Hey Jafo! Just wondering how much rigging you've had to do as an environment artist doing more man made objects?
In CryEngine for anything simple like a spinning fan or simple piston moving up and down, you can animate the object with some simple key frames and then export it as a "cga" file type (animated geometry). Then in the editor, you just load it as an "animObject" and it will animate with the correct settings.
For something more complicated, the animation team handled that.
The thing that's really confusing me right now is the map with the alphabet and numbers. I don't think I've seen anything like that before. Could you explain or point me to a resource that explains what that is, how it works, and how to use it?
If you look closely at any of the screenshots, you'll see a lot of the structures have numbers or lettering on them such as "PMB 32" or "<<<keep area clear>>>". Each letter, number, and sign is mapped to a polygon. This allows you to spell anything and arrange it in anyway that works.
If you look closely at any of the screenshots, you'll see a lot of the structures have numbers or lettering on them such as "PMB 32" or "<<<keep area clear>>>". Each letter, number, and sign is mapped to a polygon. This allows you to spell anything and arrange it in anyway that works.
Okay so are those floaters, or are they a part of the original mesh? It only makes sense to me that they are floaters; I don't understand how you would be able to map a piece so that you could non destructively place decals like that on assets.
I was just wondering if and how you added texture variations to your objects suchs as wear and tear? If you use a huge texture atlas then you can't really use a small blend mask for individual pieces and vertex painting right?
Here's another model I made for EVOLVE, Daisy's harness, which has a fun story to go with it. After some discussions with Dave Gibson, the animator I worked with on the harness, we thought it would be fun if there was a dog tag. It was, after all, a pet. If I recall correctly, he wanted parts of the harness to be loose so it bounced around as she moved so putting a dog tag worked into that perfectly. I like to listen to movies while I work and on the day I was working on the texture I was watching Snatch. For those who know, Tommy calls the dog that they find the diamond inside "Daisy". That sounded like a great name for this huge beast along with making it a girl as well. Serendipity I suppose.
Hah! That is an awesome story! I didn't think it was possible to love Daisy even more.
I was just wondering if and how you added texture variations to your objects suchs as wear and tear? If you use a huge texture atlas then you can't really use a small blend mask for individual pieces and vertex painting right?
The concrete material is a blend shader that uses vertex alpha to blend between two materials. For other wear and tear I did have an atlas with some grunge but we found it better to use the decal system in the editor because it allowed for more control.
Amazing stuff. Especially the two breakdowns are very handy - thanks a lot for it.
One question: May it be possible to see some wireframes of the models?
I'm working on a new portfolio piece and have no clue how far I can push the geometry these days.
Amazing stuff. Especially the two breakdowns are very handy - thanks a lot for it.
One question: May it be possible to see some wireframes of the models?
I'm working on a new portfolio piece and have no clue how far I can push the geometry these days.
Thanks for the kind words!
Seeing wireframes really won't be helpful since it won't give you any context. With current game engines and available hardware, it really comes down to how clever and efficient you are with your material usage, occluders, and how aggressively you LOD your models.
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In CryEngine for anything simple like a spinning fan or simple piston moving up and down, you can animate the object with some simple key frames and then export it as a "cga" file type (animated geometry). Then in the editor, you just load it as an "animObject" and it will animate with the correct settings.
For something more complicated, the animation team handled that.
If you look closely at any of the screenshots, you'll see a lot of the structures have numbers or lettering on them such as "PMB 32" or "<<<keep area clear>>>". Each letter, number, and sign is mapped to a polygon. This allows you to spell anything and arrange it in anyway that works.
Okay so are those floaters, or are they a part of the original mesh? It only makes sense to me that they are floaters; I don't understand how you would be able to map a piece so that you could non destructively place decals like that on assets.
Really really awsome stuff
I was just wondering if and how you added texture variations to your objects suchs as wear and tear? If you use a huge texture atlas then you can't really use a small blend mask for individual pieces and vertex painting right?
Hah! That is an awesome story! I didn't think it was possible to love Daisy even more.
The concrete material is a blend shader that uses vertex alpha to blend between two materials. For other wear and tear I did have an atlas with some grunge but we found it better to use the decal system in the editor because it allowed for more control.
One question: May it be possible to see some wireframes of the models?
I'm working on a new portfolio piece and have no clue how far I can push the geometry these days.
Thanks for the kind words!
Seeing wireframes really won't be helpful since it won't give you any context. With current game engines and available hardware, it really comes down to how clever and efficient you are with your material usage, occluders, and how aggressively you LOD your models.