Model Skinning
SgtBarlow
Level Designer Join Date: 2003-11-13 Member: 22749Members, NS2 Developer
<div class="IPBDescription">Community Modding Blooper.</div>I wanted to do some different skins for a bunch of pipes and totally forgot that the target skin file name is compiled into the model.
Was wondering if skinning was going to be made possible to create a large veriety of official models reskinned by commuinty.
It has been mentioned before in another topic but was not really discussed much at all, I feel this needs it's own thread and opening up for discussion.
Re-skinning official models is quite improtant I think. You are after help from the community to make maps and the maps are more prop intensive but when it comes to props we are kind of stuck when it comes to changeing them to suit the looks we want to achive in our levels without having to make exact replica models..
Was wondering if skinning was going to be made possible to create a large veriety of official models reskinned by commuinty.
It has been mentioned before in another topic but was not really discussed much at all, I feel this needs it's own thread and opening up for discussion.
Re-skinning official models is quite improtant I think. You are after help from the community to make maps and the maps are more prop intensive but when it comes to props we are kind of stuck when it comes to changeing them to suit the looks we want to achive in our levels without having to make exact replica models..
Comments
I can't stress enough how important this is to the modding community, or development in general for that matter (I.e. L4D makes a very extensive use of the feature). Just make the game look for "prop_01_skin_X" or something like that, problem solved.
<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=108941" target="_blank">Here's another thread, too.</a>
Current way of doing it is too complicated and uncoordinated.
We know skins can be listed and switched between on the fly in many games.
Can the use of .material file be replaced with .propsrc with a structure like this?:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1--><model>
<mesh>model_name.model</mesh>
<maps>
<texture type="material01" value="texture1.dds">
<map type="bump" value="texture1_bump.dds" />
<map type="emissive" value="texture1_illum.dds" />
<map type="specular" value="texture1_spec.dds" />
</texture>
<texture type="material02" value="texture2.dds">
<map type="bump" value="texture2_bump.dds" />
<map type="emissive" value="texture2_illum.dds" />
<map type="specular" value="texture2_spec.dds" />
</texture>
</maps>
<properties>
<property type="surface" material="material01" value="metal" />
<property type="surface" material="material02" value="plastic" />
</properties>
</model><!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
NS2 Models can be skinned with more than one texture, My mate has tried it.
The above would enable us to specify multiple surface types for multiple textures for the same model so It could have a bit of glass/plastic/metal and make the correct sound for each part of the model.