Yeah, I was one of the peeps buggin Souris for it. It was a simple tweak, but cool, and at the time I hadn't a clue how to do it myself. At this time I had a decent knowledge of a few graphics apps, competent with Hammer, fair bit of traditional art training, but utterly clueless about modelling and models in the HL engine..
I do now though, and as a result of it, I also learned how to modify skins. ( mainly because I was too noob to realise there were 2 skins in the model and I wanted them skinhead .) .
Since then, I learned how to recolour skins, I fancied a nifty black armour with skulls on, and with my new-found experience, decided I could do it myself , and I did.
I'm now learning to do them from the scratch bmp's, next stop scratch modelling, animating and hopefully all round competence in every damn models / gfx / animation app I can get hold of.
Learning experience y'know?
We all start somewhere, and hackjobs and recolours can teach you a lot.
<!--QuoteBegin--CrouchingHamster,HiddenElvis+Apr 14 2003, 03:49 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CrouchingHamster,HiddenElvis @ Apr 14 2003, 03:49 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> We all start somewhere, and hackjobs and recolours can teach you a lot. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> ditto, we all have to start somewhere, and most people are too anxious to do anything that requires "alot" of work, like making an original model...
so they reskin, recoulour, and convert...
let this baby community grow up a bit, and develop more skills... you'll get mroe original content
<!--QuoteBegin--Delarosa+Apr 14 2003, 09:31 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Delarosa @ Apr 14 2003, 09:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> let this baby community grow up a bit, and develop more skills... you'll get mroe original content <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> I agree completely.
Everyone I have seen in here ( and indeed in the mapping forum ) is getting better, lots better, slightly better, doesn't matter.
coilAmateur pirate. Professional monkey. All pance.Join Date: 2002-04-12Member: 424Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<!--QuoteBegin--therougeknight+Apr 14 2003, 03:44 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (therougeknight @ Apr 14 2003, 03:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I remind you guys that my zergling is a hackjob, seriously, I took the skulk as a base and changed it. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I've gotten alot of praise for it. If it really is bad, just tell me, I really don't care, I'm just trying to prove a point. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> There's a difference between using the skulk as a starting point, and tweaking an existing model or slamming two halves of two distinct models together. Your first post of your zergling, to be perfectly honest, was mediocre at best. Since then you've refined it a great deal, and I'd wager that the vast majority of what you have there is not at all like the original Skulk. It's gone a fair bit beyond a simple Frankenstein-style hack job.
When I modeled my chibiskulk, I loaded the original skulk into 3dsmax, made it transparent, froze it, and used it as a template. The chibi was entirely original, but its dimensions conform very closely to those of the original skulk (as they have to, since it uses the same animations). I think that's probably the next step you should move to, rogueknight. Your zergling is enough of your *own* work that I don't think you need the crutch of an already existing model. Try using reference images instead.
when i first became interested in editing the l game files the very first thing i did was a replacement skin for barney. it was crap just a simple recolour and i added a gold star to his helmet. i was very pleased with the results but thinking back to it now i laugh because it was so bad. first model i made was totally mine, except i found i had a hard time making faces so i borrowed the barney face, the rest of the model was all mine though.ive never made a hackjob for public release, but this does prove it can be part of the learning experience if you let it progress further than hackjobs. i think that recolours are basically daft, as anyone can alter the colour spectrum of a skin using a art package such as psp or photoshop. but if this is your "<b>entry level</b>" skill then thats perfectly acceptable. but what if you never progressed further than that? it would be a damn shame if people didnt. what it all boils down to is this, if you recolour, reskin,port,hack,create it doesnt matter as long as you have fun doing it and people enjoy the results.
As a pro modeler, intellectual property is important to me. But as a gamer, i like to modify the game to my liking in order to keep it fresh and interesting, no matter what the original dev team of the game thinks/does.
<b>Conversions from other mods:</b> I have no problems with them at all as long as credit is given to the original author. Want an M60 to replace the HMG? Hey, if you like it, fine by me. I made a minigun model for TFC and it's been converted for a couple of other mods by a few people. Hey, if my model gets more publi showing, im all for it.
<b>Conversions from other games:</b> Can cause problems. The law is specific. If you do it for yourself and do not redistribute, they can't touch you. If you start offering it, you're in deep doo-doo. It can take some time to convert the file formats and some game developers made their models specific for their game engines, so they will NEVER look as good in HL.
<b>Recolors:</b> Fine by me, if it fits the original game and does not give an unfair advantage (like covering skulks in pure ORANGE color all over... It's a good way to start model editing and it's easy to do for anyone.
<b>Hackjobs:</b> Same as conversions. It does take some skills to do a "clean" hackjob and keep the model low poly for everyone to use and doesn't have 4 mb of textures in it that don't serve any purpose ( WTH? happens a lot.. trust me!) Giving credit in hackjobs can be hard cuz depending on the project, you can have up to 15 (yes i've seen it!) people's models in yours! <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo--> It makes for quick models that don't take a lot of time to make/change. You can see results fairly quick.
<b>original models:</b> The best. Shows your skills, and that you're not afraid of making stuff on your own. It's the best viewed.... but .3ds ripping is rampant on some forums. Ive seen a "former" 3d modeler that all he did, was steal people's meshes from modeling forums in a ton of other websites and called them his own. All he had to do is pimp the mesh as his own, get a skin from someone and release. No one ever saw the difference.
Gotta be careful with that. A modeler KNOWS his meshes by heart, and can spot theives easily.
I just have 23 words (<!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->) to say: I agree With Infinitum... Especially about that Steyr Aug Conversion... Just. Ignore my posts okay? (That way i don't have to take flaming =)
Comments
I do now though, and as a result of it, I also learned how to modify skins.
( mainly because I was too noob to realise there were 2 skins in the model and I wanted them skinhead .) .
Since then, I learned how to recolour skins, I fancied a nifty black armour with skulls on, and with my new-found experience, decided I could do it myself , and I did.
I'm now learning to do them from the scratch bmp's, next stop scratch modelling, animating and hopefully all round competence in every damn models / gfx / animation app I can get hold of.
Learning experience y'know?
We all start somewhere, and hackjobs and recolours can teach you a lot.
ditto, we all have to start somewhere, and most people are too anxious to do anything that requires "alot" of work, like making an original model...
so they reskin, recoulour, and convert...
let this baby community grow up a bit, and develop more skills... you'll get mroe original content
I agree completely.
Everyone I have seen in here ( and indeed in the mapping forum ) is getting better, lots better, slightly better, doesn't matter.
The key word here is "better"...
Give it time, I believe you will see results.
There's a difference between using the skulk as a starting point, and tweaking an existing model or slamming two halves of two distinct models together. Your first post of your zergling, to be perfectly honest, was mediocre at best. Since then you've refined it a great deal, and I'd wager that the vast majority of what you have there is not at all like the original Skulk. It's gone a fair bit beyond a simple Frankenstein-style hack job.
When I modeled my chibiskulk, I loaded the original skulk into 3dsmax, made it transparent, froze it, and used it as a template. The chibi was entirely original, but its dimensions conform very closely to those of the original skulk (as they have to, since it uses the same animations). I think that's probably the next step you should move to, rogueknight. Your zergling is enough of your *own* work that I don't think you need the crutch of an already existing model. Try using reference images instead.
As a pro modeler, intellectual property is important to me.
But as a gamer, i like to modify the game to my liking in order to keep it fresh and interesting, no matter what the original dev team of the game thinks/does.
<b>Conversions from other mods:</b> I have no problems with them at all as long as credit is given to the original author. Want an M60 to replace the HMG? Hey, if you like it, fine by me.
I made a minigun model for TFC and it's been converted for a couple of other mods by a few people. Hey, if my model gets more publi showing, im all for it.
<b>Conversions from other games:</b> Can cause problems. The law is specific. If you do it for yourself and do not redistribute, they can't touch you. If you start offering it, you're in deep doo-doo.
It can take some time to convert the file formats and some game developers made their models specific for their game engines, so they will NEVER look as good in HL.
<b>Recolors:</b> Fine by me, if it fits the original game and does not give an unfair advantage (like covering skulks in pure ORANGE color all over...
It's a good way to start model editing and it's easy to do for anyone.
<b>Hackjobs:</b> Same as conversions. It does take some skills to do a "clean" hackjob and keep the model low poly for everyone to use and doesn't have 4 mb of textures in it that don't serve any purpose ( WTH? happens a lot.. trust me!)
Giving credit in hackjobs can be hard cuz depending on the project, you can have up to 15 (yes i've seen it!) people's models in yours! <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
It makes for quick models that don't take a lot of time to make/change. You can see results fairly quick.
<b>original models:</b> The best. Shows your skills, and that you're not afraid of making stuff on your own. It's the best viewed.... but .3ds ripping is rampant on some forums. Ive seen a "former" 3d modeler that all he did, was steal people's meshes from modeling forums in a ton of other websites and called them his own. All he had to do is pimp the mesh as his own, get a skin from someone and release. No one ever saw the difference.
Gotta be careful with that. A modeler KNOWS his meshes by heart, and can spot theives easily.
My 0.02$.