MAX/Photoshop workflow evolving for the future

ScreaminBubba

The more I see of what's to come in the next gen consoles, I see a change in the way content is made. I see my traditional workflow of MAX/Photoshop needing an overhaul or supplement to adapt and keep up.

I wanted to get some input on what workflows and applications most people are using or learning to meet the demands of next gen console work.

Rick Stirling

Know thy tools. Work smarter, not harder .

Use shortcuts, plan ahead. Art assets should be assets, not simply models and textures. They should be reused as often as possible and modified, rather than starting from scratch. On a big project you not only reuse your own work, but the work of the rest of the team. Why would I build a jacket from scratcg when someone else at work has built a great one already.

There is no magic make art button.

ScreaminBubba

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There is no magic make art button.

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Not sure what your meaning or implying here. I made no hint at doing any such thing, nor do I believe such a thing exists.

I'm not looking for a quick way to do something, I'm asking what artists in the game dev industry have done to modify their workflows to ramp up for the demands of next gen console work. Particularly those that do not have a cinematics background.

motives

well basically, as i understand it, you still use Max and PS just at higher polycount and higher texture resolution

if you should get any extras i would seuggest lookin into Zbrush as far as modelling tools and maybe deep pint or some other 3d paint proggie.. But you are still good to go with that killer max/PS combo!

CrazyButcher

probably some more "tools" would be used, like normal map generator (if not using max's own..) but mostly engine specific tools. I am no expert on this, just knowing a bit techcode behind it, things dont change fundamentally. lets say you made q3 shaders before, now they are a lot more fancy and resemble a bit the material editors you have in rendering software.

Eric Chadwick

Know thy tools is right. But even when you know Max and PS really well, you find there are deficiencies in the toolsets. Knowing what other tool are out there helps speed thing up.

Some things you can work around, but it takes longer. Like painting out seams. Alt-tabbing between PS and Max might work OK for you, but it takes time. Projection paint is much faster, immediate. So I've been using Body Paint 3D for fixing seams.

Some things you can't work around, because it just takes too long. ZBrush is great for organic high-res detailing, Max is not nearly as agile there.

UV relax is another... you can do it in Max via various workarounds (Reactor cloth thing, pass the UVs into verts and use Relax modifier and then pass back to UVs, etc.). But Deep UV is much faster, almost a one click wonder.

Modeling is another. Modo is awesome, so I hear. I haven't been modeling high-res much lately, but another artist here likes it.

Also might help to specialize a bit. Become an expert at a certain part of the pipeline, rather than a jack of all trades. May companies seem to be dividing up the workflow, since there's so much of it, and so many things to learn for each. But here we're a small shop, so we need to wear many hats. Keeps us busy!

boxsmiley

I am learning a ton on these forums! At the moment we have our setup to were we allow Visual Build Pro to create our final art assets, from both Max and Photoshop, all automated. The only thing i still don't understand is how shadrers fit into the whole art pipeline!? So i create them and apply them, but how do i extract the data? Sorry if i am hijacking the thread, i don't mean too. It's just so many people here know so much...my mind want's too know too!

Eric Chadwick

Heh, I just replied to your CGTalk post...
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=241000

<sigh> Wish I was at E3 today.

Eric Chadwick

Oops I was wrong, the modeling program he prefers is Silo, not Modo. But hey, they both seem like good tools, and they're fairly young so they both probably have lots of room to grow.

I'm curious what other tools people are using to flesh out their 3ds max pipeline...

ScreaminBubba

Zbrush seems to be a good skill to aqcuire for doing any organic modeling.

My video card may be a problem with next gen workflows, I'm usually using a beefy game card (GeForce 6800 ultra currently). I couldn't imagine trying to build a model with my configuration that exceeded 100-200k polys.

Is the Quattro or FireGL series (or anything else)better for hi-end work? What type of hardware configurations are people using?

Rick Stirling

I use Silos tweak mode to remove the uniformity in my models, and then Zbrush 2 to add the dept to the high poly models.

Kevin Albers

Using more tools is definately a good way to go. Using Zbrush and Silo for high and lo res organic modelling saves time, is fun, and generally kicks ass (without spending tons of money on expensive software). I use XSI for some UVing, though it's a bit overkill to use XSI essentially as a specialized UVing tool, while doing most work in Max. It sure saves me time (ie money) though.
Reusing lots of assets is also great. I'm making a library of little widgets/decorative elements as I make high-poly assets, so as time goes on I can build less stuff totally from scratch.
Some scripted tools are increasingly helpfull, such as scripts to automate all this exporting/importing between different apps.

ironbearxl

I use Max 5.1 sp1 and about 5 or 6 or more modeling scripts. I've tried Zbrush a few times (it's hard) and some other tools but really prefer max.