rileyman:

I also wrote a little article called Dispelling the Overlay Myths.  Read it if you want a bit of background information on what DDS and DXT mean; or if you want to know why the 912x512 --> 512x512 overlay size everyone seems to recommend is rubbish.

Everyone should read this article. The 512x512 theory never sounded right to me, and this explains why... and a whole lot more.
Excellent Riley, really excellent.

Norrie (two posts in the Mod Showcase for me now!)

An extremely helpful explanation of overlays.  Helped turn my 2.5gb worth of overlays for Conquest Beginnings into 250mb.   Thanks Riley

mGm

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A great read, Riley - lots of things I didn't know! Funnily enough, I always started out making overlays in 800x450 (or up to 3200x1600 for more quality) ..... and resized them to 512x512 afterwards.... another myth, I guess!

Mod God, you are.... ... thank you!

The size you start at doesn't really matter, actually; as long as it's a 16:9 perspective, and it's larger than what you resize it to (in both the width and height).  Anytime you resize an image, your photo processing software has to resample it.  If you make either dimension larger, you will introduce a bit of "fuzziness" in the image.

Guppi -- thing, too...  I doubt you would've had a prayer exporting a film with 2.5GB of overlays.   The disk space used by overlays should definitely never exceed the amount of RAM you have; and should probably be considerably less (like, one-quarter of your RAM maximum).

If you still have problems exporting, you could try increasing your Windows virtual memory setting (temporarily only -- change the settings back after you have a successful export).  Make sure you defragment your drive before making the change, or your swap file itself could end up fragmented (which would almost certainly cause sound-synch problems).

A couple of other tips for animated-overlay-heavy films:

• For full-screen animated overlays, search for consecutive frames that are identical.  Split the animated overlay into multiple overlays: a static overlay where there are at least 3 identical frames in a row, then back to an animated overlay.  What was originally a single scene in AMM could end up being 3 or four scenes.  I used this technique for "To TMO or Not To TMO", and brought my total overlays count from about 1500 down to just under 1200.  A 20% saving (about 110MB down to 90MB).
• For transparent animated overlays that contain some frames that are completely empty (ie. totally see-through), create overlays that are 16x16 in size.  In other words, make them tiny.  You don't need a 512x256 or 512x512 image to display nothing.  Similarly, if you have any frames that are a single colour (all white or all black), do the same thing.  Your DDS file should only be 1KB.
  
• You could extend the above point to any images that require very low detail.  For example, if you had an animated overlay used to create a "transition" shot (like a cross-fade between scenes).  You might consider resizing the middle images of the transition animation to a lower size (256x128, for example).
  

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

rileyman:

A couple of other tips for animated-overlay-heavy films:

• For full-screen animated overlays, search for consecutive frames that are identical.  Split the animated overlay into multiple overlays: a static overlay where there are at least 3 identical frames in a row, then back to an animated overlay.  What was originally a single scene in AMM could end up being 3 or four scenes.  I used this technique for "To TMO or Not To TMO", and brought my total overlays count from about 1500 down to just under 1200.  A 20% saving (about 110MB down to 90MB).

 Hey...this is an old animator trick!   If you watch early animated cartoons... you will see a lot of dance number where the characters make the same motions to the music...

In one of my own animations... I had the cherubs wings flap... same two pictures over and over... only had 2 .dds files   _v00_ and _v01

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"Monk....you Idiot!"

Sci-Fi Bridge #2 - The Complete Works



Today I release my first Sci-Fi related modpack:  the complete deconstruction of the Sci-Fi Bridge #2.  This is the "cleaner" variation of the Trek-like bridge.  It includes:

• Full set as a prop.
• Emptied-out set as a prop, in two different varieties.
• The consoles, chair, wall cabling, and ceiling light.
• All props are available in multiple lighting schemes.

Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #2 Set-as-Prop Variations.
Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #2 Props.
View the online directory of props contained in this modpack.

The Room Builder application was used to "fill in" the far wall on the emptied-out versions of the set-as-a-prop:



And these are the consoles and other props extracted from the set:



As the Sci-Fi Bridge #3 is very similar, you can expect it to be released very soon!

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

Thanks Riley This is awesome to have!

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Welcome, and here's a bit more...

Sci-Fi Bridge #3 - The Complete Works



This bridge, despite its very similar appearance, is actually structured completely different in the underlying mesh file.  Still, the group of props is close to the same; and it thus largely comes across as just a retexture of the above.  This is the "rusty" variation of the Trek-like bridge.  It includes:

• Full set as a prop.
• Emptied-out set as a prop, in two different varieties.
• The consoles, chair, and wall cabling.
• All props are available in multiple lighting schemes.

Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #3 Set-as-Prop Variations.
Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #3 Props.
View the online directory of props contained in this modpack.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

Fantastic stuff Rileyman.
I'm sure these will come in very handy

Yep. fantastic work rileyman.

Welcome -- now put 'em to use.   A Monday lunch-time update...

Sci-Fi Bridge #1 - The Complete Works



The most complicated of the four Sci-Fi Bridge sets is, ironically, from the oldest era!  Reminiscient of the old Flash Gordon serials (or Speed Gordon, for you Aussies), this bridge is more heavily dressed up than the others.  Much of it gives off more of an "industrial" feel, so I decided to place some of the props under Miscellaneous, rather than Sci-Fi.

• Full set as a prop.
• Emptied-out set as a prop, in four different variations.
• The consoles, engine / power generator, chair, floor hatch, various light fixtures, and a wide variety of pipes.
• All props are available in multiple lighting schemes.

Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #1 Set-as-Prop Variations.
Download the Sci-Fi Bridge #1 Props.
View the online directory of props contained in this modpack.

The Room Builder was used both to fill in the side wall, and the floor at the rear, for the emptied-out versions of the set:



And a quick look at some of the individual props:

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

wow just keep adding to it man. Thanks so much I am using the piss out of the last bridge stuff you created. It is allowing me to get better camera angles by filling in the HOLE in the bridge set with this stuff. Just awesome.

 

Thanks again Rileyman!

 

P.S. Riley check your website. The link is taking us to a default directory of your items and directories. No index page is loading up.

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This is going straight to the Pool Room!  (Meaning I love it and will exploit the potential of it in the next Episode/s of Underpants Away!)

Thanks again, riley!

(Still want that wall, though... )

Skelch:

P.S. Riley check your website. The link is taking us to a default directory of your items and directories. No index page is loading up.

Hmm....  I just double-checked all the links, and I'm not seeing this.  Other than Internet Explorer being weird about how it rendered the Amazon advert (which I've now fixed), everything is fine for me in both IE and Firefox.

I haven't made any domain or IP changes for riley-man.com since establishing this site back in February, so I'm not sure why this would be happening.

http://movies.riley-man.com/

Anyone else having problems loading that page?

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

Links seem to work fine for me...

 

Works for me, even in AOHell!

BTW, thanks for all the hard work and for explaining what mip-maps are, makes quite a difference on some overlays. 

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"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude.
It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them."

Musta' just been my computer at work, it only showed the directories and files no webpages. My appologies for the scare.

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Welcome all.   Not a problem Skelch -- hopefully it's isolated to some sort of proxy issue on the network.

biggstrek:

(Still want that wall, though... )

I'm thinking of putting together a completely separate "wall sections" pack that would be extracted from the various Sci-Fi bridges and corridor sets.  A sort of Sci-Fi / Industrial "lego"-like construction set.  That modpack will be a ways off yet...

Interestingly, even I'm learning new ways to use my Room Builder application.  If you look at a recent blog entry on how I filled in the far wall on the emptied-out Sci-Fi Bridge #1, you can get an indicator on how to use it to make curved walls.  A new version of the Room Builder will be coming out soon-ish; but I have to prepare a bunch of stuff for it.

The Sci-Fi Bridge #4 is frustrating me to no end.  I've got the props I want out of it, and I've got the full set (minus the offset scaffolding).  But trying to make an emptied-out version of it has been... painful.  It may be some time before I can release it.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

And now for something completely different...

Danger Dojo Facility - The Complete Works



Way back in February, jase180 requested a deconstruction of this facility for his upcoming King Sugar film.  With some delays in production, he agreed that it was time for these props to be made available publicly.

This modpack contains a bit more than just the standard deconstruction you've come to expect.  An enlarged version of the pagoda tower is available, both as its own prop, and as a deconstruction into its component parts.  In addition, several of the weapons normally found on the weapon rack can be turned into useable props in the Knife Fight scene:



This modpack contains the following:

• Full facility as a prop.
• Emptied-out facility as a prop, in two different varieties.
• An enlarged version of the pagoda tower, as well as this enlarged version broken into individual props.
• The ornaments, banner, tree, and other miscellaneous props.
• All props are available in multiple lighting schemes.

Download the Danger Dojo Props.
View the online directory of props contained in this modpack.  This page includes instructions on how to make the weapons useable.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

ah... if i only had themovies CD... then i would probably loved this! 

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yes, its okay, you can pm me about the sig...
and doing free VOS!

Mesh Reconstruction Utilities - Version 0.0.22a

Version 0.0.22a of the Mesh Reconstruction utilities has been released! This update includes enhanced support for light-maps in the Room Builder application, as well as several bug fixes:

• The [lightmap] section, and light-map related command-line options, have been changed in the Room Builder.
• The [wall] and [prop] sections now include support for single-colour lightmaps, with the lightmap property.
• Scrolling textures in the Room Builder now works properly.
• The Room Builder can now be used as an advanced Set Dressing to Prop application. If you do not include any [wall] sections, a warning is issued, but a prop is still created. Enter only [prop] sections to use this functionality.
• The Mesh Report utility now outputs the 3D co-ordinate range for each mesh group, and each mesh.

Download version 0.0.22a of the Mesh Reconstruction utilities.
Download the Door and Window Cutout Props Modpack for use with the Room Builder application.
View or download the online User's guide.
Download the Flash Tutorials by stvndysn.

This new version may seem like a small update, but the light-map support in particular required a substantial rewrite of the underlying code (not to mention lots of testing).  I'll be working on getting up a light-map tutorial on my site in the coming days.

For now:  The included Room Script testroom-lightmap.ini provides a simple example of light-map support.  The documentation explains how light-map textures are applied.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

Where did the danger dojo set come from Riley?  Is it a set that was supposed to be included in S&E and wasnt or just a mod?  Just curious.

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Teaser out now

thebiz:

Where did the danger dojo set come from Riley?  Is it a set that was supposed to be included in S&E and wasnt or just a mod?  Just curious.

I think it was a stunt trainng facility, but I'm not quite sure.

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COMING SOON!

Yep, piot's got it.  It's a facility that came with the S&E expansion pack, used to train your stunt persons.  There were two other training facilities that came with S&E:  Baptism of Fire and Spartan Torture.

You can see a complete list of sets and facilities in the appendices of the manual for the Mesh Reconstruction utilities.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU

I've added some experimental blog comments functionality to my web site's blog.  Give it a shot to let me know that it's working...

It *should* work in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.  Plenty of nonsense was required to test it in both.

Once I know it's working, I'll attach the comments functionality to the rest of the blog posts, and to the Mods and Apps sections.  JavaScript must be turned on.

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Riley Entertainment Website - Movies, Mods, and Modding Applications!
Riley Entertainment on TMU