[Noob Question] Work Flow Question

zombiexm

I am pretty stumped by this , after watching a few people develop environments inside udk.

1) How would you go by introducing content to the udk?
I currently import each static mesh separately, and build the world by hand. I have seen a few people import the environment built inside max to UDK?

2) Should I worry about Polycount for small showcase work?
I understand the need for keeping polycounts low, but in a environment that's the size of a room with only amount of meshes would it matter if I do not?

3) I've read about pre-made game scripts for udk, I was wondering if anyone can point me to a few of them? I am not a expert at uscript or any coding, but I can get around.

thanks!

Mark Dygert

1) That really depends on what you are doing.
If you need to use the terrain tools that is probably better than importing a huge mesh for the ground.
If you are doing an indoor hallway or a street, you're probably fine to use static meshes and their collision.

2) If you're making something pretty just for the sake of it, use whatever resources you have. If you're pretending that your room is part of a larger game then you need to allocate resources to the room as if it was a small part of something bigger, so don't use the entire tri count budget for a game, on one room. When potential employers look at your stuff they will ask themselves, how well does this fit in our game.

3, no clue.

zombiexm

Mark Dygert wrote: »

1) That really depends on what you are doing.
If you need to use the terrain tools that is probably better than importing a huge mesh for the ground.
If you are doing an indoor hallway or a street, you're probably fine to use static meshes and their collision.

2) If you're making something pretty just for the sake of it, use whatever resources you have. If you're pretending that your room is part of a larger game then you need to allocate resources to the room as if it was a small part of something bigger, so don't use the entire tri count budget for a game, on one room. When potential employers look at your stuff they will ask themselves, how well does this fit in our game.

3, no clue.

Thanks.
On 1. What I think I was meaning was would you import it all as one file (being built all in the 3D Program) or each static mesh by itself.

sprunghunt

zombiexm wrote: »

Thanks.
On 1. What I think I was meaning was would you import it all as one file (being built all in the 3D Program) or each static mesh by itself.

You would normally build each mesh by itself and import them individually. There are many advantages to building your environments in this way. One of the biggest advantages is that it is much easier to create new environments with the pieces you make.

acealmighty13

1. You're doing it right. You can use BSP to build SOME aspects of your level but the detail would come only from your textures created and any decals added into UDK's materials. I'm currently building a small map for my portfolio and building it in 3ds Max, then will import the pieces into UDK. Max, allows more variety and creativity to your meshes.

2. Mark Dygert has got it pretty nailed on the second question. If you're doing personal work, it's your call. But if you're looking for work in the industry, getting into a habit of keeping your poly count down will help you out in the long run.

3. I use Kismet, or trying to learn Kismet. With the visual node based system, it helps me get some basic coding into my maps that I can do on my own. If you're looking for something more advanced, I'd try World of Level Design or Hourences. I'm not a programmer at all and these two places will get you started.