A tomb?
I am just trying my hand at some level creation. I have not tried to get into the detail stuff, clutter, and all that business...Just laying out stuff. No concept, just off the top of the head, adding here putting this there. Any suggestions?
1. Putting two doors on those two things underneath the balcony, for loot and whatnot.
2. This is the room on the right of the above image.
3. The centerpiece.
4.
Wire.
QUICK sketch of what I hope to do.
suggestions?
Thanks!
1. Putting two doors on those two things underneath the balcony, for loot and whatnot.
2. This is the room on the right of the above image.
3. The centerpiece.
4.
Wire.
QUICK sketch of what I hope to do.
suggestions?
Thanks!
Replies
@ cholden I just saw your post, after I made them all the other rooms and connected them together...so yeah lol.
I tried to layout each room making you have to navigate a little through them. What do you think of the layout?
Thanks for the comments...
http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=796211&postcount=7
There is a little path that can lead you around...
I will have to get to that post at a later time...but I will read it...
I think what pliang meant was that the entire thing has a smooth modifier (but i can't speak for him, I just had that impression before reading his post).
It really depends on what the final product will be though. Game engines vary pretty widely on what they can do and what techniques are best.
Hammer and Radiant (Half Life 2 and Doom 3) can have areas like this fully created in 3d, in fact you could do an entire level like this. The problem is the engine won't optimize that and it won't run good. With those editors your best bet is to build the rooms out of world spawn brushes and add all the details as models.
You can even build the basic terrain, export as an obj to import into Maya and build around that terrain to get your scale perfect.
You could just build very simple NoDraw areas around those rooms in those editors and that might work OK too as that will help optimize.
In Morrowind the indoor areas are built in 3d. They are sectioned so you would have large tomb room.obj and hallway 1.obj and small tomb room.obj , etc... And they could be arranged in editor to make almost any possible combination of rooms.
Hammer and Radiant both allow normal mapping for bumps, chips, etc...
In Hammer you can use smoothing groups to make those pillars have sharpo edges between the vertical sections (would look more like stacked pieces than one carved piece).
In Radiant you have to detach each vertical piece becuase it automatically applies smoothing across joined pieces. (you just have to have seperate verts for the edges where they meet)
Then you have a choice of either smoothing or no smoothing.
Like stated above, it's usually easier to unwrap and texture the first column, then clone it and that work is already done. Sometimes though I'll do a layout like this, then uv map one column, clone and replace the others after I'm happy with how the layout is.
Also with game design it is typically better (although I don't always do it) to plan ahead. Have a reason the player would go there and make challenges based on the game to accomplish.
Like that balcony, is there a stairway? Do they have to climb? Or knock something down to get up there... Where's the doors?
Hammer and Radiant are used for what games? Half life 2 and Doom 3...LMFAO I think I just skipped right over that...I thought the id engine was for doom 3...tech 3 or what ever. Or is that just another name for it?
id is the studio, gtk Radiant is an engine. (I am using Dark Radiant for the Darkmod, which is a branch of the open source gtk Radiant engine, our programmers have improved it alot).
gtk radiant is the open source of id's engine. I think the tech 3 designation is just because it is newer than tech 2.
I do believe that radiant came from the quake engine (just improved- another branch).
I also believe that Hammer (Valve Studio) also evolved from the quake engine (yet another branch).
That's why it's so confusing
I'd say for most mods Hammer is better. Radiant is great for us because of the programmers. Doom3 really was pretty basic when it comes to AI, Half life is alot more in depth in that regard.
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as far as the balcony that's just an example I thought of when considering how the player would move. It could very well be an off limits (background) area depending on the game type.
That depends on game type too.
With Thief (single player) it's nice to be able to get to spots like that and chill, look around, etc...)
With a game like Team Fortress it would be a good place to put a gun, or maybe the intel for capture the flag.
What do you work on?
They are similar in many ways. You have to get the specific exporter for Maya/TF2. They have their own file types so you need the vtf (valve tex format) converter for photoshop or gimp.
When you export the mesh you'll have to make a material file like doom. Basically the model refs that as the texture used. The material file has code for which diffuse, spec and normal maps to use, plus other stuff for cube maps, transparencies, whatever (this is becoming standard for games since they are all supporting complex materials now).
You also have to make a convex collision model. So if you model a donut and want bullets to go through the middle you have to build a collision model out of several convex shapes to simulate the donut shape.
Search Valve Wiki on google, all the info is there. It took me a a day or two to get a model into the game but after that it's easy. Same with all the other engines, just getting the tools, getting used to them and figuring out quirks.
I'm working on Darkmod (see sig)
Stuff for TF2
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=2443&page=2
This only has my wagon wheel model in view but I've also made barrels, troughs, etc... It's a rat map so everything needs to be extra large. I think you need XP to decompile the TF2 models, I have Vista and the tool doesn't work for me, so instead of resizing valve models I gotta make my own. Using Valve textures though.
I've been doing alot for Zero Gear lately too. This is pretty much all modeled in Max. Making material files. Game isn't released yet so I can use the model viewer but can't go in game.
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=53670
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=53671
Also when I ask is it tough to get things into the game, I am basing this on getting things into Oblivion. I have spent at least 12 -16 hours trying to get things just into the .Nif viewer, or blender. I just cannot wrap my head around it!
Man, I would love to do some modding in TF2...I need to get that...yes.
Do more people work in Max then in Maya? I have seen a couple of places that say "Must be proficient in Max." Some that say "Must be proficient in Maya." Some that so nothing. Does it matter? Is Max that much more different then Maya?
Yeah, TF2 is better for PC
Been awhile since I put one of my objects in Oblivion. I think I kindof hit a stumbling block there where I just couldn't find tools, etc... It was awhile ago so that might've improved. I do seem to remember having a tough time (maybe a year ago) when I got my amulet in game. But it got harder with Oblivion than Morrowind was (I made the scroll and potion upgrades). Mainly because things like amulets actually got placed on the player so you needed player mesh files with skeletons, etc... for linking to, I think those were really hard to find.
In that aspect I think getting things into TF2 is easier. Half life has been around awhile so most of the tools cross over. The main thing is when level editing alot of stuff changed on entities and scripting between those games and alot of the TF2 stuff is still being documented, but most of it has been figured out, you just have to dig a little.
I don't know for sure but I'd say Maya and Max users are fairly even. They are the two major programs. I've always used Max and when I got a chance to try Maya it was just too foriegn. Learning different game engines is enough, I don't want to relearn a 3d program too.
I've also tried Anim8or, Blender, Lightwave, XSI Mod Tool, same thing, too much to relearn with no benefit.
I think most studios want you to be proficient in Max or Maya is because they own that program and don't want to buy both with network licenses. Probably whoever is in charge of art direction had a preference and that's what they got. Apples and Oranges really.