Weapon Implementation Tutorials

[Slaught]

I was wondering, since it looks like we now have a working skin selection for the weapons, is it possible to create custom skins for the completed ones (Flak, Rocket Launcher, Sniper etc)?
I'd love to give it a shot if it is.

I poked through the files but I couldn't find blueprints or anything related other than the materials themselves.

[MΛuL]

Great tutorial on first person weapon modeling concepts!

http://piratportfolio.com/fpp_eng/

Wow, thanks for calling attention to that. Very comprehensive.

[YemYam]

Great tutorial on first person weapon modeling concepts!

http://piratportfolio.com/fpp_eng/

[richardboegli]

@richardboegli AutoCAD is alright, I used to use that back when I did CNC programming and Architectural Visualization. Ive always used Max though myself, Im the same as @YemYam, been using it since r2.5. Id actually love to see em update the max UI like they did with Maya and QT, it just really needs a proper update not just more toolbars bootstrapped to it.

I did use Revit that ones interesting for architecture, its got all the Autos specially setup for buildings similar to how sketchup works. Ive been meaning to try to get more into sketchup because of all the custom tools, either that or Modo just never get the time.

I'd also recommend trying Alias Studio....I had a bit of play around with it, when the Autodesk reps came down to showcase their acquisition of Alias which owned StudioTools (Standard and Pro), Maya and Motion Builder.

It's what all the large car manufacturer use for designing their cars.

It seems like Autodesk has morphed it from 3 into 5 products now....it was originally 2 when Autodesk bought Alias in 2005
Alias Surface 2016
Alias AutoStudio 2016
Alias Concept 2016
Alias SpeedForm 2016
Alias Design 2016

[richardboegli]

Yea, I've played with Inventor and love it, very fun stuff. However, at this point me and max are pretty intertwined. I've been using it since version 2.5 - so a long time. A lot of people that don't like Max have never customized it, I always run an extremely customized and hotkeyed version of max with tons of 3rd party scripts so for me it moves pretty fast and does everything I need. My wrists are pretty fried after years of skateboarding and snowboarding slams so if my workflow moved any faster my hands would explode. I've tried Maya, Modo, Inventor, etc. but always come back to Max (and of course Zbrush for organics).

Everybody is different, whatever works for you I say go with it. I think the modeling package matters less, what matters is your passion and your ability to sit in front of a computer for 8-14 hours a day for days and months and years to get good enough. Enjoying the process and wanting to get better and share art with the world matters the most.

I'd used blender before picking up Inventor in 2003. Taught myself in my free time, design and modeled a ton of different robots etc...
Being self taught was a big plus which got me a teaching position in 2006. So Inventor has a special place in my heart and is what I use if I want to smash something out quickly.

I remember teaching inventor for 8 hours a day and then going home and relax by drawing stuff in inventor.
So yeah, my total time in front of inventor would be around the 12-14 hour mark per day.

I've never shared any of my work publically as I was effectively a ghost on the internet for the last 20 years. Its only because of my book in 2014 that I've had to become more socialable online

Do you have any threads started? I'd dig seeing what you are doing Inventor, I think all the engineering aspects of the program are awesome.

You found one thread about 10 minutes after this post [CONCEPT ART] 6 Axis Robot Arm Biped for UT4 Faction Robots and / or Unreal Universe which I cross posted in [OFFICIAL]UT4 Robot Faction

The only other thing I've model thus far was [CONCEPT ART] My UT4 logo derived from HenrikRyosa UTlogo14k logo

While this could be done in any package it only took me 10 minutes as Inventor "just works" for me.

I'll be modeling up this in Inventor soon:[CONCEPT ART]Enforcer Pareidolia - Pareidolia / Based off GPR-021 Toner Cartridge

I've started doing a Manta, but its not in a decent enough state to show case. It was actually what I was working on, then I got side tracked by the logo as I thought it'd be a quicker win...it was

I was designing a space frame for the internal frame of the manta and then was going to build the shell around it.

[MonsOlympus]

[MENTION=259874]richardboegli[/MENTION] AutoCAD is alright, I used to use that back when I did CNC programming and Architectural Visualization. Ive always used Max though myself, Im the same as [MENTION=9771]YemYam[/MENTION], been using it since r2.5. Id actually love to see em update the max UI like they did with Maya and QT, it just really needs a proper update not just more toolbars bootstrapped to it.

I did use Revit that ones interesting for architecture, its got all the Autos specially setup for buildings similar to how sketchup works. Ive been meaning to try to get more into sketchup because of all the custom tools, either that or Modo just never get the time.

[3Dmatic]

If 3DS Max isn't getting on your nerves, because of this or that, then there really is no need of switching to another 3D app. Other softwares might have advantages, but I think it's best to use what makes us happy. 8-14 hours a day, that's a lot of time, you are wise to stick with 3DS Max.

[YemYam]

Yea, I've played with Inventor and love it, very fun stuff. However, at this point me and max are pretty intertwined. I've been using it since version 2.5 - so a long time. A lot of people that don't like Max have never customized it, I always run an extremely customized and hotkeyed version of max with tons of 3rd party scripts so for me it moves pretty fast and does everything I need. My wrists are pretty fried after years of skateboarding and snowboarding slams so if my workflow moved any faster my hands would explode. I've tried Maya, Modo, Inventor, etc. but always come back to Max (and of course Zbrush for organics).

Everybody is different, whatever works for you I say go with it. I think the modeling package matters less, what matters is your passion and your ability to sit in front of a computer for 8-14 hours a day for days and months and years to get good enough. Enjoying the process and wanting to get better and share art with the world matters the most.

Do you have any threads started? I'd dig seeing what you are doing Inventor, I think all the engineering aspects of the program are awesome.

[richardboegli]

Other 3d modeling software to evaluate

Modeling packages and more importantly the tools you get comfortable with in that package contribute a ton to your personal style so why would we want to all use the same packages, tools, & techniques? I use Max, not because I think it's the best - it's just what I grew up with.
....
I may jump ship to Modo one day (they seem to be innovating at a Zbrush pace) but for now it's fun to see the modeling productivity tools they have and see if I can replicate something similar with scripts or plugins in Max.

[MENTION=9771]YemYam[/MENTION], if you are thinking of looking at other packages, as you are a Mechanical Modeler, I would suggest trying some of the following:

• parametric 3d mechanical packages
  • Autodesk Inventor
  • Solidworks
  • Solid Edge
  • Catia
  • NX
  • Geomagic Design
  • PTC Creo
• explicit or non-history-based modeler
  • Autodesk AutoCAD "new" 3d modelling features in (been there since 2007)
• Freeform modeling & sculpting, Solid modeling, Parametric modeling and Mesh modeling
  • Autodesk Fusion 360
    • This is actually what I am looking to replace Inventor with

I'm a Mechatronic Engineer and I find using the traditional 3d model tools like 3DS Max and Maya extremely cumbersome compared to Autodesk Inventor for doing mechanical modelling, but I use to teach Autodesk Inventor, so I might be a bit bias

As Inventor is by Autodesk just like 3DS Max, moving between Inventor and 3DS Max is streamlined.

I've seen some people use it to good effect, but I am only using the basics at the moment to generate FBX for importing into UE4.

[danpaz3d]

@YemYam @Vailias Thanks for the help, looks like it was a bit of a combination of that and the ray count I was using for baking the nmaps. I've been using 32bit TGA's and it looks like they bug out sometimes.

[3Dmatic]

Wow, what a fantastic thread.
Thx for posting it.

[Vailias]

You're running into bit depth issues with the baking.
This thread on polycount has some good info that can help.
http://polycount.com/discussion/1483...normal-maps/p1

[YemYam]

Is that with AO applied? Sometimes the AO will get weird on flat spots. I usually solve that by adding a little more geo around that area or by utilizing smoothing groups. TexTools has and awesome script that will auto assign smoothing groups based on your UV islands. Since smoothing group breaks on UV breaks are essentially free in UE4 (does not double vert count) I always run this as with mechy models a smoothing group break is the best way to brute force perfect processing results.

http://www.renderhjs.net/textools/

[danpaz3d]

Hi all, just got a question related to normal map baking and UE4/UT.

I've followed the process you put down a while back related to max > ue4 > xNormal workflow and it works great most of the time. But for some reason I sometimes get weird banding issues on some of my normal maps, mostly occurring on large flat or smooth surfaces. I can't figure out what it is, if its actually a baking issue, or if its a mip/compression issue in-engine.

I put together a single shot with an example model to show.



Edit: Further investigation shows that it might be the smoothing groups + poly detail on my low poly which cause very slight bands in the normal map. Gonna continue trying out smoothing and poly fixes to get better results.

[YemYam]

Here is the very simple base test materials for the Sniper Rifle. This is the easiest way to show how to hook up the panini fx node that prevents fov distortion.

For every material you will have a master material that you apply to the 3p skeletal mesh and an instance of that material that you will enable panini fx on and apply that to your 1p skeleton mesh.



Here is the master material. Add the panini node and wire it to world position offset. After you add the node then create a material instance for the 1p view.



If you have added the node correctly the following check box will show up in your instanced material. Check both boxes then apply this material to your 1p. That will lock the appearance of your 1p weapon to roughly 90 fov regardless of what fov you are running the game at.