Endcaps/blowy uppy bits and that stuff..

[liquidchicken]

G'day all,as an aside to building the Suzuya and Mogami I have begun experimenting with how my ships display damage..obviously the normal way is applying a texture sheet to your model with all the burnt and blackened bits..what I would like to try is something akin to the endcaps used for an aircraft model,and the ability to show mangled bits instead..just applied to a ship/vehicle etc..just wondering if anyone has been down this path before and how much (if any..) success they had?..I can't see why it wouldn't be possible but trolling through tuts to figure out the if's,buts and maybe's are certainly slowing the process..would love to get some ideas/thoughts if anyone's interested..

cheers!,J..

 

[HouseHobbit]

OH Yea!!

 

[hairyspin]

Have a look at the Ju-88 and P-47 models in the Aircraft and Vehicle Design sdk: both have endcaps modeled in. Mostly I get shot to ribbons and plunge burning from the sky, so I've only noticed endcaps 'in anger' when I pranged Ted's Catalina, but I expect Owen has seen many more examples.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Hope you pull this off, taking it to another level

As well as mangled bits, it should be possible to assign effects where bits get blown into the sky, like some of the damage effects from aircraft when they explode (IIRC called explode effects?). Wouldn't it be great to throw a bleeding great funnel into the air with an explosion, and have an "endcap" in the right place so that the funnel disappears on the model?

Good luck with this

 

[liquidchicken]

Yep,that's kinda what I have in mind..have started by building a large three box ship called "target_ship" and added another box,called it turret0 then made the endcap a sphere and named it endcap_turret0..my first attempt hasn't worked as I'm seeing both the box and the sphere on screen at the same time,possibly how I've linked it to the model is an issue?..I will spend some time looking at the sdk models and try and nut out where I've bungled..the next issue is the xdp,as I haven't figured out what command (break,explode,etc..) triggers the switching between the two modelled parts,I have noticed that the xdp's don't mention endcaps specifically..will post some screenies if I have any success..ta muchly for the suggestions,keep 'em comin' as all are appreciated..

Cheers!,J..

 

[sdsbolt]

Dont know much about this but I am sure you are going to have to use endcap names listed in the modeling docs such as "Endcap0_nose" Then name the turret part "nose" or make it a dependent of "nose". The trigger to break is in the xdp which would look like.

<System ID="nose_structure" Name="Nose Structure"> <Threshold Level="100" Effect="Break" Parameter="" Location=""/>
</System>


but you also have to have a damage box in xdp that defines when nose gets damaged

<Box ID="damagebox_nose" Parent="damagebox_fuselage">
<BoxMap SystemID="nose_structure" Probability="100" Points="500"/>
</Box>

sorry, I dont mess with the xdp much so I am not 100% sure. check out the aircraft xdp for a better example.

Steve

 

[NachtPiloten]

Ships and endcaps

If you look at the gmax model supplied (destroyer), the damage model is just the same model as normal with a different texture, just as you stated. If you look at the a-16 model, a vehicle, it has a damaged state too, but here the modelers actually added parts that were damaged in appearance, the same holds true for buildings. In all three cases there are no endcaps, so I speculate that the compiler will not recognize these. I hope that I am wrong and this is one of those hidden secrets in CFS3.

Oh, if you open the cfs3 compiler dll in gmax (plugins folder) by using notepad you'll see the array of endcaps that you can use (there are a bunch). There are entries for vehicles and buildings too but no hint if you'll be successful. Why no use the destroyer model in gmax and mod that, may save some time.....

Warning .... do not modify anything in this file or you will no be able to export models...just saying:isadizzy:

 

[Daiwilletti]

In all three cases there are no endcaps, so I speculate that the compiler will not recognize these. I hope that I am wrong and this is one of those hidden secrets in CFS3.

Oh, if you open the cfs3 compiler dll in gmax (plugins folder) by using notepad you'll see the array of endcaps that you can use (there are a bunch). There are entries for vehicles and buildings too but no hint if you'll be successful.

I was wondering about this - modelling for vehicles/ships having far fewer options than for aircraft. It would be fascinating if it is indeed one of the secrets of CFS3 that the endcap entries for vehicles and ships can be made to work!

One option for the cruisers is to do a damage texture that overlays a blank texture at the location of a turret, so it becomes "invisible". IIRC parts on maodels have been made "inivisble" before by modifying the texture? Combining the disappearing turret in the damage texture with an explode effect with bits flying upward, located using xyz axis parameters at the turret location, might be a simplified work-around?

 

[HouseHobbit]

Have a look at the Ju-88 and P-47 models in the Aircraft and Vehicle Design sdk: both have endcaps modeled in. Mostly I get shot to ribbons and plunge burning from the sky, so I've only noticed endcaps 'in anger' when I pranged Ted's Catalina, but I expect Owen has seen many more examples.

Don't know much about end caps..
But I can wreck anything!

 

[liquidchicken]

Cool!,never stopped to think that Gmax might have the info I'm after..have been looking at the aircraft xdp's as I figured I would need to use them for a base to start from,but the damagebox and system entries and how to link it all correctly had me scratching my head..was unsure if I needed the damagebox_nose etc nodes so that's helped clear that up..have had a look at the p47 and ju88 models last night,off to look at the m-16 tonight!..thanks for the help on this,it's given me a much better idea as in what direction to head in..

cheers!.J..