114 replies to this topic

[destruk]

Correct link is

http://www.pinsimdb....ditor_1.0.1.zip

[rascal]

I think your dog is good enough for their screenshot showcase.

Thanks Shockman, he looked even better before the triangle reduction. Here is my post of CB models in another thread before converting.
http://www.vpforums....s...ost&p=49209

But, PLEASE, keep in minds, that the models created MUST BE low polys (with a low polygon counts).

I thought that MilkShape converted the polygon's to triangles? Then I reduce the triangles using the Direct X mesh tool. Am I wrong? The table loaded pretty quick for me, but then that's a new table with just my dog model added.

Oh and thanks for the new link destruk.

[neoblood]

Actually when building a 3d model the textures are far more important than the polygon count. High polygon count is most effective only when building the base model and adding the details and doing the sculpting. With a high poly model you can "bake" the details into the base color UV texture map (ambient occlusion, bumpmap, specular etc. ). After the details have been added to the UV texture you can decimate the polygon count to a lower resolution model and apply the newly saved "prebaked" UV texture map. This in effect gives the illusion of the low poly model having far more detail than just light and shadow on a low poly model. This is how the pro's do it and it's really very effective at getting the most detail for the lowest resources.
There are a few drawbacks of this method including that you have to be careful with directional shadows in the baked texture and it sometimes can be a PITA to get it to come out as well as you'd like. I've seen some high res to low res model comparisons using this method and used in the right situation (no obvious moving lighting) it's hard to tell the difference.
With modeling and texturing the techniques and tools are advancing at light speed. You can read more about these kinds of techniques at blenderartists.org. I personally prefer Blender3d as my do-all tool of choice but the techniques taught here can be used with any program that has the correct functions of course.

[LvR]

Correct link is

http://www.pinsimdb....ditor_1.0.1.zip

oups, corrected !

[lio]

nice one!
i haven't had a chance to check it out yet myself but i sure like the idea of having a standalone editor around! and it seems that there are already some people getting the hang of it which is even better
congrats on getting this thing working!

[KelticAssassin]

Fantastic News. I'll have to download it and give it a try. BTW if somone is looking for a free 3d program you could always pick up Blender.

[ianski]

First of all let me say a huge THANKYOU for the recent tools for FP, its really inspired me to get back into making a table,
ive dabbled in 3D models a little bit in the past, its time consuming but good fun and very satisfying!
I dearly hope FP doesn't get knobbled so the models don't work in the future...

I've successfully created and imported my model, and used it as a variety of objects including the toy, got it to move/rorate etc. no problem,
the trouble is when i save it as a kicker or drop target type so it can animate FP crashes when running the table when the object is present.
the anim is 20 frames, plays fine in milkshape and when loaded into FPM editor 20 frames and 579 triangles are listed.
I don't know how much support there is for animated models yet, but either im doing something wrong,
the frames don't match a kicker or drop target, or dont share the correct properties or something.

Any ideas whats up?
Many Thanks.

[LvR]

I haven't play too much with animated model, but I known that only a few types can be animated.
send me to fprelease AT free.fr your model and I'll try to check

First of all let me say a huge THANKYOU for the recent tools for FP, its really inspired me to get back into making a table,
ive dabbled in 3D models a little bit in the past, its time consuming but good fun and very satisfying!
I dearly hope FP doesn't get knobbled so the models don't work in the future...

I've successfully created and imported my model, and used it as a variety of objects including the toy, got it to move/rorate etc. no problem,
the trouble is when i save it as a kicker or drop target type so it can animate FP crashes when running the table when the object is present.
the anim is 20 frames, plays fine in milkshape and when loaded into FPM editor 20 frames and 579 triangles are listed.
I don't know how much support there is for animated models yet, but either im doing something wrong,
the frames don't match a kicker or drop target, or dont share the correct properties or something.

Any ideas whats up?
Many Thanks.

[ianski]

I haven't play too much with animated model, but I known that only a few types can be animated.
send me to fprelease AT free.fr your model and I'll try to check

First of all let me say a huge THANKYOU for the recent tools for FP, its really inspired me to get back into making a table,
ive dabbled in 3D models a little bit in the past, its time consuming but good fun and very satisfying!
I dearly hope FP doesn't get knobbled so the models don't work in the future...

I've successfully created and imported my model, and used it as a variety of objects including the toy, got it to move/rorate etc. no problem,
the trouble is when i save it as a kicker or drop target type so it can animate FP crashes when running the table when the object is present.
the anim is 20 frames, plays fine in milkshape and when loaded into FPM editor 20 frames and 579 triangles are listed.
I don't know how much support there is for animated models yet, but either im doing something wrong,
the frames don't match a kicker or drop target, or dont share the correct properties or something.

Any ideas whats up?
Many Thanks.

Hi LvR thanks for the offer, in fact i've managed to get it working - for info in case anyone else has a similar problem:
I made sure all the properties of either the kicker or drop target were the same in FPM, that stopped the crashing,
then I just messed around with the solenoid methods until I got it working...
What I would really like to have is animation support for the "toy" model, perhaps just a set number of frames (30 seems to be the right number)
that way models could animate and move/rotate etc, that would be super cool indeed... perhaps for the future if Steve Paradis feels up to it.

[Rawd]

I have finished my pylon model, and I am trying to animate it. I am not sure how to animate with milkshape? It seems that you can only animate joints? Is there a way to open up the standard Droptarget model into Milkshape to see how it is animated? I basically just want my pylon to drop down like any other dropdown target would. I guess I will have to make an appropriate hole as well.

[Rawd]

Ok. I figured out how to animate it in milkshape (Connect a joint to all vertex and then move the joint). Now in the FP model importer it says 20 frames, but when the ball hits it, it doesn't animate. I must be missing something obvious.

Edit: I got it! I had to check "generate script event" in the FP model importer software. Sweet! Animates nice!

(Now for the hole... hmm.. that'll be a big hole!)

[Rawd]

And here is the video ...





Thanks again guys for this software. My imagination is running wild now.

[Comicalman]

I have finished my pylon model, and I am trying to animate it. I am not sure how to animate with milkshape? It seems that you can only animate joints? Is there a way to open up the standard Droptarget model into Milkshape to see how it is animated? I basically just want my pylon to drop down like any other dropdown target would. I guess I will have to make an appropriate hole as well.

I checked out your video. NICE! So what did you do to get the cones to drop through the floor?

[chas]

Correct link is

http://www.pinsimdb....ditor_1.0.1.zip

well D..... what is this going to do?.....my dialup is terrible.....cant do video streaming.....i use another location for d/l's.....it does about 60kbs per/sec

Edited by chas, 09 June 2010 - 05:17 PM.

[Rawd]

I have finished my pylon model, and I am trying to animate it. I am not sure how to animate with milkshape? It seems that you can only animate joints? Is there a way to open up the standard Droptarget model into Milkshape to see how it is animated? I basically just want my pylon to drop down like any other dropdown target would. I guess I will have to make an appropriate hole as well.

I checked out your video. NICE! So what did you do to get the cones to drop through the floor?

I needed to learn the basics of animating with Milkshape. Just grab all vertices and connect one joint (This will grab your entire model to be moved). Then make a frame animation in Milkshape, and make sure that you check "generate script event" in the FP model importer software.

I have attached 2 files here... One is the milkshape model, and one is the completed FPM model. You should be able to open up the milkshape one and see how I animated it. (click the animate button and then play, on the bottom right of the Milkshape software.)

http://rapidshare.co.../Pylon.rar.html

[pinballwzd]

I did it !. Took a while, and the learning curve was tough, but I figured out this whole modeling/animation thing.
Now my Skeleton is alive.. Now if I can figure out how to make a video and post on youtube, I will show you guys...


- Pinballwzd -

[Rawd]

I did it !. Took a while, and the learning curve was tough, but I figured out this whole modeling/animation thing.
Now my Skeleton is alive.. Now if I can figure out how to make a video and post on youtube, I will show you guys...


- Pinballwzd -

Use FRAPS.

[Pinbotic]

I did it !. Took a while, and the learning curve was tough, but I figured out this whole modeling/animation thing.
Now my Skeleton is alive.. Now if I can figure out how to make a video and post on youtube, I will show you guys...


- Pinballwzd -

Like Rawd said, get FRAPS for the best quality. But, if you are looking for something free, try Camstudio with one of the lossless codecs. I have had decent results with that.

[Comicalman]

Ok. I figured out how to animate it in milkshape (Connect a joint to all vertex and then move the joint). Now in the FP model importer it says 20 frames, but when the ball hits it, it doesn't animate. I must be missing something obvious.

Edit: I got it! I had to check "generate script event" in the FP model importer software. Sweet! Animates nice!

(Now for the hole... hmm.. that'll be a big hole!)

I was able to get a 'collidable' /_HitEvent event working. My next question is - can I set up some other type of events? ie I see that there is an event id Number field.

Ideally, I would like to tie an animation to begin/end with a timer. Any thoughts on this?

[Rawd]

Ok. I figured out how to animate it in milkshape (Connect a joint to all vertex and then move the joint). Now in the FP model importer it says 20 frames, but when the ball hits it, it doesn't animate. I must be missing something obvious.

Edit: I got it! I had to check "generate script event" in the FP model importer software. Sweet! Animates nice!

(Now for the hole... hmm.. that'll be a big hole!)

I was able to get a 'collidable' /_HitEvent event working. My next question is - can I set up some other type of events? ie I see that there is an event id Number field.

Ideally, I would like to tie an animation to begin/end with a timer. Any thoughts on this?

I have the same question.