86 replies to this topic

[RetroGameSpacko]

looks awesome.

[TerryRed]

I've been busy.

I've added more models and toys to MOTU CE, and have completely updated most visuals and the textures to use pre-baked lighting and shadows (for the main lighting, G.I. and spotlights).

 

Snake Mountain Snake

I added a new Snake Mountain snake model. This was from the Snake Mountain 3d scanned model, so I had to convert this down to more optimized numbers of polygons. I also had to manually paint the snake like I did for Snake Mountain, since it didn't have any textures created for it. I tried to make it look similar to the classic 80's toy I grew up with. Turned out great.
 

 

 

 

The snake is positioned on the top left ramp. When a ball rolls through the entire ramp, the snake will rotate to follow the ball as it passes by, then returns to its default position when the ball exits the ramp.
 

 

 

 

Snake Mountain doorway and door

I really wanted to add more to the table for Snake Mountain visuals. The left side of the table is geared towards Snake Mountain, while the right side is geared towards Castle Grayskull.

So I purchased a 3d model of the classic Snake Mountain toy's doorway and its wolf head door. This was a tricky one to convert and remodel. I also prebaked new textures for both the doorway and the door to make it look so much nicer with shadows.

The doorway is placed at the halfway point of the ripper ramp, which now converts to a different type of ramp at the doorway.
 

 

 

 

Snake Mountain bridge

I really wanted to add the bridge from the Snake Mountain toy to the table.

I wasn't sure where I could use it. Then it clicked. Why not convert the ripper ramp's second half to the bridge and combine that with the snake, and doorway to act as a complete "escape from Snake Mountain" type of ramp.

So I purchased a detailed model of the classic 80's toy bridge. I had to remodel this in a way so it would follow the shape of the invisible wireramp while reducing the polygons. I also prebaked new textures to add shadows that really add a nicer depth to the look of the model on the table.
 

 

 

How it works.

When the ball goes through the ripper ramp, it will roll towards the snake which will rotate to look at the ball. When the ball passes the snake, it rotates to follow the ball rolling down the ramp towards the door. When the ball hits the door it smashes it open. The door uses BAM's miniplayfield easing feature (set to bounce) to easily animate the door to have a cool bounce effect when it opens and hits its max rotation.

Then the ball passes through the doorway and transfers to a short wireramp which then becomes the bridge. The bridge will "glow" to the same colour as what the neon light on the ramp is showing. This cool effect uses BAM's custom model RIM feature.

When the ball rolls off the bridge to the left inner lane, the bridge glow turns off, the door will close (with a bounce effect), and the snake returns to default position.
 

 

 

 

Blender and prebaking textures for lighting and shadows.

I've spent a lot of time with Blender to learn how to do some prebaking of some lighting and shadows of the table and most items. This completely elevates the visuals of the table. The results... especially during gameplay and in VR, looks awesome.

This requires the table to be completely imported into Blender, rebuilt, and have all default textures applied. I had to recreate all the table's G.I. and spotlights.

Future Pinball has realtime dynamic lighting that looks amazing, but those lights can't recreate shadows for all the items on the tables. We can use BAM shadowmaps for every light, but that only applies to the playfield surface.

By prebaking textures for many table items in Blender with G.I. on and G.I. off conditions, you can create a much more realistic look to the table. The lighting and shadows applied across all items can really make a big difference in how the table looks and the depth effect it gives.

I have to click on each table item in Blender, then have Blender "bake" the item with the lighting conditions I have set. Then I save those rendered images and import them into FP. I have to do this process for each item one at a time. In most cases I do this with G.I. lights off (just the main / sun light is used)... and also do this with the G.I lights on.

Blender does this using ray tracing, so you can have all aspects of lighting, reflection, emission from all items on the table have an effect of the rendered texture. I find that I don't like to use a "full reflection" rendered look, as that only looks good from one camera view. (the ray traced reflected illusion loses it's effect once your camera view changes or if you play in VR).

Then I change the table's code to change all textures on the table for G.I. on and G.I. off and other lighting conditions such as spotlights being turned on / off. I didn't go crazy to do this for "everything", as FP's dynamic lighting combined with the prebaked textures I do use, makes for a fantastic combination when used correctly together. this work really well with FP's moving camera views, and looks stunning in VR!
 

 

 

The Combined Result!

Here is how the table looks with the prebaked textures in-game! I LOVE how this turned out. When you compare it to the table with the original textures, it really stands out. The direct and indirect ray traced lighting / shadows on the playfield, backwalls, sidewalls, ramps, plastics, metal guides, etc really works nicely in all views.

When I play this in VR, it looks like a real table is in front of me, and the toys look like the real toys from my childhood. Now I'm going to want to do this for other tables now! (this was always the plan for Silent Hill).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I'm at this point, I need to focus on getting some of the Man-E Modes done.

Edited by TerryRed, 11 January 2024 - 04:01 AM.

[tbone72237223]

 wow, just awesome. i want to get this...when do you think it will be done?

[xenonph]

 wow, just awesome. i want to get this..

You and everybody else who has seen his WIP posts.

Good things come to those who wait, and this is definately worth the wait!

 

 

when do you think it will be done?

 

 

When 3 suns are seen in the skies of Eternia, the time will be nigh.

[TerryRed]

New mode: Orko's Outta Here!

 

So far, the current main modes I have for MOTU CE are:

​

4 multiball modes (He-Man, Ripper, Castle, Skeletor), She-Ra Sling Shots, Sorceress Struggles, Hordak is Horrible, collecting all the action figures / vehicles / playsets.... and you can also use "Orko Shots" to have Orko use his magic to make a shot for you.

 

MAN-E Modes

 

Man-E Modes are multiple additional modes you can play when you enter the He-Man kicker (and Man-E Modes is enabled). The first of those modes is:

 

Orko is Outta Here!

 

In this mode, Orko is up to his bad magic tricks, and pisses off Man at Arms. Orko is scared of his fury, so he tries to fly away to hide. Your job is to find him, by hitting whichever shot makes its way to where Orko has flown to (no blinky lights to help you). You only have 60 secs to complete all the shots to catch Orko. If you catch him, you complete the mode and collect the Orko action figure.

 

When the mode ends, Orko magically transports back to his normal spot by the plunger.

 

More Man-E Modes are coming!

 

 

(images were taken from a video, so they are not the best looking)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by TerryRed, 15 January 2024 - 06:58 AM.

[TerryRed]

A peek at what I'll be using on another Man-E Mode.

 

[TerryRed]

ROBOT ROUNDUP (New Man-E Mode)

 

Now that I'm back to work on MOTU CE, I've been able to finish creating another Man-E Mode. This one is called Robot Roundup.

 

The objective is to destroy Skeletor's Hover Robots that have taken over the Palace. If you hit the robots they repel your attack. Distract them with a shot to one of the ramps. Then the robot will "detect an intruder", turn their back to you, and glow red. They won't be distracted for long. Now when you hit the robot it will be destroyed. Destroy 4 robots to clear the mode.

 

More Man-E Modes are coming!

[TerryRed]

 

New TOY - Bumperhead!

 

=================================

 

I've been trying to figure out a way to add some new modes and a toy to MOTU CE. After hearing AstroNasty pester me enough times to remove the 3rd bumper (he was right, as it blocked the left orbit shot)... I thought... why not combine both. The result... a new combo multipurpose toy called... Bumperhead!

 

BUMPER

 

Now by default for the main mode, the 3rd bumper will hide inside the cabinet, with a trap door in its place. This opens the table up and allows for much better flow and new shots for the left orbit. When a mode needs to use the 3rd bumper, the trap door moves out of the way and the bumper rises up. When the shots / jackpots for the bumper are completed (or the mode ends) then the bumper hides away again.

 

 

 

 

BUMPERHEAD - New Toy!

 

I also wanted to have a new toy that would rise out of the playfield, but this would have restricted its size if it matched the bumper radius. So I figured, why not create a cool new portal effect that would transport any toy I wanted there! It looks real neat as it rises and lowers to reveal the new toy, while using dynamic lighting and animation that moves with the effect.

 

The Bumperhead toy will feature different enemy "heads" that change up based on the mode. It has two standup targets that, if hit, will cause the entire toy to rotate in either direction based on which target is hit. It also has a center drop target that can block the ball and trap the ball (when the ball enters the toy). This can allow the enemy to capture the ball, rotate in any direction, and fire the ball wherever I want!

 

This entire combination makes for a toy that can be used in many creative ways!

 

This is an example of something that is not easy to make work normally, but with FP-BAM's mini playfield tool and dynamic physics... its actually very easy to do. No wizardry and tricks needed. It just works as you would expect it to.

 

Each head (except for Kobra Khan) was a 3d scan with no textures, that required a lot of conversion, and I also had to paint new textures. I had to make a new Tri-Clops visor model and create new "eyes" for him as none of the examples I could find looked good.

 

 

 

 

 

[TerryRed]

 

 

Glowing Getaway (SCARE GLOW)

 

Here is a my newly completed Man-E Mode. "Glowing Getaway", featuring Scare Glow.

 

 

You are trapped in Subternia, which is ruled by Scare Glow (voiced by Candyman himself, Tony Todd). You need to escape!

 

This mode uses my new Bumperhead toy, which teleports into the playfield when the mode starts. It has Scare Glow's head on top, with two targets, a drop target, and a capture area inside.

 

If you hit the side targets, it makes the toy rotate, which dynamically changes the shot. If you hit the drop target it opens up the capture area inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAPTURE AND ATTACK

 

During the first phase of the mode, you need to hit the ramp shots, and eventually He-Man to progress. However, if you hit the capture area inside the Bumperhead, then Scare Glow will capture your ball, he'll glow green, taunt you, then he'll rotate and shoot your ball into a random location that is not a progression shot! He repels your ball with a cool animated green glowing blast effect with skulls!

 

If you hit the upper left loop shot, then when the ball rolls down toward Scare Glow, he will sense you, turn around quickly to capture the ball, and taunt you again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBTERNIA - GLOW

 

When you progress far enough, Scare Glow will get angry, transform and threaten to make you part of his Collection!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The game will change to a glow in the dark look, and the music ramps up! This is phase 2 of the mode.

 

Now you must hit Scare Glow himself! (in the capture area of the Bumperhead) It can be tricky to hit the shot due the how the Bumperhead can rotate with each hit to the targets. Scare Glow will capture your ball and fire it away (while making threats about what he will do to you). Each time you do this now however, you progress more.

 

Eventually the last shot will be at He-Man. When you hit it, you'll escape! Then you'll see the Bumperhead metal cover (that contains items within the playfield) fall from the sky and smash down on Scare Glow, trapping him in Subternia!

 

If you do this, you have completed the mode, and are awarded the Scare Glow action figure!

 

I love how this turned out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Man-E modes are coming!

Edited by TerryRed, 18 March 2024 - 11:32 PM.

[shannon1]

Looks amazing!

[TerryRed]

New mode

TEELA'S TRAINING

 

Just a quick peek at some pics of my new completed mode.

 

I've added a new left orbit shot and inserts for Teela's mode. You must hit the left orbit once to make the mode "ready", then 3 shots to the left orbit to start the mode.

 

 

 

 

Teela is always "training" Adam for better swordsmanship. In this mode you must train with Teela to get better and better. Her hologram appears, and you must make the lit shot to try to dodge her.

 

 

 

 

With her turned around facing away from you, you must try to sneak up behind and "attack" her for the next shot.

 

 

 

 

When you do this, Teela will voice how she feels about you trying to sneak a shot up from behind! Oh my!

 

Then she'll ready herself for another shot. Repeat this process until the Skeletor target bank lowers.

 

Then you can make the last shot to complete the mode, and finish your "training"...

Edited by TerryRed, 30 March 2024 - 05:27 PM.

[TerryRed]

Rom did a great job at making models for the original table many years ago, given what limited resources he had back then.

Today, you can find 3d scans of the original 80's toys, or many detailed models built from scratch with modern 3D modeling apps. 3d printers and scanners have really opened up many great resources, or possibilties to learn how to make new models.

Well... I finally decided to make new models for the Road Ripper and Man at Arms.

 

Out with the old...
 

Create the new models...

Lots of new modeling, converting, remeshing, uvwrapping, painting, and fixing scanned models...
 

Then some baking for realistic looking shadows...
 

...and FINALLY... in with the new in the actual game!

Turned out GREAT! The detailed models with baked shadows combined with FP's realtime dynamic lighting looks so good!

 

 

[TerryRed]

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

He-Man Multiball - "I... have... the PO-WEEEEEEEEER!!!!!"

 

=================================

 

This is how you make the most powerful pinball game in the universe! I LOVE how this turned out!

 

Once the He-Man kicker is unlocked and He-Man is selected, then hit the kicker to lock a ball. Do this three times to start He-Man multiball. He-Man raises his sword and shouts those words that brought so much joy to young 80's kids. "By the Power of Grayksull!"

 

You'll see the power of Grayskull fire down from the skies into the sword of power. This makes all the lights on the table flicker and surge with power! Then He-Man yells those words... the words we all love to hear....

 

"I... have... the PO-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

 

Now you'll see He-Man radiate with the power of Grayskull animating from within, shown with powerful arcs of energy and lights flashing throughout the table! He-Man multiball beings with 4 balls being shot onto the playfield.

 

All multiball modes require you to hit all the jackpot shots first to make Super Jackpot Ready. Then from that point on the mode won't stop even if you drain to one ball. Skeletor's target bank lowers. Now you need to get as many remaining balls in there as you can for big points. You need to get the last ball in there to complete the mode and be rewarded with the Battle Armor He-Man toy!

 

If you are lucky enough to be able to play this in VR (when it's done)... you will be blown away. It looks amazing!

 

Yah... I have the power!

 

 

 

 

[TerryRed]

New Roton and Skeletor models

 

=================================

 

Rom did a great job at making models for the original FP table many years ago, given what limited resources he had back then.

 

 

 

Today, you can find 3d scans of the original 80's toys, or many detailed models built from scratch with modern 3D modeling apps. 3d printers and scanners have really opened up many great resources, or possibilities to learn how to make new models.

 

Well... I finally decided to make new models for the Roton and to finish Skeletor's new model.

 

Lots of new modeling, converting, remeshing, uvwrapping, painting, and fixing scanned models. The original 80's toy was scanned into a 3d model, but that was way too detailed, so it needed to be converted down to a lower polygon model to be more practical for use in a game.

 

I was able to source some clean new redrawn stickers from the 80's Roton toy. So I needed to create new uvwraps for all of them... but boy did it make a huge difference.

 

 

 

 

 

I also decided to make an all-new rotating blade model, which really look nice with greater detail.

 

 

 

Skeletor's lower half was finally finished to match and fit with the new Roton model.

 

Turned out GREAT!

 

 

 

 

Edited by TerryRed, 19 April 2024 - 03:55 PM.

[remdwaas1986]

Wow terry stunning as always! What a good job!

[TerryRed]

 

New Pre-Rendered Baked Lighting for Inserts

 

I finally decided to give this a try.

 

With VPX, it has no realtime dynamic lighting that renders in 3D space like most other videos games do. So to get around this limitation some newer VPX tables use the VP Blender Toolkit. It will import a VPX table into Blender, pre-render all lights on the table and bake them into textures, then cut every model that those lights touch into many 100's of smaller models (for each light combination). Then all the models and textures are added back into the VP table, and the rest of that process carries on from there.

 

On FP things are different. FP does have realtime dynamic 3D lighting that looks fantastic in all modes. You can make G.I., bulbs, flashers, spotlights, beacons all work with FP's dynamic lighting. It's easy to make tables look amazing, combined with shadowmaps, lightmaps and ray cast shadows... all created directly in FP itself without needing any other app. However, you can only have a limited number of these dynamic lights rendered at one time. So lights such as inserts can't use this lighting.

 

With MOTU CE, I already did some ray traced Blender pre-baking for G.I Lighting on the sidewalls and back wall, shadows on numerous models, and the VR Room. However, I finally decided to try to fill in the gap that always bothered me... the lack of inserts having more realistic looking lighting.

 

So I decided to take a similar, but different approach as VP Blender Toolkit tables. I looked at the inserts that were near any targets, metal walls, flipper, posts, the castle toy, etc and attempt to pre-render and bake lighting from those inserts into the textures for the nearby items. I did this in Blender manually for each item nearby an insert light and for each light's colour combination that was used.

 

I could have done the same as what you see on some VP BTK tables, and have the metals, clear plastics and reflective surfaces show the full reflection of the inserts and surrounding table items. I tested this and it worked fine. However there is a real problem with doing this... as those kind of prebaked textures only look "correct" from the one camera point of view (pov) that was used when they were baked in Blender. VP doesn't have dynamic camera views, so this is normally fine if you are using a static camera view (like in a cabinet) that never changes. Once you move the camera in-game or change to a very different pov, or play in VR and move your head around, then those reflective textures no longer look correct (they can still look cool though).

 

With FP however, it does have dynamic and moving cameras, and I also love playing FP in VR. So I rendered all the textures with no super glossy / reflective surfaces, and so they will look correct from all camera views and especially in VR, which FP really excels at.

 

I then imported all textures into FP and created new code that would monitor those lights in realtime. It will swap the pre-baked textures / control their brightness based on conditions of the gameplay, G.I lighting, what mode was being played, what colour the insert was set to, etc.

 

It turned out great! It really adds to the lighting and look of the game and fills that missing bit of lighting that stood out to me. Is it as good as a BTK VP table that does this for ALL lights and models on the table? No... but combined with FP's dynamic lighting and shadows this works very well and rounds everything out nicely!

 

 

I can't really show this off well in still images, as you can't see the items on the table change with the inserts, but you can still see things like the walls and flipper, etc looking different with the lighting on them changed.

 

 

 

BEFORE

 

 

 

 

AFTER

 

[TerryRed]

New - Castle Grayskull Mirror display

=================================

The table's original display didn't really do much on the original table except show a few small videos. Then I decided to have it mirror everything the HUD was showing... but I wasn't really happy with that either.
 

So I decided to replace it with a new model of the Sorceress Mirror from Grayskull. It plays an animation similar to the background used in the intro for the 80's cartoon.

It will display images of different characters for various callouts or splash events. It will also show you what mode you are playing in. The holograms blend perfectly to give a similar look to the original in the show.

I think this works better to fit with the theme of the table.

 

[TerryRed]

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

 

Wouldn't it be cool to have ray traced Neon lighting?

 

 

=================================

 

 

While working in Blender on the MOTU CE table, I always loved turning on the neon lighting and making it "emissive" to see how cool it looked in Blender with ray traced lighting and shadows. I always wished I could make my tables look like that. Well...

 

Hold my Timmies...

 

 

First pic is the table in Blender with the neon lighting preview.

 

 

 

 

Second pic is a side by side comparison of the older lighting in-game on the left... and the new lighting in-game on the right.  As Blockbuster would say.... "WOW! What a difference!"

 

 

 

 

It's amazing what some pre-baked ray traced lighting, and a few smartly placed Future Pinball realtime dynamic lights will do. You need both to get this effect.

 

The prebaked lighting textures on the wall, ramps, etc makes it look more realistic. The FP realtime dynamic lights actually light up everything in 3D space around those areas.

 

I never thought all those months ago when I first tried Blender baking, I would actually have the table look very similar in FP, including the neon lighting!

 

 

 

So.... who's ready for some excessive neon lighting?

 

These pics show how the new neon ramp lights look when both ramps are on and the G.I. is off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pics show how the new neon ramp lights look during different modes and with different colour combos, etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This looks cool in pics. Look VERY cool in gameplay. Looks insane in VR.

[TerryRed]

This was posted from Joe Picasso (Joey B) in another vpin group, haha.

 

[TerryRed]

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

New Man-Mode : JAW BREAKERS (Trap Jaw)

 

=================================

 

I just completed creating an all new Man-E Mode bringing MOTU CE up to 12 modes now. This new mode is called JAW BREAKERS.

 

Trap Jaw is attacking the palace. Teela responds by flying into air on her Sky Sled and going after him. You'll see the actual toy models of Teela riding on a Sky Sled flying around the playfield, waiting for you to hit the right shots. After you do this then Trap Jaw gets shot down.

 

 

 

 

Now Trap Jaw will appear on the playfield as a new BumperHead toy. You need to pursue him! Avoid hitting him directly when his insert is red, or he'll eat your sword ("delicious!"), and he'll spit you out elsewhere!

 

If you make the right shot, then Trap Jaw will fire his Energy Bow at He-Man across the playfield with a cool light show. He-Man blocks every blast. Then if you make the next correct shot, Trap Jaw fires his Lasertron at He-Man with another lightshow, and He-Man blocks every blast.

 

Now, you must hit Trap Jaw directly once his insert is blue. This results in He-Man bending Trap Jaw's Lasertron, making his weapon useless. Now you must make the last shot at the He-Man kicker. He will now pickup Trap Jaw and toss him far away, resulting in you clearing the mode and getting the Trap Jaw toy!

 

More Man-E Mode are coming!

 

 

 

 

Edited by TerryRed, 08 May 2024 - 06:08 AM.