Stele #7: Making the Models
Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans.
We were so pleased with the reception our video got we wanted to show in more depth the wonderful work our unit artists and historians have been doing. Focusing on the units that appeared in the video we are going to introduce you to the modellers, skinners and historians who helped bring these units to life in such stunning detail.
Unit Conception
We've completely changed how we tackle the creation of units from when we worked upon Europa Barbarorum I. In Europa Barbarorum II we wanted to bring a little order, not only in the creation stage, but also in the all important conception stage. Over the many long years that Europa Barbarorum I was in the works we had many researchers leave us and with them we lost some of the all important information that we wished to pass on to you. When EBI was released there were obviously some areas, particularly with units, where people were sceptical about accuracy. Unfortunately in many cases we were unable to answer their queries satisfactorily, much to our regret, because some of our historians who had worked upon those units using privileged information had left us and we could not contact them.
We don't want this to happen in Europa Barbarorum II, so we have endeavoured to make sure that any unit is adequately researched and furthermore that that research is archived so that when Europa Barbarorum II is released we can answer any questions our fans have with the decisions we have made. We want people to be inspired and to learn something about the ancient world we choose to represent in Europa Barbarorum, and to do that we have to be more respectful of the historical research that we use and make sure that it is available to all when the time comes.
How this works with unit conception is relatively simple. When a unit has been discussed within a faction's specific thread and it has been okayed by our Unit Co-ordinator and Lead Historian it is then given its own specific thread, which we call Unit Conception Threads (or UCs for short). This then holds all the information, including links to articles, pictures, quotations, or other sources of information that have been decided upon. Then this unit is assigned to a modeller and skinner/s for creation. During this creation process new issues may arise and the UC thread is there for correspondence between the unit artists and the historians so that any discussion is recorded and any changes noted for future reference.
As you may have noticed units appear a little differently in M2:TW. By allowing variance within a unit, CA have opened up a new, and very beautiful, world for us to represent our time period’s soldiers with ... and in doing so have also created a ton more work to do. Whereas in Europa Barbarorum I a unit would generally have perhaps 5-6 different skins tops (and many would have less), in Europa Barbarorum II we have 5-6 different skins for just one faction. In Europa Barbarorum I we could get away with the Koinon Hellenon skin having one type of pattern on the Linothrax for Peltastai and Makedon having another, in Europa Barbarorum II we need 4-5 different patterns for just one faction. At first glance it does appear as if the task of skinning our units has multiplied by 5 times. However, we should not be so hasty to judge. When one door is closed another is opened, and with some degree of heterogeneity within a unit it allows us to have some degree of homogeneity between units.
We are, in essence, developing a modular approach to unit creation. Where a new helmet or shield is created it is saved as a separate piece and catalogued and archived so that when another unit needs to use the same armour of weapon then it is as simple as adding that piece to the base model. At the moment this is still in its early stages as the database is not fully stocked yet, but eventually it will take very little time to model new units as the parts for it will already exist.
The same is also true for the skins, but this has an even greater impact on how the units look in Europa Barbarorum II. There exist now, two types of skins, Figure and Attachments, and they are assigned individually for each faction and for each unit. This not only allows more detail on the skins but allows us to quicken the skinning process dramatically. The Figure texture, for example, can hold the faces, torso, legs and arms; elements that can be shared between several factions without losing the appearance of heterogeneity. The Attachment texture, on the other hand, can hold the shield and helmets; elements that we can vary by individual faction as these are the most parts of a soldier most obvious to the player. As you will see for the Hoplitai skins by Martelus Flavius, the Figure skins are shared between factions, while the Attachment skins have been created in the old style: one for each of the main factions, one regional, and one mercenary.
But there is also another way we can reduce the number of skins necessary to create the units we need. By carefully mapping the models to the textures (where each element within a texture is associated with a face or number of faces on the model) we can use the same textures for different units. The Hoplitai Figure textures, for example, can be applied to any unit that also have the same elements (Linothrax, helmets and the like): these include the Thureophoroi, the Phalangitai and others. Not only that, but the Attachment textures have also been used for other units as well, including the Hippeis and Phalangitai. As these are the most common elements to the player they allow for some homogeneity within a faction's armies, whilst maintaining the look of a multitude of warriors from different lands and different cities all serving within the same force.
Over time we will be able to revisit some of these re-used skins and change and reorder elements as we see fit, but for the moment this methodology allows us to realise our units that much faster.
The Historians
abou - Historian / Arche Seleukeia Faction Co-ordinator
In my second year at university I began taking Latin, which eventually turned from a curiosity into a minor for me. At some point I got my hands on Rome: Total War and pulled an all-nighter playing it the first time, which began this downward spiral into this current hobby. Eventually, I began reading more and more about the Hellenistic era while at the same time becoming bored with RTW vanilla. I started to focuse on the other socio-political powers that eventually made way for Rome out of sheer curiosity. Most things that I read at that time made it seem like everyone besides Rome was an idiot, which didn't seem right.
I don't even remember what queries I entered into whatever search engine I used at the time, but I stumbled across EB. After about nine months of playing the game, there was a call by the team for the creation of historical battles. This, combined with my interest in the “mistakes” of history managed to get me entrance to the team. With due time and growing knowledge, I managed to become FC for the Seleukids.
In the real world, however, I spend my time studying for a degree in veterinary medicine.
keravnos - Historian / Epeiros & Koinon Hellenon Faction Co-Ordinator
Old geezer here, much older then the new young guns around. Even if I have studied Law in Athens Law school, my greatest love and hobby has been Hellenistic History, as far as I can remember. My surname is the most common in Greece, and my name is a movie starring Keanu Reeves (No I am not called Matrix). Back in 2006 I answered the call for someone to try to put into the game the voice commands that the Ancient Greeks used themselves. Following suit on Teleklos Archelaou steps and with the kind assistance of good old Xenophon, the ancient greek voicemod became a Reality. As I became more involved, I too started to notice some errors, and tried to fix them.
[ex]A proud member of the Baktrian faction, and a Faction Controller for the Epeiros and the Koinon Hellenon, two of the not as known factions as the main Diadochoi, aka the Ptolemaioi, Seleukidai/Seleukeis and Makedonia. Epeiros, well, it is a sure soft spot for me as I was born in Ioannina (Epeiros present day capital) and have been to some excavation sites of that era. It was a thriving culture that was annihilated completely by Aemilius Paullus in 167 BCE. It is a challenge to try to re-establish the unique characteristics of Epeiros, or Apeiros as it would be called by the majority of its inhabitants at the time. As for Koinon Hellenon, the challenge is different. How to accurately portray the evershifting realities of that time and place, with Koinon (League) pitted against Koinon, and many of those joining together to form a "Sympoliteia" (League of leagues), which ruled supreme in the region until both Achaian and Aitolian leagues fell to the Romani war machine. Forming Koinon Hellenon will be tough, as it was historically. Even as the player starts as commanding the Chremonidean league, the stated goal would be the formation of the Koinon Hellenon (League of all Greeks), as was done by Antigonos Doson, a Makedonian King, which comprised Epirotes, Phokians, Boiotians, Akarnanians, Thessalians, Achaians and Makedones in 224 BCE. Just not from the Makedonian side.[/ex]
I guess the stated goal of anyone involved in EB is to create a modification that would teach history while allowing for a great game. If anyone can walk away from playing EB and goes pick up a historical book of that era, then that is a job well done for me, and for all of us, I think.
O'ETAIPOS - Historian / Makedonia Faction Co-Ordinator
Another old time member, I joined in the February 2006, just after the first public release. I had been admitted at first to take care of the ships. During almost 3 years I have helped in unit concepting, solving history questions, 2D graphics etc. Currently I'm Faction Coordinator for Makedonia, my favourite successor state and my real world theme of studies. I finished my MA thesis in classical archaeology ("Weapons of the Macedonian phalanx") this June and I have been accepted to a PhD program.
Though the TW engine is not ideal, as it only provides a very simplistic structure for us to build on, we are working hard to put as much depth and realism as possible into this game. I hope EB2 will provide the best image of the ancient world available in playable form.
paullus - co-Lead Historian / Getai & Ptolemaioi Faction Co-Ordinator
I joined EB in late 2006 first as a beta-tester, then as a historian for the Getai. Over the last two years I've become Faction Coordinator for both the Getai and the Ptolemaioi. In the real world I'm a graduate student working on my dissertation. As regards both factions, I want to find ways to depict them in ways that reflect current research. An actual ancient kingdom or empire was considerably more complex than the relatively simple institutions we find in Total War games. Working with a popular project like EB gives me a chance to 1) share recent research with the public, and 2) delve into the arms and armor sorts of questions that we don't usually work with all that often in academia. I would love to see EB2 reach the point where I could confidently use it in a classroom setting to demonstrate how armies fought one another or how governments ruled their states.
The Unit Artists
JMRC - Modeller / Animator / Project Manager
My name is Jorge de Carvalho and I'm Portuguese. I'm the current project manager for EBII and I also work on animations, modeling and unit integration. Before I pass on to describe what I do in the mod, I'll write a few short lines about my history in the team.
I joined the EB team in the final stages of the EB v1.0 release, as a beta-tester. But long before that I was an avid fan of the mod, being fascinated by the high level of authenticity, the wealth of information, complex scripting that aimed for realism and very well researched and skinned units. To me, it's the best mod ever made for RTW and it's the reference that I use to evaluate any mod for any game.
As I began my testing assignment, I went for the nomadic reforms, which (due to their complexity) "forced" me to create several building trees, so I could test them properly. I enjoyed the building trees so much that I decided to make one for each faction. The team members liked the result and I was accepted into the team. For some time I kept testing and doing improvements and corrections in the EDB, until EB1.0 was released and became the huge success that still is to this day.
[ex]At this point, some team members started to launch the foundations for EBII by discussing the pros and cons of using the M2TW engine, due to huge number of challenges that we would have to face. The convertors were still in the beginning and no real hopes of ever seeing a slinger, an hoplite, a barely decent phalanx, a testudo or even buildings of the time period within the battle map.
The EBII project manager at the time was Krusader, but due to real-life constraints he had to pass it over to someone else and I offered to take the job. Basically, the PM in the team is an organizer, pushing the team in the direction that we've set at the start and acting as a decision-maker when time/effort constraints threaten to prevent a task from being complete. Team assignments (concept threads, models and skins) are also part of that organizing aspect of my work in the team.
It's also my task to suggest, find, create and/or promote the tools required for an high productivity environment, since we have few human resources for a huge amount of work. From the model parts database to the cooperation with the amazing KnighErrant's conversion tools, everything that can be done to speed up work or reuse material is a priority.
As work started to increase, I decided to do some actual work, and not just organization. So, I began to change animations. First, the hoplite, then the phalanx. The later required a great amount of research and work from many team members: historical research for pictures and drawings, modeling the phalangite, changing dozens of animations and a long series of testing and correcting. It's not finished yet, but the results are encouraging.
The most recent additions to the animations are the shortbow archer (bowstring is drawn to the chest and the arrow taken from a quiver on the left side) and the slinger. These could only be done due to KnightErrant's work on the extra bones, which was one of the reasons why we invited him into the team, several months ago.
Another area that catched my interest is modeling. Megalos and Salinoc taught me a lot and I really like to do it. I've done some models, but what I do mostly is unit integration, which means that I pick the models when they are basically finished, then I add a few details (a couple more helmets or shields, etc) and configure all stuff required to get ingame. Then I pass the uvw maps for the assigned skinner.
The huge amount of work ahead of us may look overwhelming and I can't even list the number of things that need to be changed, so we can correctly represent EB's time period as we would like and as our historians envision it. There are so many other aspects of the mod that I haven't mentioned because they are in other team members' hands. Although I can only imagine the countless hours that will be required to make this mod, I'm very motivated to it and I hope that other people may join us, so we can make it faster.[/ex]
What drives me? Passion for History, passion for modding, passion for Europa Barbarorum.
Salinoc - Modeller / Skinner
My name is Nicolas Gasseau, I'm French. From my childhood my heart was filled with two passions : one for 3D and one for History. I had to choose one for my job, and I bet on 3D. So yeah, my day job consists of creating CGI for television.
There are some hobbies, though, which allow me to follow both of my passions : both history and 3D at the sametime. EB is a great oppurtunity for doing so.
I joined the team in late 2007, and then begun to make some models and some textures, especially working on models that could be used as bases for other ones. Thus, the resulting units willl have the same proportions and will look like they're coming from the same world. I also worked on units from scratch, like the euzonoi.
I think I've brought some of my professional knowledge to the team, but, to my suprise, the EB team manages to be more professional than some pro teams I've worked with: the management here and the dedication of EB team members is, on the whole, better than most professional groups!
The greatest thing for me is to work with so many great historians, all offering advice, evidence and great concepts to help me model. The inspiration comes far more easily when you have so much knowledge to aid in the imagining of your finished model. For me making models is good; making historically accurate models is great; but making historically accurate models for EB - now that's perfect.
Leif_Eriksson - Skinner
I'm pretty heavy involved at the moment with RS2 at the moment but in my spare time I'm doing some stuff for EB2. I started by doing several thureos skins for the Greek factions and right now I'm skinning the Makedones Peltastai. Why do I work for EB? That's a hard question to answer... probably because JMRC asked me nicely and some of my buddies from RS are already here!
Martelus Flavius - Skinner
Hi there, so let's speak a bit about skinning! I already decided to skip the very exiciting method to produce Linothoraikes to go straight to the shields. And not any kind of shields, but the Hoplites' one. You may ask you why, as indeed body armor or clothing is also a very important piece of the texture. The answer is quite simple, it is a lot more satisfying to produce those Aspis with lovely (or not) paintings on it, the place where the owners show their allegiance to a city; state; or to their chosen deity.
The way I work is quite simple. First I need concept from historians, second I draw the concept by hand, then the whole thing will be colored and corrected in photoshop, and finally added on a shield.
We are very proud of the work these and every other member does for the Europa Barbaorum project and in following stele's we hope to introduce you the many other members that make up the Europa Barbaorum team.
Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures, names, and descriptions shown in our previews are works in progress. We continue to improve on all parts of EB, and we will continue to do so long after our initial release.
Since some areas where these news items are posted cannot handle wide images, we appreciate your restraint from quoting full-size images.
As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:
Europa Barbarorum ORG forum
Europa Barbarorum TWC forum
We give special thanks to Image Shack that provides us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.
Have a great day!
Regards,
The Europa Barbarorum team.
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