One more question. won't be the last re: art piplines
by Marvin Hawkins · in General Discussion · 01/26/2005 (7:22 am) · 4 replies
I hear a lot of talk about art piplines. now i read indie game development. they didn't really mention piplines in there. i'm also reading 3d game programming all in one. so far there is no mention of art piplines. so my question is how important are art piplines to the torque engine. when we build levels are we just plopping art resources into the game manually? Or are do we have to add objects to the level by programming them? I know this is a little general and probably a noob question but any help would be greatly appreciated.
#2
1. Organization and control.
If someone needs to modify or change a file they need access to the original source file used to generate the data. If an error pops up you need to know where it came from and what changed in order to resolve it.
2. It should be optimized for the quickest workflow and productivity.
This means that you should have templates, documentation and resources ready to fly out the door when they are needed. Time is money and the ability to quickly develop and implement what you need to do is key. If you hit a snag you need someone knowledgable to troubleshoot it and work with.
3. Use the right tools and define them.
Basicly this means that although it's good to allow your aritsts to use whatever tools they want and are comfortable with, you also need to lay down the law as well and define a whats accepted list. An art pipeline is no good if you have multiple applications being used for your 2D or 3D art. Why? Because the work is no good if someone needs to modify a file they cannot open or have access to.
What about using converters or common 3rd party formats that the applications can read? For the most part this is not recommended either since you are not working with the original source for the file but a conversion of the data, and eventually somewhere along the line things will go wrong.
01/26/2005 (9:09 am)
Just to continue on what FruitBat started, your pipeline should also perform the following:1. Organization and control.
If someone needs to modify or change a file they need access to the original source file used to generate the data. If an error pops up you need to know where it came from and what changed in order to resolve it.
2. It should be optimized for the quickest workflow and productivity.
This means that you should have templates, documentation and resources ready to fly out the door when they are needed. Time is money and the ability to quickly develop and implement what you need to do is key. If you hit a snag you need someone knowledgable to troubleshoot it and work with.
3. Use the right tools and define them.
Basicly this means that although it's good to allow your aritsts to use whatever tools they want and are comfortable with, you also need to lay down the law as well and define a whats accepted list. An art pipeline is no good if you have multiple applications being used for your 2D or 3D art. Why? Because the work is no good if someone needs to modify a file they cannot open or have access to.
What about using converters or common 3rd party formats that the applications can read? For the most part this is not recommended either since you are not working with the original source for the file but a conversion of the data, and eventually somewhere along the line things will go wrong.
#3
01/26/2005 (12:25 pm)
Oh okay i think i got it. so an art pipline can best be describe as one or more tools that takes art from somebody's head (an idea) to the computer screen in the game engine. so its more of an organizational system to aid production rather than a programing technique? 
Torque Owner FruitBatInShades
In summary...the pipeline is what content goes through from initial ideas, to design sketches, to 3d models, texturing and finally exporting the art into a format that torque can use.