Landram driving test in CE3

[Punisher454]

I have been working on a drivable Landram in Cryengine3. The model is currently about half finished but I recently got the suspension and tracks working and thought I'd share a little test video.

This model currently weighs in at around 40k verticies in 3dsmax. I have a limit of 64,000 vertices in cryengine for a single mesh, I'll probably be at the limit when I'm done. The version in the test video actually has about 25k verts with some smoothing errors, no texture mapping and no UVW mapping yet. The final version will have high res hand painted texture,normal, and Parallax maps.

I'm relatively satisfied with the suspension and physics settings. I have the CG set VERY low on the model to keep it stable in rough terrain, realistic settings made it a little tipsy if your were not careful.

Much thanks to Taranis for allowing me to use and abuse his excellent Landram model. I reduced the edge chamfers a lot and did quite a bit of simplifying. I kept the original shapes wherever possible. The only real changes in shape are the gun, headlights, differential and tracks.

Its not a very good quality video capture, so be sure to watch in 720p fullscreen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdReD5fngqw

[martok2112]

Very nice looking, there, Punisher. :)

[David Kerin]

WOW!!! To hop in and drive a LandRam. That looks fantastic. Please update us as you go. Can't wait to see where this goes. Amazing stuff!!!!

[Punisher454]

There's a lot more to it than just driving a Landram. Thats just a sort of teaser I guess.
I'll be showing some more things in the future when I hit certain progress milestones.
Lets just say that most of the 3D modeling I have been doing for the last couple of years will be involved, and it will be very interactive.

[Titon]

That was WAY cool!

:)

[borjis]

awesome.

the tracks react along the surface properly.

I remember a mod for x-wing vs tie where you could fly the millenium falcon and another online player could take control of the gun seat and do the shooting.

I'm guessing thats what you have in mind?

Will there be enemy cylons to shoot at?

[Punisher454]

The landram is just a small part of what I'm working on. You will be able to enter the Landram and occupy any one of six positions, which includes the driver and gunner. Only the drivers position is is set-up right now, and that still needs work. I am about 75% done with the exterior modeling, 10% with the interior and 0% with texturemapping. Driving physiscs are about 80% done.

You will have plenty of centurions to blast (centurion 10% done) as well as the familiar shuttles, vipers, raiders etc...
This is not going to be an arcade shooter style thing, This is an interactive story told through a first person perspective game. It will be broken down into multiple missions that play out like chapters in a story with cinematic cut scenes and the beginning and end of missions as well as sometimes during missions too.
You can expect to be able to explore some areas of the Galactica, as well as experience riding the Colonial Shuttle and perhaps even take a ride in a Raider. BUT this is not a flight sim, you will not be a pilot.
As soon as the landram is mostly finished I'll probably work on importing the colonial laser pistol into the game. After that I'll finish up the shuttle (I've had an earlier version working in-game before).

This is currently a solo project done only in my spare time. However once I have a few more things working and the basic game framework ironed out to a certain point I will be forming a "mod team" (although its not technically a mod its a ground up game). This will not require heavy coding, but at some point a LUA and C++ programmer may be helpfull for some tings. Mostly I'll need some asset artists, several voice actors, and a few skilled writers to make the dialog flow properly.
Once I get to the stage where I form a team releases should happen fairly quickly, since I plan to release one mission at a time. Think of them as episodes in a series.
Game creation/modding experience will not be necessary to help, for the most part basic computer artists skills and tools are used. The game editor itself (Cryengine3 Sandbox editor) works VERY much like MAX(it was deliberately made that way). Game models can be exported directly by Max, Maya, Blender and Softimage, but models made in Lightwave and other packages can be converted easily.

I dont expect to get much done this summer, I may be ready to start recruiting this fall. Anyone interested or just curious should download the Cryengine3 Free SDK from crydev.net and play around with the editor and demo level, its fun, easy and free.
BTW this is a fan project that will always be released 100% free.

[David Kerin]

Can't wait to see what you do with this. Exciting! And I love to see how more people are putting some great quality programs out there for free. I've switched over to Blender for my 3d work, and each version brings something great. And for them to put Cryengine on the market for free is brilliant. What a way to get people with the drive and desire into the game designing world. I have a neighbor who's son is interested in designing video games, and I told him about this. Sadly my neighbor thinks video games are not a viable future for his son (who's starting college next year) and has discouraged his son from any of it. I tried to say there is a huge industry out there for this, but its clear he wanted to hear nothing about it. Sad to see someone's true interests not be encouraged.

Anyway, got on a soap-box in that last paragraph. May have to download that myself and take a look. Though I know I don't have time to get too deep into it. My son though may have a bit of an interest, maybe he'll be interested.

Keep it going 454! We're with you.

[Punisher454]

The thing about cryengine is that it is really just a realtime 3d environment. Its just as usefull as a training aid (lookup "realtime immersive") , architectural visualization, and Cinematics. In fact Crytek is supposed to be releasing the Cinematic version of the engine sometime this summer.
I read several years ago that the Game industry had surpassed the movie industry in gross revenue. As far as people like you neighbors son is is concerned they may get better response by saying they are interested in pursuing a career in film/telivision, which is basically the same thing, the skills and tools are the same, and the two are basically merging anyhow.

ok now I'll get off that soap box too.

David, there are quite a few users over on the Crydev forums that are using Blender, I havent followed their workflow very closely, but I believe they are using Collada (.dae) with an external converter app. It adds basically one or two more steps than Max/Maya users have to go through to export to the engine, but its workable and getting better. There are also ways to even use sketchup models and Bryce terrain. I do my landscapes in Worldmachine.

Anyhow, thanks for the interest.

[Punisher454]

A Little progress update,
I have the landram Laser Cannon mostly working now. The player can simply change seats to the gunner position and operate the gun. As soon as I have replaced the 125mm tank cannon sounds and Visual effects that I'm using right now I'll upload a new vid. The engine will allow me to use some nice particle effects as well as things like heatwaves rising from the barrels as they get hot from firing. Of course its taking a while to learn how to use these features.

If anybody has a clean sound file for the landram cannon I'd be interested. 44 or 48khz sampling preferred. The best I have right now is a clip recorded from GOIPZ. I think I have some usable landram driving sound clips, but the right cannon sounds are very important.
Crytek released the DX11 upgrade last week which includes things like realtime reflections (useful for Centurion armor) and cinematic style light rays that should do a good job of replicating the landram headlights as seen outside the Carilon Casino, may look cool for Centurion eye scanners too. I'll try to upload something this weekend.

Marvin

[David Kerin]

Good sound fx are hard to get from the show. The ones I've always used are not the greatest, but in the edits they mix in with music and explosions, so they work alright. But you do need a good clean one for the turrets for sure.

Can't wait to see the next update. Have to say this is one of the most exciting BSG projects I've seen come down the pipe. The idea of driving a landram and firing the turrets! Who woulda thought?

[martok2112]

Martinv, I have a ton of Galactica sound effects. I might be able to help you out. :)

And don't forget, movies and shows like Buck Rogers and Battle Beyond the Stars borrow HEAVILY from the Galactica sound pool...so you might be able to find some clean samples in running those movies. :)

[Punisher454]

I remember watching "Battle Beyond the Stars" at the theater as a kid in a double feature with "Star Crash" (John Boy Still seemed... out of place... to me fighting alien Attackers). Perhaps I'll acquire a copy and check out the sounds.
I suspect that some of the BR25 sounds may be the same effects, just played at different speeds.
PM me if you have some effects you may be willing to add to my library. BTW, sometime down the road I'll be looking to build a library of spoken words by Lorne Green with the hope of pasting together some audio clips. (Bonanza and even old Alpo commercials may be useful too).

Anyhow, The Landram is still progressing nicely I hope to get time to do an update video soon.

Marvin

PM

[borjis]

Martinv, I have a ton of Galactica sound effects. I might be able to help you out. :)



do you have those posted on a site somewhere?

[martok2112]

Not posted on a site...just in my HDD.... I can try to email them to whomever might need them. :)

[David Kerin]

Good sound fx are always handy!!!!

[martok2112]

Good sound fx are always handy!!!!


Aye, and I usually end up making MP4's out of my DVD videos, so that means that when I put them in a movie editor, I get the sound straight from the source. :)

[Punisher454]

Decided to start UVW mapping the shuttle and landram to verify the smoothing and mapping transfers properly to the game engine. Everything's working great so far, more to come soon.

[gmd3d]

Great work Marvin...... the landRAM looks great.....

[Punisher454]

I had a great model as a starting point (thanks Ger) I estimate the landram is about 60-70% finished at this point. I spent the last two weeks (my spare time, that is) working on the actual in-game functionality and will soon finish up the modeling.
The gun is fun to shoot, but I still need to give it the right sound effect and laser bolts, its using the sound and visual effects from the default Abrams tank model right now, which is kinda funny (maybe I should do a vid before fixing it), early on I even had the default 125mm cannon recoil still set and it would cause the landram to flip when fired sometimes.
I've been collecting as much reference material as I can from both screen shots and actual Thiokol snowcats (1200 series IIRC) , and I believe I will be able to do a fairly accurate interior model, which will seat 5.
Much more fun stuff to come. :)

[Punisher454]

I have been very busy these last few months and have not had a chance to do anything BSG related, but I did get a few hours today and uploaded a little video.

This is another test of the Landram in Cryengine3. I not have the Laser Cannon mostly working. I still dont have the gunner character model being shown, but the driver does.
The sounds are wrong, as are the projectile animation, but its a start.
I dropped in a shuttle model to help visualize the scale. The shuttle looks terrible at this stage, the model is only about 505 complete and the bitmap I have applied to it is just to test UVW mapping (which has not been done yet).

I'm planning an upgrade on my computer next month, that may be a good time to continue the modeling.

here is the you tube link, sorry for the low rez.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0qWlbdCsV8

Marvin

[Senmut]

Whatever happened to the ones used in the show?

[Punisher454]

no idea what happened to it (them).
Judging by some of the photos of various props and sets I'd say it probably got scrapped. but it could be in somebody's garage or it could have burned up in a big fire they had at universal some years ago.
I was fortunate enough to get to go on a studio tour in 1980 or 81 whn I was a kid. I noticed a lot of props and set pieces just stacked up here and there. It seemed to me that they didnt really care that much about some of that stuff at the time.

[Andromeda]

I had a look at these before, I am dying to see a fully textured render.
Obviously a lot of homework went into that. how the suspension travels
and the tracks with it are perfect. nice work :salute:

[gmd3d]

wow. excellent work, its amazing to see this thing move around.

[Punisher454]

I'm really anxious to get it finsihed, just havent had any time all summer.
Well I guess that isnt 100% true, I had about 4 hours last night to do some modeling (first time in 3 months) but I worked on the legs for my Centurion model. After all what good is a working laser cannon with no Cylons to blast, right?

Anyhow, the Landram model By Taranis was a really good model to start with, although it couldnt be used in a game engine as it was, it saved me countless hours by being able to just build a lower res mesh around the original. Once I have the texture mapping, which will include a parallax occlusion map (POM) it will have all the rivets and such back where they should be.
I may get a little more time in the next two weeks, and if so I'll be posting some more progress.

Thanks
Marvin

[Punisher454]

As for the suspension and tracks, they were really easy once I figured the vehicle editor out. I did have to spend a few hours adjusting the suspension settings but that was trivial really. The coolest thing is that the vehicle system uses physics based on the model geometry itself.
The Cryengine3 SDK makes so many things really simple.

[Jubal]

Looks cool!

[Andromeda]

Will stay tuned for updates, :salute: i'd love to see what you could do with my "mk2 battleram"

[Punisher454]

Got a picture?

[Andromeda]

this is it, the better one
http://www.colonialfleets.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4762&d=1289472493

an older picture with gun barrels modeled off a uss new jersey kit
http://www.colonialfleets.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4756&d=1287809920

[Punisher454]

It could certainly be done. Cryengine 3 will allow multiple weapons to be placed anywhere without any problem.
If you have the 3d modeling skills to model it, then you already have the needed skill set to work with the game engine. Its not like it used to be, almost everything is built through a GUI now, very little (or none at all) programming required. Also If you dont use Max, Maya or softimage there are now model import capabilities for Sketchup and Blender and even a new tool to allow almost any FBX file to be imported. The main modeling limitations are 65k verts/faces per model (multiple models may be linked together in the engine though) and build in Quads and tri's. 5+ sided ngons cause graphical errors. These rules generally apply to most all major game engines like Cryengine, UDK and Unity.

[martok2112]

Nice! Now that is the "battleram"? Interesting design. :)

Reallusion 3DXChange, the conversion program for bringing .obj or Google Sketchup models to iClone, as a rule will warn you if an object exceeds 30,000 faces. However, I've rarely had a problem with this limitation, as it seems that iClone runs better with imported conversions than with its own downloadable content.

In fact, I actually have to watch just how much downloadable iClone content I use in my set pieces, as a lot of iC DLC will actually slow down performance in trying to set up animations. It's amazing. The first corridors I was using for the Galactica were almost entirely made up of iC DLC, and the app would crash if I tried to do anything further with it. So I resolved to build my own corridors in Blender, and ported them over to iClone. Runs MUCH better now. :)

iClone is in fact trying to establish itself as a viable part of a game pipeline.

[Andromeda]

Thanks punisher,

I might have to drop polys on the treads, those have a lot of faces like the car wheels and tyres i was modelling. i would be interested in tackling that one day. how would the physics side of cryengine cope
with a hover-tank version of that battleram?

Cheers

[Punisher454]

The easiest way to do a hovering vehicle is to model the wheels with low poly basic cylinders (12 sided cylinders would be fine) and then texture them with the "no-draw" material. If you look at one of the earlier images I posted you will see the Landram with large red wheels occupying the full width of the treads. Those are the wheels that the landram actually is riding on, but they are invisible.
The physics part is all done according what data you input into the vehicle editor. Vehicle weight, power, CG location, spring and shock data etc... I spent about 5 or six hours adjusting the values of things like that for the landram. At first it would almost instantly flip over, funny stuff.
A hovering vehicle like a Landspeeder would be super simple to make, and you could even add a particle effect, or even better a heat wave distortion effect below the vehicle. Cryengine makes this stuff very simple, UDK (Unreal Development Kit) is similarly simple, but actually much better documented. My main reason for using Cryengine over UDK is the very simple to implement AI system, UDK's supplied AI is totally geared towards Arena deathmatch Bot behaivior.
There are a lot of really good Tutorial Video's that can get you started working with either game engine very fast. And the best part is that they are free.
www.crydev.net

[Thunderstruck]

The easiest way to do a hovering vehicle is to model the wheels with low poly basic cylinders (12 sided cylinders would be fine) and then texture them with the "no-draw" material. If you look at one of the earlier images I posted you will see the Landram with large red wheels occupying the full width of the treads. Those are the wheels that the landram actually is riding on, but they are invisible.
The physics part is all done according what data you input into the vehicle editor. Vehicle weight, power, CG location, spring and shock data etc... I spent about 5 or six hours adjusting the values of things like that for the landram. At first it would almost instantly flip over, funny stuff.
A hovering vehicle like a Landspeeder would be super simple to make, and you could even add a particle effect, or even better a heat wave distortion effect below the vehicle. Cryengine makes this stuff very simple, UDK (Unreal Development Kit) is similarly simple, but actually much better documented. My main reason for using Cryengine over UDK is the very simple to implement AI system, UDK's supplied AI is totally geared towards Arena deathmatch Bot behaivior.
There are a lot of really good Tutorial Video's that can get you started working with either game engine very fast. And the best part is that they are free.
www.crydev.net

Eh, hate to but in, cuz I got no clue as to whats happening here, but that what your are saying,
sounds an awful like a game engine?

Vehicle dynamics editors and all.....

Just poppin in...

Randal.

[Punisher454]

Randal,
Yes, game engine is right. I have been building all my models and such with the intention of using them in a BSG game. Actually I look at it more as an interactive story told through a single player game. I am working with Cryengine 3 free SDK right now. This is a long term project, and has been ongoing for a very long time. Currently its mostly a personal project, but a some point when I have more of the framework established I will be recruiting additional developers. This is a free non commercial project.
A short demo level may be available around the end of the year (that's optimistic).

[Andromeda]

Sounds really simple now. I looked at one of the renders before and did see
the big red wheels. makes perfect sense. :salute:

[Punisher454]

It really is very simple. If you can work in a 3d modeling/animation app then you can work with this game engine.