Dom War 5

[Imajus]

Here's an example of something you can do with UDK's material system. Also not arguing for UDK over Marmoset, if I still had Maromset I'd probably use it, but it's just another option.

The first head is just a standard diffuse, spec, normal shader. The second is one I made by studying a SSS shader someone already made and piecing together my own using all the same texture maps. Also I did not model or texture the head it came with the shader I studied.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Tell us more about the UDK Imajus? This looks pretty awesome and might be worth jumping into and doing a How-To video for 3DT troops.

[Buzzy]

UDK is 100% free for non-commercial purposes and can be downloaded at udk.com

It is not quite just a simple viewer like Marmoset, but it can be used as such. There is a learning curve.

[Mr. Bluesummers-3DT]

Right on. What're the benefits of using Marm or UDK over just rendering in your modeling package?

[BiG ToE-3DT]

well, if you suck at lighting, then there is a real good chance your renders will suck too. With these fancy render engine thingys, they kinda do all the hard work for you.

[Imajus]

Yeah for UDK you'd have to setup a rendering environment, import your character and texturs, drop in some lights and build a shader. For me I worked in the game industry as a modeler and level designer, I don't know jack **** about vray or mental ray or anything like that. So it's easier for me to use a real time engine to show my work. Also what bigtoe said you basically throw some lights in and it already looks great. And since it's realtime you can save out your screenshots right away. You don't have to tweak, wait for render, tweak, wait for render. Don't know about you guys, but it feels more pure to me to have a game competition character rendered real time.

[leo_pecina]

Originally Posted by Imajus

One thing to note about marmoset is it's not free anymore. You can DL the trial for 20 or 30 days, forget which it is, but after that you have to pay. So if you're a cheap ******* like me plan out when to DL the trial. I already used my trial and planned on using it for comicon, but they extended and my trial ran out.
One thing I had in mind is using UDK to display my work. UDK has gorgeous real time lighting, a powerful material system, and free. It takes a bit more setup than marmoset however. If anyone is interested I can post some UDK info.

The Older free version is available to download at the Marmoset Toolbag - MASTER THREAD over at Polycount via either one of the mirror links they have.

Which would be
Mirror1: http://www.johnyontehspot.com/toolba...ag_install.exe
Mirror2: http://www.thanez.net/toolbag_install.exe

they got more info about it on their thread.

[Imajus]

I actually tried this and when I try to install it corrupts, tried DLing and reinstalling again and figured it was probably just because it's the old version.

[leo_pecina]

yeah definitely has bug, since this is the older one. the good thing is it's quick and you can use it to preview as you are working, and not need to use up the trial time of the newer version (given when it work)

[Crispy4004]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bluesummers-3DT

Right on. What're the benefits of using Marm or UDK over just rendering in your modeling package?

I can't speak for every package but in Maya land our viewport is poop; no matter how hard you try you can't polish a turd. From the looks of it UDK and Marmoset actually handle color space correctly (which is huge) and make use of techniques that mimic indirect lighting, subsurface scattering, tone mapping, etc.

[Crispy4004]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bluesummers-3DT

This looks pretty awesome and might be worth jumping into and doing a How-To video for 3DT troops.

I'd love to learn more the set-up in UDK, Marmoset looks fairly straightforward, but I'm sure there are advantages to UDK. Who knows, I might be able to bring something to the table from my time working with MR and passes. Like say what shaders, math, and/or combinations can lead to somewhat similar results.

[poopipe]

marmoset is very easy to use indeed

I got it last nght and had a model up and shaded in a matter of about 15 minutes (including establishing you can only have one shader per object)
It does seem a bit weak with regard to skin and other soft surfaces though so may not be the best choice if you're planning on a barbarian chick with leather undercrackers on.


UDK looks brilliant due to the level of customisation you've got, I dont think you'll be disappointed in the shader capabilities Crispy4004.
Unfortunately it also looks like it'll be a bit of a pain in the bum unless there's a model viewer out there already. There'll be extra setup time, reloading when you make shader changes etc. (guesswork based on other full game engines)
This is all ok if you've got time and patience but in my case I'm going to have a couple of hours a night tops to work on my entry (not to mention a heavily pregnant greek woman and a 4 year old demanding strange things like love, attention and housework) .
I'll give it a try in the meantime to see what I can get out of it but I suspect it might fall into the "too much hassle" category.
Also it's been a bit tricky finding a tut on full custom character export - i really don't want to produce a static mesh for a game art comp.


I found a max viewport shader by 3point studios last night that looks like it might be the answer to my prayers. I've not tried it yet but it claims to be able to do a lot more than you can with your average DX viewport shader and the feature list looks very promising.

[Sathe]

I also demand these things of you poopipe, don't forget that.

I will be using vray for my entry, been doing some tests creating some shaders that work with normal maps. Not a huge amount of luck yet, but it will get there and I will share when I do.

[MonteCristo]

I would say if you are serious about getting into games, then the Marmoset tool is a no-brainer for $50. I had no problems at all setting up a scene. It is, apparently, idiot-proof, and I should know -- Poopipe is definitely an idiot.

[poopipe]

you're asking for a burrito somewhere uncomfortable you are

sathe - you know you come first