Author Topic: Elementary Model Making  (Read 4330 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline rhettro

  • 27
Re: Elementary Model Making
If you are more comfortable modeling in Wings then do it.  You can export Wings models as OBJ files into Blender and port to DAE from there. 

 

Offline Galemp

  • Actual father of Samus
  • 212
  • Ask me about GORT!
    • Steam
    • User page on the FreeSpace Wiki
Re: Elementary Model Making
I strongly suggest using Blender. The learning curve is steep, but it is free, extremely powerful, updates regularly, incredibly versatile (it also does animation, rendering, UV mapping, and post-production), and exports flawlessly to FreeSpace via Collada (thanks to Spicious.)

One of these days I should do a live Blender tutorial webcast on IRC...
"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he's supposed to be doing at that moment." -- Robert Benchley

Members I've personally met: RedStreblo, Goober5000, Sandwich, Splinter, Su-tehp, Hippo, CP5670, Terran Emperor, Karajorma, Dekker, McCall, Admiral Wolf, mxlm, RedSniper, Stealth, Black Wolf...

 

Offline Bobboau

  • Just a MODern kinda guy
    Just MODerately cool
    And MODest too
  • 213
Re: Elementary Model Making
god, how can anyone actually praise blender's UI, it's actively hostile.
Bobboau, bringing you products that work... in theory
learn to use PCS
creator of the ProXimus Procedural Texture and Effect Generator
My latest build of PCS2, get it while it's hot!
PCS 2.0.3


DEUTERONOMY 22:11
Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, [as] of woollen and linen together

 

Offline Vasudan Admiral

  • Member
  • 211
    • Twisted Infinities
Re: Elementary Model Making
If you're used to the hunt & click horrors of TS then yeah it probably seems that way. ;)

You learn the keyboard shortcuts pretty quick, and once you know even the basics of them, you barely touch the buttons. The scary button-mania interface isn't the true interface really. Besides - the new version has redesigned the interface to cater for people who couldn't previously get past the scary look.

Nehemiah: If you want to stay with learning 2.5 that will be best in the long run, and there's what looks like a pretty good introduction video series here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwptkZCWwU

However, because 2.5 is so new, there's relatively little in the way of beginner documentation compared with what's available for the older 2.49. If you're finding 2.5 too hard to learn for that reason it might be an idea to try 2.49 until you're comfortable with the basics. Stuff like this: http://www.blender.org/education-help/tutorials/tutorial-folder/blender-user-interface-tutorial/ is great for 2.49, but no longer fully valid with 2.5.
Get the 2014 Media VPs and report any bugs you find in them to the FSU Mantis so that we may squish them. || Blender to POF model conversion guide
Twisted Infinities

 

Offline headdie

  • i don't use punctuation lol
  • 212
  • Lawful Neutral with a Chaotic outook
    • Skype
    • Twitter
    • Headdie on Deviant Art
Re: Elementary Model Making
god, how can anyone actually praise blender's UI, it's actively hostile.

I grew up with MS DOS so grew up with many applications and games with no mouse support period even loading a mouse driver would not bring up a cursor on screen so apps like word perfect were all shortcut driven and even today I still prefer to use a 1-3 button shortcut to a mouse and hunting through menus and sub menus to find an option.

with a couple of days genuine effort you learn most of the shortcuts you use regularly and how they change depending on what mode you have it in.

edit:

just think of it like using the com menu in FS
« Last Edit: August 04, 2010, 03:19:38 am by headdie »
Minister of Interstellar Affairs Sol Union - Retired
quote General Battuta - "FRED is canon!"
Contact me at [email protected]
My Release Thread, Old Release Thread, Celestial Objects Thread, My rubbish attempts at art

 

Offline Thaeris

  • Can take his lumps
  • 211
  • Away in Limbo
Re: Elementary Model Making
I've noted this in several other threads before, but I'm a huge fan of AC3D. As a whole, it's probably not as potent as Blender; unlike Blender, however, it is almost instantly useable yet not limiting (unlike instantly useable yet highly limiting programs like SketchUp - the basic version is free, by the way). However, like every CAD/modeling program, the best way to determine if you like it or want to use it is to try a demo:

http://www.inivis.com/

Another one I'd suggest (despite not yet trying it for myself) is Silo. The program seems to be biased towards organic modeling and character art, but that shouldn't necessarily be a turn-off if you're not into those things. Watching a few videos on the site should give you a picture of what the program is capable of:

http://nevercenter.com/silo/about/

Now, keep in mind that both of these are NOT free programs - however, I'd say that if you can spend some money, these will be well worth the cost. I bought AC3D (I'm currently running 6.4.3) for $75 USD back in the day, and I couldn't be happier with the program.
"trolls are clearly social rejects and therefore should be isolated from society, or perhaps impaled."

-Nuke



"Look on the bright side, how many release dates have been given for Doomsday, and it still isn't out yet.

It's the Duke Nukem Forever of prophecies..."


"Jesus saves.

Everyone else takes normal damage.
"

-Flipside

"pirating software is a lesser evil than stealing but its still evil. but since i pride myself for being evil, almost anything is fair game."


"i never understood why women get the creeps so ****ing easily. i mean most serial killers act perfectly normal, until they kill you."


-Nuke

 

Offline rhettro

  • 27
Re: Elementary Model Making
Silo is pretty nice.  Sort of a Wings 3D on steroids. 

 

Offline Klaustrophobia

  • 210
  • the REAL Nuke of HLP
    • North Carolina Tigers
Re: Elementary Model Making
i'm not really sure why i ventured in here.  but as long as i am, does anyone use Solidworks?  CAN it even be used for model making?  It makes 3d objects, and I assume that's all models are.
I like to stare at the sun.

 

Offline qazwsx

  • POST DRUNK GET TITLE
  • 29
Re: Elementary Model Making
Models for Freespace (and virtually all video games) are constructed from polygon meshes, so as long as you can export as some sort of polygon mesh, and eventually get your model to a state which PCS2 can read, you should be fine.
<Achillion> I mean, it's not like he's shoving the brain-goo in a usb slot and praying to kurzweil to bring the singularity

<dsockwell> idk about you guys but the reason i follow God's law is so I can get my rocks off in the afterlife

 
Re: Elementary Model Making
i'm not really sure why i ventured in here.  but as long as i am, does anyone use Solidworks?  CAN it even be used for model making?  It makes 3d objects, and I assume that's all models are.
That's CAD software, and CAD models are very different from rendering models. Like qazwsx said, if you can export to a polygon mesh, you should ultimately be able to get it into FS; but you'll need to work a lot on it in an actual polygon-modelling program like Blender or Max. The mesh will need to be heavily cleaned up, textures are probably not great, hierarchy needs to be set up, etcetera.

 

Offline rhettro

  • 27
Re: Elementary Model Making
i'm not really sure why i ventured in here.  but as long as i am, does anyone use Solidworks?  CAN it even be used for model making?  It makes 3d objects, and I assume that's all models are.

It's been a while, but I have used Solidworks.  Its purpose is more for creating models of machines and parts for real world construction, so it goes above and beyond the needs of Freespace. 

  

Offline Thaeris

  • Can take his lumps
  • 211
  • Away in Limbo
Re: Elementary Model Making
i'm not really sure why i ventured in here.  but as long as i am, does anyone use Solidworks?  CAN it even be used for model making?  It makes 3d objects, and I assume that's all models are.

First of all, I just want to note that I hate and loath SolidWorks. Next, yes, with the proper conversion techniques and clean-up procedure, there's no reason why you can't produce a model in SW and port it to FS - the question is, do you have the patence to do so?

I will note that I've seen SolidWorks models ported to X-Plane, so there shouldn't be too much of a hurdle to overcome if you do decide to do something with that program.
"trolls are clearly social rejects and therefore should be isolated from society, or perhaps impaled."

-Nuke



"Look on the bright side, how many release dates have been given for Doomsday, and it still isn't out yet.

It's the Duke Nukem Forever of prophecies..."


"Jesus saves.

Everyone else takes normal damage.
"

-Flipside

"pirating software is a lesser evil than stealing but its still evil. but since i pride myself for being evil, almost anything is fair game."


"i never understood why women get the creeps so ****ing easily. i mean most serial killers act perfectly normal, until they kill you."


-Nuke