InsideQC Forums

This could have gone in the modeling thread, or the qc thread... but it's more of a general question for anyone modding quake really.

I'm in the process of making a player model to more next-gen standards, while trying to stay faithful to the whole q1guy/q3 ranger sort of feel.

Here's a work in progress pic of what I have so far. Weighs in at 10,000 polys (this should be no problem, considering how little the other content is actually using... not that it would matter if that was higher detailed anyway).



There's obviously the default list of animation frames for the sake of compatibility with existing mods that will need to be there. However... frames AFTER those animations are still left open to be whatever.

Some examples of what I think should be added:
crouch die1-3
crouch move forward
crouch strafe left
crouch strafe right
crouch axe swing
crouch axe idle
crouch large weapon attack
crouch large weapon idle
crouch small firearms attack
crouch small firearms idle
backflip
move back
strafe left (for blending)
strafe right (for blending)
small firearms idle
small firearms attack
taunt (q3 style)
flipoff (q2 style)
salute (q2 style)
taunt (q2 style)
wave (q2 style)
point (q2 style)
use (like pressing a button with 1 hand)

There will also be a series of facial expressions that'll be able to be blended into other animations. Angry flipoff vs happy flipoff, running while firing.. etc.

Currently all this blending etc. will only be working in FTE as no other engine supports it.

I will be making a basic md3 version of the model but don't expect anything fancy in that as it's such an old limited format.

If anyone can think of any other animations they'd find useful for this character to use in their mods, let me know.

- slow, prudent walk, weapon ready to fire (like exploring a place)
- using a computer keyboard
- drinking (something like the TF2 demoman bottle taunt, end burp included would fit nicely in the Quake ranger )
- some punches sequences (uppercuts and jabs)
- kicking a door
- conversation gestuals ?

Will you include the axe ? Spinning the axe before a smash would be really cool, too.

The model looks really nice. I can't wait to see more.

I'm here to ask too much of you!

use with small firearms
use with large firearms
use with ax
falling
grabbing ledge
lean left
lean right
crouch lean left
crouch lean right
throw (as in hand grenades)
toss (as in a pack of ammo)
prone
prone crawl
prone lean left
prone lean right
looking down gun sights
grabbing item in front of model
grabbing item on ground
grapple flying
falling death
crouching death
prone death
limping walk
slow death, like on all fours, arm outstretched, collapse

make those in with shockbot?

any ways i always wanted to have an "on fire" sequence where the quake guy catches of fire and the player looses control, as the quake guy runs around flailing his limbs screaming before rolling in the ground, or falling to the ground burning to death. i don't mean girly shrieks, but the sound he makes when u jump into slime

it'd be useful to have a second set of frames identical to the normal once, but just with more frames per sequence...

punching stuff with no weapon held.
laugh, for coop mods.
sitting in a chair. I wanna see a mod do something using something like this.
lurching around as a zombie (for next halloween!)
bunnyhopping-speed air-move animation.
a jump animation, for when you're actually using jump for its real purpose (rocket jumps!).
superman animation... for people that exceed 2k qu/s bunnys :)

remember to make a clear enough distinction between torso/leg animations, so they can be animated independantly from each other. I wanna be able to shoot while not running (and show pain without iceskating!)
make sure the bones in the neck and back allow for twisting the model, without breaking the model, so he can run sideways/diagonally.

regarding ease of animation for the coder, if run animations (which are separate from shooting animations) all have the same length/foot positions, then they can be blended from one to another more easily.
csqc has control of sequence and sequence time, as well as blending from one to the next. Thus, to transition from a walk to a run smoothly, you can make them the same length, and make them both move the legs Y units per cycle. The gamecode can then choose the current animation to use based on speed, and blend between the two as the speed changes. Animation times would increase based on distance moved, thus feet would remain synced to the ground, no mater what speed the player was running at.
Yes, the gamecode would have to change its animation speeds in order to get the legs to move at the speed that it wants, but at least you don't end up with the legs suddenly splaying outwards and flipping direction in under a 10th of a second.

There aren't sufficient words to describe how nice your modeling work on this is, so despite reading about this every once in a while I haven't posted because what does one say?

..That model really does look fantastic Electro!

I will jump in and say, Electro is the only modeler I've seen who has been able to improve clarity in the art's messaging, without infringing of the intangibles (or at least articulately difficult) that define Quake as Quake for me.

In short, if I was to do a Quake sequel, Electro would be one of my picks.

Ending glaringly shiny praise.

Oh boy what have I gotten myself into haha

Spike: yep! I will pester you on irc if I think of something that'll stump me.

scar3crow: wow thanks... ok here's the plan, you get me a job at id software (or actually... whoever id palms the ip off to ) and I'll make it happen!

xaGe / Baker: cheers!

Animation isn't my forte, and neither is rigging. I can do both to what I consider to be a basic level (but then again... I consider the existing quake animations to be fairly basic)

Here's an updated pic of the texture work in progress.
There's no specular yet, and the normalmap doesn't have the fine surface detail stuff I'm putting into the diffuse in it yet. Hopefully I can get the texture finished tomorrow. HOPEFULLY. I made the eyes glow like he has pent for now using an emissive map... just because it looks cooler (i think) than the weird white balls that were there without it hehe.

Looks good so far.

Electro wrote: http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7585 ... r04yr7.jpg[/img]

*GASP*

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Looks great!!

Looks great !

Whats the texture size ?

hehe thanks again guys... will post another update in a few hours! I just woke up, so will be a while before I start working on it.

SamUK: it's a 2048x2048, if you zoom in (obviously you can't on this pic hehe) you can see skin pores, fabric stitching/weaving etc.

I've made this model 10k polys and a 2048 to help futureproof things a bit. I haven't really seen anyone else make a quake player model and it's been around 12 years? So I figure mine will need to be able to last a while