Can't talk about much...
by Neil Marshall · 12/30/2005 (8:30 am) · 4 comments
I'm annoyed that I still can't tell people about my project that I'm working on.
I've been doing a LOT of work with the torque engine lately, mainly related to pipeline writing scripts to convert data from one format to another. My project is hopefully ready for release soon although you won't be able to download it as v1.0 will strictly be a kiosk (I seem to get a lot of kiosk gigs... first Virtual Canada, now this). Hopefully once thats out I can hire on some more people to make a home version.
The art is getting there (I'm not doing it this time) but I seriously need to sit down with the modeller and teach him low poly modelling as every model he hands me is over 3000 polys. Which, isn't bad by itself, but when you put a dozen plus objects in the same room, well then it starts to bog the computer down. Hopefully in the new year I'll get the time to teach him. My frame rates for a simple room are dropping below 20fps on a 3GHz machine with a good graphics card.
I've got accurate clicking on dts' working which is helpful and using that new code I've also improved on one of the door resources here. I hope that I can release some of the code as a resource, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it as I have to pass it by the boss man first. Hopefully in a months time the code will support every door type imaginable.
Other then that I can't say much. I have screenshots here but I'm not allowed to post em. :( I also haven't done any more animations for the horse pack so I don't even have anything from that to show.
Oh well, maybe 2006 will be the year I can show something!
I've been doing a LOT of work with the torque engine lately, mainly related to pipeline writing scripts to convert data from one format to another. My project is hopefully ready for release soon although you won't be able to download it as v1.0 will strictly be a kiosk (I seem to get a lot of kiosk gigs... first Virtual Canada, now this). Hopefully once thats out I can hire on some more people to make a home version.
The art is getting there (I'm not doing it this time) but I seriously need to sit down with the modeller and teach him low poly modelling as every model he hands me is over 3000 polys. Which, isn't bad by itself, but when you put a dozen plus objects in the same room, well then it starts to bog the computer down. Hopefully in the new year I'll get the time to teach him. My frame rates for a simple room are dropping below 20fps on a 3GHz machine with a good graphics card.
I've got accurate clicking on dts' working which is helpful and using that new code I've also improved on one of the door resources here. I hope that I can release some of the code as a resource, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it as I have to pass it by the boss man first. Hopefully in a months time the code will support every door type imaginable.
Other then that I can't say much. I have screenshots here but I'm not allowed to post em. :( I also haven't done any more animations for the horse pack so I don't even have anything from that to show.
Oh well, maybe 2006 will be the year I can show something!
About the author
#2
I guess as modelers go, I'm an exception. I cut my teeth on low poly stuff way back on some very old engines.
Nowadays, I find it difficult to alot 3k polys to d@mn near anything. I mean, there's nothing you can do with 3K polys that you can't do just as well with < 2000 (like say 1250 - 1500) and a good texture... and if you're using normals maps on top of that... well, you get my point. I'll get off my soapbox now. =P
12/30/2005 (9:42 am)
20FPS?! Yikes!I guess as modelers go, I'm an exception. I cut my teeth on low poly stuff way back on some very old engines.
Nowadays, I find it difficult to alot 3k polys to d@mn near anything. I mean, there's nothing you can do with 3K polys that you can't do just as well with < 2000 (like say 1250 - 1500) and a good texture... and if you're using normals maps on top of that... well, you get my point. I'll get off my soapbox now. =P
#3
Not all modelers Jay.
I joined the industry back when low poly was the ONLY option for a model design. Hell, as cheap as memory is these days, you are still better off going with higher rez textures and minimal poly count.
I have to agree with you however, unless an artist has been around a while, then they probably don't have a good grounding in low poly design. It helps to have a good teacher, I did.
12/30/2005 (10:47 am)
Ha ha ha ha.Not all modelers Jay.
I joined the industry back when low poly was the ONLY option for a model design. Hell, as cheap as memory is these days, you are still better off going with higher rez textures and minimal poly count.
I have to agree with you however, unless an artist has been around a while, then they probably don't have a good grounding in low poly design. It helps to have a good teacher, I did.
#4
01/02/2006 (6:03 am)
I'm not sure if LOD would help us as we're working in such a small area. I think it's just best if he redoes his stuff without all the polys. I can't move up to TSE yet as we have to release v1.0 soon but eventually I'll move to normal maps. 
Torque 3D Owner Jay Barnson
And have them originally load up at a distance (if he's not doing LODs yet), so he can see that when it's only 32 pixels high, all that detail is REALLY not getting noticed.
That really is a tough trick. It seems all modelers have learned their chops doing stuff that they expect to see out of Pixar (or at least a TV commercial). And of course very few professional modeling programs emphasize real-time graphics - they are instead geared towards making the best-looking models possible (because of course that makes the modeling software look superior).
You can try just giving him a polygon budget. For Void War I told my guys that I wanted each of the playable ships to be 1,000 polygons. They came CLOSE, at least. I think the most poly-intensive is 1300 polygons. But I kept explaining to them that (lacking an LOD scheme) the ships are going to only be around 12 pixels in size much of the time!