[Voxel/Model] Calling all artists for support (WolfenDoom)

[Tormentor667]

We actually all know that VOXELs are a great alternative to MODELs for retaining a classic feeling and still giving an object the look of real 3D. For WolfenDoom Blade of Agony in our eyes it's the perfect choice to combine Wolf3D stuff and the power of GZDoom to achieve the perfect aesthetics. On the other hend, low-poly models with low-res textures can do a similar job, so we have two solutions for the following problem.

Gez demonstrated this by turning the classic Wolf3D brown chair into a voxel variant. The improvement is more than clear:



So, next to the chair, there are several other props that would heavily improve from a conversion to VOXEL/MODEL. Instead of being flat with one single rotation or jumping rotations, the objects would melt with their surroundings and feel more natural. To make things clear: We don't to voxelize the whole project but a few objects that would definitely beneftig from such an improvement. The only problem: We have no VOXEL/MODEL artists onboard. And this is where we hope for some cumulatitve community effort and support, that brings the flatness to life, support from you people

The complete list of things (sprites) can be found here (some of them with a single side, others with full rotational sprites, so in some cases your imaginary is needed as well )

Resources as Sprites: IMGUR album

Thanks already for reading this, we are really looking forward to any kind of support we can have. This thread will be also cross-posted at Doomworld and Zandronum to maybe get some more attention. Just make sure to check these as well before doing an object that's already done

Best regards,
Dan & the WolfenDoom BoA team

[Nash]

I understand the aesthetical direction for blockiness and unfiltered pixels but is there any particular reason why you're against using models with a very low res texture? It would look alright in an unfiltered world renderer. Voxels use 6x more polygons to be drawn and for precise, architectural objects like chairs don't really benefit from having huge blocky silhouettes as they aren't really made up of too many diagonal angles.

Anyway, that said, voxels are cool and I'd like to see more of them, there's just a problem... that voxel creation software and knowledge is very scarce on the internet. I would LOVE to try my hand at voxel assets but without using clunky software like SLAB6. What's even more annoying is how the potentially modern, full featured voxel editors are being sold and are pretty expensive! Ironic considering Blender is free and open source and produces 100000x more beautiful results.

EDIT: this is a VERY promising modern voxel editor ( https://blackflux.com/node/11 ) and it looks like they just added .vox export last month ( https://blackflux.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=84 ). I wonder if the skeletal animation is ready. Would be cool to try and animate voxel actors!

EDIT 2: Is it not possible to modify GZDoom's voxel renderer to add an additional drawing mode using flat XY billboard squares for a voxel instead of a 3D cube? That would look more close to its software renderer counterparts. I wonder how hard would it be to add that in GZDoom and if it there are any side effects to doing that.

[YukiHerz]

I could be of some help, Example of unrelated stuff i've made.

[3noneTwo]

Always interested in seeing more voxel work for ZDoom. I nabbed a license for Qubicle a few years ago, it'd be cool to pick it up again for something like this. I figure it doesn't matter what program people use to build voxels — amv2k9's Strip2Voxel & SLAB6 guide will be very useful for making them G/ZDoom-compatible, one way or another.

I'm between PCs at the moment while I replace a dead workstation, but I'd love to contribute a couple voxels. Are there any G/ZDoom-related limitations to keep in mind?

[Tormentor667]

@Nash - I could also live with 3D models and low-res textures if they fit into the general aesthetics, look and feel of WolfenDoom BoA but no idea if there are enough modelers avalable - or was your post an offer?

@HazeBandicoot - Looks good, but I can't tell if you are capable of recreating the posted sprites as voxels - it's something you can tell better If you think you can help, then just go for it Thank you

@3noneTwo - Sounds great No limitations though, just make sure GZDoom can read them (proper file format) and that the offset is correct Thanks!

[Gez]

For reference, the chair is something I quickly improvised with MagicaVoxel. It's very programmer arty.

[Ozymandias81]

My first attempt to create a voxel with MagicaVoxel (.vox, slab format) and SLab6 (.kvx GZDoom compatible one) + TBL2B0 sprite as a base for MV.
Any feedbacks about this one? I know that I had to round a bit those angles, but didn't had enough time/skills to go deep actually. Plus, I am not a sprite artist, so it appears to be flatten.
(It's 5:48am here and I didn't sleep! I guess I've spent 3 hours in total).

http://imgur.com/a/VZMgb

PS: The last image shows a slightly modified version of the same table, resized and quite more bright.

THANKS GEZ FOR THAT LINK!

[Tormentor667]

It's a good start but not perfect yet

The initial table is round, yours is a square. The second thing is, that the table needs some kind of wood structure/shading, just as Gez' chairs have to make them fit better.

[Tormentor667]

Just found this:
http://voxelstein3d.sourceforge.net/

Someone able to rip the voxels from this game?

[MaxED]

Voxelstein uses voxels in .kv6 format, which can be easily converted to .kvx using VoxelShop. But I STRONGLY recommend NOT doing that (unless you want to literally murder GZDoom performance on any machine).

[Ozymandias81]

Voxelstein uses voxels in .kv6 format, which can be easily converted to .kvx using VoxelShop. But I STRONGLY recommend NOT doing that (unless you want to literally murder GZDoom performance on any machine).

Personally, I use SLab6 to convert those .kv6 voxels into .kvx ones, after fixing a bit their pivot.
The problem here comes with .vxl ones, which I had only a try with a Command & Conquer editor called VXLS III, but didn't had a chance this way (and some Voxelstein voxels have anims encoded through .hva files).

[Tormentor667]

Thanks for the hint MaxED, I can also live with good low-res models as a replacement for the sprites that I have posted above, it's just a question of fitting design

[AFADoomer]

A bit late on this, but, possibly something for the Astrostein portion... Inspired by a few Laz Rojas sprites, but closer in actual form to a Star Trek shuttlecraft than his graphics.



Get it here. Summon 'shuttle' or 'shuttle2'. The Decorate definition includes blocking objects so that clipping is reasonably correct around the shuttle.

[SamVision]

When it comes to G/ZDoom, voxels are just more fitting alongside sprites over anything 3D. If you want to work with 3D models, then you should go all out and make everything 3D models. I'll see if I can help.

[Tormentor667]

@AFADoomer - Thanks for the object, maybe we can still make use of it

@SamVision - We agree with that, we actually changed our minds and MaxED already did a huge bunch of model conversions from sprites and voxels, so if there is anything you want to spend us, feel free to