Archive for the ‘3D Stuffs’ Category

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure that you are familiar with my little Halloween project tradition: Every year, I make a small time-limited project during the first two weeks of October. I make it available (ideally) from October 15th to November 15th.

This year is no different, and I’ll be honest, it took me weeks to remember what I had initially planned to do, but I’m happy that I remembered… Literally 2 weeks ago. Less anxiety.

The Damned Brand

Inspired by one of my favorite visual novel of all times (HENPRI).

The features of the damned brand, so far:

• A proper, scan-able Code38 bar-code in a tattoo/brand format.
• Up to 5 characters, (limited to A-Z 0-9 and a few special characters)
• Configurable color to match your skin tone (or the style you are going for: ink? Laser?).
• Alpha-masked for super sharp & clean scanning.
• An optional “bruise halo”.
• Configurable color & intensity for the bruise effect.
• A public mode to allow others to set/change it. (it acts as a soft-lock too).
• Stealth-mode that makes it non-clickable (you have to right-click and select “touch” in that mode).
• Only 1 mesh total, probably my easiest accessory to handle/edit.

What I’m thinking about adding:

• RLV locking? (A soft-lock to become a hard-lock with the RLV Activator?).
• A “text font” option?
• A way to make it scan-able in-world? (I’m not going to have the time to make a scanner proper, but I could proof-of-concept something)
• “Facility” support? (The scripted system that the Prisoner’s Uniform already uses to synchronize labels)
• More versions with various curvature, for people who would like to wear it on wrists, on thighs… (on their forehead?)

I am open to suggestions and ideas, I still have a few more days, and yes, I’m putting my VR activities on hold to maximize the time I have for this project.

Cell Block D-5

I know, it’s the last day of September. I’m still trying to fix the Cell Block D-5 cuffs, and potentially break everything in the process.

I’ve done a complete rewrite of the cuffs that should, ideally, fix some of the lost updates on busy instances. There is a good chance that I’ve royally messed up, but only time will tell.

I also added a new prisoner sheet to the relevant paperwork pad.

Froznovia

I have been building. A lot.

I think the sawmill at the end of the main artery is exactly the type of sight line I’d like: big imposing building that swallow the end of the road.

I finally have a template done for the A blocks. It is pretty basic and my ceiling heights/floor heights are all wrong, but it is a start. I’ve put perforated plates on the north face because that’s the one that faces the Protektor barracks, and they would have complained about the stares. All the windows still need frames, windowsill, glass, and bars of course.

I also need a few variants and to revise the interior layout, especially for the laundry building.

The tractor garage is still sitting there, unfinished 🙁

A few things I’ve added & changed:

• The shift change takeover window is now for VR users only, sorry.
• HUD “Protektor on duty” indicator for Protektor status (localized).
• FZ-12 prisoner case blank document added to the blank form pad.
• Security card animation when locking/unlocking the Protektor console.
• Lowered the default media player volume.
• Added a blinking LED animation during shift change to make it more visible.
• Added a boot screen to the Protektor console.
• Unused handcuffs return to their dock when unused and on shift change.

I think I am going to keep polishing this until October 1st (maybe the elevator?) and then it will be time to start the yearly Halloween special project!

Thank you everyone for being so patient.

Froznovia time

The map now features a rack-mounted WURMTEK-branded dot-matrix clock panel. It uses the new time system established in the world of Froznovia after “The Incident”:

Without getting into the nitty-gritty, after “The Incident” the world was forced to adapt to a new reality, and that’s when the new time system was adopted:

• The Incident marks Year 0.
• Years and months do exist, but it is common to count days since The Incident.
• 10 cycles (Zyklus) per day.
• 100 “minutes” per cycle, each with 100 seconds.

Protektor console

The “Warden” role is now officially the “Protektor.” The console features green phosphor CRT and Fraktur rendering—a fitting touch for WURMTEK.

The console now handles shift changes every cycle. It releases the Protektor shift card for 100 seconds, allowing anyone to take over. If no one takes it, the current Protektor is allowed to remain on duty for the new shift.

Which means:

• AFK Protektors can be replaced by an active player during and after shift change.
• The role cannot be hoarded indefinitely anymore.
• Private role-play groups can ignore this system.
• Busy instances won’t get stuck with an AFK or bad Protektor.
• Shift change is synchronized across all live instances of the map.

Overall improvements

• Fixed incorrect shaders on most map labels.
• Added clean stenciled labels to the cell doors and the elevator.
• Added two paper pads with Froznovia-themed forms (purely for world building and RP hooks).

Map Versions: 12/12 vs 30/30

There are now a 30/30 and a 12/12 version of the map. They are completely identical, save for the max player count.

12 is better semi-public RP instances, and easier on your PC. Use it, or don’t if you prefer hosting crowd baths. Your call.

I’ve worked on this the entire night. And then I had lunch, and picked up the groceries, and then I crashed. Hard.

Initially, it didn’t take long to master the basics of render to texture. It will become tricky when I rely on them too much, and it starts affecting performances. The elevator is going to need one too for its own control console, but that’s a problem for future me.

For now, I’m working on this one with two layouts.

• Main layout: Displays the warden/Protektor name, states a few things, like the rules, mentions the next shift change, indicate the lock state & whether it can be taken. Still, it’s a lot for such a small display.
• Shift change layout: Hides the current warden/Protektor, inform of the shift change, time remaining (possibly) and a much bolder invitation for someone else to take over.

I’m not sure what other screens to use. The media player is still the way it is, partially because it is recognizable, but also because that’s a fairly complex layout, and I’m not going to touch this for the time being.

I tried to spice things up a little bit by having the black WURMTEK units with their branding, versus the little olive/beige Valkorian power distribution box at the bottom with some Cyrillic serial number.

Oh yeah. And the official warden name is now Protektor, warden implied the highest authority. Under the new system that would be Protektor-Kommandant or Protektor-Aufseher. I realize some dipshits who should not be given inspiring titles will love the new name. But so be it.

Also yes, that’s the MiniATM model. Sue me.

Well yes! I’ve been playing Signalis again, how can you tell?

So this is yet another idea for horrific, dystopian, prisoner living conditions. If you pack these tightly enough I believe you could have 6 in 9 square meter? Crazy, I know.

The thing that has been eating most of my time is building these official forms that are designed to match the Froznovia aesthetic and linguistic madness.

• F-29 is a procurement form.
• F-83 is a prisoner transfer form.
• FZ-17 is a Froznovia-specific report for prisoner punishment. I’m still working on it…

These are VERY fun to make and have been put together in LibreOffice Draw. Probably not the best tool for producing prints, but it is simple enough and does all the things I wanted.

Very fun, but also very slow. Getting the right terms in multiple languages and keeping layouts consistent takes more time than I’d like. What am I going to do with these? I don’t know… they make nice props in SL and VR, and I could release printable files if people want to use them for IRL role-play.

Regrettably, the medication I have resumed is making me incredibly sick. Nevertheless, I knew it would happen. I’ve been there before, so I know what it should feel like. It still sucks.

I re-unwrapped the bayonets and textured both to their final resolution (1024×256). I still need to make the LOD models, and I probably still need to design some kind of scabbard for them. Maybe not required, but if I integrate them to the doodle & strike system, it’s as good of a place as any for the holder.

I’ve updated the VRChat Cell Block D-5: Portals are now disabled because (for some reason) some people would try to poach visitors away from other instances. I also did a few minor housekeeping things, such as moving the stools away from the walls. Nothing groundbreaking. There is a stun prod on the table, it’s not finished, it’s a reminder that I need to finish it.

Lastly, I’m reworking the dead realm elevator. I’ve been fond of the Protektor elevator from Signalis from the very first time I saw it. Time to pay some respect to it. I’ve joined a few pictures of that part. Not sure about the way I’ve labeled it yet, if I stick to the Froznovia lore, there should be more Chinese than German on those labels.

Messy sleep, messy life. It’s too hot.

Mostly some UV unwrapping today, sorry.

Oh, yeah and the low-poly for the butcher blade, it’s got like, 300 triangles of saw teeth.

On the upside of things I believe that I have secured access to a certain medication again. But it’s going to make me sick to get back to it so… Maybe I’ll do that Sunday evening or Monday morning.

The low-poly for the warden’s hat is nearly finished. I checked the polygon count and got kind of upset. It had a handful of triangles above my existing model, though it was more optimized and more detailed. And so, I took a hacksaw to it and trimmed all the excess fat. I’m going to give it a test ride, just to see if I like it.

On the gun side of things, I’ve finished (overly)detailing the grip plates and compacted all the UVs into their final form, added a textured section and more markings, with the addition of the Froznovia procurement mark, I wonder if I should update some of the other products in this line to reflect the updated “identity” of it.

I also don’t think I ever uploaded a good picture of the back strap so here is one.

The hat is nearly finished for the warden outfit, and I will likely release it separately at this rate. I began unwrapping the hat before I realized the chinstrap/rope part wasn’t finished. I’m probably going to make the symbols on it removable, and/or maybe not include them. I’m not sure how I feel about people walking around with my facility identifiers.

And then there is the sprawling Froznovia mess. It initially started as a simple map to help me locate places in relation to each-others, but it kinda turned into this.

It is far too big for a Second Life region (300+ meters wide) and probably too big to optimize anyway. The more I look at it, the more the C-1/C-2 temporary blocks are bothering me. Especially now that I’ve placed a construction site for the future block B-6. Maybe there should only be a singular C block? And what if, instead of standing on its own, it was sandwiched between two B blocks?

Decisions, decisions…

Also yes, it is now official and canon, Cell block D-5 is right here, under the school/administration building.

Don’t ask about D-2 and D-1.