I would like to use this first entry to introduce myself to the Project Reality community.
My name is Tom aka. "Z-trooper".
I am (in time of writing) 22 years old and I come from Denmark.
This entry will be about my involvment in PR modding as well as modeling in general. The stories are intertwined.
It will be a long and "boring" read. I will try to spice it up with a few pics that follows the timeline of the story.
It all started out when my first year of university was comming to an end. Back there I studied electronic engineering, but I decided that it wasn't something I would like to do the rest of my life.
My girlfriend at that time was studying a brand new education called "Medialogy" and I was jealous because it revolved around all the things I love playing with (graphics, programming, electronics, audio, image processing, ect. generally creating new stuff).
Fortunatly I was allowed to switch and I am currently writing my bachelor project in medialogy.
When I switched I was a year behind the rest of the students and I wanted to start learning some of the stuff I would encounter.
At the same time I had become a regular PR player (around 0.5).
I admired the work going on in the modding section and especially people like KP's work.
I have always loved creating stuff, and saw modeling as the perfect thing for me to do.
I started working on a few models. My first model was a bullet.
Above: My very first model
the IDF had just gotten their sub forum and they were looking for people to help out.
I though it would be a great idea to have challange and commitment to help me focus.
ZZEZ, that crazy *******
, chose to give me the Negev LMG as my first task. Hardly any refs and a friggin' LMG for a complete noob modeler, lovely fool he was (:.
Above: The final untextured version of the first Negev model. This was my first model for PR
I finished it up and was pretty satisfied with it (for my skill level back then).
In many ways my first PR related model came to symbolize the kind of work I have done to date for PR - "The stuff noone else wants to do..." (:
Above: Galil sniper, SR-99 rifle. IDF DMR. Now the plan has been changed to a long barreled Tavor instead. It might still be used on a few maps. Time will tell
Above: RPG-29, which I recently pulled back from the dead to texture
Above: My first export to the editor. A box exported a simple static object only with lod0
Above: One of my MP5 models exported. My first real working gun export. I have since exported several other weapons and I am now charged with exporting a lot of stuff for community factions, which I hate (:, oh Well, can't win all the time I guess
Above: A concept weapon for "Offworld". It just goes to show that I am no master of exporting, nor do I claim to be. I have fixed it of course, but it just goes to show that I am not the most proficient exporter around. I will screw up from time to time - which will make the task take longer time and demotivate me - keep that im mind if you ask me to export your junk : D
Fast forward some time...
I have done some community work for nearly all of the community factions (on some level).
Modeling had become both my favorite hobby and obsession (: There is rarely a day where I do not have 3D Studio Max, Zbrush or Photoshop open.
[R-DEV]Irontaxi asked me to help realize a smal "dream" of his. The initial agreement was to make 1 maybe 2 spaceship models for him to use, but ended up becomming a huge part of my experince with BF2 and modding, as I suddenly found myself in charge of designing a whole faction and various other things.
The project "Offworld: Fall of Mars" lasted about 8 months where me, taxi, [R-CON]Spush and a few others from around here developed the small concept mod.
Thanks Chris (:
Above: The "Hawk" fighter class for the Marine faction. One of the many many models I made in the short time we worked on Offworld
Also around this time I was promoted to R-CON by Rhino for accepting a job "that noone else wanted to do...". Modeling the Muttrah fort.
Looking back at this job I am not very proud of the final product or the time frame I completed it in. RL was being a ***** at the time and me and my ex through 2 years were breaking up.
Fortunatly I have plans for fixing up the fort to a level of quality that I am satisfied with.
Some time passed where the only job I had was the remake of the Negev LMG (PRs graphic standard had changed from "for gods sake stay under 3-4K tris" to "what is necessary" thank god, hehe...
Meanwhile my life was busy again with uni. The semester where we were to focus on CG and animation finally arrived (so gave PR rest).
Being the first class of our education there was a need for an assistant teacher in our introduction to modeling course. Due to my experince (mainly Offworld and PR) I was hired to show my study mates how to model while I got money for it. Score!
Meanwhile we had several other courses on computer generated imagery. A course in computer graphic programming was a real eye opener for me. I had always had an idea of how things work, but now I got all the theory behind it and because of that expanded understanding of CG models, textures, animation, lighting and rendering my modeling skills sky rocketed.
After laying low for 6-8 months in the PR modding community I recently came back, this time to stay.
Got a bunch of new jobs, and one day a blue tag.
This is my story so far, but it has only just begon, for now all the hard work starts.
I hope to update my blog frequently and hopefully one day soon my first DEV journal.
In closing here is a little teaser of the new Negev model. It is currently being textured by [R-CON]Millenia.
See ya around guys!
first!:D
