Same as the current competition states, which is a fair offer.
Last edited:
Paint, paintjobs, Livery and Decals discussion thread.
- Thread starter Owhora
- Start date
-
- Tags
- permission
Same as the current competition states, which is a fair offer.
There is a difference between choosing one or two offers from a competition and regularly having to vet and having to approve/reject 10'000s of skins each month surely?
The rank decals ARE vectorised as far as I can tell - that is why they do not pixelate when you get up close at any resolution.
Why does inconsistency across different paint jobs mean the skins are not vectorised - not sure I see the logic here?
Large decals? They would have to be 4k bitmaps to avoid pixelisation when you get up close. Normally you choose a level of detail based on the range from an object the player will be. Games where you are often up really close tend to have more detailed (higher-res) textures but that makes them more expensive to render - I may be wrong but I can't see FD using 4k textures.
I think if it were just a matter of painting over a template, we would see far more variety of skins available (and much sooner) than we have.
Like I said though, I do not know the details - how ever it is done, how ever many different methods/layers are used, FD are definitely doing something different from the majority of 3d games I have played - you can see that. It would be nice if FD were to get the Skins/Textures team to divulge more information and put me out of your misery.
Last edited:
There is a difference between choosing one or two offers from a competition and regularly having to vet and having to approve/reject 10'000s of skins each month surely?
The rank decals ARE vectorised as far as I can tell - that is why they do not pixelate when you get up close at any resolution.
Why does inconsistency across different paint jobs mean the skins are not vectorised - not sure I see the logic here?
Large decals? They would have to be 4k bitmaps to avoid pixelisation when you get up close. Normally you choose a level of detail based on the range from an object the player will be. Games where you are often up really close tend to have more detailed (higher-res) textures but that makes them more expensive to render - I may be wrong but I can't see FD using 4k textures.
I think if it were just a matter of painting over a template, we would see far more variety of skins available (and much sooner) than we have.
Like I said though, I do not know the details - how ever it is done, how ever many different methods/layers are used, FD are definitely doing something different from the majority of 3d games I have played - you can see that. It would be nice if FD were to get the Skins/Textures team to divulge more information and put me out of your misery.
lol, this isn't misery, its just a bit of a shame is all.
I have no idea why they are taking so long to knock out the skins. The basic principles are the same for any 3D model. Vectored or not is irrelevant, this is just a method of creating 2D graphics.
I don't believe it is anything to do with the complications of creating the skins themselves, but how they are delivered to each player by the server.
I have worked on a few different game engines in the past, so I don't see it being time related issue for the artists.
Once you have the basic artwork/template created, you would be able to bang these things out like no body's business, so it has to be another reason.
Several well known racing games allow custom liveries and the best i can think of is Forza. And its still going strong since i dont see any pitchforks and torches being raised over the "Loli" themed Lambos etc... it does have a report function.
It doesnt matter what format the skins are made of. If they just tell us what to do to get started and maybe provide a barebones kit im sure someone would adapt upon it and smooth out the workflow if its that much of a hassle.
In my experience, the customization freedom out weighs the risk of maybe being offended... assuming you are flying close enough to even see their ship. I could put whatever i want on my ships and not have to worry because i play Solo anyways.
Last edited:
Until you record and release a video on you tube etc?
Agreed...although perhaps as a compromise, the 'Design a Paintjob' competition could be a semi regular thing...and I'm not just saying that coz I missed it.
Agreed...although perhaps as a compromise, the 'Design a Paintjob' competition could be a semi regular thing...and I'm not just saying that coz I missed it.
What about this as a compromise?
It's technologically impossible. Default skins are simply stored locally as the game data and called up as required. The custom skin would have to be downloaded over the network to the player's computer every time your shiny custom ship appears on their screen, and that would claim a lot of bandwidth.
Not if the skins are only released with client updates, in the same way it works at the moment when FD release new skins.
Last edited:
mxcross2002
M
i would be happy if i could just put my commander name on my ship
Sure, because there will only be like half a million players who all want their own skin.
Will make for a chunky update...Hmm, they could say every update there will be X new skins for Y number of ships and only their favourites will be chosen. Sort of like the skin competition, but for each update. Luckily, the logistics of it are FD's arena, we can only speculate and dream. xDSure, because there will only be like half a million players who all want their own skin.
There is a difference between choosing one or two offers from a competition and regularly having to vet and having to approve/reject 10'000s of skins each month surely?
The rank decals ARE vectorised as far as I can tell - that is why they do not pixelate when you get up close at any resolution.
Why does inconsistency across different paint jobs mean the skins are not vectorised - not sure I see the logic here?
Large decals? They would have to be 4k bitmaps to avoid pixelisation when you get up close. Normally you choose a level of detail based on the range from an object the player will be. Games where you are often up really close tend to have more detailed (higher-res) textures but that makes them more expensive to render - I may be wrong but I can't see FD using 4k textures.
I think if it were just a matter of painting over a template, we would see far more variety of skins available (and much sooner) than we have.
Like I said though, I do not know the details - how ever it is done, how ever many different methods/layers are used, FD are definitely doing something different from the majority of 3d games I have played - you can see that. It would be nice if FD were to get the Skins/Textures team to divulge more information and put me out of your misery.
Listen... May seem a bit of an alien concept to you but there are a lot of professional artists out there who would contribute to an official paint-job modding program. What FD put together for the competition was very hacked together and not at all representative of what would be contributed under a fully supported system. Artists who would be submitting most of the accepted designs just kind of smirk when you talk about the horrors and difficulty of vectoring the skins to the ship model. Many of them have already extracted the 3d ship models and loaded them up to play with for the funsies.
That's just a photoshop, given, but the same person who created that is fully capable of loading up a model in Maya and going to town, creating ship skins that would put the current offerings to shame. Let's not forget that Frontier's ship skins are often lackluster and cut-rate in quality. The flame skins are just downright sloppy.
Not a single smooth curve to be seen. How does that happen when S-curves are so ubiquitous in professional tools?
And yes, please charge for them, and give the artist the Lion's share. Put out some promotion marketing. FD will be flooded with more quality ship skins in the first month than they can approve over the next 6.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=94667
Honest enthusiasm, effort and talent like this should never be allowed to go to waste.
Honest enthusiasm, effort and talent like this should never be allowed to go to waste.
Team Fortress 2 and CS: GO are two more examples of very successful mod-created cosmetic paid content. There are people who make 6 figure incomes off of those games.
Edit: Not a single instance of negative press from any one of these games mentioned due to something slipping by the approval process. Something that was just so obvious to me that I figured it would be immediately apparent without saying it forthright. Given some of the comments in this thread though I guess it does need pointing out.
Last edited:
They do it somehow in I-Racing.
But honestly I can't see how hard it can be.
Let's say it take half an hour for a proper employee to check out a skin for offensive/inflammatory content.
Let's say he is payd 15 £ the hour as a wage- out everything.
I'd gladly pay 7.5 £ for my skin to be uploaded and checked by FD.
Then of course I'd expect between 30% and 50% of the sales of said skin.
Whatever price Frontier puts up.
Let's make this procedure for othe Decals too and *Bam* instant cash-flow.
I know I'd produce two to four skin per week.
And yes I can professionally produce them.
Did them for Rise of Flight, DCS and countless other games.
Yes with bump, effects and shebangs.
Takes just some practice. And time. And skill.
Also- I do it for a living so...