Hexys work in progress

[HeXy 246]

Hello all Heres my "release candidate" I guess you could call it:

The most significant change aside from those security camera poles is the vegetation at the front; two of the plants at the top on either side of the entrance had big circular holes in the middle (which didnt look so good!). They've been patched up

Gutterclub: I'm not sure about a seperate lot release.. I designed this whole thing as a kind of zoo alternative anyway, but theres nothing stopping you from relotting it to your taste when its released. The visitor center itself will just be a landmark building, all the rest are just props. I may release the whole lot of them as a prop pack though if there is enough demand.

I'm working on a custom query for it now, and a nice custom query sfx

[CHR 2]

The Jurassic Park building is looking great. I think the only criticism I would have is that the dinosaurs are all in the same position, but I guess that could take quite a bit of work to change, and it isn't too noticeable.

Were you considering creating more of the buildings from the film, and making a set?

[SounderBruce 173]

Woah! I love it!

[HeXy 246]

Cheers CHR and ComputerGuy890100. What other buildings did you have in mind CHR? This project has taken so much time though, that I will probably move on to something fresh now.

Jurassic Park is coming to a stex near you very shortly, enjoy

[mightygoose 92]

congrats on a superb upload. nithink there is potentially scope to make a modular fence set, but beyond that i don't think too much could be done. i look forward to seeing what you work on next.

[CHR 2]

I think a modular set would be good with the fences, roads and dinosaurs. In terms of the buildings, I can't remember the movie that well, but I seem to recall there were more restaurants/hotels around, as well as a few more substantial enclosures - such as the flying dinosaur cage. I don't know how many reference pictures would be available though...

[HeXy 246]

Ah.. the flying dino cage is a deffinate no-no for me (for a start, its from Jurassic Park III on a different island). The roads on the lot are all from pegs dependency pack.. I've no idea if they were ever transit-enabled (or where to even start on doing that myself!). However, there is the raptor pen enclosure which I WILL be modelling for this set

I've started early test work on the modular fences. The original fence props were all too short to use in a modular way, so I've spent the last few days experimenting with them.. the initial list of modular lots for the pack is something like this:

3x triceratops lots (different dino orientations etc)

3x brachiosaur lots (as above)

3x dilophasaur lots (yup as above again)

3x t-rex lots (you guessed it..)

3x raptor lots (uhhu)

1x utility shed

4x fences (1 corner, 1 with lights + warning sign, 1 plain, 1 with an information post)

1x visitor center prop

2x jurassic park gates (1 with flames, 1 without)

1x raptor pen

3x tour vehicle lots (on different road pieces)

This will take some time to compile together, but in the meantime, heres a shot from one of my early fence experiments

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: HeXy

3x triceratops lots (different dino orientations etc)

3x brachiosaur lots (as above)

3x dilophasaur lots (yup as above again)

3x t-rex lots (you guessed it..)

3x raptor lots (uhhu)

quote>

Make all these 1 lot with a randomly selected dinosaur prop. Saves a lot of space in those chronically crowded menus and adds a nice random effect. Are you familiar with so-called "adhoc prop families"?

[CHR 2]

I think each dinosaur type should have at lease a separate lot each - having a single randomly chosen lot for all the dinosaurs would make it difficult to segregate the dinosaurs into cages.

Would it be possible to make the dinosaurs as mayor mode trees - so that one can plop them where ever they like? I think you can create the trees such that clicking on it multiple times will change the model used - allowing one to get different angles for the dinosaurs.

[jacqulina 162]

very good work here

[HeXy 246]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Make all these 1 lot with a randomly selected dinosaur prop. Saves a lot of space in those chronically crowded menus and adds a nice random effect. Are you familiar with so-called "adhoc prop families"?

quote>

Mr T Wrecks you are a god amongst us mere mortals, this sounds ideal.  I haven't a clue how to go about this, but I've seen lots and bats that have pulled it off (like a random bus stop one for instance, which I will look at in the editors).

If I get stuck I'll be sure to call on you

I do have another query related to this slightly though, if you or anyone viewing can help?

On my test fencing lots, the fence itself is a prop, and cant be seen until its been plopped, which is a bit frustrating when trying to orient the pieces, and if I use buildings, they cant extend off the lot (can they?).  Is there a way of forcing props to show prior to plopping or some other cunning method to do this?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: HeXy

Mr T Wrecks you are a god amongst us mere mortals, this sounds ideal.quote>

Oooh, I beg to differ - I'm merely a mortal who has spent far too much time poring over editing software for a stupid computer game among people who have more presentable hobbies.  Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear that you like the idea.

Originally posted by: HeXy  I haven't a clue how to go about this, but I've seen lots and bats that have pulled it off (like a random bus stop one for instance, which I will look at in the editors).

If I get stuck I'll be sure to call on you quote>

Well, the overall concept is actually quite simple. If you look at the lot config exemplar inside a lot file, you will see that it contains a list of all the lot objects - base textures, overlay textures, props, and more - all of which are specified by means of 13 so-called "REPs" - hexadecimal numbers that determine e.g. the position, rotation, height (if applicable) and Instance ID of all objects on the lot. The Instance ID (IID) is the last REP, #13. The list of objects is sorted in chronological order, e.g. the topmost entry is the first object that has been added.

Let's say your velociraptor #1 has an IID of 0x12345678, and you added it to your lot after everything else was done. As a consequence, you will find it in the last line of the lot config exemplar, i.e. REP #13 of that line will be "0x12345678" - your dinosaur model. Now if you know that velociraptor #2 has an IID of 0x123456789, and #3 an IID of 0x12345678A (you can write that down when you're in the LE, pushing around the props in question), all you need to do is add two additional REPs to the line in question so that the line reads:

[long and boring hex mumbo-jumbo]...,0x12345678,0x12345679,0x1234567A

It will now have 15 REPs, and it will make the lot switch randomly between all the three referenced props.

As for your second question, there's an option in the Plugins Manager - IIRC, it is even called "Previewable". Gotta check tonight when I'm home and using my own computer.

[HeXy 246]

Hello everyone, just a small update on the modular pack, progress has been slow with other priorities taking over my development time, but some headway has been made

3x triceratops lots (different dino orientations etc) - 66.6~% done

3x brachiosaur lots (as above)

3x dilophasaur lots (yup as above again) - 100% done

3x t-rex lots (you guessed it..)

3x raptor lots (uhhu)

1x utility shed - 100% done

4x fences (1 corner, 1 with lights + warning sign, 1 plain, 1 with an information post) - 100% done

1x visitor center prop

2x jurassic park gates (1 with flames, 1 without) - 50% done

1x raptor pen - Work in progress pictured below!

3x tour vehicle lots (on different road pieces) - 100% done

It was tricky finding enough pictures of the raptor enclosure as a full structure, but its getting there finally:

I'll update you further when I get more time

[mightygoose 92]

i assume this will be a reward modded similarly to the zoo?

[HeXy 246]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

i assume this will be a reward modded similarly to the zoo?quote>

Hiya Mightygoose, this will be just an additional modular piece of the set - I wanted to model this for the original Jurassic Park landmark, but as the lot was already so big at 12x12, I decided to hold back on it. Until now! 

[benvoliothefirst 36]

Just wanted to pop in and say I greatly admire the work you've done so far and I hope you keep it up! The slavish attention to detail is to be commended. I love the Jeeps!

[Timmystwin 201]

Love the work Hexy, keep going, and t wrecks, you are a sort of demigod, you are just trying to hide your immortal presence

[HeXy 246]

Hello again Thank you for the support benvoliothefirst and Timmystwin, the raptor enclosures finished, and all the dinos have been rendered, I just need to do the technical stuff and make some nice custom icons for the menu, but in the meantime, heres a pic of most of whats been built so far:

I hope you like it!

[Jasoncw 11,841]

I don't remember how big it is from the movie, but I imagine the raptor enclosure would be bigger than that. It looks like it's the size of a suburban front yard.

[Francis90b 748]

I agree, if compared with the dinos size that enclosure does look quite small.Maybe increasing it's footprint by no less than 3 times would help.

You're doing some interesting projects there, keep on!

[CHR 2]

I agree about the size, I would say the area for the dinosaurs inside should be at least as large as the entire footprint of the building at the moment. It looks strange having such large walls for such a small enclosure.

Second, the ground textures on the small building don't seem to match the other textures in the set perfectly. Looking at the edge between the two, they appear to be slightly more brown and muddy.

Third, were you going to release the visitor's centre as part of the set?

[Timmystwin 201]

/\ all been said, keep at it, you will have a definate download from me if you do that

[HeXy 246]

You are correct to an extent on the scale, but the problem here is not the building, the enclosure in the film really isnt very big atall (and believe me, I know with the amount of times I've watched the film developing this), its the size of the raptors thats the problem here. I will remodel them and probably make them HD.

The floor textures are all PEG's, and yes they are different on the utility shed lot - more stony to help blend the model in better.

Yes I will be including the visitor centre in this pack too, all in good time!

Cheers for your great input everyone!

[zero7 68]

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but have you scaled your dinosaurs correctly?  The Brachiosaurs in particular seem undersized. 

This site give sizes for most dinosaurs:

www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/

Apologies if the size is right and it's my judgement rather than your modelling that's off.

 

[HeXy 246]

Thank you for the link zero7, it has helped a great deal. Brachio is currently 27m x 15m so it should be in normal parameters. My raptors were way overscale though (closer to the Megaraptor species!). They have been fixed, but I think I'll leave the others as they are.. at least that way they can be seen decently at zoom 3/4

[HeXy 246]

Hello all

The set is nearing completion, I need to make a couple more fence pieces just to round it off, and one or two more dino expressions, but heres a pic of whats possible with it at the moment!

I've made all the lots treeless - there were complaints about the trees I selected for the original JP, so with the modular set, you can simply plop your own over the top when you finish laying it out, like so:

[madhatter106 3,903]

Smart to make the trees up to the downloader to select on his/her own...

This makes me want to see this movie again!

Great work.

[HeXy 246]

Hello all

Thank you madhatter106 I am glad you agree with me about the trees!

I'm just putting the finishing touches on the final fence pieces now, so fingers crossed, we should have a release on monday, and I can finally build something completely different!

Have a good weekend everyone.