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View Full Version : basic 3d character question (video game models)

perhaps
03-09-2006, 01:31 AM
i'd like to try my hand at attempting a relatively low poly video game model. it wouldn't be for any actual game, but rather for a theoretical game.

i want to try a futuristic marine, but not totally insane like starcraft marines. i'm thinking something a bit more practical and lightweight, like the marines from ALIENS.

i'm confident i can do this, but i'm puzzled about one thing: should i model all of the armor and whatnot (helmets, shoulder pads, clothing, everything) onto the actual body model itself? or are things like that seperate and attached/held together later on?

i'm wondering because i dont want to just box model this entire character with all of its elements built from the same mesh, only to find out that everythnig is supposed to be seperate. like, when animating, if the shoulder pads / armor are "part" of the 3d body, will they be stretched and contorted unrealistically with the rest of the body?

i'm really confused about this, because up until now all i've been attempting is basically "nude" models - nothing besides bare body.
dudethedreamer
03-09-2006, 03:08 AM
This is to help myself because i am also starting to make games

I have been working on amature games for a while now and from what i have come to understand - it depends

Like, should the shirt (armor, accesories) be a part of the body mesh, or a seprate element, or prehaps a seperate mesh itself?... It seems, not-matter. I beleive it all depends on what you want to acomplish... It will still be one character, and everything (seprate or not) will move with the character as long as it was skinned together. (You can even make things that was not skinned with the character to move with the character, like a ball, that must move with the character's hand, i think you can just link it together - somehow)... But for you i think you should go for the modeling everything as one mesh method, unless you plan to have limbs flying all over (the one mesh method can also be used for this)

But i never do things properly so i am not sure. I guess it all very much depends on your game engine

Hofuly a pro or experreinced gamer can correct me about these things

I have made my first water, im wonderin if it will animate once ingame? Iv used noised for the bump map, and a water image for reflection map... Will it animate ingame?

http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/6383/watertest2tv.png (http://imageshack.us)

Also how do i make trees (you can see my tree in the picture)? Iv looked for these toturails but, not much luck, still need help with water making properly, and many other things
perhaps
03-10-2006, 07:11 PM
anyone else?
goldenarm
03-10-2006, 08:38 PM
Typically, if the object, i.e. a holster, hat, shoulder pads, does not need to deform, you create it seperately and parent it to the bone system. BUT, this is really a case by case issue, and depends on the design. Sometimes the continous mesh is better, especially if you want it to deform smoothly when animated.
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03-10-2006, 08:38 PM
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