Carrara/Hexgon/Bryce bundle as tools for TGEA?
by Roland Stralberg · in General Discussion · 05/19/2008 (12:07 pm) · 10 replies
Hi
DAZ has a bundle of Carrara, Hexagon and Bryce for a nice member price.
I have not used any of the tools before (currently using Blender, trueSpace and L3DT)
and wonder if any of you guys have some experience of using those the DAZ tools
for game creation in TGEA.
Is this a good bundle for making TGEA content.
Of course I know that in the end models must be converted to DTS using
Blender or UU3D.
Any advice?
Cheers
Roland
DAZ has a bundle of Carrara, Hexagon and Bryce for a nice member price.
I have not used any of the tools before (currently using Blender, trueSpace and L3DT)
and wonder if any of you guys have some experience of using those the DAZ tools
for game creation in TGEA.
Is this a good bundle for making TGEA content.
Of course I know that in the end models must be converted to DTS using
Blender or UU3D.
Any advice?
Cheers
Roland
#2
Now, the long story (and yes, I own Carrara 6 Standard, Bryce 6, and Hexagon 2.5)...
Since you're not going to be able to export straight to DTS unless you get the free Carrara SDK and try to write a DTS exporter, the main reason for having an additional package would be to get either a better modeller or a better UV Mapper. Well, Carrara as a modeller/UV mapper is pretty weak! Hexagon is a decent modeller, there are some missing features and there are several known bugs, but it's pretty decent and compares well with Silo in some areas. "Modelling" in Bryce is an unholy pain as it was never meant to be a modeller, you can do some things in it, but.. shudder.. you'd be better off with Hexagon.
If you were doing 2D work, it would make more sense.. Bryce for backgrounds to scroll around in, Carrara to crank out sprite sequences, and Hexagon to do your base meshes in prior to rigging and animating. I've done a little of that to get content into TGB, and that's a reasonable art pipeline for it.
My recommendation would be to download and experiment with Silo from Nevercenter. It's a good modeller (for me) and the UV Mapping while not as good as a standalone UV Mapper (like UVMapper Pro) works for me. Hexagons UV Mapping takes some getting used to, the documentation is a tad out of date but there are video tutorials out there that can get you over the learning curve fairly painlessly.
I hope all that helps a little! :-)
05/19/2008 (1:20 pm)
Summary: I wouldn't bother, if I were you.Now, the long story (and yes, I own Carrara 6 Standard, Bryce 6, and Hexagon 2.5)...
Since you're not going to be able to export straight to DTS unless you get the free Carrara SDK and try to write a DTS exporter, the main reason for having an additional package would be to get either a better modeller or a better UV Mapper. Well, Carrara as a modeller/UV mapper is pretty weak! Hexagon is a decent modeller, there are some missing features and there are several known bugs, but it's pretty decent and compares well with Silo in some areas. "Modelling" in Bryce is an unholy pain as it was never meant to be a modeller, you can do some things in it, but.. shudder.. you'd be better off with Hexagon.
If you were doing 2D work, it would make more sense.. Bryce for backgrounds to scroll around in, Carrara to crank out sprite sequences, and Hexagon to do your base meshes in prior to rigging and animating. I've done a little of that to get content into TGB, and that's a reasonable art pipeline for it.
My recommendation would be to download and experiment with Silo from Nevercenter. It's a good modeller (for me) and the UV Mapping while not as good as a standalone UV Mapper (like UVMapper Pro) works for me. Hexagons UV Mapping takes some getting used to, the documentation is a tad out of date but there are video tutorials out there that can get you over the learning curve fairly painlessly.
I hope all that helps a little! :-)
#3
Ah.. an owner talkning. That's exactly was what I was looking for.
I forgot to tell that I own a Silo2 Licencse also. Your notes seems
to be in the direction I was fearing.
I'm very please with the tools I have but that bundle price (192$ for all)
was a temptation, but 192$ for another modeller which is not better than
the one I have is not cheap at all.
All:
I forgot to tell what my current tools are
trueSpace 7.5 for the animation using BHV
Silo2 for modelling
ZBrush 3 for texturing
Blender for getting all exported to DTS
Maybe its better to stick to that.
Thanks for your advices.
05/19/2008 (1:32 pm)
Ed: Ah.. an owner talkning. That's exactly was what I was looking for.
I forgot to tell that I own a Silo2 Licencse also. Your notes seems
to be in the direction I was fearing.
I'm very please with the tools I have but that bundle price (192$ for all)
was a temptation, but 192$ for another modeller which is not better than
the one I have is not cheap at all.
All:
I forgot to tell what my current tools are
trueSpace 7.5 for the animation using BHV
Silo2 for modelling
ZBrush 3 for texturing
Blender for getting all exported to DTS
Maybe its better to stick to that.
Thanks for your advices.
#4
05/19/2008 (1:42 pm)
You can knock Bryce off your list. Their license doesn't allow you to use any objects, you create in Bryce, in anything other than a rendered scene.
#5
I use DAZ Studio and Bryce. very high poly count for realistic scenes, suitable for book covers, game cartridge covers or posters. The poly count is far too high for anything useful in character models for in-game playing.
Bryce is very good at making Sky scenery for your sky boxes, especially when you want to set a mood for a particular level of your game.
And I am still learning Lightwave for in-game characters / items / objects since Lightwave does what 3Ds Max does and costs far less.
05/19/2008 (1:46 pm)
@RolandI use DAZ Studio and Bryce. very high poly count for realistic scenes, suitable for book covers, game cartridge covers or posters. The poly count is far too high for anything useful in character models for in-game playing.
Bryce is very good at making Sky scenery for your sky boxes, especially when you want to set a mood for a particular level of your game.
And I am still learning Lightwave for in-game characters / items / objects since Lightwave does what 3Ds Max does and costs far less.
#6
Again you might want to forget about Daz Studio also. Even Poser is off the list for importing their objects into any games, unless it's a 2d game where you're bringing in a JPG or PNG of the rendered object.
05/19/2008 (6:20 pm)
@Scott,Again you might want to forget about Daz Studio also. Even Poser is off the list for importing their objects into any games, unless it's a 2d game where you're bringing in a JPG or PNG of the rendered object.
#7
After have reading your advices I'll will
keep using my current tools.
You have been most helpful.
Many thank's
05/19/2008 (10:32 pm)
Tankyou guys for your advice.After have reading your advices I'll will
keep using my current tools.
You have been most helpful.
Many thank's
#8
I read the POSER EULA as meaning you cannot use any of the existing meshes or rigs in POSER for commercial content.
While you are certainly able to bring in 3rd party geometry and rig in POSER, animate, export as you like. If it's my geometry, and my rigging in POSER; I'm merely using the platform as a tool and not the existing content.
POSER is an easy rigging platform and an excellent animation tool.
05/20/2008 (5:10 am)
I don't believe that POSER restriction to be true, Jeramy79.I read the POSER EULA as meaning you cannot use any of the existing meshes or rigs in POSER for commercial content.
While you are certainly able to bring in 3rd party geometry and rig in POSER, animate, export as you like. If it's my geometry, and my rigging in POSER; I'm merely using the platform as a tool and not the existing content.
POSER is an easy rigging platform and an excellent animation tool.
#9
05/20/2008 (6:48 am)
Rex is correct on importing your own meshes, rigging them, and exporting. The restriction that Jeramy notes is on the Poser (and most Daz, Renderosity, and Content Paradise) meshes rather than any mesh used within the program.
#10
Most of the Poser content that is prohibited from use is far too hi-poly for games, anyway. I have not done any rigging work in it, though, as Rex is doing.
<* Wes *>
05/20/2008 (12:48 pm)
A not insignificant of Sims 2 game modders have taken body meshes and passed them into Poser in .obj format (together with fat morphs) and used magnet sets to tweak their shape, and replaced them into the game (leaving the original skeleton and skin weighting alone). MilkShape was used by some to recombine the skeleton with the altered body shape.Most of the Poser content that is prohibited from use is far too hi-poly for games, anyway. I have not done any rigging work in it, though, as Rex is doing.
<* Wes *>
Torque Owner Benjamin Thomas
as noted you have to export to another program to get into TGEA
in my opinion its worth the extra hassle :)