Advanced Brushwork Mini-Compos Created 18 years ago2006-07-06 16:53:13 UTC by rowleybob

i'm ever listening.

congrats, the site looks sexier then most.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing when i read the news. But does anyone have the original sized trophies (because I don't) or do i have to make a 2007 edition?

Sweet! Is this what you need:

http://rowleybob.googlepages.com/awardswhite.bmp

?

Or if you want to totally redesign from scratch, go 4 it!!!

naw i'll just use those.

thanks for posting them.

The shiny stuff I found out how to do gif transparency, is there anything i should fix?

...and should the 20^2 icons have a 1 or 2 on them to tell them apart, the special and second look alike...

EDIT: holy crap that would be rather ironic if i got the conribution trophy because i designed the contribution trophy. lol.

Friggin' awsome!!!!

I found out how to do gif transparency, is there anything i should fix?

If you think the current profile awards need reworking--see above--, then go for it. I think they look ok but you are a professional

If I have to edit, how do I preserve the gif transparency?--could never figure that out myself :

I think the icons look great as is. Only the silver and special contribution look similar, and since the SC award won't be given out too often, it shouldn't be a problem imo.

Thank you!!1

yeah, here's a quick run-down.

GIFs are indexed with 256. If your using Photoshop, go to Mode > Index. Some options will appear. There is an option for Transparency underneath the Forced dropdown (forces those colors to the pallette anyways) Click OK. Now select the parts you want transparent and delete them so the white and grey checker pattern shows through. After that, save it as a CompuServe GIF.

the SC award is exactly 100 px tall. that could get cramped if you want to add text, which I'll leave mostly to you.

Do you think we should make it taller than the standard ones?

edit: I think it looks neat being bigger than the standard ones.

I'm going to update the BMHL awards right now.

I updated the original trophies and allocated some space for text (60px by 120px)i might participate in one of these compos next time. after the site is fully functioning of course.

Anything else just ask.

The site is pretty complete for what it is. It's really just a place to showcase compos past/present, and relate limited news. I don't envision it ever having any database stuff or interactivity. At the most, maybe a shoutbox, and I don't even know if that involves DBs or not, but probably--Zombie?

I hope you join in the compos! #10 will be up in a day or so.

Your awards are wickedly wicked! Now we have standard profile awards!! I'll work on adding text to them all and posting them so all our profiles look uniform!

Thanks again Rimrook!!!

You should put those trophies in a box with a nice border or something so that they can be anti-aliased(at the cost of losing transparency of course). Transparent gifs are a bitch, me thinks.

I'll definitely take part in the next mini compo. I've been waiting for it.

[b]Breaking News LULZ!!1~[/b]

a, winning the last competition, is taking the option to facilitate the next comp!!1~ (We really need to come up with a nickname for you a... your name is far from unambiguous!

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Minicompo #10: Build a Car

It can be any car you want. Make it detailed and without errors. Not building the interior will will result in a serious point deduction. (a: I deleted your PM before I realized I was deleting the rules to the compo! Please make any corrections for me, and I'll update the Compo 10 rules in here and on the website.)

Standard Rules Apply.

And as per the new standard rules, this compo will last for two weeks--14 February--, or when at least 5 entries are recieve. As always, any overflow--above 5--entries present in the thread will be accepted at the time of closing.

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If you haven't already, check out the new website ZombieLoffe made for us! If you have suggestions on how the site could be better, please let us know here in the thread!

And lastly but not leastly, award updates!

Rimrook has redone the awards for our profile pages and the website so they look prettier, and are one standard size. I'll edit them all, and post them up in here to replace your current profile awards in a little while.

I'm also going to resize/alter the minimark award Tetsu0 built for us, so you can all update those too!

WCD: The Gif transparency isn't really crucial--you can just cut it out and match the background color without much trouble--, but it certainly makes it easier! What do you mean by ant-aliased?

Get Mapping Bitches!!~

Here's the updated awards:The first set 3 awards are the newly scaled standard awards, recently rescaled by Rim. The little one next to it is the most recent size we've been using (for comparison).

The next set are Tetsu0's new minimark--which he made in Hammer! To reiterate, minimarks are given as paricipatory commendations for entering compos, but they're also given for contributions such as judging, creating content for the site, or if you have really big boobs.

I rescaled them to be bigger, enough to accomadate a label (so you know what you got one for). I'm still not sure how to label these. The first award would just be a commendation for joining the Kitchen compo, but not placing. The second labeled "contributor" would be recieved for judging or some other, but there's a problem: for what? and for what compo?

This leads to the next two that don't have labels, but just numbers. The first numbered minimark would signify participating in compo #9--kitchen--, and the second would signify being a contributor in some way to compo 9--probably judging.

Maybe a combination of these would be in order? What do you think?

And finally, the Special Contribution award. It's oddly sized, but I like that because it stands out. These are given for only once in a while for huge contributions, like ZombieLoffe Deisigning/coding the website! What do you think?

Please give me some feedback on this stuff, so I can standardize it, and make the appropriate awards for everybody. This way, they'll all share the consistent uniformity goodness!

Eventually, maybe we'll add an awards tab to the page, and show user/award clusters or something, as well as explaining what the awards signify to the n00bs.

Check out my profile to see what the awards look like in real-life!

Ok, car compo it is. But... what about car textures? I can't make them... :S
I can only make the Black Mesa SUV. :/

There's also that jeep/truck thing that doesn't resemble any real military vehicle... Then again, if we're going to be detailing stuff, we can always just use other textures that weren't originally used for cars, right? I mean, handles and door outlines are like the only things you gain by using those prefab car textures. That, and a highly reduced polygon count, which wouldn't be an incentive for this application.

However, it should be known I'm not entering this minicompo. I just have way too many other projects to work on, and I even promised to make a map for the official TWHL competition.

Your only limited by the limits you impose on yourself!

I'm going to try a combination of the original textures and some of my own. Most of the HL textures are usable for 1000 other things besides for which they were originally intended!

Muzz: You're telling me you can texture those V shuttles--I see you updated it!--, and that orbiter, and you can't make textures for a little car?! Sorry if I don't believe you!

Srry: :'( ' ' '

the top is chopped off the new trophy.

Ok im going to get bashed...

and that orbiter

The Orbiter is made with HL textures, the NASA logo and USA flag came from wikipedia. I didn't made the ET and the SRB textures.

And those Shuttle Craft textures are just plain white, add Visitor logo, apply noise. Everyone can do that.

Penguin: I didn't turn off anit-aliasing... doh! I'm redoing them now.

Muzz: Touch?!

edit: there. the above awards should be fixed now--antialiasing when pasting was borking them.

I'm having a hard time figuring what kind of car to make... maybe something futuristic like this:

Or maybe just a tow truck :

Enter "car" in google images and voila. ^^

I'm going to build a Viper
Will the environment affect the judging, or is it completely judged on the car?

hnmm, yet another I win!

Remember my brushworked HL2 Helicopter for HL1?

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?action=viewthread&str=HL2+Helicopter+HL1&type=1&pg=1&id=8916

I PWN!~

That would be a perfect entry if it we're a car Unbreakable! Does this mean you're joining the minicompo?

WCD: I'm not judging, but I would say that first and foremost, the structure, detail, and realism of your car will hold the greatest weight, making everything else secondary. (a: would you agree?)

That said, the environment, textures, sounds, etc all add to the immersion of the map, so adding a nice environment can't hurt, but can only help you

I found this blueprints page doing a quick google search (many more out there, prolly). Should be useful for Minicompo 10.

@Pepper: If you're listening, maybe you could post some more blueprints links, since I know how much you like modelling cars!

Since you're good at brushwork too, maybe this compo is right up your alley?

Row, check this out:

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images//large/07pd0143.jpg
Dude!

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images//large/07pd0012.jpg
Oh teh detail of it!

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images//large/07pd0201.jpg
That right there, is pretty much impossible to make out of brushes in HL... Perhaps model based would do it but it would be one hell of a job...

More here, if you're interested: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=71

Now thats what i call reference photo's!

AMAZING BRUSHWORK, MUZZ! HOW DID J00 DO IT??!?!

Perhaps a combination of textures and models. Rimrook would be the authority for both of these incidentally!

Making parts models wouldn't be that hard, like the lattice work, and even modelling the whole thing wouldn't be that bad, but aligning the materials might be another story--at least for me!

Once again, the updated awards:Some feedback would be nice before I edit them all and create award clusters for everyone's profile (I'd rather not have to do it twice!).

So, if i don't hear anything, i'll assume they're ok

Worlf Crafter: the car is the main focus, environment could be anything for what I care: no points awarded/deducted for the environment: so - dont worry about it

Also, car can be from any era: past, present, or indeed future - so you do have quite a large scope to work withing - do enjoy

Damn guys! I leave this thread for half a year and it's still going strong when I get back hahaha

And just where have you been, infidel?

Here's my first car screen:

This is WAY too much fun! As soon as I get the scale right, I'll start rounding th edges, building the inside, and of course detailing!

It's gonna take a LONG time to do everything I want to do, probably--hopefully not though!

http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=4408

The link (finally) to Kitchen compo hosted within TWHL - sorry for the tremendous delay

You know what looks good? flip-up headlights: why do so few cars have them nowadays!

Aesthetics much?

Here's the beginning of my Viper. Its probably not even worth posting, but what the hell.
48 units wide.

The entire thing will be built without ever leaving the 1-unit grid.

Aren't some of those solids invalid? You should always cut them diagonally if you are going to do tricky VM.

I check after every vertex change. They're all valid.
Edit: God I'm so pumped for this! This will be amazing!

Im glad to have produced a topic that has sparked so much talent and enjoyment

WCD: I agree with Kasperg. Even if your not getting the "invalid solid" error, those structures could potentially produce a slew of leaf face errors.

When building stuff like that nowadays, I use dispacement structues to to anything fancy like that. That is, I stick to building the thing out of a mass of 4-sided spikes, and then null every face exept the outside ones. (you can easily get leaf face errors with brushes 5-faces and above.)

It takes more time, but oddly enough all the additional brushes don't seem to raise wpolys a huge amount. Plus, it's virtually impossible to get errors doing it that way!

If you're not sure what I mean, I can post an example.

can't wait to test-drive your entry btw!!1~

Im going away for three days starting tommorow: Ill answer any questions at that point: then im off for one day, and away for another one - so, I appologise in advance for my absence - mind you, hopefully this business deal will secure logistics throughout Europe which means we dont have to spend a fortune on big Antanov transport planes. Im off for the following week though: so, i hope to get lots of random mapping done - cya all soon

PS - its possible i might be able to get internet access at the hotel in London, its likely - so, i might be on occasionally - no promises though...

Finally got the scale right, and now the fun of rounding and detailin!!1

I have to say this is just as fun as making plastic models when I was really young... except it's more so because you're building all the pieces!

Also, I was complaining to myself how long it took to get th body shape right, and that you can't set a background pic in Hammer... until I realized, you could just texture a box behind the car to give you a similar effect! DOH! (I didn't think of this until the shape was done.)

I have to say this is just as fun as making plastic models when I was really young... except it's more so because you're building all the pieces!

...but you cant get high on the glue :<

No, but you can get high on life.

Always remember what Stay-Clean Stridey says, gang: Sniffing glue is BAAAD.

Yeah, air duster r superior!

I once got high on cleaning solvents used for preparing solders on electronic boards :P:D
(dont tell anybody)

PS - Nice car

7 days left Bitches!!1

Editor screen:

I could spend months detailing this, but I'm going to self-impose a deadline of another day or so to keep things reasonable

Anybody else WIPs in this besides me and Mr. Viper?

I think it's a fun idea and I think I should give it a try because I have made about two cars in my mapping life (I've actually made more podracers than cars).
I don't see it anywhere in the rules: Is there a size limit for the car? If someone were to make a rats-style map, the car could actually be more detailed (not that I'm going to do that).

The rules say "past, present, or future..," so I would say pods would be ok--if that was in fact what you wanted to do!

Also, nothing was clarified about scale, so a rats-style map would probably be ok too, but I'm not sure.

[wewt]Yay Kasperg r joining minicompos!! [/wewt]

damn, i saw this one waaay too late. Oh well, i'll try to get something done in the limited time.

Excellent ::rubs hands together:: Kasberg and The Hunter - this should be one hell of a turnout

God... I was looking for a new mod last Saturday and I decided to give Zombie Panic a shot. Now I've been hooked on ZP and hacking together custom models for it. I've only working on my Viper for 2 days so now I'm working my ass off to catch up. Hopefully I can still get done what needs to be done.