This isn't really a "problem" but I can't find a forum on the list where it fits better.
Hey guys, I'm what you could call extremely new to game development. I've never done modeling before, and I've all the artistic sense of an emu. The most schooling I've had in graphics is my basic 3d class in university, so I guess that makes me perfectly well suited to writing a video game.
I got the basic physics of my game working easily in JME2 after a couple of hours at it. Quaternions were tricky. Now I came to the point where I wanted to replace my Line models with something a little more pretty (not a lot, just a little, I'm not asking for miracles).
I checked out the JME wiki and tried out blender, which was a usability nightmare. I could barely figure out how to do anything in it. It was very frustrating. I might go back to it if the solution I found doesn't work out though.
That being said, I've made two simple models now with Wings3D, and I'm liking it a lot more so far. I had a little trouble at first because I had somehow gotten one face of one of my models to be curved, and JME was not happy about that. After I fixed that issue and assigned a material to the model, things started looking up. My second model is recognizably a torpedo according to my wife, but I'm going to have to get the poly count down a little because I suspect firing off fifty of these babies and adding 3.5k polygons to the scene is simply not going to be workable.
Do you guys have any advice for a graphics noob beyond what's there on the wiki? Is Wings3D a reasonable choice? Is there anything free, for Mac OS X, other than Blender, which is better than Wings3D? Currently I'm exporting to obj and mtl. Is that a good call? I am looking forward to your thoughts on this issue.
I think you should stick with Blender.
Lot of people think the interface is terrible, but once you get used to it, it's very powerful.
You could start with Blender 2.5 beta which interface is a little bit more "conventional" and export to obj.
Then you should read tutorials from the Blender website and check this site http://www.blendercookie.com/
There you will find very instructive video tutorials.
Know that Blender has a very steep learning curve, you'll be able to do great stuff in no time.
By the way i don't know wings3D, so i can't tell which is better.
Making assets for a project is as time-consuming as the code, as I'm learning now. Anyway, I'd stay with Blender. Some professionals don't like it, but it's relatively powerful and mainstream. The hotkey workflow is faster than the GUI based workflow, so it would behove you to spend some time with it and become proficient. Good luck!
jamesaguilar said:
I got the basic physics of my game working easily in JME2 after a couple of hours at it. Quaternions were tricky. Now I came to the point where I wanted to replace my Line models with something a little more pretty (not a lot, just a little, I'm not asking for miracles).
:lol:
jamesaguilar said:
That being said, I've made two simple models now with Wings3D, and I'm liking it a lot more so far. I had a little trouble at first because I had somehow gotten one face of one of my models to be curved, and JME was not happy about that. After I fixed that issue and assigned a material to the model, things started looking up. My second model is recognizably a torpedo according to my wife, but I'm going to have to get the poly count down a little because I suspect firing off fifty of these babies and adding 3.5k polygons to the scene is simply not going to be workable.
Just kind of a general modeling tip: the *right* texture can really help recognizability such that 3.5k isn't required. The best example is foliage in most games, between 2 and 5 planes with textures that handle transparency... pretty simple!
jamesaguilar said:
Do you guys have any advice for a graphics noob beyond what's there on the wiki? Is Wings3D a reasonable choice? Is there anything free, for Mac OS X, other than Blender, which is better than Wings3D? Currently I'm exporting to obj and mtl. Is that a good call? I am looking forward to your thoughts on this issue.
Wings3D seems to work alright. You're going to get more mileage out of the Blender communities (and find more tutorials for advanced concepts) but for the basic things Wings should be fine. As for the choice of file format, this is dependent on what purpose you have in mind for your models. Be advised that OBJ doesn't specify animations, so if you do want to have movement within the model happening, exporting to OGRE is your best bet. There's tons of info on doing this in the wiki, most if it being Blender-centric. Post some screenies when you start getting the hang of it!