NEW Meshes For MUA?YES Definitely!

[thetommyboy2002]

And any would-be skinners who would like to edit my meshes/skins, heres a wiremap of the basic male that most are based on:


"Simply" open up the mesh in texturefinder, and locate the skin and extract as normal.
Because they all use a standard layout, it should also be easier to find the textures.
Plus, no mipmaps (as yet), or bumpmaps to worry about.

[thetommyboy2002]

Crosspost:
I couldn't sleep and I had an epiphany.
Why wouldn't ordinary meshes work as mannequins?
What was different?
Could it be that like my meshes, the mannequins were exported containing keyframes, rather than using a seperate keyframe/animation file like the meshes in Actors?
Yes, it could. I swapped in two of my meshes, and you can see the results below:

Thts a bit hard to see, but this one is clearer:


So, now we can put any mannequin we want in there too.
I just have to make a special set of limited keyframes (as my current ones do WAY too much running, punching etc etc etc.), ones that just stand and breathe and maybe fidget a bit.
WOOOOHOOOO!.
Sorry, got a bit excited again.

[thetommyboy2002]

The other vaguely exciting bit of the above post is that my animations worked on the selection screen, suggesting that if set up and named correctly, I can also make keyframe/animation sets for characters who don't currently have them.
And maybe even special combat/finishing anims too.
But I shouldn't get ahead of myself, none of the animation stuff is proven, but I can't see why it wont work if setup right.

[Noelemahc]

Man, friggin' A! That's a good thing to hear. That's a VERY good thing to hear.

Also, I don't think I caught a reply -- would you need reference shots from comic books on how the various other PSP chars look? The PSP snapshots look VERY grainy and un-detailed.

Oh, and just for the record, the poses the PSPers have on the selection screen:

Image courtesy of Piccolo.

[thetommyboy2002]

The only reference pics that might be handy are Ultimate captain marvel, and the Ronin/echo costumes. Everything else I either have in comics or know or can find online.

I still can't figure out the *&^%ing bump mapping. Everytime I export a file with a bump map, it works OK in the alchemy viewer, but CTD's the game.
Any ideas as to what format the MUA bump maps are saved in ?(if I try any DDS variants 3dsmax tells me the bump map needs to be 8bit greyscale.)
I've tried bmp,tga,png, all seem to CTD.
And I'm not having much luck getting mipmaps into my meshes either, as yet.
Apart from that, everythings dandy.
I'll try to upload versions of Hawkeye and Mar-vell that allow them to be used as mannequins without excessive movement on the select screen at some point in the next day or so.

[Noelemahc]

The only reference pics that might be handy are Ultimate captain marvel, and the Ronin/echo costumes. Everything else I either have in comics or know or can find online.

Okay, I have two flavours of Ronin on hand and can probably find the other two online. Will have to stretch for Ultimate Mar-Vell though. I'll get back to you on it.

I still can't figure out the *&^%ing bump mapping. Everytime I export a file with a bump map, it works OK in the alchemy viewer, but CTD's the game.

They're probably DXT5 DDSes with one or two channels. The latest, 7+ versions of the nVidia plugins support that export format.

[thetommyboy2002]

They're probably DXT5 DDSes with one or two channels. The latest, 7+ versions of the nVidia plugins support that export format.

Thanks.
I can install that version, but will doing so give other people the dreaded black spots on my meshes if I do so?
I suppose I should just try it rather than ask you questions you probably can't answer till I have done it.

[thetommyboy2002]

Well, that was just swell.
Nvidias 7.83.062 version crashes my PSpro when I try to save as DDS.
So it would seem I'm stuck with 6.17, which does DXT5 ARGB interpolated alpha, which Max wont accept as a bump map format.
Time to look for other versions of the nvidia plugins, methinks.

[Noelemahc]

Nominally, a bump map should be a one or two channel monochrome 8-bit image. Which means that you might import a BMP as one. If all else fails, you may save a BMP and send it to me and I'll try to convert it to DDS for you. *shrugs*

OR we should just try to dump a MUA bump map and see what format it is?

[Noelemahc]

References:

Pluskommander Mahr Vell (Ultimate Mar-Vell):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/MahrVell1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/MahrVell2.jpg
The second one's for the back design reference and head close-up
I ain't got more of him -- though you can always look at his loading screen for reference (it's in the textures/loading folder, named appropriately).
Ronin:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/Ronin1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/Ronin2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/Ronin3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ivan_k/Marvel/MUA/RoninEcho.jpg

There are no good back piccurs of Ronin. The 4th pic is obviously used for her second costume. I'll go see if I can bully any fellow comic collectors into sharing the DD issues she appears in as Echo.

[thetommyboy2002]

Nope, an 8bit greyscale BMP as bumpmap exports OK, looks OK in Alchemy Viewer, but CTDs the game.
I did try using the textureviewer to get an MUA bumpmap out, then reinsert it, but whatever format they are in MUA, it doesnt seem to be any of the DXT formats I can save as, as reinserting in the normal "strip the header and reinsert via hex editor" just gets you a messed up skin, even if you alter nothing.
Let me fiddle about some more, then if I fail, and if you are OK with it I'll email or upload a file and see if you can convert it.

(and thanks for the pic references, appreciate it.)
 

[thetommyboy2002]

Found a cool little utility called "crazybump", which you can get here:
http://www.crazybump.com/beta/download.html
which saves a pic as an 8bit greyscaled jpeg, which when used as a bumpmap.....crashes the game to desktop.
Still a nice little utility to let you see what bumps a given pic will add as a bumpmap.

*goes back to hunting/experimenting*

[Noelemahc]

Yup, the MUA bumps are EXACTLY DXT5_NM compressed DDSes. I just made a header switch and it opened okay in my Photoshop. Which means you got a problem with the plugin, dude. Throw your wannabe bumps as BMPs (remember to include a fancy alpha channel if you can -- MUA uses that as an extra normal map) at me and I'll convert'em for ya.

The format is as follows: the GREEN channel holds one half of the data, and the ALPHA channel holds the other half. When used together, they create the same visual effect you'd get as if you'd look at a Red-Green 3d image (you must've seen at least one as a kid! You needed special 3d glasses to see'em!) without the special glasses. It's hard to explain as Texture Finder doesn't give a rat's a$$ about alpha channels so unless you can rip it, you can't look at it proper.

EDIT: Click for sample. This is The Thing's 0501 1024x1024 bump/normal map (ripped and splotched with a DXT5_NM header). I'm not sure which since I've always had trouble following the jargon.

[thetommyboy2002]

I'm still going to try and get the PsPro plugin to work for me, but if in a day or two I haven't, I'll take you up on that.

[thetommyboy2002]

Three new mshes and skins:
Captain Marvel (Mar-vell)
Captain Marvel (Genis-vell)
Captain Marvel (Genis-vell_white)




They can be downloaded here:
http://www.momoshare.com/file.php?file=31e34c30804e0232c5c734c318791a34