Getting the Old Assault Gunboat Model

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Getting the Old Assault Gunboat Model

Thaeris
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Post by Thaeris » Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:13 pm

I am certain I saw this topic before, but a brief search has not turned up what I'm looking for.

I'd like to get the original Assault Gunboat (low-poly) model from TIE Fighter, XvT, or XWA - from what I can tell, there's no real difference in the model, just a texturing job. I'm interested in getting the model as, despite its low level of detail, the proportions seem to be very accurate to the rendered cutscene model seen in the tech room renders (at least in the Mac version of X-Wing) and the launch scenes in TIE Fighter. I've never quite seen a really good interpretation of the Gunboat with regards to those renders, or an interpretation thereof which builds on the details shown. Getting my hands on a useable model in a format I could use (like wavefront object, or .obj) would help a lot in terms of getting me on my way with my own interpretation of the model. Is there anyone who could help me out with this one?

Also, I'd like to note that I also feel the current XWA Gunboat is quite spiffy, and no offense to the modeler thereof was intended with my statements here.

Thaeris
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:06 am

Post by Thaeris » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:49 am

I managed to do a bit of research/experimentation, and was able to use the files on Darksaber's site (thanks!) to get the Gunboat into AC3D - Opt23ds worked perfectly. However, what stumps me a bit now are the dimensions of the fighter, listed as 618 units wide (x-axis), 296 units high (y-axis), and 408 units long (z-axis). Can someone tell me how these units translate into meters in-game? If TIE Fighter listed the Gunboat as 15 meters long (and I do question the rationality of that number), it would mean that each unit in the modeling environment = 27.2 units, and I have no clue why that number exists like it does. Any help here? Such a number makes no sense to me.

Thaeris
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Post by Thaeris » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:46 am

I pulled the Gunboat open in OPTech, and was able to get some measurements from that. However, I question the accuracy of the program - for instance, it listed the T-Wing as having a height of 1.15m, which is ludicrous. The approximate scaling factor seems to be 41 x (number of meters) in the model, though I don't know why that number was chosen. Despite the age of the program, 39.37 is not a difficult number to fathom (this is the number of inches in a meter).

Does someone have some proper insight into this? I do apologise for my ignorance, but please bear with me as I've no real experience with editing the TG series of space sims.

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Jaeven
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Post by Jaeven » Sat Aug 01, 2015 1:55 pm

According to Wookieepedia the Assault Gunboat has a length of 10 meters, a width of 15.2 and a height of 7.2.

The Gunboat OPT from the XWAU is, according to my OPT viewer, 10.7 meters in length, 15.8 in width and 7.5 in height. So the difference from the canon version and XWAU model is, at least in my opinion, negligible.

Thaeris
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Post by Thaeris » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:38 pm

Forgive me if I sound like a tool, but I'm actually looking for technical details on how the program interprets model dimensions. There has to be an actually defined scaling value in use, and I am fully confident that someone on this forum is aware of it. Furthermore, there has to be a bug in OPTech, as there's no way something like the T-Wing, if I may repeat myself, can be 1.15m in height. Actual model dimensions for the T-Wing exported from Opt23ds were the following:

372 units wide
209 units tall
499 units long

...Note that these are slightly simplified values.

Again, the approximate scaling factor of 41 is darn close (OPTech lists the fighter as 12.16m long, 499/41 = 12.17), but 209/41 = 5.1m, not 1.15. This leaves me in a situation where I can't make a decaration on anything, as my own tools for measurement are questionable in accuracy. Is any better insight coming?

Thaeris
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Post by Thaeris » Sat Jan 18, 2020 8:07 pm

*COUGH*

Friends, pardon the thread-nerco here...

...I was toying around with some old projects the other day, and I started thinking about model proportions et al. Namely, are the TG models scaled to inches? If so, the default model for the Gunboat is 408" long, which is 34' or 10.36m. Looking at Darksabre's X-Wing, that comes out to 13.25m (rather than the traditional 12.5) by the same standards. Looking back to the T-Wing question from before, 499" will be 41' 7" or 12.67m.

I am fairly certain this is what's going on here, though whether or not the software used inside (XWA itself) or outside (OPTech) call these measurements back accurately in meters is another issue. Potentially, something similar to what another game, Starshatter, does is happening: the game calls back a type of spherical / ovoid hitbox based on the model geometry. This is perhaps why dimensions seem to be inconsistent.

Is there someone more informed about the software that can weigh in on this matter?

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