@ Jeff

on the topic of animated boat parts, I am planning to make the davit pulley to swing. I only hope that the obj_pendulum controller will work with it as well as it does with bananas in the control room lol :D

Okay, let me dig in my HD for them. By the way, it would be okay if I sent you the gr2 file where they were inported (coarse import) rather than the origina obj files?

But then we would need to create a vectorial animation, and I have no idea how to do it...

IF you used a loose import? The files are corrupt as I see it.
TDW's loose import really screws the pooch!
Totally wrong way to do it and I did warn him about that YEARS ago!
I prefer untouched obj files as you created them.
That way there are no surprises.

Animations?
Well I did tell you how to export them and gave links to the programs to do so.
Nice thing is once exported? One can gain information to edit or create new animations.
:03:

Never tried attaching a dat animation to a GR2 unit myself.
And I was looking and still have that dc-Man stuff. I'll check those again.

I think I see the problem. Will adjust and see what happens.

It looks great! In fact, you can forget about creating damage model, no one will dare to destroy such a cute ship.

One thing to remember if you want it multi-skinned: unless someone finds a way around this, LOD models still don't support multiple textures (unless you plan on doing them separate clone units).

Do edits on the AO only and it's multi-skinned.
Don't think the LOD problem is a Game breaker.

How do you do that? So far anything I tried to have multi-skinned units, AO or Diffuse, does not work with LOD models (and I would so gladly make a bunch of colourful skins for my coasters).

Yes, I did, but I managed finding at least one multi-UV-mapped model in Wings format that I just exported as two obj files ready for import. You will find them in your e.amail's inbox :up:

Okay, I will look into that when I finish with the rest of the work on the boat :up:

The sail will be an optional equipment. I plan to add it to the main model as any other equipment. In this case, dat or gr2, equipment's format doesn't matter: stock flags are .dat objects and other that the known dat-format limitations, they are rendered just fine.

The other method I see for linking a dat object to a GR2 unit is by merge controller. See how animated torpedo doors are linked to Type VII's hull. In that case the torpedo doors are gr2 objects, but I don't see that wouldn't work with dat parts too.


I wish all our fellow U-boat commanders were as sweethearted as you, bbut many of them tend to be more aggressive lol :haha:

That's exactly my plan: one generic version of the boat, plus half a dozen proxy copies, each featuring the funnel colors and the house flag of one real ship owner (Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Co, Richard Irvin & Sons, J. Hay & Sons, McNeill, New Medway Steam Packet Co, Purdy Coal Co.). The copies will be set up for not showing up in the recognition manual - I hope that setting works - so not to spam it with so many copies of the same boat.

Customizing funnel colors will imply each copy having its own version of the AO map, so being at it, why not shuffling the colors of other boat parts as well?

Very nice ! :Kaleun_Applaud:

It's no more noticeable on the cabin indeed (mainly because the cabin is not white). But it's still very ugly on the small boat (the below part is full dark grey). It will look odd during sunrise time, when the sun light is nearly horizontal. It's also useless, because when the sun is high in the sky, only ambiant light will apply on the below part (not the sun light), and there is also dynamic shadow which will give full shadow to this part...

Thank you mate :salute:

You will tell me when the boat is ready and you will see her in game. Besides SHIII, do you also play SH5?

Well That comes damn close to what I envisaged! Well done Sir!:Kaleun_Salute::arrgh!:

As a professional Jibman in my own right, 'animation of the jib' (luffing) is generally frowned upon:O:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pic...pictureid=9484:arrgh!:

Any other color suggestions, for more variety?

In your typical style you are making an excellent point: a correctly trimmed sail does not flap, so there is little space for its animation :up:

If you want an animation for the puffer may i suggest raising the Mainsail?


or have some crew moving about?



Les

Crew moving about: planned
Anchor davit's pulley swinging with waves: planned
Steam whistle whistling and puffing: planned
Raising the mainsail: that would be cool but it is more complicated. I can't promise about it, but thank you anyway for the suggestion :salute: