54 replies to this topic

[Shoopity]

Hey Loaded, your inbox is full.  Clear something out so I can start a discussion with you.

Dark, that is exactly why I didn't want to tap you as a resource yet.  You have done SO much for so many people, I didn't want to burden you even further.  I know you started this for practice/experience for yourself, and you and Zany sort of became the go-to people for modeling even though you maybe didn't want that role.

Edited by Shoopity, 12 September 2014 - 08:17 PM.

[ClarkKent]

So far so good... 

https://www.dropbox....yfield.psd?dl=0

[LoadedWeapon]

wow sorry did not know i had that many messages lol.. ok shoot

[ClarkKent]

You can use the first final version of the scanned and put together playfield! Use the link above!

I'll correct all problems on the playfield over the next one or two weeks (at least I hope I'll ve able to find enough time to do that in this timeframe)...

[Shoopity]

OK, here's a screenie of what I've got so far:

 Clipboard01.png   820.32KB   20 downloads

 

Lots of stuff still to be done:

• Plastics obviously
• Ramp "skirts" (whatever those metal things are that transition onto a ramp)
• Bart
• Mug texture
• Plunger
• Apron
• Implement CK's Playfield
• Better spinner for the saloon
• All the nuts and bolts
• Rubbers and posts
• visible train tracks
• Update texture on Right Ramp so the rails are properly textured
• I don't want to list any more because making this list is depressing me

I spent the majority of my time just figuring out how I wanted to do the ramps.  I ended up creating them in Sketchup (love the Follow Me tool), exported as OBJ (why it can't import is beyond me), imported in Blender so I could bake a texture with specular lighting (I know especially on the left ramp I need to redo it now that I've got the process down a bit better), export the UV mapped OBJ, export the baked texture, export the UV Map, open the texture and UV Map in Gimp if any ramps have decals, import it all into VP.  Now that I've got the process down, it's relatively easy (extreme emphasis on relative).  And the decals on the ramp could be better; if anyone has any hi-res pics of the decals, I'd love 'em.  Right now I'm using pics from Macrospecialties.com and ministryofpinball.com (am I breaking any rules by doing that?)

 

Remember, the table is fully playable, it's just ugly, but playable (although I'm horrible at physics, so I'm just using the built-in physics, but that'll make it easy to convert to a physmod, right?).  I'll share the table as I have it very soon.

Edited by Shoopity, 19 September 2014 - 07:26 PM.

[unclewilly]

That's looking really good shoop.
My only suggestion might be to make the ramps slightly less transparent.
Maybe it's the ss, but aside from the highlights, they are very hard to see

[dark]

Hey Loaded, your inbox is full.  Clear something out so I can start a discussion with you.

Dark, that is exactly why I didn't want to tap you as a resource yet.  You have done SO much for so many people, I didn't want to burden you even further.  I know you started this for practice/experience for yourself, and you and Zany sort of became the go-to people for modeling even though you maybe didn't want that role.

 

I have a lot of fun doing this stuff and people are generally quite grateful for my help and do their best to accommodate me so really I get a fair bit of satisfaction out of knowing I'm helping talented enthusiasts recreations shine that much brighter.  Ironic thing is when I first started doing this I was kind of desperate for requests and resources and it started really slowly.  I think now though people are really starting to see the value in 3D in VP because the requests are more than ample these days hehe.  

[Shoopity]

That's looking really good shoop.
My only suggestion might be to make the ramps slightly less transparent.
Maybe it's the ss, but aside from the highlights, they are very hard to see

No, they're definitely hard to see (like I mentioned, especially the left ramp).  Since the ramps are fairly basic (othe rthan around corners, there are no curve to them so, for example, going from the wall to the floor of the ramp is, like, a 100 degree angle), it's harder to get a good reflection effect that highlights the edges.  But there's also dialing in the material specifications (hardness, diffuse amount, specular amount, etc.) as well as the placements of lights that I can play with.

[Shoopity]

OK, here's a link to the most recent table.  I'm really losing steam with this (as I'm sure many authors experience); I've just played with it so much and I'm at the point now where I'm at the tedious stage of adding all the posts, bolts, screws, rubbers, etc.

 

https://drive.google...dit?usp=sharing

 

And the most recent picture:

 Clipboard01.jpg   616.42KB   21 downloads

[Shadowsclassic]

It's coming along nicely Shoopity. 

Don't burn yourself out on it. Take a break or start another project. That's a really big project to tackle, I couldn't even get through a very simple mid 70's SS table before I was overwhelmed.

[unclewilly]

Yeah shoop. You picked quite a table to start with. I get to this point on every build I do, even if it is a simple ss drop target game.
This is more along the lines of a monster bash
I always take a break from it when I hit that wall. Maybe start another table build, or help someone with a mod or animation.
Or install more tables on my cab.

Usually after a few days or a week I'm eager to get back to it and finish it up.
Looks great, btw

[Shoopity]

I could use some feedback.  I know there's plenty of obvious stuff, but I've also done things differently than what is "common practice".  Like, what you do all think of the animated bumpers (rotating a a few meshes instead of making multiple meshes in/visible)?  What about using Flashers for the GI (and so far just the Mine Flasher) illuminating the PF?  As you can see, I've adjust the lighting on the ramps; just a step in the right direction, or do you all feel that's pretty close to what it should be?  If it's the former, what more to change; even more opaque, less shadows, more lighting in the creases?  LW has done some work for me regarding flashers, but I haven't really looked at it yet, so it's possible the work for GI Flashers (that's what I call the bright flashers that illuminate everything) is done.

 

Some things like the physics I don't want to mess with too much because I want to convert to physmod/VP10 as easy as possible.  I reduced the flippers' strength because their default values played waaaay too fast, but it was too much so I increased them slightly.  Without doing some major physics stuff in code, what other kind of suggestions do you have (suggestions from people who are very familiar with the table is most wanted)?

Edited by Shoopity, 25 September 2014 - 03:36 AM.

[Shoopity]

OK, another update.  Check the first post for a download link.  I've added some flashers and I re-worked the plastics.  I actually ended up using Blender to get the lighting for that too (I used Cycles, I think it looks pretty good personally) since GIMP was oddly losing resolution any time I tried adding a Light Effect.

 

Still gotta do rubbers and screws and what-not.

[zany]

Do you have a screen shot....i'm at work, so i can't dl it!

[Shoopity]

I don't think a SS would show much from a previous one, since the main difference is the flashers and only a slight difference in the plastic lighting, but here ya go:

 Clipboard01.jpg   311.33KB   16 downloads   Clipboard02.jpg   320.01KB   16 downloads

 

*Note*: SS quality is crappy, not the graphics on the table.

Edited by Shoopity, 02 October 2014 - 11:26 PM.

[zany]

Lokks really nice though....can't wait to try your version!
 

[ReDEy3]

I loaded it up and it plays great!  I am a FS/cab guy myself, will you offer a FS version after the DT release?  Either way this table is coming together very nicely Shoopity!!!  Great work indeed.

[Shoopity]

Well, since the table is angle independent, you should just be able to plug in the backdrop settings you like. At some point I'll put those options in the script or something, but I've never been much of a tweaker of those kinds of things;I just don't have the eye for it.

[sliderpoint]

The animation of the objects is very smooth.  However the bumpers animation is way to slow. The ball is long gone before the ring has barely started to move down.  It looks like you spent a lot of time on the general lighting on the playfield.  Looks pretty nice.

 

-Mike

[Shoopity]

Just to be clear, by bumpers, do you mean the green pop bumpers up top, or the slingshots down by the flippers (I ask because some people call the slingshots, bumpers so I'm just making sure)?  I could definitely speed them up, but they're currently only moving about 10 positions both down and up.  If I go much faster, you might not even see them.  There is another possibly though; I had to squish them down a bit in size from the regular mesh and I may not have moved the rings down far enough to compensate.  The ring may just be higher than they're supposed to be?

 

Actually, the majority of time spent lighting things was just learning how to light it.  I don't have the artistic talent to apply the proper effects in the right places to make an existing image look properly lit.  I do, however, have enough gumption to learn stuff in a program (e.g. Sketchup, Gimp, or Blender), and I have enough just ideas to use that knowledge in appropriate ways.

 

For example, I had the idea to let Blender light up the plastics from underneath, but I had no idea how to do it.  I spent about 6 hours just learning enough about Cycles in Blender (and even then, I couldn't find any tutorials on how to light images from the back), then maybe another hour or so setting up and playing with stuff.  Now that I've got that down, all I need is an image with the plastics in the correct positions (like any normal table), another image so I can put the lights in the right places, and then however long it'll take to render out the lit image.  Same thing for the GI lighting; just one image to let me know where the lights and posts are, then bake the texture.  I may not have things dialed in perfectly yet, but if someone with a discerning/artistic eye could tell me what needs to be done, I know I could do it.

 

One of the things I live about digital art (CGI, computer assisted animation tweening, etc.) is that it allows people to express themselves, and share with the world something they wouldn't have been able to otherwise, just because they lack the talent or ability to get that idea out of their head.  The downside, however, is that it allows people to create works that probably shouldn't have been shared to begin with, and takes away attention from the true artists.  I saw someone who made some hand-drawn/traditional style pictures of scenes for Frozen and I personally think it would've been a much more impactful movie if it had not been CGI.