[By reading this tutorial you agree that you will not copy, duplicate, quote more then 2 sentences, or modify this tutorial in any way without my (obliviron)'s permission.
I am not responsible for any damage this will do to your maps, if any.]
This tutorial shows the user how to create a sun.
Final Product (The Sun):
1 - Go to the Data Editor > Actors. Left click anywhere within the actor location bar and select "Add Object". Make sure your settings are the same as below.
If you can't see it, make sure the settings are Actor Type: DOODAD, and do not change the Based On value.
(You can click on the image to make it larger)
2 - Go to tab view (AKA have table view deselected). Then go to Art > Model and set the model to ShapeSphere. This is what you should have by now.
(Again, click on the image to make it larger)
3 - However, this does not look much like a sun. So select the doodad and hit enter, and change the settings to the following:
(And once again, click on it to make it larger)
Tick custom color on, set the color to a yellow you like (Mine is the top left bright yellow). Set HDR multiplier to something that looks good, around 2 - 8. Too low will make the image look like a normal sphere, and too high will make the image too bright.
There's your final product. I've found several other uses for this, see if you can figure em out.
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial, leave feedback and tell me what to improve!
Wait, could you make planets with this procedure? It would be glowing, but that's the atmosphere...
[edit] and why do you have to make a new object?
Yes, you could (I'm using this method to create uniquely generated stars).
You don't have to make a new object, but it's safer and just as fast. You could, however, just change the model of any doodad actor to ShapeSphere, and it would give you the same effect (Assuming the actor has no variations).
He made a new object because the shapes are under units, so you can't do as many adjustments to it in the terrain editor. Such as changing its flying height. This is pretty neat, I knew that it was possible, but I didn't think it would turn out any good. Thanks for sharing. =d
Set HDR multiplier to something that looks good, around 2 - 8. Too low will make the image look like a normal sphere, and too high will make the image too bright.
Interesting, maybe someone can make a space map with actual Stars and Solar systems, focusing on stuff like EVE?
It'll be funny if the game does have temperatures and getting too close to the sun means you get burnt!
If you plan on using this method to make stars, you should use a custom model with a VERY low polygon count so people don't end up with performance issue. A couple hundred of stars made from the regular model could be devastating to performance.
If you plan on using this method to make stars, you should use a custom model with a VERY low polygon count so people don't end up with performance issue. A couple hundred of stars made from the regular model could be devastating to performance.
Wouldn't a mid-game army in Starcraft 2 have significantly more ploy's? I mean, a marine probably has more poly's than one of these suns.
Now, having fifty stars or so (I doubt there being a couple hundred starts, but perhaps a couple hundred planets...) won't take much, then you still got the fleets on top of that... But such maps in WC3 didn't seem like they were really laggy, and SC2's engine is supposed to be optimized for high poly amounts and lots of units on the screen at any given moment in time.
Sphere is one poly (central point, or maybe the two linkers up and below). I may be wrong, since i've modeled very little. The only thing that might cause lag is the hdr, but it runs fine with around 100+ small stars on my game at ultra.
A Sphere is actually one of the least poly-intensive shapes to 3D Generate.
Allow me to demonstrate:
High Poly: 960 Polygons
Low Poly: 120 Polygons... Left is Smooth, right is Un-smoothed...
Zealot: (For Comparison) 2823 Polygons...
The only problem... graphically speaking... would be that HDR multipliers are graphically intensive and i think are only rendered well on High to Ultra settings... :) nice tut.
First off, the copyright + disclaimer:
[By reading this tutorial you agree that you will not copy, duplicate, quote more then 2 sentences, or modify this tutorial in any way without my (obliviron)'s permission.
I am not responsible for any damage this will do to your maps, if any.]
This tutorial shows the user how to create a sun. Final Product (The Sun):
http://forums.sc2mapster.com/development/terrain/12154-terrain-valley/#p6
1 - Go to the Data Editor > Actors. Left click anywhere within the actor location bar and select "Add Object". Make sure your settings are the same as below.
If you can't see it, make sure the settings are Actor Type: DOODAD, and do not change the Based On value.
(You can click on the image to make it larger)
2 - Go to tab view (AKA have table view deselected). Then go to Art > Model and set the model to ShapeSphere. This is what you should have by now.
(Again, click on the image to make it larger)
3 - However, this does not look much like a sun. So select the doodad and hit enter, and change the settings to the following:
(And once again, click on it to make it larger)
Tick custom color on, set the color to a yellow you like (Mine is the top left bright yellow). Set HDR multiplier to something that looks good, around 2 - 8. Too low will make the image look like a normal sphere, and too high will make the image too bright.
There's your final product. I've found several other uses for this, see if you can figure em out. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial, leave feedback and tell me what to improve!
@obliviron: Go
Wait, could you make planets with this procedure? It would be glowing, but that's the atmosphere...
[edit] and why do you have to make a new object?
Yes, you could (I'm using this method to create uniquely generated stars). You don't have to make a new object, but it's safer and just as fast. You could, however, just change the model of any doodad actor to ShapeSphere, and it would give you the same effect (Assuming the actor has no variations).
@Mr12toe: Go
He made a new object because the shapes are under units, so you can't do as many adjustments to it in the terrain editor. Such as changing its flying height. This is pretty neat, I knew that it was possible, but I didn't think it would turn out any good. Thanks for sharing. =d
Thanks for the news vjeux!
Moved to Tutorials.
Cool stuff!
How do you make it glow?
@Twiebs: Go
HDR setting
Interesting, maybe someone can make a space map with actual Stars and Solar systems, focusing on stuff like EVE? It'll be funny if the game does have temperatures and getting too close to the sun means you get burnt!
If you plan on using this method to make stars, you should use a custom model with a VERY low polygon count so people don't end up with performance issue. A couple hundred of stars made from the regular model could be devastating to performance.
Nice! Now I'll just need to figure out how to texture them... I'll leave that to other people though :P. (I'm no custom modeller anyways).
Wouldn't a mid-game army in Starcraft 2 have significantly more ploy's? I mean, a marine probably has more poly's than one of these suns.
Now, having fifty stars or so (I doubt there being a couple hundred starts, but perhaps a couple hundred planets...) won't take much, then you still got the fleets on top of that... But such maps in WC3 didn't seem like they were really laggy, and SC2's engine is supposed to be optimized for high poly amounts and lots of units on the screen at any given moment in time.
@vadremix: Go
Sphere is one poly (central point, or maybe the two linkers up and below). I may be wrong, since i've modeled very little. The only thing that might cause lag is the hdr, but it runs fine with around 100+ small stars on my game at ultra.
In game there are no polygons, only triangles and quads, so rendring sphere will take a lot time.
A Sphere is actually one of the least poly-intensive shapes to 3D Generate.
Allow me to demonstrate:
High Poly: 960 Polygons
Low Poly: 120 Polygons... Left is Smooth, right is Un-smoothed...
Zealot: (For Comparison) 2823 Polygons...
The only problem... graphically speaking... would be that HDR multipliers are graphically intensive and i think are only rendered well on High to Ultra settings... :) nice tut.
@Nardival: Go
Damn, didn't know. I have a mediocre computer that renders the spheres with hdr fine.