[?] Static meshes

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-05 00:37

Actually what would be ideal is if you give me a static you have done, maybe 3ds format, I can take a look over it.

Post by **jarleif** » 2007-03-05 02:44

going from maya to max isnt too bad...unfotunately statics use multiple uv layers and you cant really transfer all of them over at one time(as far as i know) you can do one at a time with the obj export. Texture paths may get messed up but they arent to hard to fix. I would suggest exporting from maya to the editor first if possible, if not then transfer them over to max. If you need help contact me at [email protected]

Post by **77SiCaRiO77** » 2007-03-05 04:15

make american statics ^^

Maistros · Post by **Maistros** » 2007-03-05 04:30

Awesome.

The next map on my list is the ABOT (Al Basrah Oil Terminal) and there's a few things in the reference photos that I just can't match up yet.

I use teamspeak and vent.. if you want to hop on TS, you can connect to the gloryhoundz public by connecting to ts.gloryhoundz.com

DJJ-Terror · Post by **DJJ-Terror** » 2007-03-05 09:07

Jarek Mace wrote: [R-CON]DJJ-Terror, same deal mate.

Excellent mate!

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-05 09:48

Morning.

maya 6.01 (complete, figured may as well travel light) setup with cgfx plugin enabled and working. (no visible errors so far) got to use default path for game if anyone else is following this.

Bf2 editor installed, now to setup for pr and check this media out.

jarleif, e-mail noted thanks.

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-05 10:24

im still here...just let me know what you want/need... any ideas off the bat?

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-05 10:44

Ideally I would like an obj/3ds model (don't need tex)
Just to check poly count, scale etc.

Texture gamma ranges used? clip @ 5 to 250?

re internal buildings, These wouldn't be bad to build but what concerns me is the hit on the engine, there is no kind of vis blocking in this engine is there? (aside from fog) To build anything worthwhile to look at (details) would likely bring this engine to its knees wouldn't it? Unless a downscaled more detailed mapping methodology was used maybe.

I have to go out for a short while soon, when I get back Ill start pulling the game content to bits and see how it ticks. I have copied the pr folder as instructed, last thing I want is not being able to play

I have setup the nv dds tools, ps plugin and viewer, have experimented with dds in past, done some experimentation with pseudo/fake bump mapping on q3 engine generating normals maps, and a little work on the far cry engine, but am used to straight jpg/tga. So another thing on the new experience list.

Thanks Irontaxi.

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-05 10:51

well that is where the LODs come into play...

level of detail progressively degrade based on distance...you may already know this but just incase....

so in bf2 you have actually
1 primary mesh and 2 degraded levels of detail
3 collision meshes

so in total 6meshes of varying detail...

and obviusly most of the detail comes from textures not the model itself...

Post by **jarleif** » 2007-03-05 13:14

actually.....a correction to that....there are 4 collision meshes in certain cases. If you are making a building that you can go into you need to plan for Singleplayer and build its col3. I know PR doesnt have SP at the moment, but you might as well build the collision mesh for the AI along the way so you dont have to go back. Here is a link to a forum about making the collision mesh. You have to make it a certain way in order for it to work. http://battlefieldsingleplayer.planetba ... topic=3585

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-05 13:45

thanks..never knew that and as such have never included that mesh in anythigni have made!!!(which is limited but growing)

ops:

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-05 14:32

I'm back.

I'm familiar with LOD but by all means treat me like a green noob, is likely something ill miss somewhere, it's all good info for others reading too.

ok so 3 LOD's
and a clipping mesh (collision mesh) for each + 1 for bots. (ill read into this more)
Is there a target polycount for each LOD? ballpark will do.

Thanks for the link jarleif, digesting next.

IronTaxi If you have an example it would help me a lot, i'm a 'see' kinda guy.
Wouldn't be embarrased for a mistake mate, im about make loads of them for a while

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-05 15:27

nothing like that it just im the rookie and dont wanna steer you wrong... i have modelled for years and years but just started game modelling a few month ago...

here is a basic sheckpoint barrier object i did a week or two ago.. 3dsmax file

you wont have the texture of course but at least you can see the meshes and the hierarchy structure...

http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/100715/roadblock-barrierEX-max.html

you will notice there are three visual meshes...

lod0, lod1, lod2... 0 would be primary and 1,2 degredations of that

collisions meshes are 3 (notice the capital C on the naming)
Col0 - projectiles - obviously needs to be fairly detailed 70% of visual maybe
Col1 - vehicles - very simple..primtive shapes 10-20% or visual mesh
Col2 - player - about half detail of the primary visual..

obviously depend on the compexity of the model but generally being as frugal as possible is the best way.additionally looking at standard bf2 models might be a good reference..

like i said im just on my way to doing this stuff myself so dont quote me hehe...

peace adn happy modelling...i know Rhino would love an airtraffic control tower...

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-05 15:56

Thanks!

I'm working on a tester now (kids are home from school so work will slow for a while)

You have all been a great help.

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-07 15:34

Right a workable workflow seems to be for me to use maya to model, export obj to max to uv/tex lod and collision mesh. Messy but I just can't face the modelling without my spacebar and max has far better support for the game engine.

Back to the experiments.

Question please, Is there an autoLOD creator in max? I remember reading or hearing about it somewhere.

The other option to use maya would be to use a normals map to generate differing model resolutions from 1 high res mesh, ie like the crytek polybump tool works.
Sounds like more work than an auto LOD generator tho

Post by **Stinger** » 2007-03-07 17:34

I'm not sure if you mean the model, or creating the hierarchy, anyways, 3dsmax has a modifier called multires, try it and you see

. It considerably removes many poly without screwing up the mesh.

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-07 21:16

sorry mate yea the mesh LOD's, I read up on the naming conventions/hierarchy for the game engine model - check
collision meshes need a basic uv unwrap - check

I still need to 'hands on' experiment with the texture workflow/pipeline but the mesh side of things seem all good. This cgfx shader looks good, layering dirt maps decals etc, If I have understood the little I have read so far correctly.

Multires huh, yep that must be it. Thanks!
I'm getting there bear with me

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-07 23:52

keep it up....we need another static modeller like my mamma needs the whiskey!!

multires is nice just make sure to check fro texture distortion as you are reducing the polys..

Optomize is another useful function for reducing polys... it works a little different but its fast..

Jarek Mace · Post by **Jarek Mace** » 2007-03-08 06:32

I took a break from engine learning last night, done a little modelling to relax.
This is currently
Poly - 581
Tris - 1323

Can someone give me a ballpark average for the high poly mesh?

Post by **requiem** » 2007-03-08 06:50

Jarek Mace wrote: Can someone give me a ballpark average for the high poly mesh?

Unlimited, never used ingame so no matter.