PigLick on 27/2/2011 at 02:01
Never read this first time around, some pretty cool stuff going on, the most scripting I have ever done is to make a free-roam mod for SanAndreas Multiplayer (Samp).
Also I would hesitantly say that if its under 2 weeks, then posting in a thread isnt resurrecting it.
Volitions Advocate on 7/3/2011 at 01:20
That looks pretty sweet Renz. Modelling is something I wish I could do well. Not that I've tried and failed (yet) but I have a real lack of knowledge on the subject. I'm still working through the online Blender book.
As for my Sci-fi vignette series, it might not get going until this summer. I just learned some things about Unity that I didn't anticipate, and I've suddenly found it lacking in a few key areas that I'll need. So I'm going to bite the bullet and buy the C4 engine and do it all in there. It's a more powerful engine, written by a professional, with full source code access, and its all in C++, which is a much more familiar place for me. Plus it's inexpensive.
Renzatic on 7/3/2011 at 02:43
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
That looks pretty sweet Renz. Modelling is something I wish I could do well. Not that I've tried and failed (yet) but I have a real lack of knowledge on the subject. I'm still working through the online Blender book.
Oh man. Blender isn't bad if you have a good idea of what you're doing, but learning to model with it is like learning to drive a stick shift with lead shoes and boxing gloves on. It won't do anything but frustrate you. You'll get the basics pretty quick, but it just takes...so...damn...long to move your foot over to the clutch.
If you want a smooth experience, get a modeler that won't piss you off by making you do everything the hard way. I usually recommend (
http://www.nevercenter.com/silo/) Silo for anyone starting out. It doesn't do any of the really swanky stuff, but for straight up modeling, it's a hard package to beat. There are people who have moved up to the expensive tools like Max, Modo, XSI, and Maya that still use it to whip together their low poly meshes.
Volitions Advocate on 7/3/2011 at 05:36
I was under the impression that most modelling and animation pros didn't like Blender very much because the UI was so different from the big name programs. I didn't really know anything else other than that. Of course I also keep hearing about the difficulties of dealing with the open source format too.
Renzatic on 7/3/2011 at 06:11
It's the UI that makes everything so damn difficult in Blender. All these modelers do the exact same thing when it comes right down to it. At the end of the day, you just sliced, rotated, and moved a bunch polygons, edges, and vertices no matter which one you used.. Some just approach the process more elegantly, and offer up better tools to make your life that much easier.
One of the first things anyone who uses Blender will tell you is to "learn the hotkeys". It's practically their mantra. And why? Because the UI is a weirdly laid out convoluted mess. Even with the huge strides they've made cleaning it all up in the 2.5 beta, it's still pretty damn messy. Some of the things that should be grouped together aren't, and sometimes you can't find things you need to find at all. Until you commit those hotkeys to memory, you won't be doing much of anything at all.
When all is said and done, Blender is a pretty powerful tool, and does a surprisingly good job of keeping pace with the big $1000+ packages. I mean you can't beat it for the price. But it's just a little too clunky, and not at all easy to learn.
Eldron on 7/3/2011 at 18:02
Yeah, blender is up there with the rest (once you get over the initial hump), I've been using it for years professionally now.
anyway, some update:
Inline Image:
http://www.eldpack.com/files/eldgame_worldsize.pngHave to be ready to have any size of a world the player wants to play in.
Also been figuring out how to handle dwarf fortress style addons, where you just have a massive library of things that will be included the next time you generate a world.
Renzatic on 7/3/2011 at 18:19
Whenever you finally get into an open beta with this, Eldron, I wanna play it. That looks awesome. :D
Renzatic on 8/3/2011 at 06:53
Okay, question time for anyone who might know a fairly decent bit about skeletal anatomy.
I'm working on the rib cage at the moment. At first, I thought it would be the easiest part of the skeleton to do. But as it's turning out, it's ending up being the most difficult, because you have to get the shape exactly right for the rest of it to turn out okay. Since I don't have a 3D model to rotate around and look at from every angle, I have to base the work off a few dozen pictures I have to get things right. Everyones skeleton is actually pretty unique as it turns out, so I have to pick a happy medium and go with what looks best.
My question is, does this look right proportionally? Is the rib cage too bowed out? Too shallow? Bits and pieces too far stretched? Is the sternum too big? I can look at my collection pictures for hours, but a bunch of drawings and photos from different models and people can only give you so much information. I don't have a straight top down view, for instance, so alot of this is based off of guesswork.
(
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3018396/Ribcage.jpg) Rib Cage
...how's it look? Not just from an artist perspective, but an anatomical one.