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Patrick

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Posts posted by Patrick

    Mixamo Full Access

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    Another plus side to my character rig, once I complete it I can make a tutorial on how to transfer it to another custom model (that you or anyone else made or obtains, the animations can be transferred too) so you can use it if you can animate, that means the facial rig will transfer too, you just need minimal skills in Maya, the key downside I think, as many more people are going with Blender as its Free and I'm so used to using Maya.

     

    I downloaded Blender to try and get into the rigging and animation in that, but I can't get used to the menus and such so quickly :(

     

    You'd be able to get a student version of Maya for up to three years though I think. I need to look into ways of converting my custom rigs into Blender rigs from Maya for users without Maya >__<

    Mixamo Full Access

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    its a fact that I need something to animate my models. Face rigging is also a pretty nice feature and I´m really interested into it because it is some advanced. If I could use this technology (even for education) would give me some nice experience.

     

     

    and no I dont need it. I WANT IT biggrin.png

    When I finally get the first character model of mine complete (I'm not even working on it just yet) I want to add a facial rig that will allow facial animations and motions inside the leadwerks engine for cutscenes or real time expressions during action on AI characters and companions, I have a reasonable amount of experience making joint based facial rigs for use in games and I've done some full on facial animation before too, I'm thinking that once I get all of this stuff done I might start making some tutorials on how I created certain things and everything.

     

    As for things to make animation for you, Mixamo would likely be your best bet aside from finding an animator to work with. That or get a few Kinects and go crazy :P but even if you use Mo cap you will want to know how to clean it up and get the motion onto your character then edit that for use in a game engine :P (its worth it if you can afford it)

     

    A friend linked me to this Indiegogo project before, it looks great and I wish that I could afford to back it!

    • Upvote 1

    Knife and Gun contributions

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    By "free from turbosquid" do you mean that they're free assets you have grabbed from Turbosquid and prepped for use in Leadwerks?

     

    If so you should give credit to the original artist too, and probably link back to their Turbosquid listing or something of that sort :P

    • Upvote 1

    Make Human 1 alpha 8

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    This is quite nice, I have seen it grow slowly over the years, I personally prefer to use my own base models it keeps me in good practice :P It's a nice aid for those looking to go for the realistic look without having to spend time on the art I guess.

    FlowGUI

    in Showcase

    Posted

    @BES

    thanks for kind words.

     

    I might pick it up again, when I start exposing some of my C++ functions to Lua. Then it would be useful for me.

     

    @Patrick

    Anything particular you were missing or needed?

    There was nothing in particular right now, I just thought this is perfect for those wondering about GUI and stuff. I would personally rather get in and script it but I see the uses. I will probably use this myself for a while though for now, so if I come by something I need I'll ask here and see if its something you could add without much trouble :)

    FlowGUI

    in Showcase

    Posted

    Hey Aggror, are you still working on this?

     

    I saw it a while ago but I've only just now downloaded the pdf and read over it... This is really handy so far I have yet to play around with it in the engine, I will do that once I have had some sleep, but I just wanted to say nice work.

     

    Also, I think I have some GUI graphics I created sometime last year that I never got around to using, If I can find the files you can have them to include in this, they were themed around an RPG game though. I will look for these later (after some sleep) and that was why I asked if you were still working on this. :P

    Gameplay Tutorial Requests Here

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I've been playing around with a lot of procedural content generation and using perlin noise lately but not for the past week or two now, It was before I got the engine and I was using two different languages, mainly cos I switched from one to the other XD. I'd love to see some of this type of content but if I don't I know I can do it, its just a matter of getting my head in gear for coding in Leadwerks, which the rest of these tutorials will help with :D

     

    So if all else fails and nobody has made a tut for that type of stuff and I get something working, the least I would do is possibly post my code as an example for someone to cleanup or optimize and use :P for now, I'm all about the art though :) I want to get a bunch of assets finished up before I start with the code in this engine :D

     

    @Rick, with all that going on... I really don't know how you even manage to spend the amount of time on these tutorials currently so kudos to you good sir! lol Keep it up laugh.png

    Cutscenes?

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    I should have some time tonight to plug away at it again. I want to try and get a little cutscene as a test going tonight as well. Stay tuned!

    Sounds great! I'm currently lurking around the forums again as I'm not at my computer :( lol

    WORLD MACHINE!

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    So, it seems as if you know what "tiled terrains" is. Could you explain it's use to me? That'll be interesting. According to it's name i would think that you create a larger terrain and breack it down to several smaller tiles, is that correct?

    Essentially, yes... It will allow you to make an enormous terrain and have it much more manageable and performance friendly. Its a very useful feature but it shouldn't mater as much unless you plan on working with really large terrains/worlds.

     

    Also, the multiple monitor support would help a great deal with efficiency but more a luxury as you don't NEED it tongue.png

    Rule of the thumb: Polygons for Models/Character

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I agree, 3D Coat can import high res models and it has best retopology tools , Auto Unwrapping for UV, and you can calculate normal maps with it also, all in one.

    Topogun and Xnormal can be a very good cheap alternative than buying 3D coat, but 3D coat with free updates is really something that worth it's money if you are able to sculpt 3D model, a all in one tool.

    Its not just a sculpting tool so not being able to sculpt you will still find a great use with the software, many people I know use it simply for the UV and retopo tools as well as the painting directly on to the mesh, but Photoshop allows this. The one downside to this solution is that you cannot use your content commercially with the Edu version which is the cheapest. So for someone not looking to purchase it for full price and such Blender is the best free alternative and then Topogun would be my choice simply because I dislike the navigation and such with Blender :D (a veteran Maya user here :P)

    WORLD MACHINE!

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    Thanks Patrick, that reply contained more detail than expected, yet very interesting. Thanks for sharing this with me (us!).

     

    Btw. the "standard" edition of World Machine is 99 bucks and it seems as if you are allowed to use it comercially too. I honestly do not believe that i have to have worldmaps that need 32 cpu cores to render or such, but well, you'll never know. In the end you can upgrade from standard to prof. i believe. I'm not sure what they mean with "tiled terrains" and "automation / scripting" though. But that means, i do not need those functions right now tongue.png

    The scripting feature you won't need right away but the tiled terrains thing could come in very handy... and no problem, I forgot that they had a $99 version to be honest. In any case L3DT has a cheaper commercial license too. i feel they are both worthy options but if you use Blender, so is that... Or any modelling and sculpting application combo :P You just have to be able to create decent textures yourself and know what kind of details are in the terrain look you're trying to go for... For this, Google is your best friend :D

    Rule of the thumb: Polygons for Models/Character

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3d coat is nice. but those tools are so big and hard to handle (tried the demo and was impressed by the workflow with a voxelengine).

     

    I want to calculate a low poly model (from my character from fuse) that I have a character for e.g. with just 8k and 13k polygons. Is this possible with 3D coat?

     

     

    I´m right that "baking textures" is when I use the high poly textures on a low poly model?

    Yes its very possible. When you say calculate... You mean create a low poly version based off of the high poly character? I know others have answered this before I got to it but yeah 3D Coat can do this without much trouble.

     

    Also 3D Coat now has the Live Clay features and you can also use surface mode which differs from the voxel sculpting mode.

     

    If you don't like to use these types of tools you can grab something like Topogun, that you can use to make a low poly game ready version of the higher detailed mesh and then use the freely available xnormals that Rastar linked you to and then work from that.

     

    As for the comment referring to Chris preferring 3D Coat over Zbrush, I feel that there are some major differences and they both have their advantages and uses, I prefer Zbrush as its easier on my machine as for the way it manages the geometry on screen, I love using both of them and find 3D Coat better for certain tasks and Zbrush for others.

     

    3D Coat is a healthy option for a sculpting application though, the new feature additions in v4 make it more appealing to me tongue.png I only own the educational license to 3D Coat right now though, and I will stop here as it may get a little off topic.

     

    Also DudeAwesome, if you have/use Blender you can use that as a totally free solution, it has some topology tools but it will require you to do a little work... Have a little look at this:

    • Upvote 1

    Cutscenes?

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    @Rick :

    I agree that is code behind the scenes, but for beginners or non programmers coding a complex cut scene will be a pain.

    Toos as UDK Matinee, records all your character,effects, camera moves etc ...you make the cut scene without coding anything ans it is ready to be incorporated in your game.

    Let's see when LE3 will bring possibility for us to make our own "plugins".

    Even for non coders, it won't take a lot of code to get basic/simple cutscenes into the engine, there is also the option of rendering out a cutscene and playing that, although the file sizes may get large if you plan on having a bunch of cutscenes in the game :S

     

    I'm looking forward to the mentioned framework that Rick is working on, and having a shot at getting something going in the engine myself once I have the assets created :D

    WORLD MACHINE!

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    @ Patrick, may i ask how (if at all) you create open areas at the moment? I mean, what tools do you use and how do you import those? Do you model those in a program like blender and import the .fbx file?

    Currently the only open type of areas I need to create are manageable with Maya and my main sculpting application, I have yet to import any such ladnscape or open area model into the leadwerks engine though but I will likely do so when I get done with the current character and level assets I'm working on.

     

    I usually use a combination of three applications when I make my open area models to use for levels, I start in Maya, then go to Zbrush, add detail and a rough layout of my texture (I don't always do this, but sometimes I do) then I bring the texture into my software of choice for creating textures which is sometimes not Photoshop. The result is a pretty nice terrain piece.

     

    I often make pieces that I can attach together in a tile like manor and make certain required edits for sections depending on the requirement of the task at hand.

     

    World Machine is great to use and real fun but If I remember correctly it has a steep learning curve to start out. Not to mention the cost of the full version at about $249.

     

    L3DT is a great solution / alternative too, I haven't used it extensively but from what I have seen and heard, at $100 less (the free version is very usable although not as amazing :P), it might be worth looking into, to include in your terrain creation workflow. Personally I always find myself returning to my default applications at most times though. So if you're already capable and comfortable with your modelling application of choice and you can sculpt on a basic level I'd say use that and practice some stuff.

     

    I know that Maya and Zbrush are also costy but I already own them and if you don't you can always improvise and go for the free alternative or what you have available to you... Blender has a nice set of modelling tools and a decent set of sculpting tools that are ever growing and improving. You can also use any image editing software to help cleanup the textures and heightmaps but you may find yourself tweaking things and getting comfortable with your workflow... Like Benji385 said... "improvise"

    WORLD MACHINE!

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    I'm a fan of world machine, I've used it in the past although a very long while ago... It's a great piece of software! Specially for large open areas and such but I feel that I'll be fine with what I have and everything, I'm trying to create some much more contained areas for my first creations in Leadwerks biggrin.png (before attempting sandbox like worlds.)

     

    I think you should be able to get your creations into Leadwerks without too much trouble...

    Rule of the thumb: Polygons for Models/Character

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    dumb question but:

     

    is there a way to calculate a mesh with low details from a mesh with high details?

     

    with fuse i can create characters easy and fast but they have 17k tri/polys and would like to create a LOD character out of it

    You can use something like Topogun and create a lower resolution mesh and bake the details, I think that's what you're asking?

     

    3D Coat automates this pretty efficiently with minimal setup required in some cases so you can also use that and get a much more friendly lower res mesh with the same quality...

    Rule of the thumb: Polygons for Models/Character

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For my first game FUSE will be ok but in my opinion in just create random useless highpoly chars that dont look highpoly (18k polys for a Char)

     

    I also believe this tool is some kind of ad for mixamos autorigging stuff.

     

    For 50€ its ok but i dont like this tool because my chars have no personality.

    You can always edit the models before you move on to rigging them... Also you can give a lot of personality to characters through animations, but with pre-made animations and such through Mixamo that's kind of mute.

    Cutscenes?

    in Game Artwork

    Posted

    You can do it via code in Leadwerks. I'm working on a framework using coroutines that allow you do define cutscenes in your game in a fashion like:

     

    -- any function name with Async will do it's thing and return right away
-- any function name without Async will wait to return until a condition is met. however it does return the entire program each frame so everything else runs and it's not blocking. this is the magic of coroutines in lua 
function MyCutScene()
PlaySoundAsync("Sounds/speech.wav")

PlayAnimationAsync("player", seq.Walk)

MoveTo("player", "marker1")
end

     

    I have some of these working, but working out some details still. Oddly enough the Async functions cause more trouble and make this harder because they require tracking things still, but need to return from it's function call right away. For example MoveToAsync() needs to start the movement for an entity to a certain location, but return right away. Well, I have to check somehow if the entity got to the location and stop it from moving when it does. Why would you want a MoveToAsync()? Imagine you want to start 2 actors walking down a hall and having a conversation. MoveTo() alone doesn't come back until the actor (1 actor) has reached it's destination. With MoveToAsync() it'll start the process but then return right away so you can start another MoveToAsync() and make both actors move. Then you can PlaySound() to play the conversation.

     

    Interesting... I'm looking forward to seeing that framework :P

    Rule of the thumb: Polygons for Models/Character

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I´m really thinking about fuse and mixamo but I dont like the solution that I cant use face plus. I´m also scared that all models will look like the same.

     

    ok I think I will give it a try 50€ for fuse+dlc is cheap and I can create so much chars as I want.

     

    Honestly, when purchasing models to use in your games or creations looking the same is better than not matching up at all which is what you see when you find someone purchasing models from all different kinds of artists. Personally I haven't looked into Fuse too much but from what I did see you can get some nice variations of characters and it will be an affordable jump start so you have some nice visuals to work with. I find that Mixamo is what a lot of people are using to get out of having to pay a lot of money for custom animations too and it seems to work well.

     

    The first reply with the poly count info is a good response to this question. I'd like to add that it really is dependent on everything in the scene and such and how optimized you really want things to be, I always find myself giving a larger limit in the tris to my main character models than I do for others unless they're of importance. I usually try to stay around 8,000 minimum and around 16,000 maximum for my characters that are going to be used in single player scenarios. As you can see from the list above though, there are some varying factors and that is why some games use more or less.

     

    I'm aiming for a 3d person style game myself and I'm working on a bunch of assets to release for free but I don't know how long it will take me to get them all complete. You might be able to pick and choose a few props from there when they are ready though :P

     

    I think even if you try the Fuse & Mixamo solution now to make something you can always switch out the art later down the line for more custom stuff if you can afford to or something...

    • Upvote 1
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