Hey guys,
I've come here in a bold attempt to create some kind of standardization for 3D modelling and sprite creation.
So far there don't seem to exist many resources on modelling and a lot of them were outdated. Specifically, tutorials for animating and modelling of units are lacking. I've prepared a few questions about the process of model creation, animation and sprite generation. It would be great if any of you that have worked on unit modelling can give me some insight
[Disclaimer: I work for the openage project. This post is motivated by our efforts to make modding as easy as possible with our engine. However, most tools and standardization methods we develop should work for classic Genie Engine mods.]
General
- Are there existing templates for 3D modelling (except the ones for buildings done by Jan Dc)?
- Do any standard practices for modelling and animating AoE2 style units exist? Or does every mod develop from scratch how they model their units?
- What are the most popular softwares for modelling?
Model
- What camera setup is used? Do you use one camera and rotate it around the model? Or do you have multiple cameras, one for each sprite to render?
- How many lights are usually in a scene? Do they rotate with the camera or are they at a fixed place?
- Does the model consist of one single mesh or multiple meshes? If the latter is true: are the meshes parented to each other or do they stay individual?
Animations
- Is the number of possible frames per animation fixed in AoE2? Or does a limit for frames per animation exist?
- Does the number of frames depend on the type of animation (walking, attacking, dying,..)?
- How many sprites are generated for each animation? (Afaik only one half of the model is actually rendered per model, so is 10 sprites in a 180° angle correct?)
- When using amatures: How many bones do you use and for which parts of the model?
Output
- Do you use scripts/tools for sprite generation or manually create the sprites in the modelling software?
- What image resolution should a sprite have?
Future
- What would you like to see to ease the modelling process? Any requests for templates, tutorials or example setups?
- What standards should we (at openage) adapt and what helpful tools could we provide?
I've come here in a bold attempt to create some kind of standardization for 3D modelling and sprite creation.
So far there don't seem to exist many resources on modelling and a lot of them were outdated. Specifically, tutorials for animating and modelling of units are lacking. I've prepared a few questions about the process of model creation, animation and sprite generation. It would be great if any of you that have worked on unit modelling can give me some insight
- Are there existing templates for 3D modelling (except the ones for buildings done by Jan Dc)?
- Do any standard practices for modelling and animating AoE2 style units exist? Or does every mod develop from scratch how they model their units?
- What are the most popular softwares for modelling?
- What camera setup is used? Do you use one camera and rotate it around the model? Or do you have multiple cameras, one for each sprite to render?
- How many lights are usually in a scene? Do they rotate with the camera or are they at a fixed place?
- Does the model consist of one single mesh or multiple meshes? If the latter is true: are the meshes parented to each other or do they stay individual?
- Is the number of possible frames per animation fixed in AoE2? Or does a limit for frames per animation exist?
- Does the number of frames depend on the type of animation (walking, attacking, dying,..)?
- How many sprites are generated for each animation? (Afaik only one half of the model is actually rendered per model, so is 10 sprites in a 180° angle correct?)
- When using amatures: How many bones do you use and for which parts of the model?
- Do you use scripts/tools for sprite generation or manually create the sprites in the modelling software?
- What image resolution should a sprite have?
- What would you like to see to ease the modelling process? Any requests for templates, tutorials or example setups?
- What standards should we (at openage) adapt and what helpful tools could we provide?
[This message has been edited by ColonelPanic (edited 04-19-2018 @ 08:58 AM).]