Destructible Environments?

#1 Hard to say. In theory yes, so long as you create models as such and script it to come apart when certain weapons hit it. In theory any way.

#2 So torque has nothing built in that would make this easier? I don't know how easy it is in UDK but the way they show it is that the engine does everything for you.

#3 Nothing that I've seen no. Sorry, but it seems that if you want that you'll need to do it manually. As well as have a lot of time to kill.

#4 its going to be just ad hard in UDK as in T3d you have to build your object for that. i don't know about scripting though but people have already done it it uses PhysX to do that.

there is also a tool that someone made for 3DS max to made it real easy.

www.torquepowered.com/community/forums/viewthread/76575

#5 Actually, it's much easier in UDK than Torque3D. Using UDK, you do not have to do anything special in a 3d modeling package to achieve destructable environments. All the tools to do this are built into the engine. You can import any mesh into the engine and use the built in tools to break the mesh into pieces. It takes minutes to do.

#6 Ty so you don't have to build your mesh for it the engine does it for you I thought I saw something like thar

#7 From the looks of the OP link you need to build before and after mesh objects, export as a single model, choose one as after/base and one as destructable, then do some editor voodoo to break up the destructable mesh.

That's a 4k tris pillar so you'd expect it blowing up to look nice.

#8 Steve, that is not at all how it works. All you need is a basic static mesh. The entire process is done in the engine (using PhysX) and does not require you to do anything special in your 3d package. Here is an example of how the tool actually works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLaxPKCeLaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEZsgTxfWv4&feature=related

#9 @Jason, I don't think that "That Pillar" is 1 mesh *probably* 2 meshes in one exported object, one hiding under the other with the inner one (visible in the editor in that pic) selected as the support and the other (shown in wireframe as chunks).

I'm basing this theory on: If it was one mesh and you chunked the whole thing, you'd never get that inner core complete as one. But in the end we do mean the same thing.

{EDIT} Actually after looking again the interior mesh might not be directly related, even though it is viewable in the chunk editor ... ah well.

I think that the nearest you'd get to this appraoch in T3D is with eb's Physit plugin, do it all in Max and export out as a single object.

#10 Ok so is it really worth switching to UDK over this is Torque 3D capable of this maybe a little harder or is it a lot of work!! and could this be done using XSI as that is my modeling package of choice.

#11 Well I wouldn't switch to UDK just because there's a tool for destructible environments. This is what i would consider a minor feature. Torque3D and UDK have pluses and minuses depending on what you want to do. I'd do some research to get the full scope of features/benefits for both engines. You can then match engine features up against project requirements to determine which engine is better for your needs. Torque3D has a lot to offer and in some cases has better functionality than UDK, especially if you need multiplayer/networking.

#12 Ok does anyone know if I can create PhysX models in XSI?

#13 PhysX is included in XSI. Max and Maya have plugins available on the NVidia site.

#14 Great Ty

#15 So on these 'chippable' destructable objects in Unreal. I *think* this was a very early version of NVidia's APEX in Unreal... i think that is from a year ago.

NVidia's APEX is now much more mature and has some very nice tools. All i can say is we're "looking into it". ;)