Quote:
Originally Posted by Taranis
Is this in lightwave ??
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3dsmax 2010. The renders are using the default scanline renderer. When I get closer to done I'll switch to MentalRay.
I tried lightwave a few years ago, but the interface was really awkward for me. I initially learned on max4 and then did 2 years at art school on Maya, but never learned LW. Since almost evrything I do is aimed at importing into game engines (Currently Cryengine 2 is my preference) I would basically be forced to use Max anyhow. Ninety percent of the time the only model import/export plugins provided with a game engine SDK will be Max. That suits me fine, since Max is my favorite anyhow. But it does present extra challenges to LW and Maya users. It is interesting though that the Doom3 engine(AKA IDtech4) could run LWO files in native format.
To get models into Cryengine2(Crysis) from Lightwave you can use OBJ or Collada and then use SDK plugins for the free version of XSI as a toolpath(with several limitations though).
Modeling for Game engines requires a bit of a different aproach than you use for normal rendering. You play a constant balancing act between Polygon counts and visual detail. Also triangles vs quads is sometimes less of an issue since many game engines use all tri's anyhow. Luckily , more powerful CPU's and Graphics cards are allowing higher and higher polycounts all the time. Also Normal mapping is making a HUGE difference too. I can bake a multimillion poly normalmap to a 12,000 poly character and you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference. This shuttle for example will (eventually) have 3-4 LOD (Level Of Detail) models all with normal maps, and possibly parallax occlusion mapping too.
It surprises me that nobody is doing any Machinima fanfic for BSG.
Hmm... Perhaps some usable assets would help to inspire somebody.
