Hi folks,
After quite a bit of tinkering, I got that field layered, animated, reloaded into Palmer. I uploaded it in the WIP repo, given that they were made with temporary lighting setup (one that gives me a decent picture after a few dozens of samples). The final version with real lighting will take ages to render, so it will be delivered in approximately 2 weeks (because I have to render each frame of the sewage flow). In the meantime, you're more than welcome to give it a try. It comes in 3 .png files that can be found under /Field Scenes/colne_b3/.
For people who don't have access to the repo, I've uploaded a 50% size version open to everyone, if there are other people willing to try it out.
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/5070/vqum.png has to be renamed colne_b3_00_00.
http://imageshack.us/a/img401/6245/9gf5.png has to be renamed colne_b3_01_00.
http://imageshack.us/a/img843/9288/8cbh.png has to be renamed colne_b3_02_00.
These images simply need to be placed in /mods/<modpath>/field/colne_b3/ within your Final Fantasy VII directory.
Some side comments about getting that field to work: for that scene, it was not really straightforward. The big problem here is the absence of control on the overlaying process. Each layer is cut in a pre-established manner, so if there is something you want to overlay but falls outside the boundaries of how the layers are cut, then it cannot be done (unless somebody has a solution for it?). For example, if you compare the image below (50% render size) with what I previously rendered (see page 1 of this thread), I eventually had to mask the outflow of the sewage (bottom right corner of the image) because otherwise this section gets badly cut out. I also wanted to place a wooden plank across the bottom of the canal to "show" the end of the walkmesh (which I did eventually), however my first attempt were about placing that plank slightly more upstream and place it in a layer lying "above" the character. However, the "upper layers" were automatically cut out in such a way that the plank wasn't displayed. So I finally had to place the plank so that it wouldn't look like Cloud would step over it. I also had problems with the layering of the stairs, and it also turned out that the last two steps to the bottom could not be placed in an appropriate layer. I simply left those steps only in the bottom layers. I guess the way it's set up now is pretty much the best that could be done.
Another note I'd have is about the animation. As it is, there are 8 frames to play the animation of the flowing sewage. It takes about 1.2 seconds for the animation to loop. In my Blender fluid sim, I have 25 fps. Consequently, I chose to build the 8 frames animation by picking 1 Blender frame out of 4. It may be a bit "choppy" (as was the original game), but I think it "loops" better when returning to the first frame of the animation. Something I was wondering: would there be a way to expand the number of frames for such animation? It may be way outside what Palmer can do, but would it be possible at all? At this point, that last question is rather a matter of curiosity. In the same trend, I wonder if there's a way to modify how the overlays are cut out (with respect to my problems to arrange all the layers).
Anyway, I'd be happy if some people could try this WIP and give me some feedback
