24 Getting Ready to Model: Concept Art The Final Objective AM FL Y Having the two object models in mind, I want you to pause a minute and think about why I chose them The RF-9 plasma gun is a great start Although it’s no ordinary object, it’s not too difficult to model, and for now will have no moving parts This is my favorite type of object to model and texture, because it’s generally quick to develop and has what I would consider an easy texture skin Beveled, futuristic metal is fun and looks really cool, so I think you’ll enjoy it—in fact, that will be your first modeling project to get your feet wet TE The slogre model, on the other hand, will be by far the most complex The slogre will consist of only one skin mesh, but will have an internal skeletal structure (known in 3D Studio Max as a biped object) that will be used to drive the mesh deformation That is, as the bones in the biped object move around, the vertices in the mesh will follow On top of that, you’ll be weighting the mesh (adjusting the behavior of the mesh around the bones) and skinning Lastly, dummy nodes must be placed all over the slogre to signify locations for the character to mount weapons, backpacks, point-of-view cameras, and the like The model itself, being organic, will also be the most time consuming, so we’ll save that for last Summary Developing a complex 3D game model is definitely a time-consuming process that must be well-planned in order for your model to be successful and presentable in a gaming environment The development can be broken down into several basic steps, beginning with an initial concept sketch to provoke modeling ideas (which leads to creating the model itself in a 3D modeling program), followed by U-V mapping, texturing, possibly applying a bones system to deform the mesh, and finally outputting to a game engine of choice Lars provided some great sketches that you can use as you create the models and textures for this game Of course, you don’t have to stick like glues to the sketches (although it should be close); feel free, by all means, to make up your own models as you go The techniques I’ll show you—from modeling, to U-Ving, to skinning and animation—will still apply The next step in the development process is creating the actual object meshes, and in this part of the book, I’ve broken down the creation of the plasma gun and slogre mesh objects into their own chapters (Chapters and 4, respectively) Using the modeling techniques I will describe, you should be able to make just about anything! ® Team-Fly to remove this watermark Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com CHAPTER Modeling the RF-9 Plasma Gun with trueSpace Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Modeling the RF-9 Plasma Gun with trueSpace 26 I n the previous chapter, where I introduced you to the logical structure of creating game assets, I envisioned and generated (with the help of my sketch art colleague, Lars) a draft of a cool weapon that I’ll now show you how to create in 3D In this chapter you will ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Set up the trueSpace environment in preparation for game modeling Logically plan out the modeling attributes for the RF-9 plasma gun Build the RF-9 step-by-step using primitives and point-editing techniques Optimize the RF-9 mesh and check for errors Export the model An Overview You’ve fleshed out the concept for the RF-9 plasma gun and generated some detailed sketches The next step is mesh creation, as indicated by the workflow depicted in Figure 3.1 To give you a quick review, Figure 3.2 shows the RF-9 plasma gun sketch that you’ll be using to model the plasma gun; you probably remember from Chapter 2, “Getting Ready to Model: Concept Art,” that this sketch was generated by me and my colleague Lars Ricaldi Figure 3.1 The next step in compound-asset development: mesh creation Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark An Overview Figure 3.2 The RF-9 you’ll be modeling in this chapter (sketch courtesy Lars Ricaldi) NOTE When you’re finished, you should end up with something like the mesh shown in Figure 3.3 The sections that follow explain how to modify the trueSpace environment for modeling, as well as other items you should consider before you begin If you’re already familiar with trueSpace and want to jump right into the modeling, go ahead and skip to the section titled “Modeling the RF-9.” Figure 3.3 The completed plasma-gun mesh Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 27 28 Modeling the RF-9 Plasma Gun with trueSpace Setting Up the trueSpace Environment In case you have not yet installed any version of trueSpace on your computer, I’ve provided a demo of trueSpace on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book Install it as you would any other program, and then copy the file G-LoK.tsc (as well as truespace.key and keylist.txt if you want to adhere to my keyboard shortcuts) from the CD-ROM to the \trueSpace6\ folder of your program’s installation directory After the G-LoK.tsc file is copied, it’s time to load this custom modeling configuration To so, click on the Configuration Library button, rightclick in the library’s blank space, and choose Import Then browse to G-LoK.tsc file and click OK You should end up with a configuration that looks like the one shown in Figure 3.4 G-LoK, by the way, is my game artist ‘handle’, so if you ever see art with my “GLK” logo, you know it’s yours truly NOTE G-LoK.tsc is an interface-configuration file that will set up your modeling environment my way, displaying three orthogonal views (Left, Front, and Top) as well as a background Perspective view Over the years I’ve found that this is a fairly optimal way to model, but by all means, you should arrange the environment to your liking The next few sections explain other settings that help with your modeling environment Changing the World and Object Units Generally speaking, one meter in the trueSpace modeling environment equals one meter in the world of the video game you’re creating (It’s a good idea to use the metric system because most game engines are based on it.) To ensure that your modeling environment is set to use the metric system, the following: Right-click the Object button (with the white arrow) to open the Object Info panel (see Figure 3.5) Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Setting Up the trueSpace Environment Figure 3.4 Changing the modeling-interface configuration by importing the G-LoK.tsc file Configuration Library button Figure 3.5 Setting the modeling units in the Object Info panel The Object button Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 29 30 Modeling the RF-9 Plasma Gun with trueSpace Click the red triangle in the upper-right corner of Object Info panel to expand it Set the World field to Meters Set the Object field to Meters TIP Rather than closing the Object Info panel, it’s a good idea to move it over to the corner of the screen; that way, you can reference your polygon count as you model Setting the Dynamic Rendering Mode trueSpace (and most other modeling programs) allows you to apply various settings to the video mode of your modeling environment, such as wireframe, solid, transparent, and so on I find it easiest to create mesh objects in Transparent Wireframe mode, which means your models are see-through, and that both the edges and vertices of the model are displayed at the same time To switch to this mode, the following: Click on the Display Options button in the bottom-right portion of the screen (see Figure 3.6) Figure 3.6 Setting the dynamic rendering modes The Display Options: DirectX button The Draw Objects as Transparent Outline button Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Modeling Considerations Select either DirectX or OpenGL mode (One mode might outperform the other depending on your video card, so check your video-card manufacturer’s documentation for more information.) Select the Draw Objects tool, and press and hold down your mouse button Then, choose the Draw Objects as Transparent Outline button 31 NOTE The rendering options described here will apply only to the active window.To activate a window, leftclick on it Texture Resolution If you apply bitmaps to any object in your dynamically rendered world, you’ll need to crank up the dynamic texture resolution—otherwise, your textures will appear pixelated Do this by right-clicking the Draw Objects tool (or by clicking File, Display Options), and setting the Txt Res option to 512×512 Keeping the Point Edit Tools Handy Much of the modeling you’ll be doing is based on point editing—that is, building or modifying your objects at the vertex (point) and face level I like to keep the Point Edit tools right next to the Eye Rotate and Eye Move tools, at the middle-right of NOTE the screen, to make them easily accessible To make a copy of these tools, press and The Point Edit tools will be visihold the Ctrl key as you drag the Point Edit ble only when an object is present and you’re in Point Edit tools to the desired area (see Figure 3.7) If mode (obtained simply by rightyou click once on the tool’s anchor bar (just clicking on a mesh object) to its left), it will expand the tool list and anchor it to that area Modeling Considerations If you saw the movie Final Fantasy, you were probably struck by the incredible detail of the characters, weapons, environments, and so on That photorealistic detail was the product of the extraordinarily high polygon meshes used to make the models used in the film; indeed, a typical character model’s face alone had well over Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 32 Modeling the RF-9 Plasma Gun with trueSpace Figure 3.7 Locating and anchoring the Point Edit tools The Point Edit button 50,000 polygons Sadly, however, if you were to use such high polygon meshes for your game, the player’s computer would come to a screeching halt trying to render all of the detail In fact, what you saw in Final Fantasy was the result of countless hours of post-production rendering on very powerful computers (most likely in a rendering array, with dozens of computers linked together, sharing the rendering process) Models for games are different from models for production, such as cover art, television, and movies That’s because games have dynamic rendering environments; that is, as a player moves around in 3D space, all 3D mesh objects are rendered to screen at least 30 times per second That means the player’s computer’s CPU and graphics processors must constantly transform the game world and render it at the same time—which in turn limits the number of polygons your models may contain Models with high levels of polygonal detail may look better, but will be so slow to render on a player’s computer as to make them unusable Put simply, models for games must be created to accommodate the average computing power of home computers on the market These days, that equates to designing your models to work with computers in the Pentium IV and V range, at about 2.5 to 3.0 GHz That means rather than creating character models with 50,000–100,000 polygons, as seen in the film Final Fantasy, you’ll need to create Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Modeling the RF-9 character models with polygons in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 5,000, and weapons possessing only 500–2,000 polygons This need for a low polygon (poly) count will deeply affect the way you model; with every step you take to shape your object, you’ll work to minimize the count In addition to considering poly count, you’ll also want to think about texture mapping as you model By making nice seams in your models in hidden areas, you’ll make the process of unwrapping the U-V texture coordinates much easier For details on unwrapping U-Vs, see Part II, “Unwrapping U-Vs with DeepUV.” TIP One way to avoid high poly counts is to apply textures to low-poly-count models for a similar effect For instance, the RF-9 has a hose-like item running the length of the action, but modeling a hose would require hundreds of polygons Instead, you can use a simple curved cylinder, and later apply a texture map that features an image of the bumps in a hose to that area If you can fake something with a 2D map, then it might not be necessary to have high poly counts for certain areas Modeling the RF-9 Creating a model of the RF-9 plasma gun will be quick and fairly simple; for overall good looks, you’ll rely more on texturing the weapon than creating a highly detailed mesh Modeling the RF-9 is, in this case, essentially a seven-step process: Plan the model’s dimensions and poly count, and build reference plane Build the muzzle Build the barrel Build the grip Build the hoops and hose Optimize and triangulate Export the model for texturing In the sections that follow, I’ll show you how to use trueSpace, which features one of the best modeling interfaces on Earth, to model the RF-9 plasma gun using the steps outlined here Of course, you can use any modeling program you wish, including 3D Studio Max (a demo of which is included on the CD-ROM); the modeling techniques I’ll show you can be ported to other programs It’s up to you to know how those programs and their tools work, however Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 33 ... preparation for game modeling Logically plan out the modeling attributes for the RF-9 plasma gun Build the RF-9 step-by-step using primitives and point-editing techniques Optimize the RF-9 mesh and check... environment for modeling, as well as other items you should consider before you begin If you’re already familiar with trueSpace and want to jump right into the modeling, go ahead and skip to... Models for games are different from models for production, such as cover art, television, and movies That’s because games have dynamic rendering environments; that is, as a player moves around in 3D