Fake 3D idea.

For my Star Battle game i am going to use 3d models Print|Screen into .png

It would be easy if i just wanted top down view on it.

However that would be to easy ! <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Instead i want the view to be slightly angled.

Here is my idea:

Take lots of Print|Screen .png's from diffrent sides of the 3D model, then change the animation to the current angle.

Because of different screen sizes etc. I will [Pin] invisible objects around the Ship and use their angles to determine the right Animation.

<img src="http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/5043/faking3dship.png" border="0" />

What do you think?

Would it require to much Download time?

How many angles do you think i need to make it look Smooth ?

Why waste time with print screens? Can't you just do a turntable animation of your object and render it out to a .png file sequence? It will give you all you need "almost" instantly.

What kind of 3d application you are using for your 3d models? It's possble to do that in most of them.

ecause of different screen sizes etc. I will [Pin] invisible objects around the Ship and use their angles to determine the right Animation.

Not sure what you are trying to achieve, speaking about gameplay and game design but you could use set animation frames (or animations) to Sprite.angle

set animation to floor(self.angle*howMuchYouWant/360+0.5)%howMuchYouWant

might be good enough :D

howMuchYouWant is how much different angle of ship you want to use

— I'm not so good with math, well math in CC and C2. Could you please explain what does "%360" do for that expression or in general? always seen that on the list and alway think how/why/when I could use it.

shinkan

I simplified the expression after checking things

the (angle+360)%360 was to avoid negative angles and keep things in the [0-360] range

But after checking, the self.angle always returne a [0-360] number

Also as I wrote it as it came, I didn't notice that it could be far simpler as you can see above

yeah, that expression really looks nicer than previous one.

Thanks for explanation Yann

Why waste time with print screens? Can't you just do a turntable animation of your object and render it out to a .png file sequence? It will give you all you need "almost" instantly.

That sounds way smarter <img src="smileys/smiley3.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

I din't know you could create .png animations ???

What kind of 3d application you are using for your 3d models? It's possble to do that in most of them.

Don't hate on me.. but i will try to use Valve Hammer Editor xD

Mostly for the Wierdness-Factor. But also because i am very familiar with it and don't want lots of detail.

Perhaps explain a bit more about the "Render it out to a .png file" ? In Construct2 or what do you mean?

Thx Yann <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Once i got the hang of what you posted i am sure it will work much better than my idea ^^

If you want 3D Models you can get FREE ones all over the net, then use Sprite Me or Model-2-Sprite to convert them to PNG's with all the angles and motions you want.

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2301

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2302

I have Both of these and Model-2-Sprite worked best for me, What i did was load the 3D Model, then extracted the Views/Animations i wanted and saved them as TGA then used Paint.Net which is free to remove the background colour, Just use Magic Wand. Then save as PNG, the whole thing takes about 2 mins.

You can export as 32x32, 64x64, 128x128 etc and you will get a tiled sheet, by whatever Columns/Rows you select. Then import them into C2. This gives you GREAT LOOKING 3D Sprites in 2D.

From 3d application (3d Studio Max, Maya or even blender) you can render your animation as a image files sequence - instead of one movie file you will have many (depends how long your animation is) image files. It's also a good habit to do that every time. If something goes wrong you will still have rendered files on your hdd - with single movie file you would need to re-render everything from begining, and sometimes it's many hours or days of renderings.

And for your Valve Hammer Editor.. I wouldn't call that 3d modeling/rendering application :) I'm not familiar with that but it looks more like game editor.

tonycrew

Dude ! That is awesome <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Thx !

And for your Valve Hammer Editor.. I wouldn't call that 3d modeling/rendering application :) I'm not familiar with that but it looks more like game editor.

It is <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

But it is sooooo simple to create 3d stuff with that editor hehe

have Both of these and Model-2-Sprite worked best for me, What i did was load the 3D Model, then extracted the Views/Animations i wanted and saved them as TGA then used Paint.Net which is free to remove the background colour, Just use Magic Wand. Then save as PNG, the whole thing takes about 2 mins.

Yes, if you only use downloaded ready to use 3d models, or you have no idea how to use 3d applicaions You could do what tonycrew said.

I'm using 3ds max, and it can all be done at once with it - and any other 3d application - models, animations, save png's with transparency :)

From 3d application (3d Studio Max, Maya or even blender) you can render your animation as a image files sequence - instead of one movie file you will have many (depends how long your animation is) image files. It's also a good habit to do that every time. If something goes wrong you will still have rendered files on your hdd - with single movie file you would need to re-render everything from begining, and sometimes it's many hours or days of renderings.

Ah, but that still means i will have to upload every angle .png right? I though you mean there is a way to upload all angles in one "Rotating" animation and then pause that animation at the right time.

Yes, if you only use downloaded ready to use 3d models, or you have no idea how to use 3d applicaions You could do what tonycrew said.

I'm using 3ds max, and it can all be done at once with it - and any other 3d application - models, animations, save png's with transparency :)

Well i might aswell learn Blender or similar for the future. So that might be better