Post by Major Pain on Jan 18, 2015 17:17:58 GMT 1
Major Pain's Building Generator
Well I've been talking about the Building Generator for several years now... It is time to expand on this project, and perhaps hand if off to someone that really enjoys working on buildings.
Buildings can be time consuming, and take a lot of patience... but the rewards can be well worth it. Truth is, there are maybe 2 or 3 guys in this community that can create a new building from scratch... and perhaps another 5 or 6 that can remodel an existing one ----------- good ones I am talking about...
The very best I have seen at creating Buildings are truly masters. No, I'm not naming names... you know who they are, and if you don't... you need to read more.
About the Building Generator:
I started this project at a time when several of us were working on a new MOD. Well all the stuff for the MOD still exists, but the MOD does not. We just kept working along on it and team members began to drop out. Sound Familiar? That is just one of the things that makes it very difficult to complete a MOD.
I started this project at a time when several of us were working on a new MOD. Well all the stuff for the MOD still exists, but the MOD does not. We just kept working along on it and team members began to drop out. Sound Familiar? That is just one of the things that makes it very difficult to complete a MOD.
We needed a lot of Buildings, since nothing in the MOD was based on original objects. I created the Italian Building Set. It has been sitting in dust for a long time, only needing some finish work. The amount of time to create what I already produced was about 1 week... for over 50-60 buildings. And these were not created with the Building Generator... I used a primitive form of an assembly line that cranked out full building sides....already with the damage states. Yes I created that one two, but it was inferior... and I wanted something with more flexibility.
I use GIMP for about 75% of my art and graphics work. GIMP is very powerful for what it is.... and I decided to use it for the Basis for the Building Generator. I started with a few ideas left over from the Building Assembly Line... basically the Solid Walls and some of the details like doors, windows... roofs...
What I wanted was a way to create new textured walls on the fly, without having to look through hundreds of files. I created a Wall texture Form so I could grab textures and use an overlay that cut it out perfectly for GIMP. By doing this, I discovered I could load each of these wall textures on it's own layer, and turn it on or off with a simple mouse click.
I always knew GIMP used layers, but I pushed this to the limit, and it still has a lot of room to grow.
After creating several overlay builders for walls, windows, roofs, gables and facades, I found it easy to categorize the parts into a code so to speak. The Wall Textures are divided into Painted, Stone, Brick and Wood. I have developed around 50 of these, but installed 24 of the Walls into the Building Generator. The selection process was based on color and appearance, so only the best made it. And that was just on the left side, which is the side facing the sun...
On the right side, dark side, shadow side or whatever you want to call it.... it must be darker and it is at a 90 angle from the Left Side. So a completely different Wall Builder was needed... which was not that hard... But the textures must also be darker... but no too dark. What I found was almost everything used on the left could be used on the right (darker side)... but on this side, the details are less vivid so many textures seem to blend in.... so fewer are used... 13 in all.
On the right side, dark side, shadow side or whatever you want to call it.... it must be darker and it is at a 90 angle from the Left Side. So a completely different Wall Builder was needed... which was not that hard... But the textures must also be darker... but no too dark. What I found was almost everything used on the left could be used on the right (darker side)... but on this side, the details are less vivid so many textures seem to blend in.... so fewer are used... 13 in all.
Whatever you use on the first level of the building, you also must have for the second and third level and gables. This Generator will create up to a 3 Story building with a 45 degree sloped roof... which is much like a 4th story... So you can see how the number of Layers will quickly begin to increase.
There are 8 types of doors for left and right... 10 types of windows on the left, and 7 on the right... some can be used for all levels. I have not yet created Dormers, but it wouldn't be hard to do. There are 10 types of roofs, 5 types of window/front ledges, over 30 Gables Left and Right and around 20 Facades... for when you want a Something in front of the Roof Slope. There are Rain Gutters, Chimneys, Pipes and Business Signs. All of the parts needed to create a building are already in here.
But the Building Generator is far from Completed... matter of fact, it should never be completed since then number of details and parts is without limit.
And just today, I played with building Damage Overlays for the 2nd Building Stage. This has many possibilities, and I really think the potential is here to create all three stages. To create the final or 3rd damaged stage would require un-constructing the building to add the damaged parts... but this seems logical to me. Perhaps, this might actually need to be a second Generator because of the shear number of parts that would need to be reformed or damaged.
So my challenge to you guys is to take my challenge. If I don't pass this to others... it will mostly sit. It has a purpose and the idea can be expanded to fit the needs. Please someone that has a good eye for details... talk to me about taking this project over... maybe two or three of you might make it a team thing... and as you create new stuff... send it to the others...
I will not make this available to the public, or to so many people it is prostituted. I will only pass this to the guys that promise me they will created buildings and use this Generator. I don't care if you expand it beyond my original concept... I don't care if you create another Generator that has more flexibility...etc... as long as you do something with it for the community.
It does not serve a purpose if I give it to someone to play with and they soon get tired of it. I don't want people who just wish to play with it... I could put it on MediaFire if I wanted that. I want ARTISTS!
I'm sorry to place a condition on this, but we need Artist to build things... good quality objects... not just play with my tools. We need fresh minds to work out ways to make the game better than it has ever been. Otherwise it will get stale and rot. One of our reasons for the success we have enjoyed is the number of people who make stuff... We need more STUFF!
I'm sorry to place a condition on this, but we need Artist to build things... good quality objects... not just play with my tools. We need fresh minds to work out ways to make the game better than it has ever been. Otherwise it will get stale and rot. One of our reasons for the success we have enjoyed is the number of people who make stuff... We need more STUFF!
I really do not like to build 2D objects like buildings that much... so I'm hoping someone will take up my challenge and run with this.
The following will give you an idea of how the Building Generator works...
Thank you for Reading...
Thank you for Reading...
Major Pain
Note: I'm placing this Topic here with the intent of seeing this project grow. This Topic will serve as the Promotion of Buildings created in the Building Generator and a where the Creators can talk to the Community about the Project.