Need help with static meshes

[Spooge]

YES!!

Congrats dude! You did all the work, we just gave pointers, it's all you man.

As for the video, I would love to have a full copy on VHS still, but for now go ahead and u/l the Divx version to your FTP space, I'll approve the additional space for you. You can let me know whan it's on the server. You may want to let anyone else in on the link too, I'm sure others here might like to see it also.

We are all cheering for you man, the more this stuff hits it big the better for all of us "VR Artists". Before lng it will be like CAD, everyone will expect it and we all just got real busy. YeeHaaa my man!

Is the version you ran at the show up on the FTP?

 

[spatte]

Things are really moving fast here!

Afecelis, congratulations on your project. I just downloaded the March 03 and ran around in it. Looked much better than I would imagine from being a static mesh. I bet the clients where flabbergasted at your project. I have also been through the process of explaining blueprints to non-architects/engineers and that can be f---ing hard. I like your idea about showcasing one house filled with furniture and everything. That is excactly what I am doing now as a test run of the enging for the office that I work in. (It's made in UT2003) I don't know if it's OK to make it public yet, but even if not I'll e-mail you guys a few screenies.

BTW I've heard that you can change textures while you are running the map using triggers. Is that correct? In that way you could take a client through your building changing wallpaper, flooring etc from a pre-set sheet of textures as you go. Pretty sure that would be highly appreciated!

Spooger, you have been more than helpful these few days. Humbly awaiting your comeback! Good luck with your projects

 

[Vito]

Regarding changing textures, yes, you can use a MaterialSwitch to do this. An example using triggers to change materials is detailed here:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Content/ExampleMapsTriggers

and here:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Content/TriggersTutorial#MaterialTrigger

 

[Spooge]

I'll check in as often as I can,
Well if you don’t mind me saying so, I’m literally astounded by you and afecelis abilities, To accomplish so much in such a short time is nothing short of impressive. You’ll both be a force to recon with in the future, I only hope I never have to bid against you guys on any future projects. EeeeeeGads

Off topic… how old are you guys anyway. I think Will and I are likely the old farts hanging around; Vito’s just a hair younger HA! I’m 36 and I have forgotten Will’s age.

 

[spatte]

Well, I just turned 29, so I have a almost a year left before I join the +30 crowd. Not that I mind......

 

[afecelis]

he he he he h e!

Thanx Spooge (btw why did you get rid of the "r"?), spatte, and everyone. I just woke up from a looonnng beauty sleep but woke up as ugly as always, ha ha.

As Spatte said, the biggest reactions from people came with just launching the house. In spanish they were saying things like "how cool" or "now I understand" or "f....k", ha ha ha , so definitely, it's something that complements cad tools, but takes it deeply beyond. In the brief video you'll see a short introduction of us, our offiice (which is located in the surroundings of our city), and then the model in max (and here you'll see one of the problems. Once you try to get into the house with max, you get all these "ghost" zones consequence of the culling system. with unreal, YOU'RE JUST THERE! FREE TO GO ANYWHERE YOU LIKE), and then we get into it with the engine. If only with the 3dsmax model they were amazed, imagine how they felt with the VR! You'll see the laser pointer used several times to explain a specific detail. As we told the audience yesterday, it's like a fashion model without make up so the house has got no furniture nor closets nor bathroom appliances, etc, but it definitely helped them understand the project like they never had before. They always had to work with blueprints!! Now they want to have all the projects this way, and a copy of the runtime in their sale points!! phewwh! What they don't know is what I had to go through to give them this visual "dessert", =) The only bad part was the ending of the tape, cause the applause was very moving! I still got this idiot grinning face and I think I'll keep it for a long time! Another bad thing (when you get the full VHS Spooger) was that I was next to the video beam using the keyboard to manipulate the files but Camilo was next to the screen so his voice can't be heard well.

And spooger, don't worry, I'm 32! I know many teenagers are doing amazing stuff with the engine, but taking it into a professional field (not that gaming isn't) like architecture is a whole new interesting perspective. Oh1 and I was too tired last night to go for a beer, but I'll have the 2 on you! and on everybody in this forum who've been so supportive (I think I'll get drunk!).

ok, I'm starting the upload right now, so check back. Once it's ready I'll post the link here. And tonight I'll upload the project... kewl!!!!!!!!!

love all of you guys!

cheers!

 

[Spooge]

Well I know you guys could not be 15, but it still comes as a shock sometimes when I talk to people online about the runtime and what they are doing with it, only to find out they are 22-26.

Oh, and Spooge is the first login I used a long time ago, but when I went to post in this forum the first time I didn't realize that it was a planetUnreal forum, so like a dope I created another user name. So I switched back.

Man... I wonder how long a thread can get?!

 

[Islington]

Well done afecelis, that is the best most useful application of the engine I have seen so far.
I am just sorry that I did not have the trees and stuff ready in time for your presentation. If you still want to use them you can download them from Dan's webspace.
http://www.danielpatton.com/runtime/

 

[afecelis]

Don't worry Will. We'll have many other chances of using your beautiful trees. Hopefully, every new project we design will have an Unreal version since it helped us visualize new aspects of Architecture (and just for the pleasure of feeling the spaces).

Many thnx for the tress. I'll download them right away. Thanks for your interest and concern.

=)

 

[afecelis]

Ok guys, great news!

get the video here:
http://www.danielpatton.com/afecelis/video/presentation.zip

get the presentation's map here:
http://www.danielpatton.com/afecelis/wip/march05/mn300.zip

only the house that's in front of you when you spawn into the game has got lights. I had no time to have the engine calculate lights for all of the 12, so get into this house to have some fun. One last thing, if you go down hill where the other row of houses are there's no turning back.... I still haven't added stairs for the level change and it's too steep. Anyway, just play arounf with the map, have fun.

As usual, comments are most welcome!

cheers!

ps. Thanx a lot to Spooger for the extra space and for the nice chat over the phone today!
Guys you'd better download the stuff quickly cause I think my folder is about to suffer some major changes, h ahh ah ah a =)

 

[afecelis]

oops!
I think Spooger already started remodeling stuff over there. The site seems to be temporarily unavailable so keep trying!

cheers!

 

[spatte]

Will, I took the liberty and downloaded the trees. They are definately the best looking trees I have seen so far. I will be more than happy to include it in my ongoing work.

As I write I am uploading the a new version of my marketplace. I have put a couple of Wills trees in it, and it requires his packages to work at the moment. This can be found in

http://www.danielpatton.com/spatte/Work In Progress/

The stuff I wrote for my masters in Arch can be found in the top folder.

Spooger, I saw the picture you put in my folder, I have corrected it now. (Problem still remains in the uploaded version)

See you guys!

 

[spatte]

Another screenshsot

Just another one before I go to bed.....Things are getting greener and greener. I just wonder for how much longer my 850 Mhz PIII Laptop that I am currently working on can take the beating before it gives up

 

[afecelis]

That's looking beautiful! kudos!

The server is back online so I'm going to download your stuff and Will's trees right away.

Oh! guys and you may download my stuff as well!

video:
http://www.danielpatton.com/afecelis/video/presentation.zip

map:
http://www.danielpatton.com/afecelis/wip/march05/mn300.zip

cheers!

 

[spatte]

New Project

I have been preparing a demo of what you can do with the engine based on existing drawings for my office. So far the I have only made the outside of the building and an empty apartment. Probably spend a day or so next week furnishing it as well. I'll upload it for you as soon as possible.

Window geometry was imported from AutoCAD to VIZ as dwg's and then textured. A floorplan was also imported as a mesh into the editor and used as a guide to build the bulk of the building in BSP. Balconies where made in VIZ

Get back with interior perspectives later on

Cheers

 

[afecelis]

Looks nice!

Spatte, how do you import a floorplan as a mesh into the engine for bsp building?

 

[spatte]

We already had a AutoCAD 3D-model which I imported to 3dsVIZ just as I did with the windows. From there, I exported as usual to a .ASE an just used as a guide to create the geometry of the building with BSP brushes.

Spooger told me how you can actually import geometry from MAX into the editor as BSP, but that involves converting the polys to quads or something, but you'd better talk to him about that. I haven't tried it yet.

Just a hint, don't forget to use the Group Browser as much as possible. Once your project gets more complex you couldn't live without it. Just too bad you can't change the colour of each group like layers in AutoCAD. Guess you can't have it all!

 

[afecelis]

I agree. I tried using the group browser to separate brushes into "layers" but I noticed something. For example: for my houses I selected all the elements in one of them and created a group "house01" for it, then I cloned it and created a group "house02" for it alone and so on for the 12 houses. The weird thing is that when I finish, if I open the group browser and select "house01" it selects all the 12 as if they were instances, but if I choose "house12" it only selects the last group. So this confused me a bit since I needed to copy some stuff and I ssumed I had only selected one house, but I had selected many of them. And I also agree you should be able to add colors to groups to use them as layers... you never know... perhaps unreal RT2... and Vito will pamper us, h ehe he eh =)

Gotta ask spooger about the bsp exportation stuff.

ps. Just walked through your latest version of the marketplace.... simply amazing! I love the rotating lights (how did you do them? I s there a tut?), the screens and the new ilumination is much better. I also liked the spherical panoramic sky with the face on it. congrats Spatte! One last q. In the previous version your project, the columns and arches were in the static mesh package. In this version they're not but they still show up in the level. How did you make it?

 

[spatte]

Glad you like it Afecelis!

I had the same problem with groups at first. Everything you copy will belong to the same group as the original. What you have to do is to delete the actors from that group and then create a new one. In this way you can separate all your stuff.

About the rotating lights, they are made with movers. I checked a UT2003 map called flux2 where there is a rotating fan. Then there is a tutorial at UDN as well.

As for your last question I am not really sure what you are talking about. The meshes are there! Maybe you have to press the "All" button to see the them since I have added to new groups, Nature and Detail

Well, gotta get some sleep. New week new projects!

 

[afecelis]

So it's better to insert evrything everytime from the staticmesh browser? I mean, to keep things into different groups. So cloning meshes is not good for groups, right?

and you were right! I had to hit the "all" button.

Did you get the chance to download and try my project? The server seems to be down today again. It was working this morning.

have a nice week!