Are there any actual XNA tools for artists though? I mean it's one thing to be able to export a .x or whatever but completely another to be able to do anything with it unless you can code. I guess I'm just wondering how the hell you make content if you can't do anything with it as an artist. I noticed there's also an XSI exporter for Torque, which now has XNA support as well. I did a quick test with some of my autorig stuff for it that sorta worked. Thinking I might put together a stripped down version that will at least build a compatible rig for export. I had plans to do this for other engines too originally, as I'd really like to see XSI get more use for game work.
I know there's source as well... but I don't really consider that an option =]
Yeah, it seems a bit premature. I'm guessing that the XNA team will work on a bare bones model format and exporter so that hobbyists can start hooking up art in a game with no initial work. That's kind of the M.O. of XNA - no need to do the groundwork that every game needs - so I think it's something they'll get to.
They've updated Mod Tool to version 6, that's cool. So are they including the Torque exporter plugin, or just .X export/import?
I've used XSI Foundation on small XNA projects for exporting .X files (nice to have programmer friends). Having a Mod Tool around would help get a few more people involved. I've been waiting for a torque exporter for a couple years to help with Torque projects. This is great for the hobbyist community and start-ups, as the VC and XBL scene is now getting attention.
512x512 is enough when you know how to get the most out of each pixel
Ely: as far as I know the Torque exporter is in beta, and it's being made by a member of the community. But it seems to be in limbo from what I can tell... there's really nothing to it as far as GUI goes, compared to the maya version. Regardless, I got it to work with a simple test rig so i'm moving ahead with compatibility using my own rig setup.
I'm not sure the exporter will work with the Mod tool though... it's a plugin, which I'm not sure you can use with the Mod tool. Never tested it anyway. Would suck if it didn't work (for others, not me)
[ QUOTE ]
Ely: as far as I know the Torque exporter is in beta, and it's being made by a member of the community. But it seems to be in limbo from what I can tell.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I've been watching that one for some time.
As long as I can export mesh, texture, and very basic animations, it should be fine. I'm just wondering what is the exact details of their Mod Tool tie-in with XNA, aside from the .X exporter. But I'm glad they've updated the Mod Tool. The previous version was unstable and difficult to work with in comparison to the full Foundation version, which is well worth purchasing.
OK just had a tinker around with this, and Mod Tool 6 exports OBJ, FBX, and .X. It is possible to get models in Zbrush for example. Who needs (most of) ultimapper when you have XNormal?
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
I think it's also worth mentioning the triangle limit has been bumped up to ~68,000 from 8,000
[ QUOTE ]
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, and look what they did with Gmax. Mod Tool actually works as intended. For learning, and for games, it's a great app to help increase their userbase.
[ QUOTE ]
OK just had a tinker around with this, and Mod Tool 6 exports OBJ, FBX, and .X. It is possible to get models in Zbrush for example. Who needs (most of) ultimapper when you have XNormal?
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
I think it's also worth mentioning the triangle limit has been bumped up to ~68,000 from 8,000
[/ QUOTE ]
Those are some pretty nice features. The bump up in poly limits for exporting is much better. You would still have to do normal map generation in the Mod Tool itself. (you would require a higher poly limit for export to external mappers) And the exporters are certainly welcome. Especially the FBX exporter. A lot of games are using that format these days, but it is difficult to find exporters for anything but 3DSMax.
Are they streamlining the Mod Tool at all? My bigget complaint with previous versions was that they were simply too dense. It would be nice to see a program called a "Mod Tool" streamlined so that it didn't have the bloated bulk of the rest of the XSI studio behind it. Even just an option that will optimize the interface for game modeling, hiding all the crap that you don't care about when low-poly modeling.
[ QUOTE ]
Even just an option that will optimize the interface for game modeling, hiding all the crap that you don't care about when low-poly modeling.
[/ QUOTE ]
They've limited you to only using polygonal meshes, and restricted you from mental rendering. Aside from that, you get a free low poly modeler, with efficient uvmapping tools and support for normal maps, and the best rigging, weighting, and animation tools available. And this could be used to learn the priced versions. Previous to the Mod Tool it was called EXP, which is what convinced me to switch. They simply added the game export plugins available for the licensed versions, to appeal to the mod community. So I hope they don't change anything. I may use this for a while instead of my 4.2 install.
I downloaded it and gave it a quick look-see. Right off the bat, its clear that they did in fact take the time to think out the UI. It's much, much cleaner than the 4.2 version. The innumerable buttons and sub-menus are gone, replaced wtih a tighter, more focused interface. The visibility manipulation tools are now self-explanatory. It's quite easy to navigate the 3D window, and switch between view manipulation and selection. Even the selection options have been cleaned up.
I will have to get deeper into this to be able to really evaluate it. But at the moment, I'm seeing nothing but improvements over Mod Tool 4.2. This could turn out to be a really great application for game modeling.
I've been going through some of the Neosis tutorials that are being provided along with the Mod Tool. Wow. So...much...better. They really did their homework on this revision. Vital game-modeling functions are put front-and-center on the user-interface. The workflow is so much cleaner. So much more streamlined. Everything is self-explanatory and specifically labeled. If anyone was put off by the original version of this software (as I was) take a look at the changes made in version 6. This is a much more efficient beast.
i was curious to see what xsi had been up to in the years since i last checked out version 3 or so, so i chose to download this instead of some timebombed thingie.
- do i get that right that they disabled the functionality to create your own keymaps, so you cannot customize the shortcuts?
- i appreciate that i can now switch to a maya-like viewport navigation scheme. having to press CTRL+ALT+RMB to invoke the context menu is a bit much tho for something, that i would want to do alot when interacting with the program. also, why is the context menu a huge list? subfolders, anyone? the time saved traveling to the menus is wasted threefold by searching the function in the context menu...
- software seems to lack something like an expert-/fullscreen mode?
- how on earth can a software in 2007 still not allow you to install into a default windows directory that contains a space in the pathname?
- why do i get some "c:\users" stuff thrown onto my drive? i work on a different partition, actually on a different harddrive, thank you. can't seem to be allowed to move that folder either?
- i like how it constantly wants to go on the net, really a 3d app that wants to break free. now that i instructed my firewall to keep this thing in the house, it throws orange colored network errors into the bar on the bottom of the screen, argh.
brilliant showing so far, mod tool. i hope the commercial version is not a similar bitch.
Replies
I know there's source as well... but I don't really consider that an option =]
I've used XSI Foundation on small XNA projects for exporting .X files (nice to have programmer friends). Having a Mod Tool around would help get a few more people involved. I've been waiting for a torque exporter for a couple years to help with Torque projects. This is great for the hobbyist community and start-ups, as the VC and XBL scene is now getting attention.
512x512 is enough when you know how to get the most out of each pixel
I'm not sure the exporter will work with the Mod tool though... it's a plugin, which I'm not sure you can use with the Mod tool. Never tested it anyway. Would suck if it didn't work (for others, not me)
Ely: as far as I know the Torque exporter is in beta, and it's being made by a member of the community. But it seems to be in limbo from what I can tell.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I've been watching that one for some time.
As long as I can export mesh, texture, and very basic animations, it should be fine. I'm just wondering what is the exact details of their Mod Tool tie-in with XNA, aside from the .X exporter. But I'm glad they've updated the Mod Tool. The previous version was unstable and difficult to work with in comparison to the full Foundation version, which is well worth purchasing.
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
I think it's also worth mentioning the triangle limit has been bumped up to ~68,000 from 8,000
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, and look what they did with Gmax. Mod Tool actually works as intended. For learning, and for games, it's a great app to help increase their userbase.
OK just had a tinker around with this, and Mod Tool 6 exports OBJ, FBX, and .X. It is possible to get models in Zbrush for example. Who needs (most of) ultimapper when you have XNormal?
I'm impressed they didn't go all gungho with making it a closed application like discreet did with gmax.
I think it's also worth mentioning the triangle limit has been bumped up to ~68,000 from 8,000
[/ QUOTE ]
Those are some pretty nice features. The bump up in poly limits for exporting is much better. You would still have to do normal map generation in the Mod Tool itself. (you would require a higher poly limit for export to external mappers) And the exporters are certainly welcome. Especially the FBX exporter. A lot of games are using that format these days, but it is difficult to find exporters for anything but 3DSMax.
Are they streamlining the Mod Tool at all? My bigget complaint with previous versions was that they were simply too dense. It would be nice to see a program called a "Mod Tool" streamlined so that it didn't have the bloated bulk of the rest of the XSI studio behind it. Even just an option that will optimize the interface for game modeling, hiding all the crap that you don't care about when low-poly modeling.
Even just an option that will optimize the interface for game modeling, hiding all the crap that you don't care about when low-poly modeling.
[/ QUOTE ]
They've limited you to only using polygonal meshes, and restricted you from mental rendering. Aside from that, you get a free low poly modeler, with efficient uvmapping tools and support for normal maps, and the best rigging, weighting, and animation tools available. And this could be used to learn the priced versions. Previous to the Mod Tool it was called EXP, which is what convinced me to switch. They simply added the game export plugins available for the licensed versions, to appeal to the mod community. So I hope they don't change anything. I may use this for a while instead of my 4.2 install.
Also can't seem to import higher than the 68,000 poly limit.
I will have to get deeper into this to be able to really evaluate it. But at the moment, I'm seeing nothing but improvements over Mod Tool 4.2. This could turn out to be a really great application for game modeling.
- do i get that right that they disabled the functionality to create your own keymaps, so you cannot customize the shortcuts?
- i appreciate that i can now switch to a maya-like viewport navigation scheme. having to press CTRL+ALT+RMB to invoke the context menu is a bit much tho for something, that i would want to do alot when interacting with the program. also, why is the context menu a huge list? subfolders, anyone? the time saved traveling to the menus is wasted threefold by searching the function in the context menu...
- software seems to lack something like an expert-/fullscreen mode?
- how on earth can a software in 2007 still not allow you to install into a default windows directory that contains a space in the pathname?
- why do i get some "c:\users" stuff thrown onto my drive? i work on a different partition, actually on a different harddrive, thank you. can't seem to be allowed to move that folder either?
- i like how it constantly wants to go on the net, really a 3d app that wants to break free. now that i instructed my firewall to keep this thing in the house, it throws orange colored network errors into the bar on the bottom of the screen, argh.
brilliant showing so far, mod tool. i hope the commercial version is not a similar bitch.
the netview is useful for tutorials, don't have to alt tab out to a browser. the constant online attempts probably checking for updates.