Ah - I was looking at the Library Palette! Totally missed the Light Controls where the icon means "Create Light", then the tabs - yeah, I know - you already know this stuff...

Carry on!

-Lew

Doors on all 4 sides of the upper stadium - you can now get in and out of the place. A 3-light fixture is above each, but I think it looks kinda dumb so I'm most likely gonna make new ones - should go fairly fast since I have a handful of designs I'm working on.

Doors below in the arena that I'm finally happy with as well as lights above them.

Reduced the number of wall beams seemed cluttered and unnecessary, and it lowered the poly count - of course I then upped it with the doors and lights, but hey, here we are...

Added some temp basic textures for the lights and monitors just to highlight where they were and how they would separate.

Work is picking up big-time so I'm bouncing back and forth between C4D and learning some Poser to make it all work.

-Lew

That's really coming together nicely.
Looks to me there is a post missing, just right of centre picture.

Oh crap - you're right!

[and then he dives back into C4D, muttering cuss-words under his breath]

Okay, got tired of visually trying to figure out which piece I was working on, so I put the missing rail post back in (thanks for that IsaoShi!) and gave everything a basic wash of colors so I can better see what I'm doing.

If IBL seems to be the popular way to generally light, I should start pooling my panoramic skies and put one in for a lighting map/texture. I'll see what I can do to come up with something, and some interior lights, to give a good starting point where someone can take off with and play.

Yes, more to learn - I think I'm close to being done with the actual modeling now. little things here and there and that should be it.

Thanks for your patience!

-Lew

That's looking really cool! What a difference a bit of basic texturing can make. Oh, and the sunlight streaming in through the rooflights - I like!

As I mentioned, 3,264% produced exactly the overall building dimensions that you gave us, but 3,500% may well be better for the standard DAZ figure size.

I would use the environment map for IDL, rather than a probe for IBL, especially as it's an indoor scene. But it's a great idea to provide an IBL image too for those with Poser Pro, Poser 7, or earlier.

Just wanted to make a tiny nit-picking correction. Prior to Poser 8, the falloff was constant or linear, not inverse linear.

Since P8 we have constant, linear, inverse linear, and inverse square. Only the last one is somewhat physically accurate, but creates problems because no provision was made for a non-point source. When the distance to the light is very small, the intensity goes into the mega millions.

When an IDL sample happens to hit the right area of a surface very close to a light, it reads an enormous luminance and creates an anomalous hot spot. The net effect is that you see dappled lighting everywhere.

The math to avoid this is easy, but is not included in Poser.

A workaround is possible, but requires going back to the stupid light shader trick requiring entry of the light coordinates in the shader.

bookmark

At least in c4d 7 (which I use .. don't laugh .. it still does the job!) I can set my obj import/export value at 1000.  this makes poser figures a workable size, and handles the conversion process for me.

I don't use any newfangled converty thing .. just obj export. Clothing mesh requires a precise alignment with the figure, and I haven't had alignment issues with this method. Grouping, mapping and material setting are done elsewhere. (Auto group editor, uvlayout, uvmapper pro, etc etc)

About the pastel puke colours - that's what you get when an obj is imported with only Default material zone and no mtl definition. Poser randomly picks a colour out of its pallete, and most of them are horrid.  (though the hot pink full plate armor I got once did crack me up seriously ...)

The black render blobby issues .. thats the poser smoothing thing I mentioned before. That's something you'll need to model to avoid for the most part.

All poser mesh objects are obj format.  Some pp2 (prop) files have the mesh data embedded, but no store accepts them that way.  as for scaling .. you can either scale in c4d to an imported poser figure, or import to poser, scale to figure, export again as OBJ and re-import that scaled and correctly Y positioned obj to work with.  I'd say set up in poser first since it has more hoops to jump through. After that a plain vanilla obj format will be a snap, and easier than going the other way. Once you have the thing all shadered and such in poser, then export. The mtl file that's created then should make import and texture setup in most other programs much much simpler.

Architecture can usually be left as props, however, if you have multiple texture maps since MAT pose files cannot be applied to props, you may want to make it a cr2. Really, not hard.  Smart props, props parented to a cr2 figure, will accept MAT pose files.  Yes you can use mc6/mt5 shader and shader collection files on props BUT Daz Studio doesnt read those. Pz2 format MAT pose files are the de facto standard unless you wan to make custom DS and poser shader based material settings.

Lyrra

Well, the current/ongoing plan is to finish all my modeling in C4D, UVMap many but not all things (like the walls, floor, seats, etc.), then export as an OBJ.

Create textures for above mentioned "main things".

Bring it into Poser, size to fit a basic character, and then create simple shaders for the rest of the objects - like the girders, handrails, ceiling supports, etc. Things that most people wouldn't care if it didn't have a custom texture.

Set up some lights for a basic configuration, possibly a panoramic sky (though I'm still figuring out all of this in Poser - I'm currently sucking at it!) so you can see clouds through the sky-lights (or windows, depending on how you look at it - which will be a basic glass texture in Poser as well).

THEN, export everything FROM Poser - both the finished OBJ file as well as the Poser scene file/setup. If it works like any other 3D program I've used, you can set up the whole scene altogether and anyone else can simply load it and play. This leaves it ready for sale and use with Poser.

For a while I started trying to tackle it all at once when the model isn't even done to my satisfaction yet - so I've pulled back and am still in C4D until I finish THAT part of this project.

Poser, I'm finding, is almost like trying to learn a different language. They really have their own way of doing things - dials instead of basic gizmos kinda thing. Rather than a single scene file, it's a SET of "runtime" folders with parts in them.

And yeah - last import in P8, everything was a vibrant RED!! Cuz THAT'S realistic!

There's going to be a LOT more head-scratching by the time I get through with this.

-Lew

I've come to the conclusion that poser can sometimes be described best as an enigma, wrapped around a mystery, wrapped around a frag grenade with a very short fuse.

Nice modelling btw. 

Thanks!

I think it's ready for another round of play, then possibly some minor tweaking and then off to prep and package...

Off to make a few purchases, and then I should have an OBJ for another round.

-Lew

Not enough support geometry is making the endcaps bloat and look like pillows.

I have a feeling that the same situation is what is causing the phenomena of the rounded seating inside edges in the far end of the picture, as well as atop the lower arena door (where the "teams" come out) the weird highlights that look "lumpy".

My "doors" along the outer walls disappeared, which tells me the walls ballooned as well.

The down below interior of the walls must have puffed out as well - they are starting to obscure the indentations I gave the doors.

And here I was trying to keep the poly-count down...

Still trying to figure out a good lighting setup, still need to figure out some more things in P8, as well as UVMap this puppy.

-Lew

Hi!

If you render in Poser without "smoth polygon" enabled, is it still ballooned?

and... and.. your model is very nice looking, great work :-)

Coming in late to this, I have to say I LOVE this model! It's awesome and I can see lots of uses for it! Especially with a rusty/decauing texture on it :D

As Johnnybode said, simply uncheck Smooth Polygons on your object (you can do it at rendertime too but it's better to disable it on the offending model, that way people can render PEOPLE with smoothing (which looks best) and the model without. 

Once you get it made into a PP2 or CR2 (I'd suggest CR2 because that'll take MAT poses, but anything will work) It's easy to "hack" the file and set Smooth = 0 inside the file, turning the bloating off for good!

Hotel rooms were mentioned, and sure those would probably sell, but there is an abundance of those already while this is something rather unique! It's not even what I usually render, but I know I WANT this based on these test renders. And that's saying something! 

@Jonnybode - thanks! About to fire up P8 now, and I'll try that. I also went through the model last night and came up with the minimal amount of added loops cuts I could figure out and I'll see what that does as well. Gonna try both the one shown above, as well as the new version and see if I've gained any benefits.

@TrekkiGrrrl - thanks also! I'm gonna start with a clean futuristic kinda texture, and then an almost kinda creepy "underground brutal" texture (I'm thinking people would like a choice between a good or bad place for "competitions") - and have the templates so you can create your own as well.

Yes, I was gonna for for an outlandish over the top Vegas cheesy hotel room next. This would not be your normal hotel room - multi-level (3-4 stair steps to get up or down to them), center fireplace, champagne glass bathtub, heart-shaped big bed, large open shower stall with quadrupal head, monster TV with entertainment system (basically, this could be a mnulti-use place - you could actually turn it into a bar, turn it into a regular living room for more normal settings, etc.) etc.

After that I've come up with a list of 18 more scenes/environments, and that's not including "props sets" that I'm planning as well.

Gotta finish this one first, though. Gonna bring both in - the older one with smoothing unchecked and see if it works, the new one - see if it works regardless (or did I just create more geometry for no reason? kinda thing).

Thanks all, and I'll be back later tonight (can't be on P8 too long - gotta play with my boys today, mow the lawn, make sure my wife realizes I still love her and haven't forgotten her, etc.).

-Lew ;-)

Gonna pull in the new model and see what that does.

BTW - I have it divided now into 3 "sections" I guess you could call it.
1 - The Arena below, hallways, the 2 large side monitors above the doors, the seating and railings - everything you could "walk" on.
2 - The monitors suspended over the arena.
3 - The whole ceiling section with the girders and lights, etc.

By having only 1 of these at a time  - say, just the flooring section so you can set up your characters and basic lighting - greatly reduced the polycount and things seem to work much faster. Then you can add the later sections at the last minute IF you are going to need them at all, or if you want something like the shadows you see in mine.

-Lew

The extra geometry seems to have helped, but I see a bit of the problem still there in the rounded geometry. But I have a feeling it's also something that a single color with a good amount of Specularity is showing. When I put a real texture on there I have a feeling it's gonna blend in and look normal.

We'll see...

Meanwhile - I'm LOVING Spanki's Riptide plugin! MAN that really helps organize things for import into Poser!

-Lew

This arena of yours makes me see duels between lions and frightened christians (from the old haydays of Rome,) but in a more modern way.

Your shadows really sets the mood here, Andy has been there all night to make sure he gets a seat on the front row :-)

 maybe you could make a low poly crowd to sit on those seats.  that would be a great add-on product. (not too low poly though or they won't look good)
As far as future scenes, my favourites are scenes with lots of clutter, and everything already positioned for me, as I'm making a comic with thousands of panels so the more time saving the better.
BTW I'm very impressed with your awesome modelling abilities.
Love esther

Okay, I'm almost done!

Working out some texture issues (not because of UVMapping - those are great! - but something's going on with Poser itself. They worked perfectly in C4D, but one of the sections is going wonky in P8.

By Sunday I'll be sending links to download the newest version for people to play with, see where problems are, fixes needed, suggestions for "ya know what would be cool...?!" Stuff like that.

Thanks for sticking with the ride, sorry it's taken so long.

See ya Monday with another post!

-Lew ;-)

for those endcaps , just unweld the end polygon. The ballooning is a smoothing issue with Poser.

That's a neat trick! I gotta remember that next time - so far I've given them a little extra support geometry and they don't bulge anymore.

Esther - thanks about the modeling!

Right now it's around 122MB with all the textures! That's not even counting the templates folder, and possibly a folder as a "thank you" pointed at my personal site to download which has PSD files so you can have a starting point (like for the monitors). I dunno if I've made something simply too big for most Poser users to manage, but from the sounds of some comments I've read around I might be pushing it - and I'm still not done, apparently. Argh!!

I thought I was close to finished, making the Poser version, and I realized there were some things I didn't duplicate like the railing stands - there was 1 for the entire railing around the arena.

I think until I can figure out the Monitor Assembly texture glitch I'm gonna upload a version that doesn't have it.

Going to go to bed now. Since I basically need to redo the Poser setup, I need to start over, and hopefully I'll have this up for the group to download and play with tomorrow night.

(in the voice of Marvin the Martian) Dee-lays, dee-lays...!

-Lew

Forgot to duplicate the door handles for the upper double-doors - they each only have 1 handle. Thought I was ALMOST done, too - oops...

I can't figure out how to include images in the body of text, and not as an upload/attachment, so I guess for now I'll just make multiple posts to show you where it is.

-Lew

-Lew

Quote
For some reason I can't see the floor - it's just a giant black hole right now.
end quote

Did you check "normal forwards" for the floor? (in the material room)

-Lew

OKAY!!!
Now, this time, with FEELING!!
I think I'm done - made a ZIP folder, and my wiffie will upload it to my site and I'll send out the link. If you're not interested in continuing to play with it, lemme know.
Thanks for your patience (and next time I'll make something a tad smaller...)-

-Lew

"By my calculations, an import scale of 3,264% would make it exactly the right size."
-IsaoShi

To all whom I just sent links to, I've been bringing it in at 3,500%, but it does feel a tad large. I think Izi is right about that size.

Good luck and have fun, and thanks again for the comments and suggestions-

-Lew

I'm done with all the modeling and texturing, and let's be honest - it's freakin' huge!

Rendo has a size limit of 150MB, and I think it's something like 160-ishMB with the templates. DAZ also has suggested size limits due to complaints they get for purchases that turn out to be difficult for many customers' computers to manage.

Here's where I'm at - the folks that have the new version downloaded - gimme some down and dirty feedback so I can figure out any last-minute tweaks that would be needed, and I'm gonna put this up as a freebie since I can host it on my own site and just have the link in the FreeStuff section here at Rendo.

Thanks again for your patience, and I hope you all can enjoy the model soon-

-Lew