however, Andrew(Greif11), besides advocating the
use of wheels from one of his projects has also repainted them and provided new vehicle skins as
well for your pleasure.









I am sure you will agree a great improvement on my art work.


Things are a little behind as I found some mapping errors on the ladders so need to correct a few things before
I do the LODs for them.



Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

The fire engine update is now available in the Aviaskins project page.

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,51617.0.html


Aviaskins projects WIP YAG6_2 update 17th March 2017.





Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[cgagan]

D/loading now, many thanks Pete!

[Mission_bug]

D/loading now, many thanks Pete!

I bet you thought you would never actually get it Costas, hope it works okay for you and was worth the wait.


Next project, Fiat Topolino:







Early days yet, the vehicle has a few see trough areas because there is no dash board or partition at the rear.


For those like me who had no idea what a Topolino was:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwimrbffx5PaAhUDJ8AKHT7-AcYQFgg1MAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFiat_500_%2522Topolino%2522&usg=AOvVaw2CArY_mbCM0D9pJgvEc5ZW

And some images:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=topolino+car&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwimrbffx5PaAhUDJ8AKHT7-AcYQsAQIJg&biw=1269&bih=892


You will see there were various military applications for this small two seater.



Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

Needing to do something a little different from the Armenian religious buildings as a change I revisited this again.

In this image the steering wheel got some attention with a alpha channel:



A dashboard and bulkhead had to be made to fill in a few holes:



Some areas such as the front windscreen surround have been mapped again and windows added as there
were none with the original model.



I still need to do the lines properly but at least now it is progressing.

Mstislav from AviaSkins has also started work on a skin for one of the armoured vehicles still without a skin and he has
informed me he might continue on and finish those remaining vehicles still in need of a paint job.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.