EGGs Prop Party

    • Thanks! :)
      As with most things, the particle effect for the gas cylinder explosion could change later. It currently uses a common explosion particle that's used with other explosives.
      So it's possible a more unique one could be made eventually. It's just extremely low priority right now.
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • Sure, didn´t mean sound like you SHOULD improve it, just asking out of general curiosity. And they dont look bad, actually they look quite good as long as player doesn´t move. There´s this flickering disturbance when player turns and the sprite textures turns over each other. Don´t know if I explained it right, I´m not an expert on this stuff...

    • JamaicanDave wrote:

      I find these dev blogs pretty interesting reading and love what you guys are doing.

      Just wondering whats the difference between tints and skins for the props?
      Glad you enjoy it :)

      I talk about tints in this post a bit: EGGs Prop Party
      But to reiterate, a skin is an actual texture map for the prop, which has it's color and other details already defined.
      The tint feature is not a skin. It allows level designers to apply any color (tint) they want, to the props skin to change it's appearance as they see fit.
      So rather than creating a skin for every single color imaginable, which would take thousands of hours and require a ungodly amount of disk space, we can just make one skin that is designed to function well with the tint options.

      The metal crates in the last post, for example, only use 1 skin. But as you can see I posted a in-game screenshot where one set has green tinted trim and the other has black. I also posted a render showing what it looks like without any tint.
      Same thing with all the gas cylinders. The explosive ones only use 2 different skins, but I have many different colors being used by the tint feature.
      Hope this explains it :)
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • Ah yes, if I'd thought about tints and skins a bit more I probably should have worked that out. Thanks.
      I do like the fact you guys are trying to make a lot of the props modular sets. It should certainly make mappers lives easier and is something I wish Black Mesa had done.

    • Hey everyone!

      Christmas is closely approaching, so I figured I'd show you a handful of the props I've created recently.

      To make it easier to view I placed a few of them in the same render scene.
      In the render below, you can see a new file cabinet, a paper hole-puncher, a binder rack, a manilla folder, a name plaque (tintable), a book stopper, and various books that are all tintable and that can be placed separately or in pre-configured collections.



      Other than working on props to decorate our office spaces with, I've also spent some time working on a ceiling mounted fire sprinkler system.
      The models are all individual/fully modular and rely on the tint feature for their color.

      Below you can see a small example of some of the props included in the fire sprinkler set, with some of the main color schemes.




      That's it for this little post. But I've already got plenty more to show you in future updates. So stay tuned and have a merry Christmas and happy holidays!
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • Hey Half-Lifers!

      Some of my props were displayed with the recent June 2019 update, so I figured I'd show 'em off here with a few more images and some details about them that you may find interesting.

      Up first are the rollup door models.
      These bad boys are fully modular, as most of my props are. They also make use of the prop tinting feature, which allows level designers to easily change their color scheme to match the environment.
      There are 3 different sizes for the set, as well as a few different door sizes to allow for different door positions - ie fully closed, partially open, fully open, etc.
      I've also included world textures for the door so level designers can use world brushes if they encounter a scenario where a world brush would work better than a model.

      Here's some fancy renders of the most common color combinations:








      To get a better look at how modular this set is, here's a view in Hammer of the models (untinted), which include:
      -Inner frame
      -Outer frame
      -Door base
      -Door (model or brush)
      -Rollup cylinder mechanism
      -Optional metal sign




      Renders are nice and all, but for a more accurate view, here are some screenshots from a dev map showing them a bit more accurately:









      Up next are the electrical boxes.

      These were posted on moddb, rather than on the forum post.




      There are a total of 10 models in the set:
      -6 large boxes
      -2 small boxes
      -power handle
      -handle guard

      The models rely on the tint feature for their color. There are 2 primary tints recommended, while allowing for small deviations in color to better match specific environments.
      The small boxes have a skin with and without a warning label.
      The power handle is designed so that it be be static or functional.

      Although they can be used independently or in groups of various formations, they are best complimented by using my electrical conduit models to connect them with each other and the surrounding environment.




      That's gonna be it for this quick and small update. Hope you all enjoyed the extra bit of information about the props!
      See you next time!
      Senior Level Designer | Environment Artist @ Operation Black Mesa & Guard Duty | My Website

    • Would actually be cool if you could make those roller shutters in an interactive version too (that can be opened/closed in-game) via a trigger. Might even be the best to make the model to work like an actual real roller shutter with linked long shapes that are actually rolled onto and off the roller via pre-rendered animations to make it ultra-realistic, with even the movement of the individual door parts and also the bend near the roller :)

      So it could also be used in a situation where the player must use a button or similiar to open the shutter, but also situations where the player must solve a puzzle to enable a access panel or card reader or similiar.

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