Framed Art

An Overview of TDM's Framed Painting System

By Geep, October, 2021

The Basics

To add a framed "oil" painting to your FM using DR, right-click and select "Create Model..." to bring up the "Choose Model" dialog. Then either search for “painting” or navigate to models/darkmod/decorative/wall/ and look for "painting…".

From the tree listing, select a particular size model (discussed in the next section), then expand the alphabetized list of available art image "skins". Selecting a skin allows you to inspect it in the dialog’s view pane as shown. If you just see wood boards, you’re looking at the backside; fly around to the front. (See the skins with the "_torn" suffix? Don't select them... they're implementation devices for the lootables discussed further below.)

DR "Choose Model" dialog, with example skin builder_mythology

Available Models

Under decorative/wall/painting… are the models listed in the table below, here from largest to smallest. Frames can accommodate portrait or landscape art by simple rotation on the wall. An exception are the two "desktop" models, which are tilted and have a stand, and have a specified orientation. The "round" frames are actually oval. (There are also "…_tearable" variant models, which you should generally ignore; again, they're mainly used to implement lootables.)

This convenient system of multiple sizes predates the ability of DR to easily rescale a model. You can now use the latter to create additional sizes if required.

Frame Models

Informal Size Name	Model Name	External Size, h x w	Art Size, h x w
Large	painting01_l	104.2 x 96.8	94.9 x 65.4
Medium	painting01_m	84.1 x 58.0	63.0 x 39.4
Original	painting01	56.1 x 38.7	42.0 x 26.1
Round, Original	painting_round	56.0 x 40.0	46.0 x 30.0
Round, Small	painting_round_s	36.0 x 28.0	28.0 x 20.0
Small	painting01_s	32.0 x 23.0	24.0 x 15.0
Miniature	painting_minature	16.0 x 12.0	12.0 x 8.0
Desktop, Portrait Mode	painting_desktop_vertical	16.9 x 12.0	12.0 x 8.0
Desktop, Landscape Mode	painting_desktop_horizontal	13.1 x 16.0	8.0 x 12.0

Sizes are the approximate dimensions in DR units when in portrait orientation (except painting_desktop_horizontal is landscape).

Regrettably, miniature is mis-spelled as "minature" in TDM's formal object names here.

For the desktop frames (whose models are under .../decorative/, not .../decorative/wall/), the dimensions given are with frame and canvas rotated into the vertical plane, i.e., untilted. Kickstand ignored.

In the round frames, art is visibly stretched, along the narrower frame direction.

Random Paintings

For quick decoration of a wall, entities are available that will randomly choose the art within the frame, but just for the 3 largest rectangular frames. See "Create Entity..." then Static/Decoration/Paintings/. Choose the entity for the orientation you want ("hor" or "ver") and frame size: large, medium, or (implied) original.

Lootable Paintings

These entities incorporate essentially the same models and skins as above. Use "Create Entity..." and choose one of the relevant classnames found under Loot/Static (see the table below). With the entity created and selected, open the Entity Viewer, add the spawnarg "skin" with some dummy value, then select that to get the "Choose Skin" viewer. (You will need to filter out the collision texture to see the art in the viewing pane.) Note: Skins shown in red in the Cross Reference Listing further below won't loot properly.

As with every type of loot entity, there is a default loot value that you can change.

When a miniature or desktop painting is looted, it disappears from the game, and a grouping of 3 "mini" paintings is shown as the inventory icon.

With a larger painting, the looted frame remains behind, and a rolled canvas appears in inventory. The looted frame shows wood boards with little bits of canvas where the art had been. If you'd rather have a see-through hole where the art had been, change the value in the "replace" spawnarg, e.g., from "atdm:empty_painting_medium" to "atdm:removed_painting_medium". (But "removed painting..." is only defined for the 3 largest size frames.)

Lootable Paintings

Informal Size Name	Class Name
Large	atdm:loot_painting_large
Medium	atdm:loot_painting_medium
Original	atdm:loot_painting
Round, Original	atdm:loot_painting_round
Round, Small	atdm:loot_painting_round_small
Small	atdm:loot_painting_small
Miniature	atdm:loot_painting_minature_wall
Desktop, Portrait Mode	atdm:loot_painting_minature_desktop_vertical
Desktop, Landscape Mode	atdm:loot_painting_minature_desktop_horizontal

(There are also "…_tearable" variant models of all sizes except miniature and desktop.)

Bonus Model

There’s an additional "ornate" frame, that (as of TDM 2.09) just offers one skin, but can use any TDM painting skin, provided you alter the skin’s definition to include that model. The model's gold frame is indeed ornate and created geometrically, superseding whatever framestyle would otherwise supplied by the skin itself. This model is optimized for portrait orientation, including mounting hardware on the back and a slight tilt. The back also has more intricate texturing and modeling.

Ornate Frame

Informal Size Name	Model Name	External Size, h x w	Art Size, h x w
Ornate	ornate_frame01	58.4* x 40.5	39.9* x 24.5

The sizes given for the vertical dimension are with the slight tilt. Without tilt, that dimension would be slightly greater.

Implementations

Models & Skins that Combine Art & Frame

For the "builder_mythology" skin, the diffuse texture "painting09_m_d" (distributed by TDM as a dds)

TDM's painting models expect a skin with underlying square factor-of-2 textures (diffuse, normal, and specular). These textures each combine the art area with a 1D-tileable linear painting-frame sample. At right is a diffuse-texture example. The art here is portrait oriented. If it were landscape oriented, the frame sample would still be at the right edge, but the art would be rotated 90 degrees.

Nowadays, the diffuse texture would always 512 x 512, with the art taking up 512 h x 400 w, an aspect ratio of 1.28:1 or equivalently about 1:0.78 . The specular and normal (bump) maps, at lower resolution, deliver the surface topology of a particular frame, while treating the art as simply flat with a coarse canvas-like grain.

As a model, the frame itself is basically 4 perimeter flats with a depressed central rectangle. As already stated, the front side detailing of the frame (and more subtly the art) is provided by the bumpmap. The backside is simply a flat plane with wood planks and no hanging hardware. Of course, models for the round and desktop frames are more involved.

Lootable Paintings

When a loot painting is frobbed, it calls script "frob_loot()". This retains the calling entity's attributes, then calls "frob_item()", which does the standard lootable actions of

• deleting the calling entity from the game;
• adding to the loot count;
• displaying the specified inventory icon, in this case either guis/assets/hud/inventory_icons/painting_rolled_icon or .../loot_icon_mini_paintings.

If the calling entity was of miniature or desktop size (which display loot_icon_mini_paintings), we're done.

Otherwise, frob_loot() instantiates a new entity given by the "replace" spawnarg, in the same place and angles that the original caller had been. By default, this new entity is the appropriate size of "atdm:empty_painting...", which uses as its model the appropriate size of "..._tearable" and as its skin the original caller's skin name with "_torn" appended.

Skin, Material, & Definition Files

Skins for framed paintings are included in tdm_models_decls01.pk4/skins/...

   tdm_decorative_wall.skin	generally
   campaign.skin		for dead1, dead2 materials (painting_dead*.dds files)

Materials associated with skins for framed paintings are included in

   tdm_models_decls01.pk4/materials/tdm_model_decorative_wall.mtr

Definitions for loot painting entities, including after-frob empty-frame entities, are included in

   tdm_defs01.pk4/def/tdm_loot.def 

Underlying Image File Locations and Naming Conventions

Existing painting texture images may be found within tdm_models02.pk4 …

In dds form: /dds/models/darkmod/props/textures/

   painting*.dds
   merrypainting*.dds

In other forms: /models/darkmod/props/textures/...

   painting*_d_ed.jpg
   painting*_local.tga

Texture filenames in general follow this TDM naming convention, though early textures less so:

• Suffix _d means "Diffuse map"
• Suffix _s means "Specular map"
• Suffix _local means "Bump map" aka normal map
• Suffix _d_ed means "Diffuse for Editor Preview"

The standard painting filenames appear as named sets, reflecting not their artistic content, but instead their history of incorporation into TDM core assets. Just looking at the diffuse ones, and inferring names for the sets and for individual items giving skin names. It is likely that "M" & "L" sets were introduced at the same time as the Medium & Large size painting models, and at that time may have distinguished between 256 x 256 and 512 x 512 DDS files. But now (at least for the core asset DDS) all the DDS are 512 x 512. So really, skins from any of these sets can be used with any size "painting01…" frame model.

File Resolutions

As mentioned above, the diffuse .dds are 512 x 512 x 32 bits. They all contain

• The art in the leftmost 400 pixels (x positions 0-399)
• A vertical sample of the frame in the rightmost pixels.

In older FMs, you may encounter lower-resolution versions of the diffuse files. In a 256-wide image, the art takes up 200 pixels (0-199), the frame 57 pixels.

The .tga bumpmaps (aka normal maps) are 256 x 256. The specular .dds maps are 128 x 128 x 32-bit. Editor jpgs are generally 256x256, 24-bit, rarely 512x512, 24 bit. If not present, the editor uses the dds.

Cross Reference Listing of Image Skin and DDS File Names

With information about art orientation & support for lootability.

As indicated at the outset, in DR’s Entity Viewer, with a TDM framed painting model, if you select the skin spawnarg and hit the "Choose Skin", you will get an alphabetic list of painting skin names. If you needed the underlying image name, you’d consult the skin & material files; that information is summarized here. In the following list, images are "vertical" (portrait-mode) unless indicated by italics as "horizontal" (landscape-mode). The skin names all have a "..._torn" variant defined, as well, unless indicated in red.

Cross Reference Listing

Starter Set: painting[01-11]_d.dds 01) † 02) portrait_in_armour 03) shepherd_boy 04) portrait_mage 05) still_life01 06) portrait_peasant_woman 07) landscape_ruin01 08) portrait_pagan_queen 09) artist 10) portrait_villagemaid 11) cathedral * Continuation Set: painting[12-15].dds (no “_d”) 12) carravagio1 13) portrait_with_skull01 * 14) portrait_with_skull02 * 15) angel_with_skulls Builder Set: painting_builder[02-04].dds 02) builder02 * 03) builder03 * 04) builder04 * Dead Set: painting_dead[1-2].dds 1) dead1 2) dead2 *

"M" Set: painting[01-10]_m_d.dds 01) stormy_sea ** 02) village_dance 03) windmill 04) builder_godisangry 05) portrait_nobleman 06) still_life02 07) lighthouse 08) woman_abducted 09) builder_mythology 10) presenting_severed_head "L" Set: painting[01-10]_l_d.dds 01) landscape_ruin02 02) farmland 03) execution 04) master_builder 05) sorceress 06) harbor 07) woman_bathing 08) builder_forge 09) warriors 10) knight_and_maiden Merry Set: merrypainting[01,14,40].dds 01) portrait_official * 14) builder_priest * 40) portrait_fair_maiden *

* Image is "vertical", but incorrectly marked as "horizontal" (as of TDM 2.09). That is, skin says:

 model "models/darkmod/decorative/painting_desktop_horizontal.ase"

but, given the image, should say:

 model "models/darkmod/decorative/painting_desktop_vertical.ase"

** Image is "horizontal", but incorrectly marked as “vertical” in skin definition.

† This unnamed vertical male portrait is the default image baked into the model

Need More Art?

Consider additional "Merry Paintings". Besides the 3 in the standard distribution, skins and DDS for over 50 paintings were created by Arcturus. They can be found in FMs like “The Accountant 2” and “Down by the River”, typically with skin names like merrypainting<nn>. Prefer the 512 x 512 ones over 256 x 256 versions.

Geep's "Away 0: Stolen Heart" [COMING SOON] has further art, as well as special resources and guidance to make it easier for you to create your own custom paintings.

See Also

Fidcal's March 3, 2011 forum post

OGDA's March 10, 2021 forum post