Thread by @irvinxyz

🧵 0/ Here is some technical insight on @Pixelmon assets, and why perhaps the assets look the way they do. This is not meant to throw shade at the team, rather for educational purposes. Thread by @CRicelin @finnamakeit and I.

1/ From high poly 3D to Voxel (low effort):
Download a Unity Asset to convert Unity Assets to Voxel Assets.

Below is a voxelized version of one of our legendary mounts in @OpenEraHQ, and a voxelized Unity Chan using the Magicavoxel Unity Asset converter.

2/ Contd...
Depending on the size of the voxels you lose resolution and certain desirable properties of the asset that make it unique. Most importantly, you may lose baked textures and animations -- hence ending up with static assets rather than animated ones.

3/ Contd…
Overall, voxel art like pixel art creation requires skills and attention to detail; simply transforming a 3D model to a voxel may not always work. But, sometimes the transform does look ok based on the voxel density, e.g Unity 3D Monster Bomber asset below

4/ From high poly 3D to Voxel (extra effort):
Get Unity store asset OBJ model. Run it through a “3D Model to Voxel” exporter get .vox file format EDIT IT AS NEEDED on a voxel editor. Below we show an example of Unity Chan, being transformed through an online tool.

5/ Contd…
If the Unity asset doesn’t include the OBJ, they have to convert the FBX file (Unity asset file) to an OBJ. The key here is to play with the converted VOX and enhance it as needed - fill in gaps and contours. This is missing from some of the assets in the collection.

6/ Once the high-poly or mid-poly asset has been transformed to a voxel. Additional steps are required for any asset, e.g. (1) Asset must be rigged for animations, (2) Coordinate transformations must be made if needed, (3) Collision boundaries / boxes must be set.

7/ The latter steps are missing in the current form of the Pixelmon NFTs, and / or the assets shown in their 3D viewer. Animation and rigging, on it's own, may take time to get right. The current assets are mostly in t-pose or statically displayed.

8/ Q: Why is my Pixelmon sideways?
The asset may not have been transformed using the right coordinate system. E.g, the Blender coordinate system is different from Unity. The "Pixelmon experience" 3D viewer is a default ThreeJS sample viewer. (ThreeJS = 3D model/gaming JS library)

9/ Q: Why is my Pixelmon hiding?
Don't know. Probs rug. Jk, most likely the same issue as prior. The asset could be laying below global origin, or just flipped. Perhaps they used Unity Voxel exporter and then placed it inside ThreeJS without any consideration for coordinates.

10/ Regardless of whatever happened with this project, it is worthy to note that building games often takes time. Building amazing experiences may take longer - these are games that immerse you not only with their graphics, but with their rich lore, gameplay and much more.

11/ Voxel art, pixel art, hyper realistic art - it is all artistic work and requires attention to detail and respect to the artistic process; simply voxelating existing art work does not do justice or show respect to this kind of art work. Overall, DON’T RUG YOUR COMMUNITY BRO.

12/ See how we BUIDL and do gaming at @OpenEraHQ, and keep an eye out for our augmented reality non-custodial wallet (@kiyomiwallet)
-- COMING SOON ⚔️🔥