That's it, I'm going to become a diorama/customizer!

[Yodacappy]

Feel the love brothers and sister feel the love of the 1/6th dolly lovers wow yeah

Calling them "dollies" just cracks me up...

 

[hemble]

Hi All

shocktrooper_au - Love the window mate it looks fantastic already.

Vivisect -Damn impressive tomb I love it, just curious thou were did you get the background from. I've been wanting to do a inclosed area like a shadow box dio and this background would be perfect.

Ron

 

[Vivisect]

Vivisect -Damn impressive tomb I love it, just curious thou were did you get the background from. I've been wanting to do a inclosed area like a shadow box dio and this background would be perfect.

Ron

Thanks, that was sort of my idea when i did this, since even though it is simple it looks so much better than the back of shelves.

They were just textures I was using for a video game level I was working on for Unreal Tournament 2 many years ago back when that was a hobby of mine.

Video game textures used to be a good source for stuff like this before they started adding parallax, normal and height map layers to the textures, and therefore shrinking down the average textures pixel size and removing any depth or fake shadowing from the color textures since it is not necessary anymore. Though if you upload all the layers from a modern texture into the right editing software you can set light sources to hit the textures how ever you want and save a copy as it looks on the screen as a combined single texture, which it what I will likely do in the future.

I just tiled it how I wanted it, printed it up and wall papered it using watered down Elmers glue thinly spread on the foam core with a brush, then when it was dry I gave it a light misting of clear satin finish spray paint to protect it.

The sarcophagus was something I ran across at a second hand store for like $1, but was missing its hands, so I made replacements out of some Ultimate Soldier fist hands I had sitting around, but I think I want to redo them a bit since I left to much wrist on the hands.

Anyhow, I can email you a bunch of the textures including a ton I didn't use and the ones I tiled together already if you want. The ones I made into full size pre tiled sheets have had some of the individual textures re sized so they print up to a proper scale, like the floor and some of the wall stones.

 

[hemble]

I never thought of video games backgrounds for dios before, that is such a fantastic idea. And I would really appreciate you sending me whatever you can that would be awesome thank you.

My email is [email protected]

Ron

 

[Vivisect]

I never thought of video games backgrounds for dios before, that is such a fantastic idea. And I would really appreciate you sending me whatever you can that would be awesome thank you.

My email is [email protected]

Ron

I just sent them to you, enjoy.

 

[hemble]

Hi All

Just wanted to say a BIG THANKS to you Vivisect for sending me the pics, I've already started on a 3-3/4" Shadow Box dio and will show pics as soon as it's done.

Ron

 

[the dude person]

Wow Viv, great Indy dio!

And I love modding the Unreal Engine... but with Republic Commando instead of Unreal Tournament! And it has some pretty nice textures, been thinking maybe I'll print some out and make a nice Geonosis backdrop or something. I have several sheets of foam core lying around and collecting dust, now maybe I'll finally use them!

 

[Vivisect]

Thanks, I never really considered it much of a dio, just a background, because it looks better than the back of my shelves, but I guess adding the sarcophagus and the ark make it more like a dio.

As for Republic Commando textures.

The only problem with using textures from republic commando is that it uses multiple textures (diffuse/normal map/height map) that are combined in game to create what you see, and they are all very low res since they were originally made with the memory size and bandwidth limitations of the original X-box in mind, so blowing them up for printing back grounds for 1/6th scale stuff may not work out so good.

Also the texture format will likely be DXT (Direct X Texture) which are super compressed and requires separate programs to even view outside of the game, or you will need a full version of photo shop. Microsoft make a free program to view them called the Direct X Texture Tool, that if I remember right lets you convert them to a normal format but you will still be stuck with 3 layers or so per in game texture.

A very good and easy game to grab Star Wars textures from would be Jedi Outcast or academy, which has an average wall texture size of 1024 x 1024 - 2048 x 2048 pixels that are uncompressed Bitmaps, and the textures are only one layer, so they will have their shadow detail and such intact without any extra work.

Also they are easy to rip from the game, all you have to do is go to the Game Data folder and rename the .pk3 file you want to open to .zip and open them up and dump the textures you want which will be .BMP images. Or just tell what ever unzipping program you use to open pk3 files if it allows it.

 

[the dude person]

Thanks, I never really considered it much of a dio, just a background, because it looks better than the back of my shelves, but I guess adding the sarcophagus and the ark make it more like a dio.

As for Republic Commando textures.

The only problem with using textures from republic commando is that it uses multiple textures (diffuse/normal map/height map) that are combined in game to create what you see, and they are all very low res since they were originally made with the memory size and bandwidth limitations of the original X-box in mind, so blowing them up for printing back grounds for 1/6th scale stuff may not work out so good.

Also the texture format will likely be DXT (Direct X Texture) which are super compressed and requires separate programs to even view outside of the game, or you will need a full version of photo shop. Microsoft make a free program to view them called the Direct X Texture Tool, that if I remember right lets you convert them to a normal format but you will still be stuck with 3 layers or so per in game texture.

A very good and easy game to grab Star Wars textures from would be Jedi Outcast or academy, which has an average wall texture size of 1024 x 1024 - 2048 x 2048 pixels that are uncompressed Bitmaps, and the textures are only one layer, so they will have their shadow detail and such intact without any extra work.

Also they are easy to rip from the game, all you have to do is go to the Game Data folder and rename the .pk3 file you want to open to .zip and open them up and dump the textures you want which will be .BMP images. Or just tell what ever unzipping program you use to open pk3 files if it allows it.

Oh RC textures aren't that hard to get at all, just open up the editor, find a nice texture, click "export," tack ".bmp" onto the end of the file name and save.

But you're right, the textures aren't the best, but I think they're ok. They should at least be something to work with. And you're also right about the normal maps. (AKA "bump maps" AKA "height maps"), those are all multicolored and I don't think I can export those...

I'll just fiddle with it and see what I can get out of it.

 

[Vivisect]

Oh RC textures aren't that hard to get at all, just open up the editor, find a nice texture, click "export," tack ".bmp" onto the end of the file name and save.

But you're right, the textures aren't the best, but I think they're ok. They should at least be something to work with. And you're also right about the normal maps. (AKA "bump maps" AKA "height maps"), those are all multicolored and I don't think I can export those...

I'll just fiddle with it and see what I can get out of it.

I wasn't sure if it would export them, I think the engine is some variation of the unreal 2.5 engine that i never messed with much since every company did something weird to the version they used.

In most cases the normal map and height map are 2 different things, normals cover the shaping and the height/bump map tells how to interpret the normal map depth. So the color map (diffuse texture) you have to work with is just missing shadow/depth detail, which for some of them it might not even be to noticeable, or you could edit it back in there since you seem to be quite good at doing that sort of thing.

Anyhow thats cool if some of them actually come out ok blown up. I was thinking originally they might only be good for backgrounds for 3 3/4" figures.

I got Jedi outcast and academy on my PC still apparently, so I will probably dump them all and have a look and see whats good in there.

 

[the dude person]

I wasn't sure if it would export them, I think the engine is some variation of the unreal 2.5 engine that i never messed with much since every company did something weird to the version they used.

In most cases the normal map and height map are 2 different things, normals cover the shaping and the height/bump map tells how to interpret the normal map depth. So the color map (diffuse texture) you have to work with is just missing shadow/depth detail, which for some of them it might not even be to noticeable, or you could edit it back in there since you seem to be quite good at doing that sort of thing.

Anyhow thats cool if some of them actually come out ok blown up. I was thinking originally they might only be good for backgrounds for 3 3/4" figures.

I got Jedi outcast and academy on my PC still apparently, so I will probably dump them all and have a look and see whats good in there.

Thanks!

And yes, I know without the height/normal maps it won't have as much detail.

I wasn't aware that height and normal maps are 2 different things, I can only find one non-color map (the bump map) in the Unreal Editor for each texture... (a texture = the color part, shader = texture and bump map together)

From what I understand, a normal map is generated from a high polygon-count model with all detail included, then the normal map is applied to a much lower resolution model that has less actual detail in its geometry, making it appear as detailed as the original. Without the actual geometry of say, a groove or a dent, there are much less polygons, which means better performance in game.

Perhaps I'm not using the term "height map" correctly, as in the world of 3D modeling there is such thing as a displacement map, which actually alters the geometry of a model, rather than simply making light areas and shadows appear on a flat surface (like bump maps do).

Although I've never heard of a displacement map being used in real-time in a game, usually just bump maps...

 

[Vivisect]

The normal map is a blue and purple rainbow looking image that is what that shows the contours of the surface, the height map is a grey scale image that tells the height or depth of each pixel in the normal map.

Some older games may use only the height map, or not use the normal maps to save video memory and as a side effect cut down on the depth and shadow detail, in the case of X-box games. Though in some cases both are not necessary I suppose.

This is a normal map

Oh and they have been using displacement or parallax maps in games for like 5 or so years, get some new games dude. , just messing with you. Actually even far cry had some experimental but usable displacement maps in it that you hack into working back in 2004.

Go out and get Crysis which is crazy if you turn on the Steep Parallax Occlusion Mapping options, things like stones on the ground will actually obscure things behind them. As a matter of fact Oblivion uses them all over the place, the caves in that game are just big blocky funny looking rooms with out them.

Heres a pic from crysis, look at the stones on the ground.

 

[Gipetto0812]

<img src="https://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/Dorgmal/Council%20chair/council.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Wow I know I'm late to this but man that looks like one heck of an undertaking right there! great job on that Snow!

 

[Vivisect]

Wow I know I'm late to this but man that looks like one heck of an undertaking right there! great job on that Snow!

Actually I think Mark told us right off that he cheated on that one, he only made 1 actual chair, the rest are photo shopped. Looks awesome anyway though.

 

[Gipetto0812]

man i need to be around here more often then...need to get outta the DC forum and explore more

 

[Dorgmal Snow]

LOL Hell yeah!! I only bad one chair and the floor, then my old evil arch enemy Photoshop got its paws on it!!

But I intend to make some casts ONE day if any one wants one, No idea on the price atm.

 

[astro666]

Thanks, that was sort of my idea when i did this, since even though it is simple it looks so much better than the back of shelves.

They were just textures I was using for a video game level I was working on for Unreal Tournament 2 many years ago back when that was a hobby of mine.

Video game textures used to be a good source for stuff like this before they started adding parallax, normal and height map layers to the textures, and therefore shrinking down the average textures pixel size and removing any depth or fake shadowing from the color textures since it is not necessary anymore. Though if you upload all the layers from a modern texture into the right editing software you can set light sources to hit the textures how ever you want and save a copy as it looks on the screen as a combined single texture, which it what I will likely do in the future.

I just tiled it how I wanted it, printed it up and wall papered it using watered down Elmers glue thinly spread on the foam core with a brush, then when it was dry I gave it a light misting of clear satin finish spray paint to protect it.

The sarcophagus was something I ran across at a second hand store for like $1, but was missing its hands, so I made replacements out of some Ultimate Soldier fist hands I had sitting around, but I think I want to redo them a bit since I left to much wrist on the hands.

Anyhow, I can email you a bunch of the textures including a ton I didn't use and the ones I tiled together already if you want. The ones I made into full size pre tiled sheets have had some of the individual textures re sized so they print up to a proper scale, like the floor and some of the wall stones.

great work here you guys, I wish I had the skills to make custom dioramas or background/back-drops.

I would luv to have something to put behind my Jabba & throne or Emperor's chair. So far the only back-drop I have came from my Hasbro Speeder bike with that awful Leia. I tossed the Leia into storage but display the bike with my Koto Biker Scout and Medicom Luke, I used Leia's poncho on him and it looks alright. I've also got some of Triad's Triaramas and all of the Sideshow ones except for the furnace environment, which I still regret missing. I have also used real rocks and branches for my Predator, Dutch and Billy shelf and for my Sideshow Endor figs.

Cuz you guys are right when you say that your figs look better when they are not just on a plain shelf. I would really appreciate anything anyone could send me, whatever you could send would be awesome. Whether it be for Sideshow Star Wars, The Dead, LOTR, Indy, Buffy, GI Joe or any of the HotToys lines like Alien, T2, Iron Man or Predator, in all honesty, anything would probably be useful since I just don't like the look of plain shelves. I even went so far as to buy some random cloth napkins to use as back-drops and carpet, . Also, any other suggestions would be appreciated too, thanks everybody.

My email is [email protected]