Heya, first of all, I would like to thank the Panda3D team for this awesome and free 3D engine.
I just downloaded it a week ago and messed around with the tutorials a bit, however, now it’s team for myself to create something of my own.
It will be a simple first person shooter, however, before I start I have a couple of questions.
I want to design the levels in 3ds max. And of course I will use multiple textures for each building/object/whatever. Will the export still contain all the UWV’s and textures in the correct places?
Also, I just found out there’s no 3ds Max 9 .egg exporter yet >_<
So, is there a way around that?
And, my level will contain buildings with open doors and closed doors you can open, should i save those as a separate file and place them in the game with python script according to the x, y and z co-ordinates or can i use the SceneEditor for placing objects and instances?
Those are my questions…for now
I’ll probably have a lot more questions once I have some progress, especially with the coding.
Edit : I am using Python to code it by the way, not C++
Well, welcome…
First of all, there’s no such thing as “simple” ^^
You can use Blender, it’s a free 3D modeling Software. There’s the chicken exporter for Blender, which will export anything from static models to animated models and multi textures.
Or you can try to export into the Direct3D/DirectX file format (.x), if 3D Studio Max supports that.
Panda3D can read this file format, too.
There’s no point in having two seperate models for two states of a door.
Just take one model for the door and animate it with an interval for the transitions between the open state and the closed state.
You sure will, like everybody else. But keep in mind, that most of the basic begginer questions have already been asked and answered on this forum. Also there are some more advanced topics that have been discussed in this forum. In many ways this forum contains a more detailed descripiton of how to use the Panda engine then the manual itself. It’s just harder to find your answers here. Just browse through the forum on some topics and I’m sure you’ll get a lot of ideas and inspiration how to solve problems of your game before you even run into them
99% of the people here use python.
There are mainly two reasons for that:
First, the documentation is for the python API of the engine…
second, Panda3D fits perfectly with Python.
Only a few use C++ with Panda. And most of the C++/Panda related threads I’ve seen were about compiling Panda or extending the engine itself with some new features.
So don’t worry, C++ takes a minor role around here, especially for beginners. And prototyping is just way faster in Python then it is in C++.
I tried Blender a short while ago and I must say that it takes a lot of getting used too.
And I’m glad to know that Panda3D supports the .x format. Even though 3ds max can’t export to that format, I am pretty sure I can find a plug in for that.
And I know there’s no such thing as simple
But it’s simpler compared to racing games and RPG’s etc etc.
And I will use the search feature here on the forum a lot, thanks for pointing it out, Legion
