Assets for first UDK environment.
polycounter lvl 8
So I'm modeling a flower to animate in an environment I am going to be creating for my portfolio. Please criticize as much as possible. Also a few questions:
~ Tris in UDK? Does everything have to be a tri?
~ Exporting static meshes and textures from Maya 2011? How do I do it other than using .fbx or .obj?
Thanks,
Ethan.
~ Tris in UDK? Does everything have to be a tri?
~ Exporting static meshes and textures from Maya 2011? How do I do it other than using .fbx or .obj?
Thanks,
Ethan.
Replies
Yes. DirectX renders only triangles. You can export any n-gon and the importer will automatically make the triangles (though this may produce unwanted results if there are more than 4 sides.)
Many people use ASE format. You can't export the textures, though. For textures and materials you must import the bitmaps in UDK then create a new material, where you plug in your diffuse map and all your other stuff. Many people ask on the UDK forums about importing materials from mental ray. In short, it's not practical at all.
Thank you for your reply. That is really helpful information.
So with the ASE format, does it store the UV information along with it? Also, what is the best texture format to use in UDK? ie; jpg, tga, png.. I'm used to rendering with Mental Ray and also high poly modeling.
I try to stay away from .jpg tough, because of the compression.
This site is full of such helpful people. Cheers!
Finally figured out how to get the images to show up. Have a look.
Download the apporpriate actor X plugin here. Not sure how it works for maya, but for softimage after putting the file into the plugins folder, when you run softimage there is an Actor X option under 'export', its extremely easy. Hope this help. Then as mentioned before, in UDK you have to import your texture files, create materials, hook the textures into the material (diffuse, normal, etc.) and apply the material to your object.
Not sure if you know how to animate plants in udk or not, but if not I highly recommend http://eat3d.com/udk_cinematics . It is a tutorial on how to do environmental effects, and he goes over how to animate a plant and bring that into UDK.
No I am not familiar with animating in UDK. I was expecting to have to rig it up in Maya and export the animation file to UDK. Is there an easier way? And if so, will it give the desired effect?
I'd love to watch that tutorial but I simply cannot afford it at the moment. Also, its for Unreal Editor 2? Is UE2 much different than the latest version?
So basically you paint it two colors from top to bottom, lets say the bottom is blue and the top is yellow. You set it up in udk that the color blue, which is the base of your plant, is affected 0% by swaying effects like wind, and that yellow, the top of your plant, is affected 100%, everything inbetween of course is affected 1-99% and gives a nice swaying effect, with the bottom of your plant staying planted and the top swaying. It may sound complicated but is extremely easy.
I'm not overly familiar with UDK so I can't suggest another way too animate, other than importing a rigged, animated object. However I can tell you the way I described it is the way all the plants in the engine are done.
It's a pricey tutorial, I can't really recommend anything other than saving up for it, it is definitely worth it. And I followed the tutorial's using the newest version of UDK back in October, so you would have no problem with it.
Hope this helps, all I can say is save up for this one, if you are a newbie to UDK like me, it is more than worth its weight in gold. Just buy digital copy, its half the cost of the hard copy.
Question though. Would you be able to paint different weights on each petal? So that a wind effect would make each petal sway differently? Also, its not key frame animation at all right? Its just the wind effect in UDK affecting the plant in real time?
Is there any easy way to do character and foliage interaction? Would it be done in a similar way?
I just wanted to point out that, although that tutorial teaches several interesting techniques, at least 50% of what it teaches you is "the way is absolutely not meant to be done" (I hate it when tutors do that, even more so when they state that they are teaching you something wrong), last but not least that guy's accent is really annoying.