How to make a 1001 Models pack - Part 1 : General overview
by Vincent BILLET · 05/28/2005 (1:19 pm) · 21 comments
What's the problem?
Yes ! I'm a programmer. I can make great games! Hopefully. I have Torque Game Enigne, and the task is really easier. Hmmm... Let's start some coding and ... Ouch ! I need to have models. So let's go! The Solution is Simple ! 3DS Max (price problems), Blender, Maya, etc.. And now you are not in front of your favorite editor, but in front of a modeling suite. That's not the same thing! Now game development seems to take 12 Months in the face...
First Solution : Content packs!
Yes ! Great, GG and some authors in GG community produce content packs! I can buy this pack and have some really great contents! But there is a small problem. Content packs don't correspond exactly to what you want. And after all I can edit the meshes, change textures, so I can have a great content in a real short time. That's right. But think really that there is not enough models in the GG community to solve that problem.
Second solution : Finding modelers "On Plan"
Yes ! you can spend time explaining your project, what kind of models you need, to a person who will work on it , interpret your wishes, and finally give his models (which may not meet your wishes) only to you. This solution is good, but pretenders are legions, real makers are few. If you have the chance to find a guy, you may be disenchanted with the results.
Thrid solution : Find Free Models
Yes ! There is a lot of models around the web that are free, and you can use them. If the author diffuse them on the net, you can use them! Yes, you can ! But there is some rules to follow. What are these rules ? These rules are defined by copyright laws. But there is a little problem with these laws. They are different from a country to another country. Copyrighted products in U.S. are not ruled in the same way in Europe or in Asia. So Now be pragmatic. You want to use the work of someone (you find his model great). Ask him !!! "Can I use your work for making a game...". Following my own experience, no author said me "No you can't, these models are mine!". Try it, you'll see! Another problem is the money. Remember this : You Win, He must Win. This solution has also some inconvenients. (we will see some of them later...)
The example
I'm RPGamer. I liked NeverWinter Nights (NWN) series. Why? Because their editor was very powerfull, and there was (always) a great community around this game. This community has developped hundred... Thousand models! You don't believe me ? Check out nwvault.ign.com.
Sections (models/ HakPack). Hackpacks can contain hundreds of models each!
Yes ask these model's author if you can use them, you'll be surprised !
Yes ask these model's author if you can use them, you'll be surprised !
I want to use them, but relashionship with Torque?
NWN community has developped many and many tools to work with these models. The second article of this serie will explain how to import models from NWN to Torque.
But there may be some technical problems?
Yes, the second part of this article will give some solutions.
Firstly these models are very low poly. The thrid part of this serie will try to give some way to counter this problem. Secondly, Textures are very low-precision textures. I will try to give some solutions in the fourth part of this serie.
Final word?
Yes in an eventual last part, I will conclude on different documents, or contracts model to propose the authors.
To be continued....
Sorry for my poor english, I'm a frenchy guy!
Yes ! I'm a programmer. I can make great games! Hopefully. I have Torque Game Enigne, and the task is really easier. Hmmm... Let's start some coding and ... Ouch ! I need to have models. So let's go! The Solution is Simple ! 3DS Max (price problems), Blender, Maya, etc.. And now you are not in front of your favorite editor, but in front of a modeling suite. That's not the same thing! Now game development seems to take 12 Months in the face...
First Solution : Content packs!
Yes ! Great, GG and some authors in GG community produce content packs! I can buy this pack and have some really great contents! But there is a small problem. Content packs don't correspond exactly to what you want. And after all I can edit the meshes, change textures, so I can have a great content in a real short time. That's right. But think really that there is not enough models in the GG community to solve that problem.
Second solution : Finding modelers "On Plan"
Yes ! you can spend time explaining your project, what kind of models you need, to a person who will work on it , interpret your wishes, and finally give his models (which may not meet your wishes) only to you. This solution is good, but pretenders are legions, real makers are few. If you have the chance to find a guy, you may be disenchanted with the results.
Thrid solution : Find Free Models
Yes ! There is a lot of models around the web that are free, and you can use them. If the author diffuse them on the net, you can use them! Yes, you can ! But there is some rules to follow. What are these rules ? These rules are defined by copyright laws. But there is a little problem with these laws. They are different from a country to another country. Copyrighted products in U.S. are not ruled in the same way in Europe or in Asia. So Now be pragmatic. You want to use the work of someone (you find his model great). Ask him !!! "Can I use your work for making a game...". Following my own experience, no author said me "No you can't, these models are mine!". Try it, you'll see! Another problem is the money. Remember this : You Win, He must Win. This solution has also some inconvenients. (we will see some of them later...)
The example
I'm RPGamer. I liked NeverWinter Nights (NWN) series. Why? Because their editor was very powerfull, and there was (always) a great community around this game. This community has developped hundred... Thousand models! You don't believe me ? Check out nwvault.ign.com.
Sections (models/ HakPack). Hackpacks can contain hundreds of models each!
Yes ask these model's author if you can use them, you'll be surprised !
Yes ask these model's author if you can use them, you'll be surprised !
I want to use them, but relashionship with Torque?
NWN community has developped many and many tools to work with these models. The second article of this serie will explain how to import models from NWN to Torque.
But there may be some technical problems?
Yes, the second part of this article will give some solutions.
Firstly these models are very low poly. The thrid part of this serie will try to give some way to counter this problem. Secondly, Textures are very low-precision textures. I will try to give some solutions in the fourth part of this serie.
Final word?
Yes in an eventual last part, I will conclude on different documents, or contracts model to propose the authors.
To be continued....
Sorry for my poor english, I'm a frenchy guy!
About the author
#3
I would like to also suggest http://www.turbosquid.com.
If you do a complete tutorial series, I would love to help edit them.
I think that porting art from other games is a subject that could use alot more coverage.
Keep at it!
Ari Rule
"Measure twice, cut once."
05/29/2005 (3:24 am)
Wonderful article/subject!I would like to also suggest http://www.turbosquid.com.
If you do a complete tutorial series, I would love to help edit them.
I think that porting art from other games is a subject that could use alot more coverage.
Keep at it!
Ari Rule
"Measure twice, cut once."
#4
05/29/2005 (1:04 pm)
Hmm, seems my comment got deleted or I waited too long to hit the send button, anyways great work Vincent!
#5
05/29/2005 (9:40 pm)
im not sure if it is THAT easy. if i look at the first screen, i
#6
The main Idea of this article is to learn to alone programmers with low modeling skills to solve their problems in making game.
First, I write this first part without a line of code to insist particulary on copyrights. The Idea is to find and contact artists who have already made some jobs. Communities such NWN community are rich areas. Rich in term of modelers, of writers, of musicians, etc.. I say "Contact them" and ask them their job. Why? Because, if you want to make a great game, you can't do it alone, even with three or four peoples. The goal is to increase the team, not to steal ideas or models.
Secondly, I totaly agree, with your comment on "look and feel". This is the subject of Thrid AND fourth part of this serie. You can't get a model of an universe, another model from another, and simply putting them together. This won't work for sure. But instead of starting from scratch, you can save many and many hours in contacting artists and work or ask them to work on their models.
05/30/2005 (1:37 pm)
Philipp, I Totaly agree with your two "objections".The main Idea of this article is to learn to alone programmers with low modeling skills to solve their problems in making game.
First, I write this first part without a line of code to insist particulary on copyrights. The Idea is to find and contact artists who have already made some jobs. Communities such NWN community are rich areas. Rich in term of modelers, of writers, of musicians, etc.. I say "Contact them" and ask them their job. Why? Because, if you want to make a great game, you can't do it alone, even with three or four peoples. The goal is to increase the team, not to steal ideas or models.
Secondly, I totaly agree, with your comment on "look and feel". This is the subject of Thrid AND fourth part of this serie. You can't get a model of an universe, another model from another, and simply putting them together. This won't work for sure. But instead of starting from scratch, you can save many and many hours in contacting artists and work or ask them to work on their models.
#7
05/31/2005 (12:28 am)
Quote:Thank you for your interest. Any kind of help is always useful. If you want to help me please send me a private mail : vbillet at yahoo.fr.
If you do a complete tutorial series, I would love to help edit them.
#8
Thanks a lot!
06/02/2005 (10:53 pm)
I thought this was an excellent idea! I understand the pitfalls as explained by Phillip, and am intensely interested to see how you suggest managing them. Thanks for the tip! As a baby programmer whose art is good but takes hours and hours due to lack of experience on the computer, it's nice to be able to concentrate on the programming and drop in some ready-made which I can tweak for looks, or use until I can find a full-time artist.Thanks a lot!
#9
07/09/2005 (5:11 pm)
Great.. When will the tutorial on how to do this come? Because this is great help. I am that alone programmer that really wants to make a game... I got people around me saying they can model/make textures but they're either crappy or not what i'm looking for. Mostly crappy...
#10
07/12/2005 (1:16 am)
just a thought, we released 5 dts models of rts buildings at our site www.3dtowns.at under a (by:) license by creative commons. perhaps there are much more creative commons 3dmodels around, i dont know for sure, but if someone will search, i
#11
Is that normal Torque or the Shader engine? It looks stunning! It's brilliant.
07/12/2005 (4:05 am)
@Philipp,Is that normal Torque or the Shader engine? It looks stunning! It's brilliant.
#12
07/12/2005 (4:16 am)
normal torque, thanks :) ... 
#13
Tons of free stand-ins
Non-artistic game developers (you know, the scripters and game engine coders, not the artist guys) need stand-in models while the real one's are being created. Voila, instant hundreds of stand-in models. Ok, so most of them are AD&D / Forgotten Realms models, but if that's the style of game you're making then it'd suit you. Even if it's not, at least you still have the stand-in models to get the basics of the game down while the real models are being created. It's not like you have to release your game with these stand-ins. Who cares if they're copyrighted as long as you're not redistributing them?
Another art pipeline
Art people that have already created a game used an "art pipeline." Concept art drawings, model in Max, export to DTS, do a little scripting, voila, it's in the game (ok, that's simplified, obviously). Support for NWN models makes it so that you have another art pipeline. Models meant for NWN will not work as DTS without modification. Shape-32 nodes and such have to be created, etc.
When's the next article coming out?
08/12/2005 (7:36 pm)
I like the idea for a couple of reasons.Tons of free stand-ins
Non-artistic game developers (you know, the scripters and game engine coders, not the artist guys) need stand-in models while the real one's are being created. Voila, instant hundreds of stand-in models. Ok, so most of them are AD&D / Forgotten Realms models, but if that's the style of game you're making then it'd suit you. Even if it's not, at least you still have the stand-in models to get the basics of the game down while the real models are being created. It's not like you have to release your game with these stand-ins. Who cares if they're copyrighted as long as you're not redistributing them?
Another art pipeline
Art people that have already created a game used an "art pipeline." Concept art drawings, model in Max, export to DTS, do a little scripting, voila, it's in the game (ok, that's simplified, obviously). Support for NWN models makes it so that you have another art pipeline. Models meant for NWN will not work as DTS without modification. Shape-32 nodes and such have to be created, etc.
When's the next article coming out?
#14
08/13/2005 (3:44 am)
I have finally found a few modellers (yea a few even!) It seems that if you wait long enough and post everywhere that you need people, they will come eventually if the project is interresting enough. I started alone, look at the team now: http://rpg.dgm3dengine.com/team.php .
#15
10/03/2005 (6:06 pm)
Eagerly waiting for Part 2. (or some simple walkthrough for extracting the models from NWN packs, ALA art pipline you are talking about)
#16
--Thanks, Talon
05/30/2006 (11:30 pm)
Good idea vincent! any ideas where I could get some of these models in .dts format or .mb format for use in commercial games? If so, pleeeeeeease tell me.--Thanks, Talon
#17
http://www.beastwithin.org/users/wwwwolf/games/nwn/gametools/neverblender/
05/31/2006 (3:50 pm)
Try NeverBlender:http://www.beastwithin.org/users/wwwwolf/games/nwn/gametools/neverblender/
#19
NeverBlender will allow you to use Blender to convert them into .DTS which you can use in Torque, or .OBJ / .3DS which you can use to import into Maya.
06/02/2006 (5:51 am)
No, that wasn't the point.... nwvault.ign.com has the models in NWN format. That's what Vince's article was all about.NeverBlender will allow you to use Blender to convert them into .DTS which you can use in Torque, or .OBJ / .3DS which you can use to import into Maya.
Torque Owner Sim9