Concerning Dwarven Units

[Darkness_Light]

There seems to be a lack of dwarven units in your campaign (no offense intended). There's only:

Battle Golem
Assault Golem
Guardian Golem
Rifleman
Mortar Team
(Forgive me if I left any of the units out)

Will you add more dwarven units in chapter 4?

 

[Janne]

Considering to do so

We are considering to add dwarven units, but in the end it depends on whether we come up with new ones that complement the existing dwarven units well. Especially some new flying units are under consideration.

 

[GreyArchon]

Once I'm done with Thorp, I'll be totally free to do more dwarven units as well. And of course, my sexy dwarven paladin model is available.

 

[Darkness_Light]

That's good news, since I really like the dwarves.

 

[Janne]

Comments on the Dwarven Paladin Model

I looked in detail in the dwarven paladin model, and I have a few improvement suggestions for it.

1. I agree with the comments on the model forum that the head looks a bit odd. Not sure why, though. It might be better if the head were a little narrower (just a little) than now.

2. Overall, the size of the model should be about 80% of what it is now. I compared the model with the Mountain King's model, and with 80% size reduction they seem to be of about the same size.

3. The portrait of the model is missing. This is actually a severe problem, which dramatically reduces the usefulness of the model. If I'm not mistaken, there is a Portrait animation, which can be used to add a portrait to the model. Or then you can make a separate portrait model. But anyway, the paladin needs to have a portrait.

Otherwise the model looks really cool. Nice touch with the details like with the picture on the book.

 

[Janne]

Further remark

I might add that if the current shortcomings of the model are fixed (in particular, the portrait model), we might consider using it in the Dwarf Campaign scenarios as well. In that case, we would need dedicated versions for Theodin Rockheart (current one will do) and Andun Silverbeard (with a silvery beard). Simple recoloring for the latter one will do.

 

[GreyArchon]

Aie. Does anyone know how to properly make a Portrait model?

The resize thing can be done in WorldEditor. It's very hard to resize a unit in the programs Im using, since it consists out of multiple sections, all of which has to be resized and repositioned properly in order to work right... and resizing in WorldEditor is far less cumbersome.

And I agree about the head, after looking at it a second time.. Guess I'll fix that. After Thorp.

 

[Janne]

Portrait model

I don't know if it is the answer that you are looking for, but there is often a separate mdl-file associated with each model, named Portrait_modelname, which is in the same directory in the mdx-file as the model's mdl-file. I would guess if you modified Paladin's portrait model, probably called Portrait_Paladin, you might end up with a portrait model for the dwarven paladin. There may be an automation with the naming of these two mdl-files so that if you have a model named "modelname", it automatically uses a model "Portrait_modelname" (in the same directory) for its portrait. If there is no automation, it may be necessary to somehow define the portrait's filename in the model's mdl-file.

I've seen also another way of making a portrait for a model. This uses an animation called "Portrait." I don't know more about this or if it really works. You could try to add an animation called "Portrait" (e.g., copy from stand animation) and see how WarCraft reacts.

About the scaling issue, it is of course easy to do in World Editor. But scaling the model in the program (3D Studio Max?) requires just rescaling of the axis. I would be surprised if there would be no such functionality in 3DSMax. But I'm not surprised if you have hard time finding such functions in 3DSMax; I've taken a look at the program, and its user interface could sure use some redesigning.

 

[GreyArchon]

Re: Portrait model

I don't know if it is the answer that you are looking for, but there is often a separate mdl-file associated with each model, named Portrait_modelname, which is in the same directory in the mdx-file as the model's mdl-file. I would guess if you modified Paladin's portrait model, probably called Portrait_Paladin, you might end up with a portrait model for the dwarven paladin. There may be an automation with the naming of these two mdl-files so that if you have a model named "modelname", it automatically uses a model "Portrait_modelname" (in the same directory) for its portrait. If there is no automation, it may be necessary to somehow define the portrait's filename in the model's mdl-file.

I've seen also another way of making a portrait for a model. This uses an animation called "Portrait." I don't know more about this or if it really works. You could try to add an animation called "Portrait" (e.g., copy from stand animation) and see how WarCraft reacts.

About the scaling issue, it is of course easy to do in World Editor. But scaling the model in the program (3D Studio Max?) requires just rescaling of the axis. I would be surprised if there would be no such functionality in 3DSMax. But I'm not surprised if you have hard time finding such functions in 3DSMax; I've taken a look at the program, and its user interface could sure use some redesigning.

I'll try to get the model right. Methinks I need to make a seperate file for it..

And no, I don't use 3DsMax.

 

[Tommi]

Re: Portrait model

I'll try to get the model right. Methinks I need to make a seperate file for it..

And no, I don't use 3DsMax.

What is your program of choice? Maya, GMax, anim8or, Blender? Some other?

 

[Janne]

Rescaling the model

You can rescale the dwarven paladin model by using Oinkerwinkle's Geoset Translation utility. It and many other mdl-editing utilities can be found at

http://www.geocities.com/oinkertools/download.html

I haven't tried the program myself, but it seems quite straightforward to use.