Indie programmer wanting to create models!
by Ryanz · in Artist Corner · 12/13/2009 (10:43 am) · 4 replies
Hey,
I've been looking at torque for a while now, and trying out various other game engines, the coding part of games seems fine to me, but I have no clue where to start with model creation. Say I want to create a character which runs, and a building my character can enter, where should I begin the learning process? What knowledge is needed to make characters for a game, how do other indie programmers do it? There seems to be so much to model creation, animation ect.
I'm pretty tired, so I hope I have managed to put accross my question in an understadable manner, please do tell me if I need to be more specific!
Thanks
Ryan
I've been looking at torque for a while now, and trying out various other game engines, the coding part of games seems fine to me, but I have no clue where to start with model creation. Say I want to create a character which runs, and a building my character can enter, where should I begin the learning process? What knowledge is needed to make characters for a game, how do other indie programmers do it? There seems to be so much to model creation, animation ect.
I'm pretty tired, so I hope I have managed to put accross my question in an understadable manner, please do tell me if I need to be more specific!
Thanks
Ryan
About the author
#2
run some trial programs if you can find them. the autodesk products are by far the hardest to trial but they're also the most expensive.
it wont matter how many times people tell you how great application xyz is if the interface doesn't agree with you. for me XSI was the right fit, but Modo might work better for you.
i will say the more expensive products are the better options to get. the tools they include are all specificaly to save time and improve productivity.
here's a list of the apps i know of, might be a few in there you haven't looked at yet.
milkshape (quake 1 era, so not highly recommended)
silo
modo
fragmotion (more animation than modelling)
softimage XSi
maya
3dsMax
sketchup (for architecture, useless for characters)
blender (free and decent)
truespace (free and decent-er)
cinema4d
g-max (a PRE- autodesk 3d studio max version this is the closest to a trial you can get sometimes)
sculptors: not particulary good for modelling but usually quite good for hi res sculpting
z brush (pay once, current forever)
mudbox (pay once, then pay ridiculous subscriber fees to autodesk)
3d coat (pay once not sure on updates)
i wouldn't recomend mudbox on price alone, it's competitors have more features at less cost initially and do not ask for you to pay a yearly subscription.
as for advice
don't over model, start with bigger details and refine the model from there
learn world art well before attempting characters. characters require lots of techniques and skills, and you can learn those skills far quicker working on things like bins rocks pavement etc.
if you use sketchup be aware it creates long triangles, internally it only creates n-gons, when you export you can triangulate. these triangles err towards the long. these can be bad for some purposes. ie lighting. it does not feature edge smoothing either, however for architectural stuff you'll find it very quick.
sketchup exports to a proprietry format...which is essentially a zipped file containing the textures and a collada file. so take the collada bit out and your set for torque. the free version of sketchup allows for commercial modelling too.
focus on keeping good edge loops, it makes modelling so much easier
that's all i've got for now.
12/13/2009 (4:05 pm)
modelling is never easy to learn. it takes a certain mindset, you are drawing 3d shapes using a 2d interface so something is lost in the interface's of all 3d apps. run some trial programs if you can find them. the autodesk products are by far the hardest to trial but they're also the most expensive.
it wont matter how many times people tell you how great application xyz is if the interface doesn't agree with you. for me XSI was the right fit, but Modo might work better for you.
i will say the more expensive products are the better options to get. the tools they include are all specificaly to save time and improve productivity.
here's a list of the apps i know of, might be a few in there you haven't looked at yet.
milkshape (quake 1 era, so not highly recommended)
silo
modo
fragmotion (more animation than modelling)
softimage XSi
maya
3dsMax
sketchup (for architecture, useless for characters)
blender (free and decent)
truespace (free and decent-er)
cinema4d
g-max (a PRE- autodesk 3d studio max version this is the closest to a trial you can get sometimes)
sculptors: not particulary good for modelling but usually quite good for hi res sculpting
z brush (pay once, current forever)
mudbox (pay once, then pay ridiculous subscriber fees to autodesk)
3d coat (pay once not sure on updates)
i wouldn't recomend mudbox on price alone, it's competitors have more features at less cost initially and do not ask for you to pay a yearly subscription.
as for advice
don't over model, start with bigger details and refine the model from there
learn world art well before attempting characters. characters require lots of techniques and skills, and you can learn those skills far quicker working on things like bins rocks pavement etc.
if you use sketchup be aware it creates long triangles, internally it only creates n-gons, when you export you can triangulate. these triangles err towards the long. these can be bad for some purposes. ie lighting. it does not feature edge smoothing either, however for architectural stuff you'll find it very quick.
sketchup exports to a proprietry format...which is essentially a zipped file containing the textures and a collada file. so take the collada bit out and your set for torque. the free version of sketchup allows for commercial modelling too.
focus on keeping good edge loops, it makes modelling so much easier
that's all i've got for now.
#4
if your not being sarcastic, imagine 3d models are made of rubber bandsan edge loop is one continoius ring of edges that make a loop. good topolgy relies on m,aintaining edge loops.
games may use triangulated meshes which have no edge loops but, with dx11 and tesselated displaced meshes, you need to work with quads if you don't want ugly tesselated meshes.
12/14/2009 (3:49 am)
one of the basics. if your not being sarcastic, imagine 3d models are made of rubber bandsan edge loop is one continoius ring of edges that make a loop. good topolgy relies on m,aintaining edge loops.
games may use triangulated meshes which have no edge loops but, with dx11 and tesselated displaced meshes, you need to work with quads if you don't want ugly tesselated meshes.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]
But really, you need to choose a 3D modeling program and learn how to use that through it's own instructions and tutorials.