Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 6:49 pm Post subject:
Stock RA2 infantry SHP editing, tips?
Hello PPM!
Been a while since I've posted here or done any RA2 modding, but after getting a little inspiration from friends I decided to start tinkering around with the ol' mod again.
This time around I want to get serious and start cleaning up the art assets to start making things look a little more polished and not so second-rate and half assed. Problem is, I have little to no experience when it comes to creating SHPs for infantry, and more importantly, no idea where to start in terms of editing one of the original infantry SHPs to, for instance, add an animation and actually make it look convincing.
Specifically, I want to add a secondary fire animation to the conscript, an animation of him throwing a molotov (I'm certain I'm not the first person to have that idea, but what the heck). I'm not sure if I should start by finding another infantry with some sort of throwing animation and then doing a copy/paste job, or if I am supposed to do some sort of modeling/animation in 3dsmax and convert to shp?
Just wanted to get some input from an experienced shp crafter on what the best way is to approach a job like this. I poked around the tutorials vault and did some google searching and didn't find a whole lot of directly useful information (though the 3dsmax to SHP tutorial may come in handy later). QUICK_EDIT
First, you should download the official RA2 infantry models.
It seems it doesn't has the conscript included, but maybe i'm wrong.
If it doesn't has it, you should still take one of the infantry as a template and then try to create a conscript that looks exactly like the one ingame. Shouldn't be too hard. I've created already the TD gunboat for DTA and got it done almost exactly the same (and i started from scratch).
It's basically, trial and error, with make it a bit bigger here, smaller there, render, compare with SHP, and again. Until the shape is the same down to every pixel (infantry don't have many, so not much to model). Then find the right texture and done.
When you have the infantry model, the next step is simple.
You create the throw animation, render it for all 8 facings and then include it into the existing SHP.
If you have too much trouble to get your model look convincingly the same as the original, you could also create only a similar model and recreate the whole infantry with all its animations. So you then replace the entire SHP with your new infantry. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
That's amazing, I had no idea those existed! I see the conscript in that preview picture, so there's hope! I'll have to dive in when I get home, I think that might be exactly what I need to get started.
Do you know if there is a similar release for YR? I have some changes in mind for the Initiate as well (although those I could do by hand in OS SHP Builder if I had to).
I'll have to wait until I get home to download, but I'm assuming those models will work in GMax? _________________ New name: Sir Prize. I've switched to a new account to update to the name I've been using everywhere else for the last several years. QUICK_EDIT
oh wait, conscript. somehow i thought you meant the engineer. yeah, the conscript is there.
No, that's the only official infantry set.
GMax should be able to open them (they are a very old 3ds max format), though IIRC GMax has no render functionality and you have to add this to GMax via some plugins etc. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Hmm, perhaps I'm better off getting my hands on a copy of 3dsmax anyhow. I'll give it a go when I have some time and I'll let you know how it comes out.
Thanks for the tip! _________________ New name: Sir Prize. I've switched to a new account to update to the name I've been using everywhere else for the last several years. QUICK_EDIT
Sweet! I managed to get the model loaded into 3ds max 2010 and I'm able to play around with it a bit.
After 2 hours of playing around, I even managed to get the very first frame of the animation done! At least, the stance he will be in when he starts his throw animation.
Yeah... this is going to be a long process. Turns out I'm even more clueless than I thought I was when it comes to animation. At least I figured out how to manipulate the Bipod objects, so at least I think I'm doing it right.
I've got some learning to do before I churn out anything truly spectacular, but it's a start! And for that I thank you, LKO
Before you start the animation, you should put him in the normal standing position and then adjust light and camera settings. IIRC there was no light/camera setup included and you would first have to find the right settings, so your rendered model looks the same as the ingame one (same size, perspective and lighting)
IIRC the camera and lights where in some other model in that package, which you can copy into yours.
A bit of a suggestion not on modeling though I think it would probably fit in better with the RA2-Styled Soviet Conscript to probably use a M24 Grenade since it fits in with the Soviets using alot of outdated equipment and the Soviets did use it as well in real life. _________________ ~ Excelsior ~ QUICK_EDIT
@Kenosis that does sound like it would save me an immense amount of time. Where did you go to get the RA3 animations? Were they included in the SDK or released separately?
Learning how to rig and import them might take me some time/trial and error, but would still probably be better than doing it from scratch, since the connie in RA3 already has the molotov throwing animation.
@Noodles I suppose I could, either one works really, but I already gave the Allies grenades, so to be thematically distinct I thought giving the conscripts a molotov might be a little... spicier, perhaps? But I'll give it some thought. I can always change my mind, after all.
Speaking of outdated weapons, I've always wanted to change the gun the conscript uses to a more sensible AK-47. The totally ungainly drum magazine makes it look more like he's shooting a tommy gun rather than an M1 Carbine. Maybe I'll do that too... _________________ New name: Sir Prize. I've switched to a new account to update to the name I've been using everywhere else for the last several years. QUICK_EDIT
Its a PPSh-41 the rifle the Conscript uses. M1Carbine was probably a hiccup on Westwood's end and was probably to save time coding and more probably intended for Allied Infantry name-wise. Most of the names aren't really accurate most of the time. _________________ ~ Excelsior ~ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Location: C:\Westwood\ TechLevel=12
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:56 am Post subject:
The weapon M1Carbine is from RA1. It was also used as the Elite weapon for the TS Light Infantry. I'm with Atomic_Noodles and thing it was done as a time saver.
In TS and RA2 weapon names where un-hardcoded so there was no need to the name M1Carbine for any thing but for it was name that many doing the rules coding knew M1Carbine from RA1 and TS so it was quicker to use a name they knew. _________________
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Stock RA2 infantry SHP editing, tips?
