How do YOU do graphics?

Pipeline
1

Kind of just curious about how people do their graphics. By this I mean modeling schemes, animation, etc. for implementing into their Panda3D game (or whatever you do with panda). This may seem strange, but I’m actually VERY curious about how other people do it before I go any farther with what I’m doing. Of course, I’m learning more as we speak, and will be stealing (yes, stealing) your ideas.

One last thing, this isn’t a “how do I use Maya?” question. It’s more of a, “how do you use Maya (or any other tools you use) WITH PANDA.”

:wink:

2

Well, I’m just beginning myself, but I’ve figured a good deal of stuff out.

For one thing, I’ve learned that to use 3D models in Panda3D, they have to be converted to egg files. That’s why I use Blender as my 3D modeling program and use the Chicken exporter (Chicken lays eggs, get it?). A discussion about Chicken is on this forum. But if you’re using Maya you’ll need to find a .maya -> .egg exporter to use the files in your games.

3

i just tell my art slaves to do it…
programmers should never do art but find some one who can

4

Dont listen to Treeform he’s just miffed someone can draw better than him :slight_smile:

Seriously I think most here use Blender because few can afford the pricey Maya program ,but if you can then your in luck because there is a specific plugin for Maya and since its the choice of panda developers its probably a good thing:

panda3d.org/manual/index.php/C … e_Exporter < at start of page shows the command line usage way, and down toward the end is the GUI way of doing it which, and as directions note you drag and drop onto MAYA from Panda plugin directory.

This page will get you started and once you start making amazing content Im sure you wont have any trouble finding new team members :wink:

Those whom have maya will probably chime in with more help , but there you go as a starting point.

cheers
nl

5

So, now you’re using Maya, and not Blender or 3DMax ?

quick preview (running pview) from Maya :

  1. copy libmayapview.mll from Panda3D\plugins to Maya\bin\plug-ins
  2. be sure there is no object selected, or only geometry/group objects.
  3. type “pview” in Maya prompt

mod and tools :
discourse.panda3d.org/viewtopic.php?t=2503
discourse.panda3d.org/viewtopic.php?t=2428
panda3d.cvs.sourceforge.net/*che … tFlags.mel

6

Heh, seems like you guys misunderstood. And yes Jo, I am using Maya. I switched instantly from blender to maya when I discovered it was so easy to export egg files from maya since I know how to use Maya and have been using it for a while. One of the artists uses 3dmax, not me :smiley:.

I know how to export egg files, do collision tags, etc, although I’m still trying to figure out all the egg file tags. My question was just what approach are you taking. I suppose you guys generally don’t have a systematic approach to how you set up your models for use. Well, it’s ok.

A little background for those who are wondering about my strange story (this is mostly aimed towards what treeform said):

I have a small team right now. I’m one of those do it all kind of guys since I pick up kind of fast. For this reason I am taking the lead in the team, and for that purpose I am learning EVERY aspect of working with panda and all of the tools that we will be using with it. That’s just how I work.

If I were the artist, I wouldn’t want some amateur chump telling me how to do my job. The sound guy I don’t even mess with because he’s kind of moody. Of course, the lead programmer, who is a friend of mine, absolutely wont let me share any of his code here or anywhere else. Whenever I make something myself I usually have him clean out the bugs, and that’s why some of my questions are stupid.

As the team is working on the core mechanics of the game, which they can handle without me, I am organizing everything and basically learning everything I can before we really get to work.

End of story

Thanks for taking the time to read that, and look forward to seeing my work.

EDIT: And thanks a lot for that link to the egg info, Jo , I was wondering where that was.

Second Edit: I was already using that edited mel script that you posted, along with a small fix for 2008 that someone else posted. I’m grateful for being able to directly export stuff from maya.

7

Well, I wish I could help you out more with the art side of things. ^^; I’m a programmer at heart so my art experience is fairly limited. I started learning it because I don’t have lackies like treeform to satisfy my artistic wishes. I want to learn all the aspects of Panda3D game design because eventually I want to make 3D games BY MYSELF! And because I’ll have an extremely small, almost non-existent budget, I’ll probably never be able to afford something like Maya. =P

Here’s something I’ve noticed, though; it’s not always best to start modeling something by using the shapes that look most like what the finished product should be. For example, the first time I tried to make a human torso, I started with a cylinder and scaled it to look torso-ish. But my end product wasn’t very good. I tried other ways until I found that the best way for me was to start with a cube, scale it into a rectangle, and then subdividing faces to give it more vertices so it can be more accurately shaped. I decided to make the rest of the body the same way, making it start out boxy, but then shaping it into a human form, and I’ve had great success. I’m sure the same technique would work with other objects as well. I guess the best way to describe the overall process is to begin by generalizing the shape and then modifying however is necessary to produce a finished model.

8

Hehe, thanks for sharing. I use a similar method, but I didn’t exactly have to figure it out myself as I went through the maya tutorials, then some random work flow tutorials/guides you can find around the net about modeling and whatnot.

TBH, my concern isn’t making art, it’s optimizing it for use with Panda. I already have a “lackey” as you say, but she isn’t at all familiar with Panda. She is an artist with no interest in programming, after all. One day she asked me if there were anything she should be doing (besides keeping it low-poly) to make it easier for the lead programmer, as he doesn’t do art at all (I seem to be the only multitasker… :unamused: ).

I said, “Probably.”

BTW: I’m looking into the different flags/tags like the stuff for collisions, so I am doing as much research on my own as I have time for.

9

I know exactly what you want to know and it would interest me too. It isn’t about the specific, but about the general, overall process. I see all this nice screenshots and I wonder how did they build their art pipeline ? I guess Maya. I use Blender at the moment, but I would like to know if anybody used it for a bigger project ? I am not averse to get Maya , if the benefit is right, i.e. less hassle, exporter more capable etc. As said by kayn this isn’t about the specifics (I know how to get to my egg file), but about what is the most efficient and hassle-free process. There usually is a right way and a wrong way and then there is the right way used by the original crew, which is the best optimized. To find out in the middle of the project that the stuff you want to do is not possible or that you use the wrong way is the kind of stress you want to avoid.

10

neighborlee,

I take offense!

I challenge you beat my alien! :smiley:

On the other hand i was serious find people who know how to do art there is so much art people trying to find people who can code well or code at all! There is plenty of mod projects or single artists looking to put their creations into games but cant find any one … the best advice is to just look around or join an existing project and shape it into your project!