Goliath the Thief's Application

[sparhawk]

In order to import a model it has to be triangulated. Doom 3 AFAIK doesn't accept quads (I seem to remember seeing such an errormessage). If the mesh is a closed hull, then they should be one sided.

[OrbWeaver]

Question ! Should my polygons be one-sided or double-sided?

 

AFAIK it makes no difference, that is a setting for your 3D app's renderer, not the exported ASE or LWO.

 

Should I prefer triangle polygons over quads?

 

You can use what you like when modelling, but the model must be converted to triangles before exporting.

[sparhawk]

I think in order to properly UV map it, you have to triangulate it anyway, or am I wrong on this? Never tried it though.

[OrbWeaver]

I guess it depends on your application, but in Blender you can triangulate after UV mapping with no problems.

[sparhawk]

Yes, this should work. Actually this might be a good idea. It saves you a lot of work, and you can always triangulate just before exporting.

[OrbWeaver]

Generally it is advisable to leave triangulation until the last minute, because quads are easier to work with (you can do more reliable edge loop detection, and subdivision surfaces work a lot better).

[sparhawk]

Yeah. I have to refine my workflow a bit, but I must say I learned quite a lot in the last few days. And I must also say that with all the new functions, that were added in Blender over the last two years, makes working with a breeze. I'm really surprised how easy the UV mapping has become with it. I have never done much with Blender, because I'm not really a modeller, but I now I tried it to make it more seriously, and I must say I really love to work with it.

[Goliath the Thief]

Hehe, I should give it a try, one of these days... Maya is all I know, and sooner or later I'm sure I'll have to expand the number of 3D apps that I can use.

[sparhawk]

I think a proper modeller, might be able to work with Blender much better then me. But considering that I already find it really easy to use, a proper modeller should have much less troubles. It takes some getting used to, but that is the case with all applications. I started to use Blender more regularly when it became Open Source (before that it was just another 3D app), and it really has come a long way. Even if you want to go for photorealism, because you can use external renderers if you are not happy with the internal one. For modelling it's definitely enough though.

[Goliath the Thief]

Anyone here has experience with Normal Maps?

 

I keep trying to make them in Maya 8.0, but they come out very bad. I think Maya has a hard time with normal maps, because when I apply them on my low-poly models, they stay the same, with very ugly black lines on them. It's making me crazy!

[PinkDot]

I know nothing about Maya (I use 3dsmax) but I used to bake some normal maps at the beginnig using built in Doom 3 commands: renderbump (for models) and renderbumplflat (for textures). It's quite fast, doesn't give as much control as 3d app can give but in many cases it's really sufficient. See more info there: http://www.iddevnet.com/doom3/bumpmaps.php

I assume you're owner of Doom3 game, aren't you?

[Goliath the Thief]

Of course I own Doom 3. And thanks for the tip, I'll be looking at this soon!

And if someone has an additional way of making normal maps, I'd be happy to learn as many ways as possible.

[OrbWeaver]

You don't have to make normal maps with a 3D app, you can also make them by running a normalmap filter on a regular image (usually a height map). Plugins are available for both Photoshop and the GIMP.

[sparhawk]

How are we getting along here? Any updates?

[Goliath the Thief]

I've been caught in a whirlwind, at work. Multiple tasks due yesterday... you know what I mean.

When I get home, I'm pretty tired and try to avoid using a computer, because 7 hours a day is a bit much for my brain.

 

The only thing I've been doing since my last post was cursing at Maya 8, and hoping to have a spare moment to create my normal map for that fancy wall oil-lamp that imperatively needs one.