Something a little different, Aces' Sdk. Fz. 251 skin with super detail

[Aces]

Hi chaps,

I thought I'd take a short break from modelling to do a little skinning.



Download link:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21507173/Aces+Sd.Kfz.+251+Super-detailed+skin.rar

Hope you like it.

Best regards

Aces

[norm]

Looks Great! Really wish it were easier to have them in new slots, so I could have this an the three color one in stalled in the same game...

[Donken]

Great Aces, but you forgot to add alpha channels around the wheel texture On second and third lod you see what i mean! But all apcs clearly needs a little attention so great once again!

[whukid]

This is really impressive. Could you do this for most tanks and APC's in the game?

[Kyth]

Thanks, Aces.

However... 

There's a disadvantage to including unit / tactical markings and license numbers in the skin, because all the Sk251's will be sharing that same skin. It might be better to make it more generic (without specific unit and vehicle markings)

[Aces]

Hi chaps,

Thanks for the comments. I chose the 251s because they are such an "iconic" vehicle. I agree that the problem with markings is that they all appear the same but, IMO, the only markings that could be different are the divisional emblems. I personally don't mind the numberplates being the same (the 251/1 has a different number than the 251/10 BTW ). The tactical sign for an armoured infantry company would fit in well with pretty much an division as a generic marking, same with the balkenkreuze. There are however two things I'd like to do but they would mean changing the texture and the model to accommodate them. I'd like to add a balkenkreuze on the rear but the texture for each rear door is the same, left and right, and I'd also like to add a rear numberplate but the same is true.

Regarding the alpha channel, it was in my mind but slipped from mind, something that happens quite regularly with my 50-something mind . It is easily fixerd. I'll do it tonight. As far as other vehicles, I'll give them some thought.

Kind regards

Aces 

Edit: Just fixed the Alpha channel

[Kyth]

You could have the markings done in a separate .dds file and have them placed on the vehicle with an 'empty', without worrying about these problems,

I hope that doesn't sound like gibberish  I wrote a little bit more about it here:

http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=2369.15

[Aces]

Hi mate,

I need to look more at the tac marks stuff.

My problem is adding stuff in the objects editor, I have several new things for the 251 but every time I work with it it crashes so much that I can never get the new models in.

Thanks and regards

Aces

Edit, thanks for the info, sorry about the mini-rant but here's an example. I captured the 251 model a while back. Brought it into my editing prog, re-scaled it to get rid of the non-linear x and y stretching and then added an AA mg34 as a test. Exported it as a .x file. Brought it in to objects editor, all looked great. I re-named the groups (fragments) to match he exiting names. Now here's the problem I cannot get the .x conversion to bring in dummy groups and there's no way that I can see to make them in the objects editor. I can copy and paste dut there's no dummy to copy, patse and rename so, I abandoned this idea, brought the exiting 251 into objects editor and copied the mg34, the repostioned it etc and again all looked great, I didn't change one other single thing, howver, this crashe every time I try and use it in game. I dont use 3D Max and have to use a another program to import .obj and export .x for the editor and this won't include "blank" or dummy groups. I have several new things for the 251 but I'm getting to detest the objects editor. If I could create dummies in the editor then it would help.

Regards

Aces

[Kyth]

Have you tried copying the dummies from the old Sk251 model? (the fragments starting with 's_')

If you send me the '.go' file and let me know what dummies you need, I'll see what I can do,

[Aces]

Thanks mate,

Basically, I did the follwing,

I loaded the ne x file into the objects editor. This contains all the groups which I then renamed to match thhe corresponding fragment names in  the original. I tried to copy the dummies from one editor into the other but this didn't work and as my model desn't contain the dummies for postioning, smoke, tacmarks etc. etc. I couldn't copy and paste within the same occurence of the editor either. I will finish what I'm doing at present and send the .go file to you.

Am I correct in thinking that all the fragments that are not 3d groups are "dummies"?. If you could make a dummy from scratch in the editor or paste from the original model in one editor to another then this would "potentially" solve my problem.

What confused me the most was when I tried the other approach eg. copying the mg34 fragment and pasting and then re-positioning without changing enything else it crashed every time I loaded it into the game. I'd prefer "plan A" as I have changes to the model that I'd like to make so the best I can send is a .go file with the model and no dummies.

Regards and thanks

Aces