: Has anyone else seen this model? I think it is very well modeled but the
: animations are really crap. What do you think?
Thanks and yes, they are crap.
For a much too long time now I've been doodling away with 3d-models in Aleph-One. Mind you, I can't program myself out of a mudpit, but the moment I saw the possibility was added to A1 I went a bit insane. Low-poly modeling, now that I can try. So I tried.
The concept is like replacing lowres textures with highres ones.
The Shapes-file's sequences (BOB-walk, pfhor-attack) can be replaced with textured 3D-models with MML. Different models for each sequence, or the same but animated model. With a couple of extra MML-lines one can add all kinds of different flavours, including glows and transparancies.
So with MML one could create for example a young pfhor (in fresh armour and still a bit luminiscent) who as the levels advance slowly changes (with MML) into a hardened (dented, scarred, dusted) veteran, still glowing from radiation and finaly retires as a withered, toothless senior fit for the Hindmost Creche.
Or add TWISTED catwalks/bent pipes/saxaphones to a level, or HUGE detailed spaceships, or BIG robots/dino's etc etc.
With OpenGl (only!) the possibility of adding 3d-models in Aleph-One could be a major benefit. A much more diverse and complex way of presenting objects (monster/scenery/etc) and with the strange and obscure method of the Dim3Animator even animation is possible. So that looks cool sofar.
It's still eye-fluff and behaviour is still directed from Shapes, Physics, MML, LUA(?). No collison-boxes or solid catwalks.
However... TANSTAAFL
it eats RAM a lot! Especialy Vram. The modeling can be done with Meshworks, a very mac-friendly low-poly 3D-modeling shareware (and hey! even the fee is affordable!). Then the .mesh file is imported into OSX, intoDim-Animator, so it can be animated. Here is the culprit responsible for the crude animation. Dim3 is a work-in-progress, and most certainly not yet finished. It IS very promising though. But the animation-module is... well... very sturdy and hard to handle. So every time there is an update of A1 AND Dim3, I lurch from under my nice wet stone and try things out.
A few models in a level are not that bad, but Marathon is about wholesale slaughter (and universal peace etc.etc) and well...A1 and heaps of 3D-monsters need some serious hardware. I'm working with a iMac 400 / 500mb ram / 8mb vram / OS9.2 and I have to use extension-manager to switch to basic macOS to play my own stuff...
It ain't no HEK.
If you're still not disheartened, have a go at:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jemmet/spnkrghol/dl/Inf_3Dpfhor-demo.sit
One level with 3 Marathon-monsters in 3D + some more candy.
4.2 mb
ONLY TESTED IN OS9
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