JoeR Posted Dec 18, 2006, 3:15 am	well, if sam and vik approve. they'll probably get a few more details added: fake racing decals, bumper stickers, dents, porn, etc, etc:  my plan is to have 2 similar looking skins for each 'team.'  so, if a max of 18 cars per event is allowed, that's 9 teams.  basically, so that when you bring 2 cars into a game they'll obviously be together.  a few of us have split up the skins, but i'm going to have similar schemes across the board for most cars.  when the missions come out, all of your cars will look the same, no matter what type of car it is.  (well, if that's desired, and can be done with the code.) (naturally, the black and yellow team above would be paired together, and any other cars that're on YOUR team will have a similar number font and color scheme of black, yellow, teal.)
*sam* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 3:24 am	I love them!! They'll make a big improvement to the look of the game, great work.. I think you were also working on some for the symphony? I saw a great looking silver car with blue stars a week or so ago, I think..?
JoeR Posted Dec 18, 2006, 3:31 am	yeah, but i just came up with a good system to work on these, and now those older ones look like butt.
*Toecutter* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 4:14 am	Wow!
*viKKing* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 8:23 am	one word: Excellent stuff Joer. What? that was 3 words? hum...
*sam* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 9:56 am	The bulletholes on the first one are really nice too. I have been discussing with viKKing the possibility of an improved system for ageing/damaging the car textures, and it would be very cool to have these things added in dynamically. The main problem with adding damage 'patches' rather than gradually blending in a single 'aged texture' as we're currently doing is that some of the cars have weird uv maps and they wouldn't work. Also we wouldn't want patches of rusty metal to be pasted onto inappropriate places. The nice thing about the current system is that it requires no car-specific knowledge about locations on the texture and where they map to in 3D.
*sam* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 10:05 am	Quote: (naturally, the black and yellow team above would be paired together, and any other car that're on YOUR team will have a similar number font and color scheme of black, yellow, teal.) How will that work with cars that you actually own, as opposed to ones supplied by the track? Will you find them changing to different  livery on different events?
*viKKing* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 10:34 am	Those nice textures would greatly benfit from a simulated reflection system (normal mapping, as used in the water code)... I couldn't resist posting that. Sorry, Sam.
*sam* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 11:06 am	Yeah, you can actually add environmental maps to most objects I think (including cars) but I turned it off because it seems to be ignored until you're quite close to the car, and everything was getting a nasty red sheen across it (that's probably only a function of my nasty red environments)
JoeR Posted Dec 18, 2006, 2:01 pm	sam said: Quote: (naturally, the black and yellow team above would be paired together, and any other car that're on YOUR team will have a similar number font and color scheme of black, yellow, teal.) How will that work with cars that you actually own, as opposed to ones supplied by the track? Will you find them changing to different  livery on different events? ha, i don't know.  i heard you were going to figure that out.  i would guess that stock would be random distribution, and perhaps even the custom events.  or first player reg'd gets his/her pick.  i guess if this were the route, it would override the choice of picking a color when buying a car.  don't know, just babbling. i actually haven't looked at the channels on these cars yet.  i82 had an alpha channel that could reflect the enironment.  whiter=brighter, but i never thought it looked very good.  VERY new and shiney cars were the result.  in this game, in this world, i don't think shiney/new fits. the bullet dents might go.  i was trying to think of an age file similar to what you were talking about too.  in the end, i thought that specific things like holes wouldn't work (with the current method), so i was going to redo a test d_file to see if dents and scrapes, as well as mud splatters, would work.
Jim Posted Dec 18, 2006, 7:01 pm	Quote: The main problem with adding damage 'patches' rather than gradually blending in a single 'aged texture' as we're currently doing is that some of the cars have weird uv maps and they wouldn't work. solution, fix the uv maps on those cars? might be worth it to allow bullet holes, glowing bits when lasers are firing at, etc.
*sam* Posted Dec 18, 2006, 11:11 pm	Yeah, very sensible suggestion jim Maybe someone around here with 3dstudio skills might take a look sometime..
JoeR Posted Dec 19, 2006, 12:01 am	here's an in-game pic.
*viKKing* Posted Dec 19, 2006, 8:33 am	Cool! Hardened glass windows?
Jim Posted Dec 19, 2006, 12:31 pm	first thing to do, list which models need their uv maps fixing
JoeR Posted Dec 19, 2006, 1:44 pm	does 'uv map fixing' equal 'changing the properties of the object to accept a different skin texture?' if so: stormer. the skin allocates about a 1/2" square to the body, with the rest being headlight, grill, etc. what would you need first? a skin to set the uv map to?
*sam* Posted Dec 19, 2006, 3:25 pm	joer- No, it's done the other way around: in 3dstudio you re-skin the model, generating a template for painting a new texture on..
*Speedealer* Posted Dec 28, 2006, 6:45 am	that's way friggin cool! I'd love to make some skins, but have no techno expertise...but one thing if I may be a critic, ditch the dogma typeface and go with something rougher. I think it's too 'pretty' for the year 2063
JoeR Posted Dec 28, 2006, 2:58 pm	HEY! back-off, font nerd! (i'll consider it.....) still though, i figured that if they've gotten back up to speed with making lasers, they could at least paint a number on a car without using a rock.
*Speedealer* Posted Dec 28, 2006, 6:24 pm	sorry, can't help it. Even though the cars cost a bankroll, I just have it my mind that they're no better than demolition derby mobiles. Maybe if I change my perception, I won't crash so much.
JoeR Posted Dec 28, 2006, 7:27 pm	hmmm, how about a once a day event (AND a new league): demolition derby! no weapons, except the mounted ram and/or spikes. yeah man, think about it. if it's only once a day, the chances of there being more than one human in there are great! gah, you're distracting me. i logged on to put my guys in the hospital...