Interface/front end design

Armanguy

Hey guys Im looking into doing some hud work ive done hud designs before but i want to know what i need to know if i want to apply to jobs as an interface/ front end designer? and if there are any good sites i could goto to get some tutorials? thanks again

Eric Chadwick

This thread might help some.
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=243404&an=&page=0&vc=1

Also do a search in the jobs section, lots of info about what companies want from a UI designer.

Armanguy

This is what really bugs me i really dont know where to start im goood at concepting out the hud/front end but ive never really put it into a game myself i only use photoshop the last hud i did i just made the graphics and sent it over to my programmer how would i go about learning about the begining to end phase of production?

Slum

Step one: Use punctuation.

Step two: Find a game and mod it. Hl2, UT

Armanguy

Sorry about that slum it was 6am. But i there any good tutorials out there to help me mod it?

Eric Chadwick

Yes there usually are. Choose a game, and when you find out about it let us know.

Parnell

I've worked on UI and I think for just about every company the process and tools used are completely different. For Titanquest we literally made it by the seat of our pants. Talking with other friends in the industry there really is no "right" way to do UI.
We used a mix of 3DS Max, Flash, and Photoshop on our most recent project. There were a couple middle-ware apps that we tested and then wound up using. However, those apps were the programmers responsibility and were used for implementation of Flash into the engine.
As for creation tools, Photoshop is a definite but I'd also suggest Flash. For Flash I'd recommend not only learning the art end but learn how to write actionscript as well.
Hope that helps.
B

Sage

This sound like a lot of what I had to do with director and flash when I was in school to make my presentations of 3d work for my thesis projects. Modeling man how complex actionscripts are you writing when you are doing ui? Do you mostly use the timeline in flash and have an actionscript tell it to play an animation and stop until the user does something else, rollovers?

Alex

Armanguy

I used flash for the longest time when i was in highschool gr.8 and 9 i think i still have some games i made lol:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/search/author/armanguy

some of the things i made were really immature i was in grade 8 so i apoloagize :P

i guess i want to make some gui's for the hl2 engine as i am making a map for it right now too so has anyone made anything for that Engine?

Sa74n

this might help ya:

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:VGUI

tbh if you want to get into ui design you should create your designs in flash. you can do all the little animations like mouse overs, drop down menus, blinking, flashing, sounds etc easily in there. its just the most efficient way to try out different designs. just put a screenshot of the game in the background and create the hud or ui on top of it.

as it has been said before every company approaches ui differently. usually an artist works together with a programmer to get it implemented. there are no standart tools or procedures.

Armanguy

i made a quick mock up of the new turok games i used both flash and photoshop for this still working on the buttons.

http://www.armanguy.net/tutokmockupguicopy.jpg
http://www.armanguy.net/tutokmockupguicopy2.jpg
http://www.armanguy.net/turokmockuphudcrosshairs.jpg
http://www.armanguy.net/turokmockuphudweponselect.jpg

thanks for the link Sa74n