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For your ship, I think you need to get into texturing and especially bump mapping a bit more.
As a piece of field work, you might enjoy going to see Final Fantasy (the movie, not the game) which is pretty much the first major movie to be done entirely in photorealistic 3d (as opposed to the deliberately 'modelled' look of Antz, Toy Story etc, and the more Manga look of Titan AE).
You'll notice the attention to detail they put in not just on the characters but also on all the bits of equipment.
As far as your TC is concerned, it's probably worth reading the FAQs on TCs.
I would personally suggest waiting until Nova has come out and you've been able to play yourself into it for a couple of months. If you want to do a TC then I'm guessing you are aiming at something which is as good as or better than Nova, but entirely different. To achieve that you'll need to really understand it both technically and also in terms of the game play.
Good luck, anyway.
Martin
------------------ M A R T I N T U R N E R
I just started Amapi 3D, it's the best one I've gotten yet, I would get Strata, but my cpu isn't good enough.
But anyway, for those of you who have use both Strata and Amapi, could you tell me whats better and easier to use? I just want to know what I am missing out on.
About Strata 3D: How big is it?
------------------ Long live the Alien Emperor,may he rule for a million years! -Third Star Fleet Commander Shade,following the Battle of NGC-0538
Quote
Originally posted by Martin Turner: **For your ship, I think you need to get into texturing and especially bump mapping a bit more. **
Agreed. It was made on days 5 and 6 that I had the program. It's also shown about 13 times larger than it will be in the game.
Originally posted by Martin Turner: **As far as your TC is concerned, it's probably worth reading the FAQs on TCs.
I would personally suggest waiting until Nova has come out and you've been able to play yourself into it for a couple of months. If you want to do a TC then I'm guessing you are aiming at something which is as good as or better than Nova, but entirely different. To achieve that you'll need to really understand it both technically and also in terms of the game play. **
First off, I suppose the term "alternate scenario" would be more accurate for what I'm creating. I fully expect to recycle some landing picts and planet animations. If the Nova crew created something that doesn't need to be changed, I won't change it.
Second, it's a little late to wait for much of anything since it has been in development (on and off, due to university studies) since May or June of 2000. Needless to say, I have a good understanding of the EV:O, and the two games are (obviously) going to be more alike than different.
Third, if the the standard for TC's become "as good or better than Nova" (objectively), I don't think we'll ever see any created for this engine. Let's be realistic: Nova is being created by about half a dozen professionals. Any plug-in will be created by amateurs, very often only one person with a lot of time on their hands.
On an objective basis, Nova will probably always be superior to any total conversions. Each TC will have a certain "niche" audience, likely a group of people who play the games for the same reason that the author does. In the case of my TC, much like the original Star Trek series, much of what goes on in the game will have intentional parallels to human history or current events. I doubt Nova does this to the same degree, and if it does, it likely has parallels to different current events (unless it alludes to anti-Japanese sentiment in WW2, the alliance system preceeding WW1, the war in Korea, Bernie Sanders from Vermont, the European Union, expansionism, etc.)
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About Strata 3D: How big is it? ------------------
Strata 3D for download is a tad over 20 megs. When uninstalled, i dont know. Amapi was 16 megs download and to install the application, toutorials, and textures it was more than 70 megs.
Originally posted by MethaneFreak: About Strata 3D: How big is it?
About 22Mb i think. I cant really remember cos i got it off a dvd from mac format
ewan
------------------ "It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a packet of cigarettes, its dark and were wearing sunglasses. Hit it" - The Blues Brothers
Originally posted by Una: **First off, I suppose the term "alternate scenario" would be more accurate for what I'm creating. I fully expect to recycle some landing picts and planet animations. If the Nova crew created something that doesn't need to be changed, I won't change it.
**
I'm sorry if you feel I've stepped on your toes. Your post gave me the impression that you were looking for advice on the ship, and on TCs in general.
On another note, I am personally confident that there will be several plugins which will be objectively as good as or better than Nova - Nova will set the standard, which is actually a very hard thing to do. Remember that the Nova people have been working up from EVO to a new standard - a huge leap judging by everything we've seen and heard so far. They've probably had to remake and redesign everything dozens of times. Anybody improving on it will be standing on the shoulders of giants.
Think about the way EV broke the mold for space-adventure-strategy games. It was a colossal achievement. The plug in developers who came up with, for example, Eye of Orion and Angels of Vengeance probably could not have achieved what Matt Burch achieved. But, building on what he had done, they were able to improve it and take it to the next stage.
This is what I look forward to a year from now when (hopefully) Nova's been out long enough for us to be looking for new challenges.
Originally posted by Martin Turner: **I'm sorry if you feel I've stepped on your toes. Your post gave me the impression that you were looking for advice on the ship, and on TCs in general. **
I meant graphics in general, but it's an obvious misunderstanding to have. I took no offense to your post, and I would hope that you took no offense to mine.
Originally posted by Martin Turner: ** On another note, I am personally confident that there will be several plugins which will be objectively as good as or better than Nova....
Think about the way EV broke the mold for space-adventure-strategy games. It was a colossal achievement. The plug in developers who came up with, for example, Eye of Orion and Angels of Vengeance probably could not have achieved what Matt Burch achieved. But, building on what he had done, they were able to improve it and take it to the next stage. **
I would think of it this way: plug-in makers beat the original EV scenario, made by a single programmer whose focus (I would assume) was the engine. You and maybe a couple others tied the EV:O scenario, though some would argue that you beat it, others that you didn't quite reach that level. The consensus I've found by lurking on these boards is that FH/FF were comparable to the original scenario. It's gone from one person not focusing, to one person focusing, to several people focusing (the ATMOS crew) as the standard. Even the best plug-in teams may only be able to tie that.
But, since only time can tell if the ATMOS team is beaten, these will be my last comments on the subject. I appreciate your wishes for my luck, and I wish you the same on any plug-in projects you may be considering.
This message is for everyone out there that has Amapi 3D
I am new at it, the tourotial doesn't describe some the the way I need. I am starting to get use to it, though. But anyway, could someone give me a short and easy project. Such as a simple ship or weapon. That would really help me.
I use StrataVision 3D 4.0. It's hella old (they used it to make MYST), but it gets the job done.
------------------ Time is the best teacher, yet it kills all of it's students.
VIDI is an excellent program that is free (for the le). There is a minimum of $50 for the full version, but I've never seen a need for it since it offers features that won't do much for EV anyway. I understand that it has considerable documentation, but I haven't ever found it necessary. The graphics produced are great. You can do anything from traditional EV ships to those or a less rigid look like the Earth: Final Conflict Taelon Mothership.
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Originally posted by Una: ** Here's what I want out of it (prioritized):
Strata 3D (NOT Strata 3D Base, theyre different progs, and Strata 3D is better but harder to find) 1. free 2. easy to learn 3. Sorry, not very good, but you can download (free) or order (pay) a manual. 4. Rather effecient,the whole 3D.com panel is annoying though. But it helps sometimes. 5. Very good quality, and faster than most expensive progs (many times faster than bryce, for example).
------------------ =Spread the Chaos=