Blender 3D software experiment

[Solitaire]

I'm looking for one or two people who are skilled at using Blender for 3D modeling to help me with an experiment that may lead to something interesting down the road. I do not know Blender at all and I really don't have the free time to work at developing the skills at the present time. If you are interested AND have at least a moderate level of knowledge of the program (think T3 or T4 crafter equivalent), please send me a PM. Linking to examples of what you have done with it would be helpful.

Thanks!

[Cobal]

I have skills at modeling and animating.
But not in blender. (I hate blender and it's crummy interface, years and years of building standards in how software interfaces should work and these folks just toss it all out of the window)

Does it have to be blender?

This reminds me, do the animation skeletons still have the end bones without any assigned vertices like way way back when the game first started?
Those redundant bones existed only as animation help but were left on by accident on export it would seem and they do (or did, possibly not true with modern hardware) have a rather hefty impact on performance

[Galdethriel]

Ah I've been trying to learn how to use Blender

I'm absolutely pants at it though, and as much as I'd like to help, I'd just end up messing up settings and crashing everybody's computers with my horrible, horrible memory-guzzling creations XD

For example, I believe the average HZ dragon has about 3196 vertices in it. My dragon has 15426. So... yeah XD

Give me a year. Or twenty.

XD

~Galde

[Guaran]

This reminds me, do the animation skeletons still have the end bones without any assigned vertices like way way back when the game first started?
Those redundant bones existed only as animation help but were left on by accident on export it would seem and they have a rather hefty impact on performance

I believe the answer to this is yes. The models need reworked to clean up the number of animation points that it is believed impacts client performance. It's true that with todays GPU hardware it shouldn't really matter, but I believe all that processing happens on the CPU and the gpu handles maybe some spell effects (if even that). Hz has always been a CPU limited game.

[fermi443]

I believe the answer to this is yes. The models need reworked to clean up the number of animation points that it is believed impacts client performance. It's true that with todays GPU hardware it shouldn't really matter, but I believe all that processing happens on the CPU and the gpu handles maybe some spell effects (if even that). Hz has always been a CPU limited game.

Agreed, I think a significant performance boost would be seen if processing for calculations in regards to drawing animations were given to the GPU, we wouldn't see so much strain from the viewer. As for Blender, I gave it a try once, but I couldn't get a good grasp over how everything worked, and simple tasks I wanted to try became impossible. Could you elaborate at all on what you're trying to create?

[Hawkman007]

yeah does it HAVE to be Blender? i recently Downloaded the newest UDK engine..which costs several billion dollars...don't ask...and i'm starting to learn how to use it the graphics and possibilities in this engine are amazing,but alas i'm a noob =/ you can also import models and... well everything! lemme know if you have any ideas!

Edit: you'll need a 2 ghz proccesser to even run this program but i have a 3.07 ghz proccesser ^^L

[Romirez]

I'm looking for one or two people who are skilled at using Blender for 3D modeling to help me with an experiment that may lead to something interesting down the road. I do not know Blender at all and I really don't have the free time to work at developing the skills at the present time. If you are interested AND have at least a moderate level of knowledge of the program (think T3 or T4 crafter equivalent), please send me a PM. Linking to examples of what you have done with it would be helpful.

Thanks!

*sniff sniff* i smell dragon model update.

[Solitaire]

*sniff sniff* i smell dragon model update.

Actually no. At least not for this experiment though I am working on something along those lines but have not gotten as far as I would like at this point. What I'm looking for is to find a few players who would be interested in working on what we call "world object" models. Basically anything you see that is not a character or monster. There are several identified that have some issues which could be improved upon but repair time is limited and takes away from creating new things. So what my experiment would have been was to give such models out to be gone over and repaired. The reward for such was that when it came back and was acceptable, the player would be able to build their own original model that could become part of the game in a fix one-build one type system. Whatever they want as long as it fit within Istaria's theme. I specified Blender because it is a free program that anyone could get. But if someone had legal access to other programs such as Maya or Max then those would work too.

[Guaran]

Sounds interesting. Reminds me of the quests written by players. Good to see more of the same.

[Grogo]

I have been using blender for modeling for about 20 months now. Other than an insane learning curve, its not all that bad. Besides its cheap, I like free.

[Hawkman007]

repost the UDK kit is free X_x but it now has minor conditons

[Hawkman007]

well the UDK is free, but to help you know what the UDK means is Unreal Developers Kit. it's now free to the public but of course it has terms conditions please read them if you accept them then start your projects! ^^ and i'm NOT advertising! i'm suggesting a highend developers program that's free... the engine is completely tweakable and you can make anything you want as you can import textures, models, heck everything please just check it out you won't be dissappointed.. blender drives me crazy.

[Raptress]

well the UDK is free, but to help you know what the UDK means is Unreal Developers Kit. it's now free to the public but of course it has terms conditions please read them if you accept them then start your projects! ^^

Yes. It's free to the public. Not to a game company like Virtrium.

Solitaire is looking for people to make objects for use in the game, and Istaria is a commercial game. As soon as money enters the picture, the UDK is no longer free. So, even if the UDK was usable for what Solitaire wants, its use involves paying royalties to the developers of the UDK.

[Hawkman007]

true that is one of the conditions everyone can use it but when you "put it on the shelves" after making an income of $5000 they'll demand either 10 or 20 % of all income so it's a tough choice. but the games already published and we're really just experimenting right?
we're not trying to make a whole new game so this won't matter it's just an experiment ^^;

[Raptress]

I don't think the game already being published is going to make a difference. Money is money. And what Solitaire is looking for is for direct application to the game:

What I'm looking for is to find a few players who would be interested in working on what we call "world object" models. Basically anything you see that is not a character or monster. There are several identified that have some issues which could be improved upon but repair time is limited and takes away from creating new things. So what my experiment would have been was to give such models out to be gone over and repaired.

That, and looking at the UDK.. it seems to be an engine. I'm somewhat doubtful that any models one makes in the UDK will be usable outside of it, like in, say.. Istaria's Granny based engine.

[Hawkman007]

alright i see your point sorry for bothering =/

[Akrion]

UDK is engine-specific to Unreal Engine 3, I doubt models created with UDK would be usable outside said engine.

[Zeus]

Hello , I use to play this game and have just recently returned. This post caught my eye as I am a 3dmodeler and rigger , working with maya , zbrush, photoshop and many others. Might I ask what you have in mind?
my email is [email protected]