Some questions before buy it...
by Nicolas Esposito · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 05/19/2009 (7:51 am) · 3 replies
Hi everyone, sorry if my first post is in this thread, but I have just a couple of questions to ask before buy the engine.
Basically I will need to use the Torque engine to do Architectural visualization, so what I need is good lighting, SSAO, integration with XSI and the confirm that this probably one of the best engine to do Architectural Visualization...
Please, keep in mind thay I'll use it just for Archviz, so I don't care a lot about character controller, ragdolls and so on, the important is the final quality that should be great...
I saw the tutorial about the new materuial editor and is quite good, but could you please tell me more?
And, another thing since I'm new, from what I see the TGEA is available, the Torque 3D is in testing and will be available soon...am I wrong?
To do Archviz is better the TGEA or the ( probably if someone is involved in testing ) Torque 3d?
Thanks!
Basically I will need to use the Torque engine to do Architectural visualization, so what I need is good lighting, SSAO, integration with XSI and the confirm that this probably one of the best engine to do Architectural Visualization...
Please, keep in mind thay I'll use it just for Archviz, so I don't care a lot about character controller, ragdolls and so on, the important is the final quality that should be great...
I saw the tutorial about the new materuial editor and is quite good, but could you please tell me more?
And, another thing since I'm new, from what I see the TGEA is available, the Torque 3D is in testing and will be available soon...am I wrong?
To do Archviz is better the TGEA or the ( probably if someone is involved in testing ) Torque 3d?
Thanks!
About the author
Formerly a design engineer I'm developing a real-time visualization showroom that can be used in many business area....but still my secret dream is to make videogames!
#2
I have some insight for you. Please read through before gathering an opinion. Thx.
- I would not suggest TGEA for what you are seeking..HOWEVER, I would suggest looking into T3D with the "special lighting" addon by a third party(not much has been disclosed about this yet)..something to look into at least.
Here is an example image of what I assume is the lighting addon.
Image link
I do not see any SSAO there so I can imagine the scene looking better with well-thought-out lighting and the SSAO addition. (a few odd shadows in that scene are a bit wth, but the light falloff looks quite nice IMO.)
Next,we have a big issue to worry about: your Arch materials!
TGEA/T3D does not use FX or 'out of the box' HLSL. Any(99.9%) HLSL will need to be modified and could possibly need custom C++ files written to use it. Read on to learn more on materials.
Here are the bonuses for Arch cad use in T3D:
Depth of field, SSAO, the addon lighting plugin(cost??)..support for: specular, normalmap/bump, relief, parallax, glow, cubemap(dynamic as well), refractions and much more. AA really polishes the edges greatly but removes the capability for Glow(unless they fixed this). T3D seems to be shaping up to be a capable showcasing environment for something of the arch-cad nature. Also worth a mention is the new included-lighting-shadow system which appears to be quite nice.
I have not used T3D yet but it seems that everything an arch-cad user would need for basic showcasing, is implemented IMO. Some minor code changes based on the render manager may be needed for proper realism, but that is only if the problems associated to that area of code show up in your specific use of the tech. Example: waterblocks do not render through refractions. (they may have changed this but I kind'of doubt it)
I probably under-explained somethings and over-explained other things. Either way I hope you learned at least 1 thing from this post. Good luck on your search for more info.
05/19/2009 (9:53 am)
Hello Nick3d, I have some insight for you. Please read through before gathering an opinion. Thx.
- I would not suggest TGEA for what you are seeking..HOWEVER, I would suggest looking into T3D with the "special lighting" addon by a third party(not much has been disclosed about this yet)..something to look into at least.
Here is an example image of what I assume is the lighting addon.
Image link
I do not see any SSAO there so I can imagine the scene looking better with well-thought-out lighting and the SSAO addition. (a few odd shadows in that scene are a bit wth, but the light falloff looks quite nice IMO.)
Next,we have a big issue to worry about: your Arch materials!
TGEA/T3D does not use FX or 'out of the box' HLSL. Any(99.9%) HLSL will need to be modified and could possibly need custom C++ files written to use it. Read on to learn more on materials.
Here are the bonuses for Arch cad use in T3D:
Depth of field, SSAO, the addon lighting plugin(cost??)..support for: specular, normalmap/bump, relief, parallax, glow, cubemap(dynamic as well), refractions and much more. AA really polishes the edges greatly but removes the capability for Glow(unless they fixed this). T3D seems to be shaping up to be a capable showcasing environment for something of the arch-cad nature. Also worth a mention is the new included-lighting-shadow system which appears to be quite nice.
I have not used T3D yet but it seems that everything an arch-cad user would need for basic showcasing, is implemented IMO. Some minor code changes based on the render manager may be needed for proper realism, but that is only if the problems associated to that area of code show up in your specific use of the tech. Example: waterblocks do not render through refractions. (they may have changed this but I kind'of doubt it)
I probably under-explained somethings and over-explained other things. Either way I hope you learned at least 1 thing from this post. Good luck on your search for more info.
#3
Well, there are two main things that are really annoying right now...basically I bought a couples of months ago an indie engine, the features are good, but definitively not good for Archviz...so that's why I'm thinking to buy another engine that works fine with Archviz, just because, right now, I have to model everything and ( pain in the.... ) do rendermap on everything ( that is baking the textures, lightmaps ) to get a decent texture with reflections and AO baked properly...but it takes too much time and is not worthed.
Well, the image that you linked looks really nice...but, on the other side, I have to spend other money to get a proper light system? not good!!
And, for last, I really don't know how to program, so, what I'm looking for, is just an engine with good features, like, for example, the Crysis editor ( quite a dream, with two clicks you export materials and meshes! )
Anyway, I'll download the trial and see what I can achieve, then I'll think about that...
Thanks for the answers!!
05/19/2009 (11:18 am)
Thanks both for the answer...Well, there are two main things that are really annoying right now...basically I bought a couples of months ago an indie engine, the features are good, but definitively not good for Archviz...so that's why I'm thinking to buy another engine that works fine with Archviz, just because, right now, I have to model everything and ( pain in the.... ) do rendermap on everything ( that is baking the textures, lightmaps ) to get a decent texture with reflections and AO baked properly...but it takes too much time and is not worthed.
Well, the image that you linked looks really nice...but, on the other side, I have to spend other money to get a proper light system? not good!!
And, for last, I really don't know how to program, so, what I'm looking for, is just an engine with good features, like, for example, the Crysis editor ( quite a dream, with two clicks you export materials and meshes! )
Anyway, I'll download the trial and see what I can achieve, then I'll think about that...
Thanks for the answers!!
Torque 3D Owner Deborah M. Fike
Default Studio Name
Good Lighting
SSAO
COLLADA support (which works with XSI)
Right now Torque 3D is in beta. If you pre-order the engine now (at a $200 discount), you get full access to the beta. We are working hard to smash bugs and have it out in a reasonable time frame...hopefully in a month or two. However, we won't release it fully until we feel the engine is solid.
You have a couple options here:
1. You could buy the beta and check it out.
2. You could wait until we put out a Torque 3D demo (no timeline on that yet...may not be available until after launch)
3. You can download a demo of TGEA and play with it until Torque 3D comes out. (However we've changed things enough that the workflow and functionality will be significantly different in Torque 3D.)
Hope that helps!