Game Development Community

Importing 3DS into Torque, OverLaying Bravetree Girl Pack

by RangerWest · in General Discussion · 02/21/2005 (8:15 am) · 8 replies

Hello there,

Suppose I'm designing a game with the Torque game engine, and I purchase the Bravetree Girl Pack (for Torque) and the Bravetree War Sparrow Pack Pro (For Toque):
http://www.garagegames.com/products/52#features
http://www.garagegames.com/products/9


Could I then overlay the Bravetree packs with 3DS art from

http://www.3d02.com/3d_model_main_3M04002.asp (female model to overlay Bravetree Girlpack model)
http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/191983/Action/FullPreview (F-22 jetfighter art to overlay Bravetree WarSparrow Model)

Basically I would like to inherit the robust functionality (animations/scripts) of the Bravetree packages, but I would like to alter their appearances with 3DS art I purchase.

How much work would this involve? What should I keep in mind in buying 3DS art to work with the Torque game engine and over pre-written Torque packages?

Best,

Ranger

#1
02/21/2005 (8:29 am)
Quote:What should I keep in mind in buying 3DS art to work with the Torque game engine and over pre-written Torque packages?
I'm not sure about the kind of work involved with getting Jill's rig and animation onto a custom character (though I hear it's pretty well documented), but the first thing you'll want to keep in mind is the suitability of the model itself. I mean, it's a great model, don't get me wrong, but...
Quote:Polygons : 22649
Being that it's built for Sub-D, that should translate into roughly 45000 tris. 45000! With that kind of poly budget I can have at least a dozen mid-poly characters running around with weapons and accessories. Or 45 1000-tri characters. Or 90 500-tri characters. I think you get the picture. Save your money. $330 could be much better spent elsewhere.
#2
02/21/2005 (8:33 am)
Poly count. The character model that you're looking at is made to be rendered, not to be used in real-time. But it's a very nice rendering model.

The jet should be fine. You'll have to take mounting it into consideration as the mount scripts won't work out of the box with a different cockpit type.

The aount of work involved is much less than what you save by doing it from scratch (especially with the girl pack). Basically, you can import the model into Max and remove the mesh. Load in the new mesh, match up the boning accordingly, and run through the animation to see where you need to make adjustments. Different models will "move" differently depending on how they were constructed.
#3
02/21/2005 (8:36 am)
Thanks Tek Lee Tan,

Yes--that is a high poly count.

Is there another site anyone could recommend with 3DS graphics that work well with Jill (bravetree game pack)/Torqe?

Where might I find teh best tutorials for covering getting Jill's rig and animation to work underneath custon 3DS art?

Thanks!

Ranger
#4
02/21/2005 (8:40 am)
The documentation that came with the model is an excellent place to begin.
#5
02/21/2005 (8:45 am)
Thanks Dave,

Is everyone in agreement that 3DS is the way to go for 3D design?

Are Milkshape and 3DS readily compatible?

As a rule of thumb, how many polys can I have up there today?

Thanks!

Ranger
#6
02/21/2005 (9:19 am)
Your modeling package will depend on your workflow. My workflow is Lightwave > Maya > 3DS > TrueSpace > Blender > Milkshape. For some, Maya or 3DS or Blender or Milkshape will be higher on the list. The most important thing is to use what you're workflow is best in (and which has the proper output formats or quality conversion tools. Milkshape works quite well with Max files, especially 3DS.There are some animation limitations with Milkshape, but the documentation with the character pack covers them pretty well. I usually only use Milkshape as my format converter now.

Your polycount will depend on the application you're looking at. If you want a fast-action networked game, your polycount is going to be lower than if you have a single-player high-def adventure title.
#7
02/21/2005 (5:44 pm)
Has anyone had any experience with gamespace?

How is it overall, when compared to 3D studio max?

I heard some people saying that gamespace gets you there the quickest, when you're intergating basic 3D graphics/animations.

What do most people use in conjunction with Torque?

Thanks!

Ranger
#8
02/21/2005 (6:04 pm)
Again, it depends on your workflow.

I know people that live and die by TrueSpace (the next step up from GS), but I find the interface and workflow irritating. I really can't stand Puppeteer for rigging as well. But again, I know people who love it. I prefer Character Studio and CharacterFX. I love LW and Maya's rigging tools as well.

Download GameSpace Lite and see if it works for you. Check out GMax to see if Max works well for you (it's a few years old). The Maya PLE is another great version to see if Maya is good for you. Download Blender and the Blender manual as well. Milkshape has a 30 eval period to see if it works well for you.

Try them all and see which works best for you. All of them have good workflow integration with Torque. Maya and Max are the two primary supported products, but all of the DTS exporters are very well done.