Pipeline, Animation, I.E. C.G., cooking ., Bam creation revival discussion Options

[salomonkane]

I.E. "Bamisation" Cooking
Case of Studies : Kain Character from Soul Reaver Saga
Question of Graphics design & Mater of taste concerning Character Palettes
Render, Engine Render issues & Solutions, Adaptations

Hello,

Preamble :

So, as promise, by Popular Demand, I decide to share with you my (quite limited) knowledge concerning the implementation of new animations release in Infinity Engine .

You need to know, that this subject concerning a lot of various transversal & complementary tasks :

Like to be able to use/know/have/developed : dedicated modding & eventually professional software, a veritable sense of organization, some graphics knowledge/skills about drawing, colors theories & lighting/shading/render, notions of animation,
a strong culture about I.E. Games & Mods, etc. etc., & may be the most important of them a lot of empiric tests in your dedicated pipeline inside your testing workflow .

Manifesto :

Dedicated to the old good times of IE Modding beginning,

My goal in matter of Infinity Engine Modding it's articulated around three objectives :

I have 3 prior Projects :

1 : Create a huge data base of animated Sprites/Scenery (*), this is Advanced I.E. Animation Project ,
2 : Making an Adventure/Quest Mod in Kara Tur/Ninja World/Maps Background for the original Baldur's Gate Campaign,
3 : Build a Total AD&D Conversion Mod in a Dark Sun Campaign .

(*) : (With extended A.I./Scripts/Custom Animations/VFXs) .

All this Projects/Stuffs : should be in priority/exclusively devoted to Vanilla Baldur's Gate Saga, at destination to the olds fashion Mods Support like BGT aka Baldur's Gate Triology,
for facilitated the perenity of all the earlier mods/modders works.

That's it Folks, and now, by Modders For Modders !, I will try to explain how to integrated some news fellows in our favorite Game ! .

Integration of a new Sprite in Baldur's Gate, Bamisation Process :

Part (I) :
About the good Usage of Modding Tools :

I begin with this Picture :



As you can see it's a render of Kain 3d Model in a sprite, render view from BamWorkshop 2 .
To obtain this Sprite I have to do this tasks (*) :
a) Export my animation in Animated Images Sequence, here .Gif, with/without some options : like resolution/anti-aliased, etc .
b ) Run the .Gif in BamWorkShop 1 -> adjust the palette index to set Transparency & Shadow
c) Export the Sequence in .Bam
d) Run the Sequence in DLTCEP -> center & compress the frames
e) Run the .Bam in BamWorkshop 2 -> to visualize the animation from various Previews .
(*) : (in among : extract/calibrate the Model, add its texture, injected animations here : from Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, add spring/physics effects, compose the lighting & coloring of the sprite,
with my Pipeline : 3dsMax + Iclone & others tools to extract the model/& after : render this Gif concerning the Sprite Test itself to illustrate this Post) .

To be continued ...

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Mar 22 2016, 11:12 AM

[salomonkane]

I.E. "Bamisation" Cooking
Case of Studies : Kain Character from Soul Reaver Saga
Question of Graphics design & Mater of taste concerning Character Palettes
Render, Engine Render issues & Solutions, Adaptations
About usage of Blur/Smooth Effect on the Pixel render

Part (II)
Artistic creative thoughts ... :

Blur or not Blur that's the Question ... ?

OK, here this is a In-Game render .Gif of our testing .Bams Sprite Character Actions :

,

I try to give the more closely BG style aspect to the Character (not too smoothe, to preserve details & not too much pixelised to give a shiny aspect) .

Shadow Configuration :

As you can see here I give to the shadow a high opacity in my 3D render Workflow/Sprite (Iclone), in BG we have some options about shadow translucency, I can/must take care about it ... .

Concerning Composition of this Test :

I will to give for this In-Game Test the opportunity to mirroring my Sprite (fixed in the editing Area process in DLTCEP) & play a critter (here the Birds flying) animation on it in order to perceive the contrast/fluidity of the Sprites action sequences animations test, &
of course to visualize/compare the Main Character vs Kain aspect, the water overlay animation is used in the same spirit : to give more means of evaluations/comparison/scenery/background .

N.B :
Test .Bam on line (see Attachments) , , :
You can visualize this sequence from BamWorkshop I, II (with Background Preview), & from DLTCEP ( http://www.baldursgatemods.com/forums/inde...sa=view;down=69, http://www.gibberlings3.net/tools/dltcep.php ).
FWI, I use this updated Version of BamWorkShop I : http://www.shsforums.net/topic/57564-bamworkshop/

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Sep 8 2015, 10:53 AM

Attached File(s)

 seq1a.bam ( 110.13k ) Number of downloads: 5

 

[salomonkane]

I.E. "Bamisation" Cooking
Case of Studies : Kain Character from Soul Reaver Saga
In Game Render Sprite Actions Tests
About Slots, Sequences & I.E. Games Animations Variants
Animations Editing & Composing/ Artistical Path/Issues
Common Issues/Unexpected Effects :
Sprite : Truncatures, Pixelisation, Transparency/AlphaBlending, Specifics Animation Issues (like Walk Animation Speed/Sliding effect), Intelligent Weapon/Sword/Custom .VFXs etc .
Graphic Editing/Creation : .Bam image file, Missing .Bams, Inventory .Bam, Weapons .Bam, Paperdoll Character's .Bam, Icons .Bam .

Part (III) :
Character Design/Artistic Parti Pris :
Sprite Size, Animation FPS, Sprite Color vs Light & Day/Night Cycle Engine Render, Sprite .bam Offset adjustment, & others Tuning issues/fixes

In Action ... :



Here, Kain, "kick some butt", with his claws jab ... ,

And below, some nasty spells on the goblins faces :

,

Details : (cast), (conjure).

Some Explanations on the next Parts ... .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Sep 17 2015, 04:37 PM

[salomonkane]

I.E. "Bamisation" Cooking
Cosmetic Mods : Familiar, Animal Companions, Birds Of Faerun,
Convocation, Shapeshift,
Case of Studies : Great Owl
In Game Render Sprite Actions Tests
About Compositing
About Scripting, Scripting Customization, Coding

Greetings my Good Fellows,



Today I introduce a little part of one Component of my Advanced I.E. Animation Project,
It's about birds, especially Birds of Faerun, these animals could IMHO enlightened the Forgotten Realms in various matter :
Like critters, animals companions, familiar, etc., in fact all the Ecology & Eco System in the Realms .
Of course in this way the Interactivity/Game-Play of the Game could be pleasantly improved .
The Kits & Classes (Bards, Sorcerer, Wizards, Druids, Rangers), Races (Elves), Alignment, that have some natural acquaintances/relationship with them could be also have some more fun to play, like in Strategic Way.
In addition, we could also introduce some of the RP concept of Profession (I think especially about falconry/raptors) with some custom animations for the PC & NPCs (Eagle Dressage/Riding Giant Owl, etc.) .

Picture/Render (*) :



You can observe that in matter of Tone, Color Temperature, Contrast, Brightness, Lighting ... : the Sprite feet better than the Kain Sprite before, it's because I have adjust some parameter to adapt it with the Infinity Engine Render behavior .
As well I had to fix the Sprite .bam Offset adjustment to adjust the Owl Sprite/Circle Position .

(*) : (you can use "Ctrl+" to better appreciate the render by increasing the size of the .Gif) .

Prospective :



Well, they are a lot of possible Mods/Modding declination concerning the owl character itself : various size, colors, A.I. scripts, and of course design .
Some of concepts materials preview here :

, ,


Credits & Process :
Original Owl Model & some Animations about from Iclone Template, Conversion of the Model, Creation of Customs Animation, Bam Compositing, by me salomonkane, making in Iclone, to serve & protect the Forgotten Realms Modding Flavor ( ) .
Bamisation make with usual graphics editing I.E. Tools : BamWorkshop (I/II), DLTCEP, & Near Infinity for some Data Collecting .

About :



Mods :
WTP Familiars
http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?...amp;#entry52723
Animal Companions
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/56242-animal-companions/
Pipeline :
http://www.baldursgateworld.fr/lacouronne/...html#post281548

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Oct 28 2015, 05:48 PM

[nicotine caff...]

I think Kain is a bit too slender compared to the vanilla chars if you want my opinion. By the way i've been able to extract the models from mk armageddon if you need some character from mortal kombat. (of course the ones from ix and x are far better, but they're only some of the roster)

[salomonkane]

I.E. "Bamisation" Cooking
Case of Studies : Kain Character from Soul Reaver Saga
In Game Render Sprite Actions Tests
Kain Optimization
Kain Size/Proportions
Quest Mod in Kara Tur Project Models Assets

Hello Nico.,

Criticism :

Thanks for the comments/criticism/observations :

I think Kain is a bit too slender compared to the vanilla chars if you want my opinion

Absolutely agree ,
BTW, if you paid attention on Kain animations, you can observe that in some sequences : Kain is bigger than others ones, its because I try to calibrate the right size for this character :
Could it to be like an elf size ? human ? demi-orc, or bigger ?, like a BG vampire ? & that about Raziel vs Kain size, etc ... :
Are they some RP sources about the Phenotype of this kind of Characters ?, etc .

Some Renders/Concepts Mods Arts :

, ,

Requests/Models Suggestions :
Mortal Kombat Stuff :

,

MK Armageddon

i've been able to extract the models from mk armageddon

Sure, , they are very interesting Models in this Sequel, especially those looks Heroic Fantasy Style/Quest Mod in Kara Tur/Background .
Models are rigged (skin/mesh/weight/bones), textured (UV/Coordinates) as well ?

About :
Kain/Raziel Appearances
https://www.google.fr/search?q=legacy+of+ka...920&bih=950
MK Armageddon Characters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_dOxqtoM4g

P.S : email-send .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Nov 22 2015, 08:57 PM

[nicotine caff...]

Well.. Kain should be the same size of a normal human, since he was, before becoming what he is. About mk i answered in the mail but i repeat here as well: i used a trick with 3d ripping taught me by another guy (who discovered by case). So i can extract them but not in "T-Pose". Of course after some specific hits characters tend to end enough in an "arrow" kind of stance, which is good enough for rip them. About Liu Kang i've ripped just him in the "zombie" version, but there aren't his classic fatalities in mk Armageddon, so no dragons pal. But if you want to add some new dragons in Skyrim there's an infinite bunch.

This post has been edited by nicotine caffeine: Nov 26 2015, 05:22 PM

[salomonkane]

Black Isle & Bioware "Savoir-Faire"
Original Asset Tools & Making Off Rediscovering
2D Sprite Editing/Batch Process & Vfxs
Works on the Indexed Palette & 3D Visuals Effects Pipeline

Hello Everyone, I wish You one Happy & Creative New Year !

Original Custom Sprite Making Off :

Actually (concerning this discussion), I'm very proud to have begin to understand & concretize 2 new important aspect/process in the I.E. re-making Sprite process :

It's about 2D Graphics Editing, and Spells Effects/VFXs Making, I'm now able to reproduce/customize/remake some of this kind of assets, in the Black Isle/Bioware style (*) .

This is some samples about :



This custom animation about one of the original monsters assets looks maybe trivial, but to be able to scale correctly it and give some custom colors that correctly playing/rendering in Game (**) ... is not a simply affair : in the World of the Infinity Engine ... : )

Below,
This various comparisons illustrated that's could be a good palette indexation, between original and custom sprite :






Spell Sprite Customization :

For the Spell Sprite Customization, like colors/editing, the process is quite different & a bit less difficult :



And the result its, for my taste, quite beautiful ... .

Spells/VFXs Creations :

Some Captures from my In-Game Testing Workflow within 3D Vfxs/2D Sprite creations/tests :



Some contrast difference behind monsters variants remain /BWS preview/In Game Render (here for the red one Skeleton, I try to give a cramoisi/crimson effect), but, concerning visual effects :
Textures/Effects/Renders looks pretty similar/originals Icewind Dale .Bam Effect above, No ... ?

VFXs render :

Finally,
Just one render of kind of Ball Of Fire/Flame Effect creation Test :



See Ya, salomonkane .

(*) : By discovering some archive/developers diary about & with use of some earlier tools dedicated about .
(**) : Without commons Issues & with correct Shadows

P.S. :
@nicotine caffeine (I didn't forget your suggestion/request about M.K.), thanks a lot for the link concerning PST fan-made/originals/goodies creation assets, I will use it on the topic later ... .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Jan 20 2016, 10:04 PM

[salomonkane]

Infinity Engine Original Assets Remastering
2D Sprite Editing & Vfxs Cooking
Works on the Indexed Palette & 3D Visuals Effects Pipeline
Advanced I.E. Animation Project Catalog .
About Big Animation Size Importation Issues in Infinity Engine


Original/Custom Sprite, Advanced Palettes comparisons:

Case Of Study : IceWind Dale Golems serie :

Here they are some more animations (from IWD), between original & custom recomposed sprite assets, in various colors and size :

,
, ,

I feel that in case of translucent textures the customization show very cool ...


Case Of Study, IWD1 Dragon :
Big Sprite Data/Integration/Creation/Bamisation (render more : 256X256) :

And now, some Dragons (from IWD again) repaletized ... :


, ,

Question :
Is it a way to import Big Size Sprite Custom Animations in "IWD Dragon .Bam Format" in the BG2 Infinity Engine's V°, without to do to split them ?
May be something to dig, here, about this "specific format" ...

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Jan 20 2016, 10:05 PM

[nicotine caff...]

By the way.. Since you are quite skilled with bam workshop (for me 'twas a nightmare) can you resize the planescape torment bams to the BG/IWD ones? (I don't know if maybe you have already talked about that here, if yes sorry i didn't see it)
Becouse time ago, when i was modding BG/IWD/PT i wanted to play with NamelessOne also in the other games, but when i tried to resize his bams i didn't get 'nice' results.

[salomonkane]

Infinity Engine Original Assets Remastering
2D Sprite Editing & Vfxs Cooking
Works on the Indexed Palette & 3D Visuals Effects Pipeline
Advanced I.E. Animation Project Catalog
Planescape Torment Sprites
Study Of Case : Ignus
About Translucency/Shaders/ Render Issues in Infinity Engine
About Resizing/Scales Sprites vs Pixellisation
About Effects/VVC/Management in the Infinity Engine Render
Custom Sprites Shadows for missing Shadows


,

Planescape's Characters In Baldur's Gate Background :

can you resize the planescape torment bams to the BG/IWD ones?

In fact, I already work on this, especially on Ignus, that's one of the most (in-)famous/(hell-)larious/character from the Infinity Engine NPCs design ... : )



Render/Issues :

, ,

But, as you can see, in this case, I must to deal/tune (with) the translucency of the Sprite (its seem too dark for me in some Maps/Night cycle vs vanilla Fire Elemental), in among (on my Images Editing Pipeline) : with Intensity/Contrast ..., and/or in the Engine itself (with dedicated I.E. tool like DLTCEP) : with the editing of Effects Component (as Effect/VVC/Bams) ...

Bam Resizing :

About the N.L.O, himself, of course I want to convert him in BG, with the ranking scale (75%), without pixellisation .
They are some of works, because lot of various sequences, and may be it will be necessary to recompose some of frames to correspond with the BG's action style animation ... .

Missing Shadow :

About Ignus again, you can observe that the sprite have not shadows, I thing it's an original voluntary design choice, but I would like to customize some of them for Ignus sprite, another skills to apprehended/learning/2D in my to-do list ...


Credit & Process :

"Bamisation" (.Bam animations : export/conversion/testing/engine integration) & Customization (as colors, scales, etc.) make by me salomonkane, with Modder's Workflow (as Infinity Explorer/DLTCEP, BamWorshop : I/II) & with others image animation tools .

About (*) :




http://www.shsforums.net/topic/29324-pst-animations-to-bgii/

(*) : (drag mouse/click on the .gif to animate it)

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Jan 29 2016, 07:54 AM

[nicotine caff...]

And then...LIMLIM FOR EVERYONE!!!!
P.s. By the way i see in the thread of spellhold studios you linked there's still a my comment of years back when i was doing these edits as well.

This post has been edited by nicotine caffeine: Feb 2 2016, 06:19 PM

[salomonkane]

3D Model Pre-Rendering vs Infinity Engine Sprites Making/Integration Process
Works on the Indexed Palette/ Pre-rendered Sprites Production Pipeline
Study Of Case : Vanilla Sprites & Titan Quest : Boss Monsters (Elder Beholder, Giant Exotic Spiders, Seven Heads Hydra)
About Translucency/Shaders/ Render Issues/Fixing Issues in Infinity Engine Games Render
About Resizing/Scales Sprites vs Pixellisation Tuning/Fixing
Texture, Shadows, & others Customization Options
Advanced I.E. Animation Modding Project Catalog


,

And Now we entered in one another Dimension,

, ,
(* : .Bam pined )


, , ,

In Game Render Preview :

, (here, .Gif in low res°),

Huge Size Boss :



Dedicace & Credits :
Big Up ! to all Animators & Special Dedicace for those involved in the Infinity Engine Games , and last but not least : Respect to all the Modding Tools Developers ! .
You'll Never Walk Alone, ... .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Mar 7 2016, 12:20 PM

Attached File(s)

 dltc1a.bam ( 126.11k ) Number of downloads: 3

 

[salomonkane]

2.5 D Model Pre-Rendering vs Infinity Engine Sprites Making/Conversion Process
Works on the Indexed Palette/ Pre-rendered Sprites Production Pipeline, Tools
About Resizing/Scales Sprites vs Pixellisation Tuning/Fixing
Texture, Shadows, & others Customization Options/Issues fixed
Transluency & VVCs Effects, Projectiles Effects
Case of Study : BipBoy/Fallout Tactics, Fallout Saga
Advanced I.E. Animation Modding Project Catalog



Hi,
Here the goal it's to try to demonstrate that we could to "fall out" ( with the use of the right tools/options) : the complex case of intermixed shadow/texture/background palette (*),
cases that we can encountered in some 2D animations as with Fallout Tactics .Gifs ripped animations... :

,

(*) : Typically, like with the (rad-) scorpion skin,


,

In the same vein, sometimes we need to give more or less translucency for our animations integration purposes, the Effects that could be used inside the Engine itself give some opportunities to tune the animation render ... .

S.K. .

About :



FOT Game :
http://www.nma-fallout.com/forums/fallout-...ics-modding.24/
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Tact...erhood_of_Steel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2563o8BnuQ

Some Essentials Tools (revised/improved), for C.G. creations purposes, concerning .Bam Conversions :
https://github.com/NearInfinityBrowser/Near...s-BAM-Converter
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/48136-cente...tion-correctly/
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/45358-neari...-35#entry587696


P.S. :
Could somebody explain how to export sprite in a big size from FOT Engine (like for scorpions, etc.) ?
(cause here : scorpion & some others sprites seem too little in comparison with the BG's Characters models sizes, & I prefer not to re-scale sprites to avoid too much pixelisation ...), TY .
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Radscorpion_...lout_Tactics%29

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Mar 9 2016, 08:49 AM

[salomonkane]

2.5 D Model Pre-Rendering vs Infinity Engine Sprites Making/Conversion Process
3D Model Infinity Engine Sprite Palette Integration/Creation
Works on the Indexed Palette/ Pre-rendered Sprites Production Pipeline, Tools
About Resizing/Scales Sprites vs Pixellisation Tuning/Fixing
Texture, Shadows, & others Customization Options/Issues fixed
Indexed Palette via Batch Modification vs Hand Painting Palette Modification vs Mask/Filter Tool/Editor Feature
Translucency & VVCs Effects,
Shadow Translucency & GUI Shadow Options Effects vs Modding Conversions Limitations
Path-finding, (Angle) Original Modified Sprites with Orientations Limitations & Infinity Engine Games Animations Slots Variants, Sprite in specific Map Render Integration
Foot Circle Size Options & Adjustments vs Characters Modding Design/ .Bam Conversions/Integration
Sprite Colors variety & others Texturing Tuning Option,
Modified Sprite Characters Acting Animations Design vs Infinity Animations Canvas
Case of Study : Scorpion/Fallout Tactics, Ignus/PST, Kain/LOK (LC GOL, DLC)
Advanced I.E. Animation Modding Project Catalog



Ok, then, after use of a lot of tricks, I'm able now to play with the FOT scorpion Model inside Infinity Engine :


: Here the original, intermixed Background/Skin/Shaded Shadow riped sprite, & below my convert sprite : (automatically) re-palettized, re-sized (with the use of the right scaling compromis/pixelisation tool option algorithm), in foot-circle adjustment test :



Here,
Because of the complexity of the case, I had to make various tests/observations/results around the palette/textures/scaling/shadow modifications consequences on the final render ...,
This, in the perspective of the best possible shadow shading results for I.E. integration & to avoid some issues (like pixels troncatures/liserais) & to have some nice shadow render,
For the moment in this special case, we have the possibility to "simulate" a translucent shadows for the FOT scorpion,
Maybe later we can to recompose a true indexed shadow with alpha channel (*) in some batch process (like layers mask) for all the frames without to do painting them by hand or others time consuming process .
(*) : (& the possibility for the sprite to play with shadow/option translucency in game render)

Various Big Sizes Scorpions, Characters/Shadow Opacity Simulation, Tests renders :

,

Albinos/Glowing Scorpion Character Concept Design test (without shadow then) :

, ;

Somebody Else (lol) :

(Chosen One in WIP),

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Mar 22 2016, 09:03 PM

[Vermillion]

Hi Nico, thanks for the Compiled Version of the Dark Alliance engine Tool

Hello guys!
I'm also seeking a way to extract 3d models and textures from Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. I've worked with GameCube version and Dolphin emulator and trying to use several tools such as 3DRipper DX, Ninja Ripper, Tex Mod and some others. There is two problems with extracted models: some polygons inverted and, more serious problem, broken smoothing groups. Your tool can handle this problems?

[nicotine caff...]

We've been on the matter too. There is no quick way to fix that. You can edit face by face with 3ds max, or you could try to fix all together, but usually it doesn't work very well.

[Vermillion]

We've been on the matter too. There is no quick way to fix that. You can edit face by face with 3ds max, or you could try to fix all together, but usually it doesn't work very well.

That's not good It's easy to invert normals face by face, but almost impossible to recreate smoothing groups. Especially on advanced meshes, such as tiles.

BTW it's very interesting that in BDGA levels consists from very limited number of tiles and static meshes. But every mesh has its own texture with pre-rendered shadow map. Very unusual approach.

[nicotine caff...]

What are you talking about. If you want to fix a smoothing group almost every program has the tool "auto smoothing groups" which (after you set the density, usually 60) automatically smoothes a group/mesh. After LOT of work i fixed every face of the model of Mordoc, and now it's perfect... So, yes, it's a long work, but it is absolutely doable.
About the tiles and verious pieces of levels, i know nothing, since it didn't interest me. So i couldn't say.

This post has been edited by nicotine caffeine: Jun 26 2016, 05:40 AM

[salomonkane]

Interlude


Hello Everyone,


Sorry for the delay about unanswered questions (like by PM, ), and for the lower activity on the topic, but I spent many time to learn/develop/increase some skills in fine arts foundations, especially penciling, in the order to better understand digital sculpting, animation ... & texturing, and for sure to build some new/remake assets for our favorite game ... :

Here an overview of my drawing evolution illustrated with sketches/cover/studies around some iconics characters/artists/artworks, or dynamic poses, or effects/techniques like drapery/lines circling etc., on various support from Fantasy, Comics, to Artistic Anatomy .




, , , , ,

.


See you very soon Folks!, take care, S.K. .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: Jul 17 2016, 10:05 AM