Vodhin's Mill Set

[Vodhin]

http://www.vodhin.net/RCT3Community/e107_files/downloadimages/VodhinsMillSet01.JPG (http://www.vodhin.net/RCT3Community/request.php?446)

New Preview Video Available (http://www.vodhin.net/RCT3Community/request.php?446)


Hi all! I've had a little time here and there to make a new set that can be used to dress up your log flume and splash boat rides, along with other types, too.

This is a set of scenery items you can use to build a saw mill and I plan on having a variety of different props that will let you outfit just about any building you want. The set uses animated textures extensively, so it will not be too good for low end computers, but I have figured out a nice balance that works well (my PC only has a P4 2.58 GHz with 512 MB or ram, btw).

Watch the video and see the new pieces in action, and then head on over to my site for a demo-download; it's been out for a week now, and does not yet have the new rip-saw and drive belts/pulleys yet, but it does have some new stone walls, the water wheel, and the sluice parts.

Let me know what you think :D

[Cedar Point]

Whoo! First post! Looks really nice! Excited to see how this progresses! :)

[CoasterMouse]

2nd! Looking Awesome!

[LightGrenades]

Looks great! How did you Animate it though? Is is just an Animated texture or something like that? (I honestly have no clue about Custom Scenery)

[composerboy]

Yeah, what gives? I thought the importer wasn't configured for importing animation?

[LightGrenades]

There's a conspiracy afoot :mad:

:up: Good job again.....

[Sliverfas]

Looks great Vodhin, gone crazy with animated textures i see. Keep up the awesome work :)

[PyroFREAK30001]

Looks great Vodhin.

[Fisherman]

my goosebumps have goosebumps!!!! wow that was cool. Gentlemen, we are entering a new era in RCT3. ain't it wonderful?

-Derek

[iceatcs]

Thank you, I hope it will save my time lot for my hobbiton.

praise for animated texture!

[Cedar Point]

Animated textures are a bunch of still image textures mushed together to create a moving image. The importer does not support true animation, but it can support animated textures.

[Eletigna]

You are brilliant, Vodhin. :10sur10:

An excellent video mounting. I hope to create something thus :love:

[rideslover]

Excellent.....

[weasel497]

Looks awesome...as always! :D

[soccerdude12]

This is great and I love this set!! Keep up the awesome work!!

[zordork]

I have 3 things to say.....

Fan.....Tas.....Tic

[coinich]

That was supposed to be a Vodhin.net exclusive! :mad:

Thanks for reminding me to dl it... ;)

[Obi_Wan_Cannoli]

Wow. That's it. Wow.

[MeJayBe]

I can't see the pic or go to the link. Grrrr... I hate my work computer! I'll have to check this out when I get home tonight, always love your sets V.

[BlockJ]

Vodhin, i can't seem to get onto your site ? is there a problem with the links ?

[Vodhin]

My domain is not present- I'm waiting for the new subscription to process- should be back later today :D

[BlockJ]

My domain is not present- I'm waiting for the new subscription to process- should be back later today :D

Oh ok :D can't wait to see the video :D

[Rtoups]

Wow. Who could have known that "I have an idea" post on Carrie Whites park would turn into this!

[ODB]

How do you find the time to not only make loads of custom scenery (everytime I turnaround it appears that you produce a new set) but also keep making extremely unique and boundary pushing scenery. Hats off to you and I can't wait to see the set.

[hillibilly]

From "Western River Expedition"
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/271/shot0539py9.png

Yeah let me tell you guys that this set is truly amazing! There are so many useful pieces, that a whole park could be made from it...

[UberBunny]

Vodhin, Vodhin, Vodhin... You never cease to amaze me...
Why arn't you making games yourself?

[p8ntball]

^^^Because even making games is cake for him!!!!!!!!!!^^^

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kennywoodfanboy]

WOW! Truely amazing. Your awesome Vodhin!

[MeJayBe]

I have seen it.... and it was good. How's that for the understatement of the year! I'm jealous though. How did hillbilly get a hold of the set before all others???

I want, I want, I want!

I need, I need, I need!

Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!

:cry:

[Coasterman]

You never cease to amaze me,Vodhin.

[iceatcs]

How did hillbilly get a hold of the set before all others???



You can download from vodhin site

[coinich]

I have seen it.... and it was good. How's that for the understatement of the year! I'm jealous though. How did hillbilly get a hold of the set before all others???

I want, I want, I want!

I need, I need, I need!

Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!

:cry:

Actually, hillibilli's waterwheel was his own CS for one project. Last I checked, it was for personal use only.

[SCAREcrow22]

Vodhin, you can never dissappoint, no matter how hard you try.

[ThingMaker]

This Long time lurker (just joined) just wanted to say: Amazing breakthrough as usuals. I have all of your sets, and they just get better and better! Thank you

[BlockJ]

Yayy the links work for me now ... :D This looks awesome :)

[hillibilly]

Actually, hillibilli's waterwheel was his own CS for one project. Last I checked, it was for personal use only.

No my water wheel will never be seen by anyone! lol It was a horrible creation that should burn a slow computer death :haha:

The one in my picture is Vodhins. He gave it to be as a gift awhile ago. But yes you can download it at his site.....

[GreatGatsby]

Wow Vodhin!

Those'll come in great handy for a project of mine..

--GG

[Vodhin]

How do you find the time to not only make loads of custom scenery (everytime I turnaround it appears that you produce a new set) but also keep making extremely unique and boundary pushing scenery. Hats off to you and I can't wait to see the set.

Thank you and everyone else- your feedback helps keep me going and thinking of new things. This set is no exception :D


Vodhin, Vodhin, Vodhin... You never cease to amaze me... Why arn't you making games yourself?
I don't know that much and I ain't that good... Maybe someday someone will like to pay me for my models, but that's inconsequential.


I have seen it.... and it was good. How's that for the understatement of the year! I'm jealous though. How did hillbilly get a hold of the set before all others???

Once in a while I'll pick someone in the parks forum who has a nice park going and ask them to try out a new piece- Hillbilly's Western River Expidition (Adventure?) was on the top page that day and this piece would work well there, so I PM'ed him.


Vodhin, you can never dissappoint, no matter how hard you try.

:haha: I'll try harder ;)


This Long time lurker (just joined) just wanted to say: Amazing breakthrough as usuals. I have all of your sets, and they just get better and better! Thank you

Cool! I can make people join! :D Thanx for the compliment and welcome aboard!




Now for a little update: I've been expanding the abilities of this set, trying to make parts align in such a way that they should align with other parts from other sets. If I play my cards right, I should be able to have the Mill Set inter connect with the Gizmos' pieces and future pieces- it's all a matter of making sure the main components are "in the right spot" (aligned to the grid). This is turning out to be a little more difficult than you might think- as trying to keep the look right and proportions correct is a little bit of a nightmare. I will prevail!

A big concern has been lag. Hillbilly helped me in more ways than he knew, trying out the first piece (with lots-o-lag) and then an updated one (hardly any (I'm pretty sure was the report). This new idea I had came as a little brain-storm and I'm sure a lot of custom scenery makers could benefit from this new trick.

Here's the delima- and I know a lot of new CS makers out there are not paying attention to this little problem- texture file sizes can cause lag, too. Large texture files use more memory to draw the texture than smaller ones- and when you have an animated texture, then that file size is multiplied by the number of individual texture images used to make the animation sequence. Most of my textures I use are 128x128, a lot are smaller, some are as big as 256x256. Don't be fooled by the fact that the new importer can handle PNGs (which are compressed and read as smaller files in Windows' Explorer) the textures are still changed to the texture type used inside the OVL, which is (practically) an uncompressed file type. Guys and gals, experiment with your textures and see what you can get away with, go with the smalles possible file size.

As some of you are starting off on alphas, trying to make fine details show up, I've had a number of requests for help- If you make a texture (one with transparancy) too small, then it tends to disappear when you move a little bit away from it. This is because RCT3 will "blend" the pixels together for distant objects, causing the transparent part to "take over" and render the entire object (or section) transparent.

So this adds to the dilema facing nice, large animated objects that use transparenies- howhow do you make it work? Well, a balance between texture size and faces can be reached. My secret here is I'm using only one quarter of the wheel texture- reducing the needed file size down by 75 percent. All I need do now is make 4 planes with the quarter texture applied. I simply make one, then duplicate it and rotate the new plane into position. This adds more faces, but since it only 2 triangles, the number of faces would only be 8 when done.

Here, take a look at a new part I'm working on:


http://www.vodhin.net/tests/Wheels001.jpg


Please note that the above imabe is a composite from two screenshots I made in MilkShape- one with colored groups and one with full textures. The end result turns out pretty good.

Also note that the "Belts" arealso simply 2-D planes, here in MilkShape I'm using a texture with arrows on it to ensure the texture is scaled correctly and flowing the right way.


Anyway- I'll have more on the new pieces later this week :D

[Sliverfas]

Wow looks great :D You are awesome at animated textures :D

[LightGrenades]

Sounds great! Can't wait for the new pieces!

[xss277x]

Wow, I have watched that preview video a few times and it continues to amaze me! I mean, it looks so good, I find it hard to believe it isn't true animation! If I didn't already have so much custom scenery, I would download this :)

I can't wait to see what you will have in your "Ghoolish Goodies" pack :)

[JayAC]

This set is great Vodhin! I like it so much I built a ride called "The Old Mill" in my park!

[zordork]

I am all a tingle..

When will this set be ready for general release?

[callmecosmo]

Vohdin, you have done it again. I love every set you put out and love the fact that you are always pushing the boundries of CS making and always willing to help others. Can't wait to see where this goes.

[rctmaniac]

Vod, how did you make the planes bend round the corners so smoothly? Is it just a case of moving verticies?

[thebeatmaster]

Looking good keep up the good work!!!:)

[grod4L]

Amazing! Vodhin, you are a true master at what you do. You are changing the way we play RCT3 as we know it!

[MeJayBe]

Downloaded, used and is excellent V! The water effects have some slight issues in that they tend to mask out other objects and show through scenery objects. Not sure if that makes sense but I'm hoping you understand what I mean.

[Vodhin]

Thanks for all the great feedback :D

Vod, how did you make the planes bend round the corners so smoothly? Is it just a case of moving verticies?

Welded vertices ;)

...The water effects have some slight issues in that they tend to mask out other objects and show through scenery objects...

The dreaded X-Ray effect. Changing colors sometimes helps, but it will change each time you load the park....

[rctmaniac]

Thanks for all the great feedback :D



Welded vertices ;)



...
So you move the verticies into a curve-ish shape and then weld them?

[weasel497]

Welding them makes the shading on the corners look more rounded than square. It's all an illusion. :bulb:

[Guitarboy315]

:eek: As i said before: How are you soooooooo good at this???????

[weasel497]

:eek: As i said before: How are you soooooooo good at this???????

He obviously has no friends or loves...:( :haha:

[UberBunny]

^^^^Yes Vodhin, Do tell, do u have a love?

[Vodhin]

Yes... I do. Making Custom Scenery :p

Oh, I haven't had a chance to work on anything much this week... Maybe I'll have something next week. Until then :D

[MeJayBe]

"X-Ray" effect... much better than my long-winded see through explanation. :bulb:

[The Dave]

Wow:D Just seen the new preview. It's absolutely amzing!!! Will you release the new inside gizmos as a new pack or an update for the old pack?

[Vodhin]

It will be an update to the existing pack. I'll be getting back to this set over the next few weeks, I need to work on other, simpler sets for now, learn more about curves and lighting and reflections- stuff that will make this set better in the long run.

[Jonnyears]

I'm looking forward to seeing some new pictures when you get
back to the set, I wish you the best of luck on that.

I don't know if you wanted to see your set in action but I have
used it on my new rollercoaster in Tesco Park- 'In Pursuit for the Milk'

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/Jonnyears/IPftMilk15.jpg

[Jag100]

Nice mills vodhin :)

[quickmickey1992]

very nice set
laos i nice tip
on the vodhin site if you are looking through the downloads you can see a guess a preview for new set titled
vodhin's ghoulish goodies

hehehe

[ihavenofriendzz]

I CAN FINALLY DO A DOLLYWOOD RECREATION!....
but now you really can.

looks amazing. great work.

[andrewhurley13]

When will the buzz saws / conveyer belts be available? :(

[Awsomedude137]

I love all your sets! They are really useful and cool:cool:, and they never make my game crash (knock on wood;)) I have to download this one!