Questions about the modeling pipeline
I would have some question about the pipeline for model creation for NS2.
1. Are we getting exporters for our favorite modeling programs soon? (XSI is my favorite)
2. Does the engine support animation for map props that are not "gameplay props"?
3. Does the engine support the map being modeled out of large models, and how well does it work ingame, as in, how well can the game take players jumping around on collision boxes of map models that are not map geometry? The Source engine appears to have issues with that, where as the Unreal3 engine appears to handle even very large models being integral part of the map. I wonder where Spark stands on this.
4. What are the limitations for skeletons on models in spark?
5. How seamlessly does Spark light props compared to map objects? From what I have seen so far, it does it very well.
6. Are we getting documentation on the export process for models soon?
1. Are we getting exporters for our favorite modeling programs soon? (XSI is my favorite)
2. Does the engine support animation for map props that are not "gameplay props"?
3. Does the engine support the map being modeled out of large models, and how well does it work ingame, as in, how well can the game take players jumping around on collision boxes of map models that are not map geometry? The Source engine appears to have issues with that, where as the Unreal3 engine appears to handle even very large models being integral part of the map. I wonder where Spark stands on this.
4. What are the limitations for skeletons on models in spark?
5. How seamlessly does Spark light props compared to map objects? From what I have seen so far, it does it very well.
6. Are we getting documentation on the export process for models soon?
Comments
2. Yes
3. yes, Very Well - Does part of a model get drawn or all of it? I never thought to check in game in wireframe model so you need to find that out.
4. <i>Cant Answer</i>
5.Everything is equally lit/shadowed, if a model/player is in half a shadow it will have a shadow cast accross it.
6. Some tutorials are around here and there, Check out the Wiki <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki</a>
Here is Max using 3DSMax: <a href="http://ns2.squarespace.com/storage/physics_setup.swf" target="_blank">http://ns2.squarespace.com/storage/physics_setup.swf</a>
3. It'll be more like Unreal than Source. No visportals required, either.
5. Exactly the same, I guess.
UW are trying to make the props identical in every way to regular geometry. I am not sure if they can be used for blocking geometry vis though.?
I have not played with the animation yet but I plan on doing some soonish.
There are still a lot of unknowns with what we can do with shaders, collision geometry, physics.
2. Yes
3. Normally anything that is visible/partially visible is drawn and NOT culled. I.e. even if the a small part of a large model is seen by the camera, then the whole model as to be drawn. This is how its works in UE3/UDK anyways. Your better of sticking to a more modular approach.
4. Don't think theres any real limitations, just use enough bones to accomplish what you need, most recent engines normally support up to 4 vertex influences per bone.
5. I believe Spark lights everything evenly with per-pixel lighting/shadowmaps, not like in UE3/Source where stuff is vertex-lit/lightmapped. Source lights everything different from brushes to meshes and the characters.
6. There are a couple of thread somewhere on the forums about getting models into spark and theres a .pdf as well with a little info. Nothing in-depth yet though.