Faithless: The Making of an NWN2 Module

A few of the areas in Shattered Dreams were inspired by the Arizona desert, of which we gathered several photo references. Anduraga was not happy with the cliff textures that come with the game, so he requested that some new ones be done based on the Grand Canyon. I took a break from 3D modeling to try my hand at creating terrain textures. It wasn’t easy for me to find information on the image files that comprise them, so Dirtywick passed me information that he found at the Rogue Dao website . When I was done, I quickly assembled a test module to see how my cliff textures look in the game. I rather like the way the textures turned out. I created two cliff textures that can actually be used together fairly seamlessly even at 100% pressure. The landscape shown here won’t appear in Shattered Dreams, by the way. This area is strictly for testing purposes. Besides, this place is decidedly less grand than the canyon that inspired it. Hopefully, our area designers can make better use of the t...

In my last blog post, I showcased a creature model wearing rusty metal armor. In the process of texturing the model, I figured out a few techniques for achieving the surface look that I wanted. In this blog post, I explain the process of creating the rusty metal look. This tutorial assumes that you have the following software: An image editor that can handle layers and channels such as Photoshop or Gimp as well as a plugin for converting image files to normal maps. I use Photoshop, but the operations explained here can also be done in Gimp, albeit with different commands. 3D Modeling software that can import and export MDB files such as 3DS Max with Tazpn’s MDB plugin The tutorial also assumes that you already know the basics of normal and diffuse mapping and that the model you’re working on already has a UV map in place. The tutorial also assumes that you know how to use your software. I won’t explain how to create alpha channels or how to set overlay layers. When you’re ready, do the...

Three weeks. That’s how long I’ve been working on this armored creature model. I estimate that the model is about eighty percent done, which for all intents and purposes means that it’s completely done. Everything else amounts to patching flaws here and there that most players probably won’t even notice in the heat of battle. Discerning players may catch these flaws if they pause the game and scrutinize the creature in various stages of animation, but I’m hoping that most won’t bother. When I envisioned this model, little did I realize what sort of hardships I’d undergo to create it. The entire mesh is composed of smaller meshes representing different armor parts – the breastplate, gardbrace, rerebrace, couter, tuille, and many other strange-sounding accessories that I won’t bother to list. The high-poly version of these armor parts are difficult to make because of the complex details in their design. Many of these components overlap other parts, so I have to make sure that no polygon ...

It’s actually been a hard two weeks for me. I’ve been busy constructing a highly detailed mesh of the knight that I featured in my last blog post. Along the way, I made several changes over its original concept art. This is especially evident in the creature’s helmet. The one that I initially designed looked rather prosaic to me. I wanted a helmet that was more intimidating. Since Chaos Wielder and I had emailed each other recently about our drawing inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, I thought of giving the helmet that calamari look that’s so in vogue among eldritch horrors. When I showed my work in progress to Dirtywick, he suggested adding horns to the helmet. I was skeptical at first, thinking that horns might detract from the helm’s cephalopod look, but it looked quite nice when I stuck them on. Of course, the helmet wasn’t the only thing I worked on. I’ve tweaked, enhanced, or replaced every part of the model except for its head, which is now barely visible behind the helmet. Below ...

Having finished the “dog” model that I featured in my last blog post, I immediately proceeded to construct the knight depicted in the sketch to the right. I soon found that making a high-poly armor mesh takes tons of work. I feel that despite having paid a lot of attention to the details on the armor, they still aren’t good enough. In particular, the armor on the hips, limbs, and feet need more moving parts or decorative ridges. I also have to make a helmet for this dude. I could spend another week just improving the model. On the other hand, this mesh is better than anything I’ve created previously. I told my wife as much, and she said that my subsequent meshes are bound to be better than the one I’m currently working on. She’s right of course.