udk blockin, why bsp?

Arthur Ramazanov

Hey, I was wondering, what is the purpose of bsp blockins - why not block things in in Maya and export the geo - then build the level around the block in you did in maya. Or am I missing something important about the idea of bsp?

Obscura

Using bsp is optional. If you want to block with your models, then its up for you.

Gilgamesh

It is optional, but I prefer to use bsp to size things up. You can then jump in the game run around and see if things seems correctly proportioned. Also you don't need to worry about collision with bsp as it's automatically done so you can freely run around on the bsp surfaces unlike a simplistc maya/max export (unless you want to do the extra work of setting up as well).

Once done blocking out you can export that entire thing out to obj then load into maya and use it as reference as well.

Hourences

You can set per poly collision to a max maya block out model so collision wise it is not really a problem.

It is pretty much just preference in any case, you can use either for blockouts. Neither is better than the other for it.

If you make a mobile game, you'd be best avoiding BSP however.

BSP also has a reason of existence because of volume creation, which meshes cannot replace.

danpaz3d

Agree with above, I mainly use bsp blockout just to export from UDK into max. Mainly because It helps with object scale between software's.

ambershee

It's also considerably quicker to layout levels using brushes, seeing as you can just slap a few brushes down and iterate without dealing with more than one application and the export / import process.

IMHO, levels blocked out within the editor using brushes usually play considerably better than those that are not. This is because the emphasis has often been on the layout and presentation of playable area, and the purely aesthetic qualities have been left until required. This is particularly evident in games like Unreal Tournament, where the layout is very critical.