Home Contests & Challenges Archives

TF2 - Polypack - Contrails

1
I've decided to do a pack for the soldier as I simply like his character... who doesn't like a crazy *cough* wannabe *cough* *cough* soldier? :)

Theme: Government Issue

The Shell Shocker

78024969.png
mryarrrrr.png

Mortars are weapons for peace loving hippies such as your grandmother who want to stay as safe as they can. What the hell is indirect fire? The only way to kill someone is up close, direct, and personal, preferably with explosives so they turn into a million little tiny pieces. The "Shell Shocker" is the best way to do this. It takes the only thing a mortar is good for - lots of BOOM - and thrusts it in the front line. Your grandmother better cover her eyes.

CO's Colors

radio3.png
buff.png

Retreat is never an option. And this radio will let every cowardly maggot on your team know. Tell them you've singlehandedly got the entire enemy team pinned down and they better come before you blow them all to pieces. Every maggot who is smart enough to realize that killing is more fun than playing dress up or sandwich eating parties and joins you will recieve a mini-crit damage dealing bonus for 10 seconds after the call.

The Ten Incher

bayonet2.png

Of all the usages of a bayonet, one trumps all: killing people. Stabbing maggots to death was the sole reason why Sun Tzu invented war. It was the way he fought, it was the way your grandmother fought, and it is the way you fight. And dammit, with these 10 inches of cold hard steel, you are a death dealing machine who WILL personally kill every, communist, America hating, sandwich eating, hippie-maggot you meet. That's an order.

Submitted!

[B]UPDATE 6/18/10[/B]

Just a few more details needed on the[COLOR=SeaGreen][B] Shell Shocker[/B][/COLOR]...

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/mortarrocket-2.jpg[/IMG]

Starting on the radio - buff banner replacement (more details on the 3rd page towards the bottom)

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/radio-1.png[/IMG]


[B]UPDATE 6/12/10[/B]

scope pretty much done... the whole thing (modelling) is also for that matter just need to stick on a few more details

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/mortarscope.png[/IMG]

[B]UPDATE 6/10/10[/B]

Getting there...

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/scope.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/mortarrocket-1.png[/IMG]

(Also putting code tags around all the stuff on the bottom because this post is getting quite large ;) )

[B]UPDATE 6/8/10[/B]

Going for a more rounded design to resemble a mortar round...

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/mortarrocket.png[/IMG]

[B]UPDATE 6/7/10[/B]

Rocket launcher started

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/RL1.png[/IMG]

building on my earlier concept

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/rocketconcept.png[/IMG]

There are differences between the two.... and reasons why... details below :)

[B]UPDATE 6/4/10[/B]

ATTENNTIONNNN!!!!

MAGGOTTS LISTEN UP!!! New shipments have been coming in (read: model is in game)

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/left.jpg[/IMG]

details below


[B]UPDATE 6/1/10[/B]

I've rethought these items as it quickly became apparent that they won't work.

The poncho is out - read a bit about jigglebones and they don't look too good for physics on an entire cloth almost as big as the character... I'll still be toying with a replacement for the buff banner though.

The canteen is going to be a misc item complete with its own holder to put on the soldier's belt.

A rocket launcher replacement that will have some mortar influences and a bit of a bazooka - mainly want to make it look like a mortar but it still needs to look like a rocket launcher - fleshing that out now

[IMG]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8565072/tf2polypack/bayonetmelee.png[/IMG]

This is my new melee idea which is a bayonet stuck on top of a broken shovel held in place with barbed wire - don't worry I'm going get to modelling so I have something to post other than my horrible concepting :)

-------------------------------

As a melee replacement I plan to do a canteen
http://whatpriceglory.com/pic/m1910_canteen.jpg
every good soldier should have one and it'll be a simple model for me to work out the kinks of getting stuff in source :) I also was thinking something along the lines of a taunt to put out fire and prevent afterburn for 10 seconds or something but I guess that's up to valve.

Secondary... the buff banner is one of my favorite items in game and I'd like to do something with it - always thought the flag looked a little weird so I might do something with a superhero type cape (of course improvised from a military issue poncho) like one of these

http://www.swisslink.com/FS/1/Atom17163.jpg

also fits in with the backpack as if I'm not mistaken real US soldiers in WWII and Korea carried their ponchos in them

And as for the primary weapon I'd like to do something original with a typical US soldier theme... already saw a bazooka being made by someone around here (great idea) so that's out of the picture. 

May do something with a recoiless rifle that he stole off a jeep and converted for his own use or even a mortar carried on its side that he "taught" himself how to use... I guess you guys can help me decide ;)

Replies

  • Ikimono
    Superhero cape for the buff banner has already been done, It's on FPS banana or facepunch, cant remember.

    Canteen seems rather lame as a weapon. Seems more like something that would have an ability like Jarate.
  • Contrails
    hmm... did a quick search on FPS banana and didn't find anything only flag reskins - facepunch I'm not familiar with but only seems to be forums?

    Though if I stick with the poncho idea will it be OK since it's all my own work?

    Yeah ideally the canteen would be a secondary like jarate (have my afterburn preventer idea up there) but I think for the purposes of this competition it'll count as a melee... should be fine as demo has a bottle

    anyways here's my start on the model this morning:

    canteen.jpg
  • Ikimono
    A bottle has something you can firmly grip onto and swing with; a canteen does not. you'd be better off holding a rock.
  • Baby Stomper
    The cape re-skin is for the Gunboats, actually.

    81372a9768757.jpg
  • EVIL
    Offline / Send Message
    EVIL polycounter lvl 18
    that, and so what if someone modeled an similar idea on facepunch or fpsbanana. its not like they can submit it to THIS contest, so yeah, just do it
  • Contrails
    So did the cape use jigglebones or stay static? I've read that they hit a lot on performance and they dont seem too idea for something that big.

    I've decided to make the canteen a misc - need to make a holder for it and also have a new melee replacement... more news soon
  • Contrails
    WIP shots of the bayonet

    bayonetscreencap.jpg

    bayonet.png

    upclose.png

    any ideas how to make the details on the blade show up in the mental ray render? I'm gonna be using it for AO later and would be nice to have those details...
  • Contrails
    added in the barbs... fiddled with a couple ways of doing it settled on scaling rotated edges on a cylinder as I want to keep it relatively low poly

    barbs.png

    barbdetail.png

    they give the overall effect I'm looking for :) will tweak a little with the scaling

    overall.png

    and tri count looks good

    barbsc.jpg

    I feel I'm spending a disproportionate amount of tris on the wire but don't really know any other way to do it :/

    BTW, any ideas on the AO?
  • Contrails
    Figured out how to get the model in game :D

    World model is fine but view model still has a couple animation issues I need to work out - good news is that it fits great into the soldier's hand

    This is only a base color texture and slapped on AO - I'll need to clean it up some and add some detail to the texture :)

    left.jpg

    right.jpg

    texuvs.jpg

    also need a good name for the bayonet ;)
  • Khthon
    Maybe something to do with the famous quote: "You can make a throne of bayonets but you can't sit on it long."

    Sittin' Stick?
  • Contrails
    I don't think many will get the reference or (like me) don't know the quote. I'm thinking about "The 10-incher" as the blade on a M1 bayonet (my reference) is 10 inches and the soldier would always like to assert his manliness :)

    In other news, I'm going to move onto the rocket launcher next - here's a concept (again horrible lol)

    rocketconcept.png

    Based it off of a bazooka and I want to make it look accurate - hence the scope and fins on the end - replacing direct hit obviously

    As for the buff banner, I'm leaning towards a radio pack replacement - still don't know how I'm going to work out the bugle... looking at the game files it's actually 3 models (bugle, backpack, and banner) - does anyone know if I need to replace all 3 or can I keep the bugle for example?
  • Khthon
    There's like 4 bazooka entries, yo. You could have a toy bugle (plasticy) taped to a radio set so he blows right into the walky talky part.
  • Rogue Trooper
    You could go for a panzershreck look.
  • Contrails
    @Khthon - I'm aware of that, I'm loosely basing it off a bazooka but I'm going to skew the proportions a bit and add on other details like the fins so my model should be pretty different from the others. :) As for the bugle that's a good idea... thinking about the proportions though I'm not sure how good it would look (I'm assuming you mean the walkie talkie taped to the bell) - maybe taped lengthwise would work better

    @Rogue Trooper - that wouldn't fit into my theme :/
  • Contrails
    Rocket launcher progress:

    RL1.png

    Drew in some details of what my plans currently are... changed from my concept are the fins - decided to make them smaller to make the overall launcher look like a dart - or more a mortar round

    A01-021A.GIF

    which is where the holes come from - I'm also planning to texture it in a similar fashion (bare metal on bottom and green on top)

    Leaning towards discarding the box on the bottom below the handles - it looks like it might cause clipping issues with the existing animations - I do realize that I need to add something else for a more unique shape though :)
  • Cheeezy
    Bayonette taunt vid nao plox
  • Khthon
    Maybe you could skew the proportions of the launcher to bloat out in the center of the tube and look more like a mortar round?
  • Contrails
    Cheezy - I'm keeping the same animations as either the shovel or equalizer or pain train depending on which one I'm going to replace

    Khthon - messing with that but there are 2 issues... first of all the launcher is so tall that a bulge would have to be real large to make it really resemble a mortar round presenting clipping issues

    and secondly I want to have a more or less unique silouette - from some angles a large bulge might look too much like the direct hit

    I'll probably end up curving the little bulge I have now a little more and I want to do something with the front end :)
  • 0ur hero niko
    i am loving that melee. it shows the insanity of the soldier.
  • Contrails
    So I just looked at the direct hit model and its a LOT fatter than I thought lol - those clipping issues shouldn't be a problem then :)

    mortarrocket.png

    just did a little modelling - shaping up better than I expected
  • Khthon
  • Contrails
    quick update...

    rlupdate.png

    tris look horrible with the holes lol gonna clean them up some
  • Khthon
  • Contrails
    Thanks.

    Spent a bit of time with the scope today - keeping with the mortar theme, I looked into mortar sights

    (WW2 era sight)
    weapons_81mm_mortar_4.jpg

    (not WW2 modern I think)
    M64_sight.gif

    Main thing I got from that was... they've got a bunch of doodads on them :)

    scope.png

    mortarrocket-1.png

    I don't have quite as many but I don't want to overload the scope with them - I think I have enough dials and knobs but I'll probably add something (relatively) large and blocky to break up the symmetry and circularness of the sight (any suggestions here?)

    wire.jpg

    triangle count looks good

    plr_pipeline0001.jpg

    And I've also put him in game - the scope looks a bit weird I think because it's a little bit too far forward - I'll move it back and see how it looks :)

    And 3rd person shots seem to be fine - all (default direct hit) animations look good too

    plr_pipeline0004.jpg


    Oh and I might add here even though it's obvious - this is just a flat temporary texture and I'm aware of smoothing issues
  • Rogue Trooper
    I think it might look better if we could also see the mount for the scope, I'm getting the impression that it's just floating.
  • Contrails
    plr_pipeline0008.jpg

    Yeah I fixed that :) and I'm still working on the mount - it's not gonna remain looking so weak As for what's changed, I made the scope shorter and also moved it back a little

    side shot is probably clearer
    plr_pipeline0011.jpg
  • Khthon
    Hope you texture some chipped mortar round paint on there.
  • Contrails
    Yep that's the plan :)

    I think I'm pretty much done with the scope - focused mostly on the left side since that's what the first person view will mostly see

    mortarscope.png

    The rocket as a whole on the other hand is also pretty much done - I'll add a few details to the body (rivets, protrusions, etc) and I want to add a couple more polys around the scope and handle joints to the body to make them look welded on

    morrocket.png
  • ColonelBD
    Looks good, cant wait to see what the textures gonna be like!
  • Contrails
    You're in luck then... because that's what I'm doing next :P

    Just finished UVs so this probably doesn't look like that significant of an update - but trust me that little box I had to stuff all the UVs into is very significant ;)

    mortarrocketuvs.png

    Probably the most complex hard-surface model I've UV'ed so far... or modeled for that matter (yes I'm a semi beginner with modeling) and the results don't look half bad to me :)

    mortarrocket_uvstris.jpg

    Of course the triangle check... looks good

    And some more interesting renders of the final model

    mortarrocket_finalp.png

    mortarrocket_final.png

    Also will gladly appreciate name suggestions :)

    now onto texturing...
  • Contrails
  • Rollover Minutes
    Contrails wrote: »
    plr_pipeline0008.jpg

    Yeah I fixed that :) and I'm still working on the mount - it's not gonna remain looking so weak As for what's changed, I made the scope shorter and also moved it back a little

    side shot is probably clearer
    First Person View looks a lot like the Direct Hit...
  • Khthon
    The Shell Shocker?

    Pounder?

    The Mortar Strike?
  • Khthon
    I agree it looks a little bit too similar to the Direct Hit in fps view. Hopefully the texture will really differentiate it.
  • Puffstoole
    Looks good, it's got a very distinct shape.

    Maybe 'the Bunker Buster'?
  • Karkasmolenklok
    Khthon wrote: »
    I agree it looks a little bit too similar to the Direct Hit in fps view. Hopefully the texture will really differentiate it.
    Agree with this.


    Also for your green portion, you've got a little too much green, I'd go more for an olive if you want to fit the style.
  • Moribund
    The M.O.A.R. (Mother of all rockets)?
  • Ikimono
    Khthon wrote: »
    I agree it looks a little bit too similar to the Direct Hit in fps view. Hopefully the texture will really differentiate it.
    I'm not sure that's possible.
  • denvarte
    G.I. Joe is all about realism in their weapons, not that great a fit in tf2, I know it's not something you want to hear, but as the son of a G.I. Joe collector I had to put it out there.
  • Contrails
    First Person View looks a lot like the Direct Hit...

    I don't think that's much of a problem...

    Direct hit
    fp_directhit.jpg

    my rocket (textures are still WIP)
    fp_mortarrocket.jpg
    Also for your green portion, you've got a little too much green, I'd go more for an olive if you want to fit the style.

    This better?

    moreolive.jpg
    denvarte wrote: »
    G.I. Joe is all about realism in their weapons, not that great a fit in tf2, I know it's not something you want to hear, but as the son of a G.I. Joe collector I had to put it out there.

    Thanks for that - didn't realize that lol - I have a pretty good idea of my theme in my head just putting it into a catchy name is another matter... "weapons loosely based off of WW2 and korea era US equpiment" isn't too catchy ;)

    As for names thanks for the suggestions :) leaning towards "Shell Shocker" and "MOAR" at the moment
  • Rogue Trooper
    Maybe have the scope be more angular and boxy? I think something based on that first reference sight you posted would be more distinctive from the direct hit.
  • Contrails
    I don't exactly see what you're talking about - that first reference doesn't have a scope on it just an ironsight... and the scope mount I made to be mostly angular and boxy. I think between that, the dials, little backup scope mounted on the top, and texture it doesn't look that much like the direct hit.

    Here's some progress on the texture - color band is team colored of course :)

    mortarrockettex.jpg
  • Khthon
    What is that giant serial number thing?
  • Karkasmolenklok
    Contrails wrote: »
    This better?

    moreolive.jpg
    It's kind of just darker. What I mean when I say olive drab as opposed to just a forest green (or the lighter green you had before) is that it would have a browner/yellower tone while also being darker, not just being a darker shade of the same hue.
  • Contrails
    OK just experimented a bit with the colors... I'm guessing this is what you had in mind

    olivetest.png

    made it more brown and yellows and darkened etc, I think this doesn't really fit the look I'm going for - you can see my mortar reference on the 1st page has a rich dark green

    Gonna keep my original color - took it from the direct hit (you can see it on the scope) so (in addition to what my eyes tell me) it fits into the TF2 palette :)
    Khthon wrote: »
    What is that giant serial number thing?

    Well... it's a giant serial number - I've resized it a bit especially since it was a bit distracting in the first person view but I think it'll help with the identification as a mortar round as opposed to a rocket

    serial.png
  • Khthon
    Maybe you could make some sort of TF2 reference with the serial number?
  • Contrails
    Yeah that was the intent... thanks for catching that xD the "15FTWO" should read "20FTWO"... you should be able to figure what that and the "PYC" reference.

    In other news, I started the radio model - not much to show yet but I'll post some pics later :)
  • Contrails
    I've got the texture mostly done just need to bake in some AO and do/figure out specular maps :)

    wearandteartextured.jpg
  • Viceroy Bubbles
    Wow this looks great. Maybe darken the yellow and make it fit better with the rest of the gun? The bright yellow seems out of place amidst grays and greens

    EDIT: I found the average of the green, gray, red, and yellow you are currently using and replaced the tip with that color.



    2zqsyrr.png

    Yeah it looks pretty crappy but whatever. IMO it looks better than the yellow tip.
  • Khthon
    Some color schemes on mortar rounds-

    A01-021A.GIF
    russmorts.jpg
    medmorts.jpg
    lightmorts.jpg
    ExcaliburGuidedMortar.jpg
1
Sign In or Register to comment.