Universe Sandbox
Universe Sandbox Legacy => Universe Sandbox Legacy | Discussion => Topic started by: Laura on May 27, 2010, 02:13:09 PM
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Here are some results of me fiddling around with putting new textures and models in US2.
It was a proof of concept excercise, but I might as well show it off ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7Cl6Z4sY8&fmt=18
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Here are some results of me fiddling around with putting new textures and models in US2.
It was a proof of concept excercise, but I might as well show it off ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7Cl6Z4sY8&fmt=18
How...did...you...do...that...*dies*
I can make Sanduleak's systems, but not put new models in it.
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Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! That's cool! ;D
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Epicness.
Although I prefer this Earth texture:
(http://www.oera.net/How2/PlanetTexs/EarthMapAtmos_2500x1250.jpg)
But that's my opinion.
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EDIT: You can have the system.
Which then looks like this:
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Epicness.
Although I prefer this Earth texture:
But that's my opinion.
It's a nice one, too, but it's missing some clouds. That's pretty easy to arrange, though.
In choosing the one I did, I picked the highest resolution that I could find which didn't have underwater topography showing and/or bad colors. It's 4000x2000. Too large to post here, unfortunately.
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That looks really great.
Did you have to modify any files in the installation folder to do this? Be careful that they may be overwritten when you update to a new version.
Nothing in My Documents will be overwritten or deleted when you update.
I need to add better support for adding your own models and textures. It's coming (but not in the next update).
It's 4000x2000. Too large to post here, unfortunately.
And I just upped the upload limit to the forum to 6MB, is that big enough?
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That looks really great.
Thanks :)
Did you have to modify any files in the installation folder to do this? Be careful that they may be overwritten when you update to a new version.
I created an entry for the ISS in Appearance.xml, and added the model file to the Media folder.
<Object>
<Name>ISS</Name>
<TextureDiffuse>iss.dds</TextureDiffuse>
<Type>Object</Type>
<Model>iss.x</Model>
<ColorReal>fffff</ColorReal>
<ColorVivid>White</ColorVivid>
</Object>
I was able to keep the texture file in the Media folder of My Documents/Universe Sandbox.
The Earth texture could be defined entirely using that folder and the .ubox file for the system.
Nothing in My Documents will be overwritten or deleted when you update.
Good to know :)
I need to add better support for adding your own models and textures. It's coming (but not in the next update).
It's 4000x2000. Too large to post here, unfortunately.
And I just upped the upload limit to the forum to 6MB, is that big enough?
Looking forward to more straightforward moddability :)
It would particularly excellent if all the required non-standard resources could reside in the .ubox file itself.
6 Mb should be enough, yes. Thanks :)
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Here's the cloudmap I used.
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And the texture.
EDIT: Is this working? For some reason, try as I might, it seems to always download a file of 0 bytes.
I tried reuploading it numerous times. Odd, since the cloudmap works fine.
Alternative location: http://flatplanet.sourceforge.net/maps/images/earthmap_hires.jpg
Note that this is 4000x2000 - for best results, resize to 4096x2048.
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I created an entry for the ISS in Appearance.xml, and added the model file to the Media folder.
<Object>
<Name>ISS</Name>
<TextureDiffuse>iss.dds</TextureDiffuse>
<Type>Object</Type>
<Model>iss.x</Model>
<ColorReal>fffff</ColorReal>
<ColorVivid>White</ColorVivid>
</Object>
Now I understand. Thanks for the code Laura.
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I created an entry for the ISS in Appearance.xml, and added the model file to the Media folder.
<Object>
<Name>ISS</Name>
<TextureDiffuse>iss.dds</TextureDiffuse>
<Type>Object</Type>
<Model>iss.x</Model>
<ColorReal>fffff</ColorReal>
<ColorVivid>White</ColorVivid>
</Object>
Now I understand. Thanks for the code Laura.
You're welcome :)
You'll need some sort of modeling software, of course, and the capability of exporting .x files.
I use 3D Studio Max 9 myself, and for that there is a free DirectX exporter called Panda. There are several versions of it, most of which wouldn't work, but version 4.something worked.
I realize Max is a huge investment, so maybe there's something similar for Blender, or something along those lines.
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In addtion to .x files you can also use the .3ds file format.
I look forward to adding better model handling capabilities so no manual file manipulation is required.
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In addtion to .x files you can also use the .3ds file format.
I look forward to adding better model handling capabilities so no manual file manipulation is required.
I assume using .x and .dds provides the best possible performance?
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I did a simulation with three different maps to earth, one with the Earth 200 million years ago (Pangea), another with Earth was at 65 million years ago (Cretaceous) and another with the current map of the Earth.
Big changes !
The maps used are attached.
[ ]´s
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Nice...
I have a global warming staged Earth as a simulation. Ill try to get it here when I get on the other computer.
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Done.
Two possible future events: Global Warming - ice caps melts and lowlands flooded.
or
Snowball Earth - everything is covered in ice and snow except for high mountains.
(note: centered on North America)
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Woudn't mountains be covered first?
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Some nice textures. Love the space station!
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Some nice textures. Love the space station!
Ding! You triggered the bonus :P
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AWESOME HOW THE HECK???? I NEED THIS! (In tone of "Don't breathe this")
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AWESOME HOW THE HECK???? I NEED THIS! (In tone of "Don't breathe this")
Lifted the model from the Celestia collection of spacecraft (on their site). It came in a lot of individual objects, so I attached everything to the most central of them. Then I exported it as a .x file, though Dan says US2 will accept .3ds as well. I rendered to texture with automatic UV unwrapping and blurred the edges of the resulting collection of faces in photoshop to prevent any unseemly seams.
EDIT: No, that's what I did for the ISS... the cassini texture is just blotches of colors plastered over the relevant areas.
Then it was just a matter of dropping both those files in the Media dir of US2 and adding code similar to that shown earlier in this thread.
I'll attach the files, as I believe the model is public domain.
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So this is the first step towards uncircular meshes? For like asteroids?
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So this is the first step towards uncircular meshes? For like asteroids?
It's the first and only step towards it.
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Only? You pessimist.
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Only? You pessimist.
No, it really is the only step! You just make models, and you put them in!
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I need to learn 3d then... Can someone teach me? I would like to make an asteroid. Or something.
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I need to learn 3d then... Can someone teach me? I would like to make an asteroid. Or something.
Use Blender. *slaps your face* Just go into a certain mode that allows you to move the points on the sphere.
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Only? You pessimist.
No, it really is the only step! You just make models, and you put them in!
Quite true :D
An asteroid was actually the first thing I did.
That is just a sphere with many faces with a displacement modifier using random perlin noise.
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Does that make dds? And how do you make stuff? I'm not skilled.
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Teach me how or something.
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Teach me how or something.
"Just go into a certain mode that allows you to move the points on the sphere."
That's how, and you can use a converter to change it to dds.
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AHHHHHHHHHHH CONVERTERS
And what is that certain mode?
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The thing is I haven't the foggiest idea of how to do this without my usual tools; 3D Studio Max 9 and Photoshop.
I'm positive it can be done with, like, Blender 3D and Gimp, but I can't tell you how.
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AHHHHHHHHHHH CONVERTERS
And what is that certain mode?
Dunno.
Quite frankly, I fail at awesome 3D things.
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That helps. *blinks*
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That helps. *blinks*
Oh, it's edit mode.
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AHHHHHHHHHHH CONVERTERS
And what is that certain mode?
You don't actually have to use .x and .dds if that's a problem. US2 will accept .3ds files as well, which are a common format, and you can use .png instead of .dds.
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.png? For a surface?
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.png? For a surface?
Sure, that or .dds provides the surface texture. In the case of the asteroid, it started off as a plain sphere before processing, so any texture that looks decent on a sphere (like that of the moon) will map properly onto it.
I may make a collection of boulders for the community to use freely, actually.
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And where are the points of the sphere, I am in edit mode.
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And where are the points of the sphere, I am in edit mode.
They are on the sphere, the little dots. Right click on one, and move it.
You can use sculpt mode to do that too.
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ummm they aren't on the sphere... I don't see any dots.
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And where are the points of the sphere, I am in edit mode.
They are on the sphere, the little dots. Right click on one, and move it.
You can use sculpt mode to do that too.
Does blender have a displacement modifier that can be applied to an object? If it does, that's the way to go about it. The displacement map can be something like this:
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Sculpt mode? ???
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Blender is not for the faint of heart. I tried to make sense of it once and got frustrated and gave up. I didn't actually need to use it, after all.
You might try: http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
It is a free version of 3D studio max for game content creation. It might just do the trick.
It has limitations, naturally, but this page explains how to make it export .x model files.
http://www.3drad.com/forum/index.php?topic=577.0
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I'm not frustrated. blender is awesome, and this is what I have. hahaha a green sphere
I can move the camera, can't get the sun angle to change, and can't edit my sphere. I think I'm fine for images, but not for making an asteroid.
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Well, I was at that stage too, once :)
It's a steep learning curve.
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How do you rotate the camera? That's my next puzzle. I got how to angle the view 4682, and I can change to wireframe and solid and stuff. Also, how do you input a texture like you can change the color?
Deoxy, I think I know why, cause I added a different type of sphere, let me try the Meshes spheres
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There, now to modify, I have two spheres! YAY
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I got sculpt mode, but don't get how to make it indent or outdent FOR SURE, like controlling it. Still can't edit points. I'll learn eventually. I love learning this way. I find out myself and get a few tips of some people.
Found edit mode! YAY
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Aha! Look what Google dragged in ;)
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-232/displacement-mapping/
Seems to explain exactly how to do the displacement trick I use, for Blender.
EDIT: No, it actually doesn't... but this does: http://www.m-sign.nl/displacement-mapping-in-blender-3d/
It turns out that that only tells you how to make it render the displaced mesh. It doesn't actually displace it in a way useful for exporting.
You would seem to need this function for doing that: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual/Modifiers/Mesh/Displace
So, make the kind of sphere that's in the first tutorial, then apply the displace modifier to that, load a heightmap image into the modifier, and then play around with the settings of the modifier.
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I need help now. I accidentally made a VERY FAR OUT point on my sphere... idk it might be 2 or 3. I can't do anything!
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:( Whenever I sculpt something, the other objects go away.
THIS IS CHEAP NOW I AM GETTING FRUSTRATED! I MOVE THE CAMERA AND THE RENDER CHANGES NOT AT ALL!!!!!
Oh, and now I have two cameras, one object shows up, my other two don't and when I render, it shows two objects? WTF IS WRONG WITH IT>
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Here is fail.
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Oh. It's a different camera and on global view, and I was on local! OKAY!
Learned to rotate also.
I have an image now...
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Now, one last thing... How do you get textures working?
The moon has one, but it wont show.
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Ok, I downloaded Blender, and I'm clearly reminded why I dropped it the last time ::)
It's just so needlessly arcane.
Anyway, try this:
1) Add->Mesh->IcoSphere. Give it 5 subdivisions.
2) Panels->Shading->Texture->World. Add new. Type is 'Clouds'. Set noise size to 0.750.
3) Panels->Editing. Find the 'Add Modifier' button and click it. Choose displace from the list.
4) In the texture field, type Tex.001 and hit return.
5) Set 'Midlevel' to 0.000 and 'Strength' to 1.500
Well, that's a basic asteroid shape. I don't know how to get it smoother, except by using more subdivisions to begin with, but that will massively increase the number of polygons. Also, the object has no UV map (it doesn't know that textures should map onto it as a sphere). Other than that, you can export it as a .3ds file and use it with US2 as is.
I'm out of time here :)
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Modeling. Could never do it. lol
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Modeling. Could never do it. lol
Modeling, could do a little bit. I can't make a movie, but I can make a still image of just one or two things.
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Hello, I do not know about 3D StudioMax, Blender, and others. (though after reading this thread I felt compelled to learn something, at least enough to create what you got)
The Starry Night software has several models to .3ds to many planets, moons as well as ships like Voyagers, Apollo, and others.
I wonder if it would be possible to use these models in the US2. If so how should I do ?
Attached are two models with its textures.
[] 'S
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Hello, I do not know about 3D StudioMax, Blender, and others. (though after reading this thread I felt compelled to learn something, at least enough to create what you got)
The Starry Night software has several models to .3ds to many planets, moons as well as ships like Voyagers, Apollo, and others.
I wonder if it would be possible to use these models in the US2. If so how should I do ?
Attached are two models with its textures.
[] 'S
Hi :)
US2 accepts .3ds directly. It's the texturing that is the problem. Most of these 3D spacecraft consist of myriad pieces rather than one solid object. So, the objects must be turned into one object, while preserving the textures/materials. Next, the texture mapping coordinates must be flattened so that no faces overlap. Then you can render a 'baked' texture which will map perfectly onto the solid object once you export it.
You need a 3D modeling platform of some kind. I can only offer good help with 3D Studio Max, really.
Whatever platform you get, you're looking at days or weeks of head-scratching before you get that far.
If I'm in a position to help, that could be shortened somewhat :)
Anyway, I took the liberty of converting the two models you attached to be usable in US2.
First, a couple of pictures. Models in the posts below.
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Mars Global Surveyor model and texture.
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Spitzer model and texture.
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I'm gonna put one of these on my Jupiter Orbiter if that's okay... Which one should I? Any suggestions?
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I'm gonna put one of these on my Jupiter Orbiter if that's okay... Which one should I? Any suggestions?
Well, Spitzer is a telescope. Mars Global Surveyor is a mapping instrument. Which fits the bill best? :)
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I think Cassini was the one all along... A telescope isn't going to do the job THAT well... The surveryor is passing by other objects, so I think Cassini.
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Thanks by the tips Laura !! I will try ( I installed the 3D Studio Max ), try :D !
Attached are the entire folder of models of Starry Night, there are many models !
[ ]´s
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Thanks by the tips Laura !! I will try ( I installed the 3D Studio Max ), try :D !
Attached are the entire folder of models of Starry Night, there are many models !
[ ]´s
Hmm... are those models public domain?
We don't want to violate any intellectual property rights here.
Btw, there's no attachment.
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Thanks by the tips Laura !! I will try ( I installed the 3D Studio Max ), try :D !
Attached are the entire folder of models of Starry Night, there are many models !
[ ]´s
Hmm... are those models public domain?
We don't want to violate any intellectual property rights here.
Btw, there's no attachment.
Hmmmm, I suppose not :P
Anyway , I forgot include the attachment.
[ ] ´s
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They might be... try to find out :)
The models in Celestia, for example, are not protected as far as I know.
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I made a model in Blender of a asteroid following the steps of this tutorial:
- http://www.davidjarvis.ca/dave/blender/tutorial-21.shtml
Here is it in Blender:
(http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9940/clipboard01l.gif)
Then I select Export-> DirectX (. X) and exported the model in this format.
Than I edit the appearance file and the simulation file than I run the simulation with the model but it does not appear physically in the simulation even at the highest magnification:
(http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/5854/universesandbox20100605.png)
What's mistake am I making?
Attached are the files of the simulation
[ ]´s
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Hmm... well, I see no mistakes in the .xml files, so the problem must be elsewhere.
The .X file must be in the Media directory of the US2 install directory - not the Media directory of your US2 user directory under My Documents.
The texture file can be in either of those two places.
Nice model :)
EDIT: There is something wrong with the model file; it doesn't show up in the DirectX SDK viewer. Do you get any options during exporting?
I see that your .X file is in plain text format. It must be in binary format.
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The .X file must be in the Media directory of the US2 install directory - not the Media directory of your US2 user directory under My Documents.
Ok, it´s only in the system folder of the install directory
The texture file can be in either of those two places.
Ok
Well, change the view point of the simulation a I noted a "ghost" of a asteroid shifted of the trail:
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2391/clipboard01di.gif)
Nice model :)
Thanks,
I'm anxious to see it in the US !
[ ]´s
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The reason for the shift is that the model in Blender was exported while not centered in the coordinate system. Move it to 0,0,0. I don't know what's causing the ghost effect, though.
Possibly it the inability to render the material.
The material does not need to be included in the .X file, since you're applying a texture in appearance.xml anyway.
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The reason for the shift is that the model in Blender was exported while not centered in the coordinate system. Move it to 0,0,0. I don't know what's causing the ghost effect, though.
Ok, I will make this change.
[ ]´s
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I can't even import asteroid08.x into Blender.
Maybe its DirectX model support is flawed?
I suggest you try using the .3ds export format instead. US2 is set up to handle that as well :)
It might work better.
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I can't even import asteroid08.x into Blender.
Maybe its DirectX model support is flawed?
I suggest you try using the .3ds export format instead. US2 is set up to handle that as well :)
It might work better.
Exist some way to export DirectX model from 3D Studio Max ?
[ ]´s
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Have been playing with textures also .
Here's a modified Earth texture ....
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Exist some way to export DirectX model from 3D Studio Max ?
Yes, with this free plugin: http://www.andytather.co.uk/Panda/Files/3dsmax9/PandaDirectXMaxExporter4.9.63.0.zip
It's what I use, and it works perfectly :)
What I meant, however, was for you to try exporting from Blender into .3ds format, since US2 supports that format, and Blenders exporter for those might be better than for .X
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Have been playing with textures also .
Here's a modified Earth texture ....
It's the Earth on Andy Warhol :D
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Have been playing with textures also .
Here's a modified Earth texture ....
It's the Earth on Andy Warhol :D
Are you sure it's Andy Warhol and not LSD? ::) :o
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Are you sure it's Andy Warhol and not LSD? ::) :o
After taking a good shot of Liquified Surface Deformation I saw to my surprise the following : :-[
Edit : this texture was made by swapping the RGB colors of the original texture in a different order .
fi : the blue amount in the pixels becomes red , the green ones become blue...aso
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Exist some way to export DirectX model from 3D Studio Max ?
Yes, with this free plugin: http://www.andytather.co.uk/Panda/Files/3dsmax9/PandaDirectXMaxExporter4.9.63.0.zip
It's what I use, and it works perfectly :)
What I meant, however, was for you to try exporting from Blender into .3ds format, since US2 supports that format, and Blenders exporter for those might be better than for .X
Well, I surrendered to 3D Studio Max, and it worked!
My first model of asteroid in US:
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5593/universesandbox20100606.png)
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(http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5593/universesandbox20100606.png)
Thanks for the tips and patience Laura.
[ ]´s
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Well, I surrendered to 3D Studio Max, and it worked!
Thanks for the tips and patience Laura.
So much easier, isn't it? :)
That is a perfectly good asteroid.
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Well, I surrendered to 3D Studio Max, and it worked!
Thanks for the tips and patience Laura.
So much easier, isn't it? :)
That is a perfectly good asteroid.
Much more !!
Now I only need to know how to make some craters. You know some good tutorial Laura ?
[ ]´s
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The general idea is to create the greyscale heightmap of a crater-like structure. You can go about that in a number of ways. I've attached one made from scratch in photoshop using white circles that were subsequently blurred to create a gradient-like effect. Below that, a photoshop file which is ready to be turned into a custom brush, making it easy to apply the effect to a larger image multiple times. To make the crater bumpmap for entire texture, make an image the same size as the texture, fill it with black, and use the brush to place craters.
Then, to make the craters appear on your texture, save the new bumpmap as a .psd, use the texturizer filter of photoshop, load the new bumpmap into the filter, and adjust lighting and how much relief effect you want. The size parameter should be 100%.
At the bottom, I've attached a simple example of having used the crater brush on a simple noise map.
This is not meant to be the final word in crater making; it's just one way. You should experiment :)
EDIT: In case you meant how to make the craters as part of the 3D mesh, that is generally not advisable - it requires a lot of polygons to look good, and polygon count should be kept relatively low for realtime 3D applications such as US2.
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Thanks Laura, it´s really more easy than I supposed !
[ ]´s
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Glad to help :)
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Are you sure it's Andy Warhol and not LSD? ::) :o
After taking a good shot of Liquified Surface Deformation I saw to my surprise the following : :-[
Edit : this texture was made by swapping the RGB colors of the original texture in a different order .
fi : the blue amount in the pixels becomes red , the green ones become blue...aso
LSD is a drug....not Liquified Surface Deformation. I was using the term that meant the drug.
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LSD is a drug....
...and Andy Warhol was no stranger to it ;)
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LSD is a drug....
...and Andy Warhol was no stranger to it ;)
He used LSD? Well, that makes sense.
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Here's another crater heightfield and photoshop file ready to be made a brush.
This time I modeled a crater in 3D and rendered a heightfield.
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They might be... try to find out :)
The models in Celestia, for example, are not protected as far as I know.
Only for fun:
(http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6227/universesandbox20100608.gif)
.
(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6227/universesandbox20100608.gif)
Source of the model: http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/show_creator_details.php?creator_id=84
.
And thanks by the craters brushes !!
.
[ ]´s
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You're welcome :)
Fun is always, well... fun :)
It's a hell of a ship.
So say we all! :P
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Well, this got impossible in US2.
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i finally made my 3d asteroid
i now know how to do it
so first you use blender
i dont know if you can import. 3ds into it but anyhow either you build your 3d model or you import it. in both cases at the end if you see your 3d model
1. save it
2 export it as a direct x file. save it into the media folder
3 put it in the appearnce xml
4 make a new system in xml
5 make it like you would normally.
6 change the name from :planet to the new model entry from the appearence xml:
7 open us2
8 keep in mind you have to save you system as xml and not ubox
open it in us2 and there
your misshapen asteroid will replace a sphere that you previously had.
ill post pictures of my asteroid once im done.
hope it helps! ;D
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i finally made my 3d asteroid
i now know how to do it
so first you use blender
i dont know if you can import. 3ds into it but anyhow either you build your 3d model or you import it. in both cases at the end if you see your 3d model
1. save it
2 export it as a direct x file. save it into the media folder
3 put it in the appearnce xml
4 make a new system in xml
5 make it like you would normally.
6 change the name from :planet to the new model entry from the appearence xml:
7 open us2
8 keep in mind you have to save you system as xml and not ubox
open it in us2 and there
your misshapen asteroid will replace a sphere that you previously had.
ill post pictures of my asteroid once im done.
hope it helps! ;D
and, the texture?
EDIT: so i added a rocket, but it was pointing at the wrong diraction and it had no texture and couldn't rotate!
Dan, can you help?
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well for textures i am not sure because they are models and the angles and the faces and everything else.
but either way you can add .dds files for the models apperarence. it doesnt really matter.
or you could make the texture outside of the .dds and us2 files and have a transparent and flat texture.
(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab152/luciencd/UniverseSandbox-20101217-160949-13266.png?t=1292620271)
btw here is the asteroid.
i shall work on making models of major asteroids from the asteroid belt