Topic: (D3) "Revamped" Shield

[Babylon]

On New Year's Eve evening, the idea of making this came to me while I was in the shower.  Fourty-eight hours and four headaches later, this is what I came up with.  I am very interested in others' opinions concerning it.  You can grab it in .mn3 form at the bottom of the post. (note: if it doesn't display correctly in OOFEdit, unload the d3.hog and then reload the model)

[Vito]

It's too much dark, you see if you succeed to make something of similar:

In the screenshot you can see a recreation of the orb (shield) of D2X-XL  in Descent3 Ultra mod, unfortunately never released.


This is the original shield in D2X-XL

The original orb created for D2X-XL was made by DizzyRox.
Here is the thread where it all began: http://www.descentbb.net/viewtopic.php?t=10569
Here you can download the original D2X-XL textures for the orb:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JO10FLG5

[Matthew]

Who said it was supposed to look like the original shields?

[Babylon]

That was the method I was hoping to avoid.  xD  I wanted to make a full 3-D shield with lightning, rather than a single facing texture.

But now that you point it out, the coloring is way off.  I'll see if I can find a way to mimic the sub-surface scattering of the original orb.

[SaladBadger]

It's already a lot nicer than the stock D3 one, which was really just a sphere with a lightning-bolt in the texture, which didn't really resemble the classic ones much.

[Babylon]

Now it's probably too bright; certainly messier anyway.    I could set the material property to metal to attempt giving it a glossier shine, but none of that will help with making the very center dark like the original orb.  Unless there's a way to desaturate white instead of black, or to force a facing face to not be washed-out by other saturated faces, I don't think it's possible to get the exact look.

It would be easier if the Fusion Engine allowed for cube-mapping and rim lighting.

[Ronin RedFox]

I liked the first one more, to be honest. 

[Vito]

Compliments goes well, it's very similar to the original, however it makes of it two versions in order to please all, a clearest  and a darker.

[VANGUARD]

the second isn't too bad. a bit of white though. I like the different shades of blue, sort of in both of them. The original (from Descent) looks too smooth and globe, clear like.

[Scyphi]

I must admit I think the first one looks cooler too, although I will admit that the second one is more recognizable as a Descent-style shield.

[SaladBadger]

I'll take the other side here and admit that the second one is my favorite.

[Pumo]

x2

Second has nicer color IMO.

[VANGUARD]

I think the second still looks better than the default globe/sphere found in the original games.

[Scyphi]

Maybe if you darkened it just a shade (so that it's lighter than the first, but darker than the second), then we can make everyone satisfied.

[Kaiaatzl]

I like both.  They actually make it look like a ball of energy instead of a mysterious blue orb.
Nicely done.