Wolf Lords MOD - In Need of An Animator!

[wolfpack]

yes thanks for this information i didnt know that this ony stated last year as i saw there are many forums about space wolves 13th company mod since 05-06 i thought they were linked thanks for info though i know the modding process is long and i a complete noob when it comes to moding. If i can help i will try to assit but dont expect much i only able to do someting very basic and i prob need instructions on how to do it i am willing to learn though.

space wolves are me favourite faction especialy 13th company which is what i collected in the tabletop when i played that it nice to see that someone is trying to make them for dawn of war DC.

[Mephistoned]

Here's a small update - I decided to ditch the original power sword in favor of this rather more spacewolfey one. Have learned how to make runes look engraved and an excellent but easy brushed metal effect (bidirectional gradient fill, followed by adding noise and then a motion blur in the direction of the desired brushed effect and finally a sharpen), which will be useful. That pretty much concludes the GH so it's about to go off to the animators once I've given it a final once over. Have also switched the bright yellow gold for a more vikingeseque coppery color - I didn't know till recently how many different colors of gold there actually are. I think next I may try to get the listening post ingame (since it requires little or no animation) and then move on to texturing up the longhouse. Bloodclaws and the Wolfscout are going to need a little polish before going off to animation. I also have a little job to do for JL and hopefully more work on the ultimate modding manual.

[Mephistoned]

Another little nugget. Been working further on the WoF which has been a really interesting project. Been trying to look at the beast as a real Arctic super predator, applying Allen's Rule and so forth. I realised the huge ears just wouldn't work on an animal in extremely cold environments, so went the other way and made them small like a polar bear's (and they are small on the SW codex too). The teeth have been the biggest challenge and I've tried many many combinations, trying to meld wolf jaw configuration with the revolving teeth of a shark and a little sabre-tooth as well. Not easy but I think we got there in the end. I even tried lopping off the tail as per a polar bear, but it didn't look right (and hey, he needs a muffler to keep his nose warm right?). Here's the teeth:



Note the texture is only a placeholder.

The really big decision is how to color him. Arctic white? Thundercloud grey? A standard wolf coloration? Hyena spots, tiger stripes... Tricky.

[Marvin]

Wow, looks excellent. I think you really nailed it w/ the big sabertooth-like fangs... after all, whatever that thing's eating, it's likely to have thick fur and a lot of body fat. Oh, and they look bloody terrifying.
As for colouring - how about trying to emulate man-made snow camouflage? Efficient, war-like, and plausible.

[Mephistoned]

It's tricky isn't it? It probably realistically should be white as a polar bear, but I just can't see it - will look too polar bear. I think it has to be a thundercloud grey though, maybe with a black mane (the codex describes the fur as matted steel wire, so I'm going to try to give it that look, shaggy but wiry). I was thinking that elephants and rhinos don't use real camouflage, so perhaps large animals and apex predators don't have the need (then again, lions are camouflaged). Also, the North of Fenris is mountainous, not ice cap, so there would be deep grey shades to the scenic palette. The Thunderwolf is also not an ambush predator, preferring to charge its prey down.

[Lleman]

Well, Adrian Smith opened the way for the big shaggy snow beasts with his latest SW novels and 5th ed SW codex illustrations, which Neil Roberts also followed. As you can see in the following, both of them took the party to make the wolves a mat metal grey, almost codex grey for all you miniatures painters here (albeit the colour from the preview novel cover is too light and blueish):
http://www.adriansmith.co.uk/images/.../01-ragnar.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15083045/prospero-burns.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15083045/Pro...ves%20part.jpg

[Mephistoned]

Yeah I think grey it is. I really can't stand the faces on Leman's wolves (Franky and Gecko). I know the FW are now supposed to be mutated Wulfen or whatever, but do they have to look so damn Jim Henson. And like Falkor the luckdragon's pissed off younger cousins. http://www.google.com.tw/imgres?imgu...1t:429,r:0,s:0

Give me Gmork! Not Falkor!

[Mephistoned]

Another mini-post. Not huge progress of late - RL got bz and will likely remain so for a few weeks, but have new help with coding now and that alone is exciting. In a few spare hours I've knocked up this - a more 'realistic' wolf skull than the previous talismans I was using. This will adorn costumes, vehicles, buildings - you name it, so I thought it was worth the effort. Not bad for under 100 polys.

[guardsman lover]

Sweet. Should break the morale of lesser foes.

[basur]

Just needed to say AMAZING

[matthew]

Keep with it - i'm looking forward to this mod and have been for the last 2 years - great job so far!

[Mephistoned]

Sorry it's been so quiet around here recently. My laptop has been dying for a few months and even a full reinstall didn't seem to solve it's memory issues. I bought a new netbook but its hardly up to modding. And then, finally, I opened up my laptop's memory slot to have a look and found, lodged under the memory card, a toenail clipping! Eugh. God knows how it got there. But removed, the computer now works fine, so modding continues once again - hurrah!

Am awaiting an animated grey wolf, and am working on the thrall model which should be fairly simple, though we have still not reached the elusive new model ingame point. Also had a new coder join us, although he is active on many projects for the community. I'm looking forward to getting on to the wolf guard models soon, as they need texturing and I've been inspired by some conversions I've seen recently. And the longhouse awaits. So much to do.

Also been mocking up a new Bjorn model, since I was inspired by the new Furioso dreadnoughts out of GW and can see how Bjorn could be done in a more venerable dread style.

We're hoping to collaborate with the awesome space wolves blog - my guide to all things spacewolf - http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com/ - do check it out if you have time!

[matthew]

Good to see you back.. i look forward to more updates!

[Mephistoned]

Latest stirrings from the fang. Our coder has revealed to me the impossibility of some of our plans (namely the lone wolf ability) which is good news as we can move forward with a more possible build. The issue was that, although models can die and give 'gifts' to the rest of the unit (ie. morale or others, I think) and thereby the survivors would get stronger, there is no way to make the last model transform, visually or in stats, to another model. Which pretty much scotches that. Balance may also require reinforceable squads, which would be a pity (fluff-play wise), but in the absence of the Lone Wolf ability, there will be little reason for players to keep maimed squads alive, so there'd be lots of suiciding to get squad cap back - eek. That could be irritating. Still, the squad sizes would give a flavor of the wolf pack system.

What is coming out is that this mod will have a lot of small, one man units (wolf scouts, lone wolves, characters etc). This has consequences for playstyle (again, my coder saw this - he's a very useful chap!): it requires considerable micro to keep them alive, since they are not just big durable squads that u can leave alone. There are also many special abilities. It is fortunate therefore that the SW base is rather simpler than other races, so hopefully this will still work.


The Lone Wolf will now be a separate unit, a Tier 1 mini-commander for Grimnar (and our astute coder had also pointed out that Grimnar's branch had no tier 1 commander and that would probably be necessary for balance). You can build two of them, and with the Saga of the Beastslayer research accomplished these guys will be seriously mean against commanders, greater demons and walkers. They will also scale throughout the game with weapons running from axes to power axes to thunderhammers. All in all the build is moving forward nicely again and there's some alpha playtesting and balancing happening now. Hopefully a model or two going ingame imminently (which will be like Christmas for me!).

[titlams]

Scratch that me failing to read what you wrote.

[matthew]

All good stuff!!

[Umbra]

This mod looks great. Wow. I can't wait.

[Mephistoned]

An updated banner, actually a major step forward as we've worked out team coloring (hard) and specular mapping (easy). Key was learning how to flatten layers to remove overlapping/transparent pixels. Hats off to all team-colored mods! It's very fiddly! Now the banner is fully team-colorable, even down to the scrollwork!

This texture was far too detailed for a 96x64 banner size, so instead we used two banner in max, one transparent but with the great company head banners in 96x64, the other larger for the background.

This will be our first ingame element, also a major step forward.



While adding some fur details I worked out how I want the Thunderwolf fur to look - following the codex description of steel wire...

There's lots going on behind the scenes as my new Iron Priest helps me fix some of the original issues.

Now that I am getting the idea of team coloring we should be able to follow this fairly quickly with other buildings, largely completed, some textured, which are relatively simple to animate and add.

I also plan to add the mark of the wulfen as a GH upgrade and an improved chainsword. The original LW upgrade will now be a standalone model with a few weapon additions, so nothing is wasted.

I am much inspired by the progress of our sworn enemies, the Thousand Sons Mod!

However, we do really need animation help if possible to move the troops forward, so any help that can come forward would be much appreciated! Just one more man animating while I am modelling/texturing and others are coding would make a massive difference to our workflow...

[Mephistoned]

Apologies for the long absence. Suddenly had a publishing deadline and these things wait for no man. Throw in an outsourced graphic design company that appeared to be employing monkeys to do the layout and... you get the idea. Adds some color to the usual bla about RL. Anyway, the new book's in shops (can't tell you what book or you'd know my secret identity and I'm back to modding.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuf...UGHT_BODY.html

Was very impressed with the new contemptor dreadnought, if anyone hasn't seen the forgeworld model, and am now thinking Bjorn should be such, given his status as the most ancient of dreads. Will post a model once done. Have also decided to arm him with the Spear of Russ itself (after Ragnar losing it, Bjorn's claw is probably the safest place for it) allowing me to include that lovely Furioso librarian style spear mount...

We're moving...

[thudmeizer]

Yeah I want to get that thing scripted and voice acted also seeing that the whole scripting project is on-track to complete by years end so we'll need something to do.

So glad yer still kicking around bro... your welcome to any of the Space Wolves voices which are all recorded now btw..

[Mephistoned]

Awesome thanks Thud - anywhere I can hear them btw?

[thudmeizer]

Anytime Anywhere bro.. get onto Wolf Lord's Central (ie. Revora) and we'll arrange.

[Mephistoned]

Nice! Think it's time to buy that condensor mike as well...

[thudmeizer]

Yeah have one as well.. get a USB Condenser mic and NEVER look back.

[Mephistoned]

Speaking of which how are you doing your recordings - condenser mike and what other software/hardware should be used for a decent recording?

[thudmeizer]

Yes my voice is featured in HRM/Cadian mod. I am the voice that deepstrikes stormtroopers and earthshakers. THIS is my mic. I use a few recording suites to do my magic like SoundForge and Goldwave.

[Mephistoned]

Ok I need to buy one imminently anyway for a theatre project so we'll liase about the best way to get you the recordings - are you ok to do a bit of magic with those programs of yours?

[thudmeizer]

I will try. Again.. lets take this to the official Wolf Lord forums.. needing much "wolfy" love there.

[Mephistoned]

Indeed the tumbleweed be a rolling there recently. My fault entirely.

[Mephistoned]

After a long RL enforced absence - we're back! Finishing off a model and then will try to ingame it so I'll save that for later. Here's a little tease however for what's ahead...


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[Gambit]

Good luck guys, your project is a very special one...

[xhunkx]

glad to see you again a very beautiful screenshot as usual.... cheers

[RMX]

I'm glad this mod is still alive and kicking

[matthew]

Been watching this thread now for two and a half years... nice to see it's not dead, still looking forward to using the Mod.

[Esponage1]

Your Tag says you need an animator.

If the models are done then animation is right up my street however bio modeling was never my strongpoint during my few years so far.
If what you need is someone with animation and OE skills Im your man.

Cyboy1

P.S. This is yet another mod I thought was dead. Good work ^.^

[Mephistoned]

Thanks Espionage that could be a huge help! I will be in touch shortly. Sorry for the slow reply as you caught me on holiday. Am typing this at the airport. Yeah we have several models that need animating, or taking existing animations and altering them. A grey wolf, a grey hunter/lone wolf (rigged) a wolf scout and there will be various buildings too such as the Longhall which need to be able to fold out (fairly easy). Having your help could really speed us along and then I can change my tag to looking for an FX artist haha (though that we can probably handle ourselves more easily). Anyhow will PM u shortly when I am back home. Happiness!

[Mephistoned]

Improved Wolf of Fenris/ Thunderwolf. Decided we will probably have three kinds of wolves: grey wolf (a first LP defence/ scout unit), wolf of fenris (close combat specialists) and finally the thunderwolf cavalry. WoF and Thunderwolf will be same model but certain changes - eg. different shaped ears (Thunderwolf short ears to obey Allan's law for extreme cold weather, larger teeth and hairier) not to mention the armor and rider.

I really cannot say how many hours I have spent on the Thunderwolf. It has been through numerous iterations, and I feel I have only just become familiar enough with wolf facial geometry to get it right. It's also the problem that I feel there is no definitive model or picture. The cover of Prospero burns makes them very wulfen/werewolf/fantasy like, others very wolf-life. I feel they should look like an arctic super-predator, but also slightly human, and of course which features to exaggerate. The teeth before were actually too sharp (need to be more smooth sand curved - horns rather than blades) and ears also were just wrong. Eyes too big too. Anyway, finally, I think I've got it. It combines rhino anatomy with something of a lion in the mane, the sharp ears of the prospero burns wolves, the large nose that suggests a primary sense, evil eyes and a snarling shout. The neck is long like a hyena, and it has a heavy klingon brow. Parts of the face will be leathery and not haired for the WoF (thunderwolf haired) so it will look a little monkey-like - abominable snowman - wulfen? It should work anyway. I will not model the additional rows of teeth (shark) but on the Thunderwolf they will be textured in the mouth, so the effect should be there...

Take a look...



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[Gambit]

I really cannot say how many hours I have spent on the Thunderwolf.

!!!!
My opinion: Dedication is a virtue. These hours were devoted to perfection, as I see it. Thanks A LOT Mephistoned.

Take a look...

WHOA!!! I am speechless..... Even without textures, they seem ALIVE!

P.S.: I am no animator/coder (and the like), but the least I can do is be of future Play Testing assistance should you will it...

[Pedro]

Now thats a nice lil puppy. Id give alot to have that walking beside me. Great work, keep it up!

[Godlike_Power]

Loving the wolves. Whats a space wolf with no wolves?

Will the thunderwolf be able to charge like squiggoths?

[Mephistoned]

No plan for a disrupting charge. It's not THAT large.

Glad to see it meets approval. The grey wolf on the left is an older model version so ignore that - just for size.

Playtesters will be welcome...one day :P

[Alexandrus]

How's going this model, i'm a huge fan of the SW, can't wait to use my fangs!!!

[Mephistoned]

Not a lot of progress since last post. I had to take a break for work (here in Asia it gets more busy at Xmas, not less) but with CNY coming I plan to move forward. Our animator extroadinaire is working on a first wolf anim, and I've got an LP to ready for import (which is depressingly fiddly but doable - I am still an import virgin sadly but Jones is the firm hand on my shoulder thank god) and then a Thunderwolf rider to polish off. Well actually there are loads of models to polish off which needs tweaks and then to head off for animation. My ancient laptop computer is dying, limping along with a broken keyboard, software issues and a flickering screen, and I'm a few weeks off building a new supa duppa desktop which should make modding a lot easier.

I was saving it, but here is a little something to keep you going:

[Gambit]

Nice!!!!!

[Rytlock]

Is that a twin-linked bolter I see?

[Mephistoned]

a stormbolter. Though it won't be used. You'll be too busy unleashing the hairy ones on the fools that dare attack your LPs...

[Mephistoned]

A fuller image - should be more or less ready for ingame now... fingers crossed xxx



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I've added a Lone Wolf shrine to the Outpost. This has randomized trophies and weapons, and will have a 3D holo of the LW's current target. This is an add-on allowing LW to be built from LPs late game.

[Xaitan]

Just... Wow.

[Alexandrus]

Whoa guys so much progresses!!!! Can't Wait!!! SURE WILL COME OUT A GREAT GAME!

[runner12326]

that's some good LP. looks like a hell of a hassle to get ingame though.