Creating a new Terran planet, and in need of modding advice.

if you don't see any, then make one

Yeah, good idea.  But having looked at the 2 Terran textures, it seems like it takes some skilled artwork. Which I lack. lol  Maybe there's a guide somewhere with which I can make realistic looking continents and oceans...

Thanks for your idea.  If anyone else has any input, it would be greatly appreciated!

Their was a mod that had every planet in the solar system, with the texturing from NASA photos. You could probably just take the texture on that and use it as a third one. Also a lot of mods have more specialized terran planets like forest or what not, but their textures could probably be used as well if you really just wanted a lot of variation in the terran planets. Also I believe all of the planets have just two textures...

Thanks GoaFan77 for your advice.  As a matter of fact, I do have that mod.  I think it's called Celestial Bodies.

Well, for the last couple of days I've created a new terran texture.  I used a Photoshop plugin called LunarCell.  You may have heard of it.  It's a plugin that allows you to create your own "maps": continents, oceans, and color schemes.  Here's a bitmap of the texture so far.  Click on it for increased detail.  I am amazed at how detailed the continents are.

By the way, it is the same size as the other planet textures (the canvas of my texture is the same size as the Terran01 canvas). 

I have a couple of questions too.

1) Obviously, this texture isn't like the other planet textures.  This one I've made isn't shaped in a cross.  Does it need to look like a cross? If so, how would I go about doing that?

2) This texture does not have an Alpha Channel.  Should it?  If so, how would I go about adding that?

Thanks for your time!

wow XRapter, this is a neat program, just from reading the instruction that came with it. Wow

Yeah, it sure is cool!  Making that texture took no time at all.

To see if my texture looked good on a sphere, I loaded up 3DS Max and created a sphere with 100 segments.  I then applied my bitmap to it.  Below are the rendered results.  Click on them to see more detail.  Without clouds, atmospheric glow, or ocean detail, the planet looks pretty basic.  But those details can be added later.

Surprisingly, the texture seamlessly fit on the sphere!  Here's a picture of the largest continent, with a nice view of the north pole.

And here's a close-up shot of the other side of the planet.  See how detailed the coastlines, small islands, and terrains are?

And here are two more pictures of the poles.  The first one is the south pole, and the second the north pole.  These are just to show you how the texture fit together at the top and bottom of the planet.

It was shocking that such a rectangular texture could fit so perfectly to this sphere.  Actually, this planet is a bit like earth, since this planet is slightly flatter than a perfect sphere.

I have a feeling that if I apply this texture to a SINS mesh file, the poles would be distorted.  This would be because my texture is not in a cross form.  Are the mesh files in SINS designed only to fit cross-shaped textures?  

If so, could I make my own sphere in 3DS Max, apply to that sphere the texture I've made, and load the completed planet into SINS?  How would I go about doing that?  Would I have to convert my 3D model to a mesh or something?

Can anyone help me with my questions here?  I'm really eager to get this in my game!

no extremely awesome artwork necessary...if you need some help, you pm me, or look at the texture files on the planets XRaptor321.  sorry if my first post came of as cras, i was trying to be encouraging

Thanks for your reply!

I have seen the planet textures that come with SINS.  They're in a "cross" shape, and I understand why. Circles are stamped out of the top &  bottom squares of the cross, and they become the poles.  The horizontal part of the cross wraps around the planet. 

For all I know, I'm doing this all wrong.  Maybe I can't use a non-cross texture.  Maybe I can't use a texture with no alpha channel (and I don't even know what an alpha channel is or how to create an alpha channel).  Maybe I can't make my own sphere and import that into SINS.

So many questions remain...

btw both of those are allowed, you can use cross texturing on alpha channels, what program are you using to change the planets?

I don't quite get what you are saying, dresda.  All I want to find out is this:

1) How do I make an alpha channel for my new texture so that it will work in SINS?

2) Will my texture work, even though it isn't in a cross shape?

3) Could I make my own sphere in 3DS Max, apply my custom non-cross-shaped texture to that sphere, and load the completed planet into SINS? 

I use the LunarCell plugin in Photoshop to make the textures, and 3DS Max to make my planet models.  I also use 3DS Max to apply the texture to the model.

hi, dont know if this will help any but here goes...

http://so.tudou.com/isearch.do?kw=SOFTIMAGE+XSI+UV+Layout+in+XSI

a few video lessons on uv mapping for textures i was and am having problems too so i found these.

good luck!

ds

Thank you so much xxx_diresaint_xxx!  I am very familiar with UV Mapping and I found your video tutorials very helpful.

As you can see from the pictures in above posts, the texture fits perfectly with my sphere.  No matter what size the sphere is, the texture's quality remains perfect. So I am having no UV Mapping issues.

Any answers to my questions in above posts would be greatly appreciated.  I know it is possible to put my custom planet into SINS.  I just don't know how.

ok just to recap you want to know how to export it into XSI?

you need to export it from 3DS into a format XSI Modtool can read then you need to open that file in XSI have you tried using XSI Modtool?

i wrote something to help someone else a long time ago but i found it and am going to repost it below if you need more help pm me and ill try to hellp.

----- repost -----

I know I'm being really simplistic but I'm writing this for not only you but anyone else that may be having problems.

ok here we go...

first I'm going to show you where I have everything necessary on my pc It may be something as simple as that.

my xsi modtool is installed at...

C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool

when I tried to import your xsi file off my desktop It wouldnt find the file so I had to place it inside the installed directory which for me was...

C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool\Addons\ModTool\Noesis_QS_Database\xsi\MirandaMkII.xsi

I created the xsi folder feel free not to do that but if you are importing files a lot you may wish to do it to keep things clean.

now that we have all that settled on to how I fixed it...

with your XSI 6 modtool open click...

File/Import/dotXSI  << - or whatever file you exported from in 3DS - >>

this will pop open a window called ".xsi Import Options" which has a few check boxes I have the first 4 checked and the last 2 unchecked because I tried it and it worked.

click OK and a new window will come up called "Import .xsi -please refer to the user guide" I never have but I assume its neat.

mine always defaults to the wrong place so I navigate to the correct location here is where it defaults to maybe i should have put it here huh?

C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool\Addons\ModTool_Database\dotXSI

so I go to...

C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool\Addons\ModTool\Noesis_QS_Database\xsi\

pick the model you need which in our case is...

MirandaMkII.xsi << - or whatever you named your file  - >>

then click OK and mine pops in perfectly!

now for the fun stuff..

the first thing I notice is its absolutely tiny! so im going to scale this sucker up.

***** at this point I would like to admit I use the default view of XSI which is found along the top under...

Modes/Mod Tool

if you use another way it may make my references obsolete. *****

ok back to it... I default to the lavender layout if its not lavender change it in the upper left hand corner by clicking on the lavender button it has a real name but i like to call it lavender mode!

NOW, first make sure your model is selected then as i said the model is tiny so I'm going to upscale this ship by clicking on the scale button along the top under transform or just press x.

now that we have done that along the right hand side near the top under transform you will see the first three have values of 1.

I'm going to change them to 6 after that your going to need to zoom out a ways cuse its big now!

second thing I noticed is that your going to have a sideways flying ship if we dont orientate it correctly, there may be other ways to do this but this is how I do it.

right next to the transform button there is another button click it or press "c" and you can rotate it any way you want.

now you have a row of 3 "0's" x,y,z. under the numbers you just changed you can type 90 into the y value or just mess with the rotation icon and hope you get it right. LMAO!

<< - note: if you have the 4 window view open the lower left is front view if your mesh is not facing front in that view your mesh is going to face the wrong direction in game. - >>

now we have it ready to go for this particulare model we have nothing else that needs to be changed as far as i can see.

before we do anything else I want to freeze this model as is, to do that click the button that says Transform ( above the 6's )...

Transforms/Freeze all Transforms

or just press "f" I believe, now your 6's are all 0's and your 90 has vanished because now this is the default scale and rotation for this model.

this would be a good time to save.

ok thought this entire thing your model should have been selected you can tell because it has a white wire frame work on it.

if it hasn't been you messed up and may need to redo any or all of these steps.

next lets export this baby!

with is still selected click...

file/Export/dotXSI

this will open .xsi Export Options

here are the tricky parts.

first name the model I dont know if its really needed here but I do it.

my name will be all lower case as all of mine are...

miranda_mkii2 << - or your meshes name - >>

next I leave the format Ascii and make sure the version is 3.6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if its not you autofail hardcore!

next i dont know if it mater's but I un-check animations and leave everything else as is!

click OK. I always export to my desktop so click the up button until you get there and then rename the file again...

miranda_mkii2 as opposed to what it is called by default "polymesh".

click ok and your done!

next move your new miranda_mkii2.xsi file to your ConvertXSI folder which is what I will expand on next!


I have installed convertxsi at...

C:\ConvertXSI

in this folder you should have 4 files and they are:

msvcr80.dll

XSIFtk.dll

XSIFtkd.dll

ConvertXSI.exe

now I always put my exported xsi file in there making it 5 files lets call mine miranda_mkii2.xsi

ok so your first cmd line should look thus...

C:\Documents and Settings\hp_owner>cd C:\ConvertXSI

hit enter and it looks like this...

C:\ConvertXSI>

now i put convertxsi.exe miranda_mkii2.xsi miranda_mkii2.mesh --nooptimize in the mix...

C:\ConvertXSI>convertxsi.exe miranda_mkii2.xsi miranda_mkii2.mesh --nooptimize

which will make the following file called...

miranda_mkii2.mesh

and add it to your folder making the file count 6.

once again overly detailed but hey I don't want to miss anything.

----- end repost -----

if anything is unclear due to this not being written for your plroblem please let me know!


ds

Thanks a ton!!

I'm going to walk through your tutorial and see where I end up.  I love the idea of using this program.  I found it on the Autodesk website, and it's called Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 6.  I will also have to apply a few patches to it, which are also available along with the Mod Tool.

So...what exactly happens when I'm through with this tutorial?  Will my sphere be a .mesh file that I can use in SINS?  And how will I apply my custom terran texture to this .mesh file?

essentially yes, i found some videos on uv mapping that are helping me with mapping your textures to meshes and ill work on a simple tutorial to that end as well just in case you have any problems.

here is the post i made about the videos i found...

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/358279

hope it helps.

ds

i was just messing with your texture in xsi and the only problem i have with it is that your poles are getting some pinching when applied with the uv's i would recoment you ake the polar caps bigger or make them ocean so that the terrain doesnt look so badly... other than that tiny problem it looks really good in xsi.

the only thing i can think of is if you can do a top and bottom shot in the program you created the image in and we can use a second and even a thir texture to make the polar caps look good without altering your original image.

ds

well since im messing with a planet i figured id try for a shattered moon since i know ive seen it requested a number of times so here it is...

now to see if i can export it into sins correctly lol.

and here it is!

I have been trying to follow your tutorial and it's difficult for me to follow.

I don't know how to edit my texture so that the poles can seam together at the top/bottom of my sphere.  You mention that I should make more textures to make the poles look good.  But I don't know how I can do that without altering the texture itself.  

Also, what about an Alpha Channel?  Is an Alpha Channel on my texture necessary? 

Hey again.  I've been away from this thread for a while and I'm trying another shot at it.

Any new advice here? 

Can anyone help me out here?