11 replies to this topic

[StoneComet]

Hello fellow designers,

 

I would like to know what software if any that any designers might recommend to create low poly assets such as clubhouses or any other sign, structure, etc. they may be using. My son recommends Blender but I have yet to try it.

 

I do have some sites with prefabbed models to chose from so this is more about creating your own very specific models to use in the game.

 

In addition please post ant model specs we should be keeping an eye on such as poly count. I'm pretty sure the recommendation for poly count is to keep it under 1000.

 

Thank You,

 

SC 

[Drgnslyr221]

What sites do you have for prefabbed models. I need a clubhouse for my course.

[Acrilix]

Sketchup is a good, easy to use 3D modeller and there are plenty of free models to download from their warehouse. I found there can be issues getting them to display properly in Unity though.... it's a bit hit or miss. Taking them into Blender first is probably the solution, but I have no experience with that program.

[NoPutt]

I use AC3D there is a free trial at http://www.inivis.com/

Blender is Free and great for building and animating, but

thousands of  buttons will have you watching Youtube

tuts for hours. I suppose that what you feel comfortable with is 

the way to go. 

[DPRoberts]

I highly recommend Blender. It's free and it's extremely well covered on the internet and youtube videos. Check out CG Geek's lightsaber to get started. But, if you are struggling with CF, good luck with Blender and its fussiness! You have to learn key commands to make progress. I never made a 3d object until 5 months ago and feel my objects aren't too bad. I have in my head a monster asset package that I would like to work on and continually update. Honestly, building assets is more in my lane than a course. Something that can be completed in less than a day and lead to simple joys! Much like Tom Hanks building fire in "Cast Away." I am waiting for Mike to release the Steam sharing page so as not to double up or go against PP wishes. I build completely non-destructively in Photoshop with my textures and will allow text or logos to be changed in minutes and updated for custom models. I also have to improve my normal mapping skills as all items currently carry many shadowing, embossing, glow tricks from Photoshop for 3D appearance. All models are less than 1200 tris and usually a single 1024x1024 or 2048x2048 texture. I feel this could be my contribution to the community long term versus churning out course gems. I'm guessing I'll be good for 1 course a year.

Some of my Kiawah Assets

A few of the Photoshop textures

[johnmeyer]

Truly impressive stuff DPR, I love this method of modelling, with the mapping etc. Super efficient and looks great. Also very much looking forward to Kiawah

[DPRoberts]

Yes, I'm often distracted as you can see. Need to keep the eye on the prize to finish. I'm hoping to release a traditional version and a Ryder Cup version of Kiawah with stands draped in the red and blue and ryder cup logos everywhere. And of course, the trophy at 18.

[johnmeyer]

That would be very cool indeed. Need to find a way to be able to switch between the caliber and the standard ball between holes

[StoneComet]

What sites do you have for prefabbed models. I need a clubhouse for my course.

 

I actually got this one from other posts from DogGz I believe. We have a good community of designers that seem to be all about sharing and helping. Thank you for the replies.

 

https://3dwarehouse.....com/index.html

 

I also use the Unity assets store and look for free stuff that is 1000 polygons or less. Just search Unity Store and go to the official link and sign in. It then asks for the option to open in Unity if I recall correctly. From that point on its is an extra tab in you Unity Projects where you find Scene and Game tabs now.

 

Just make sure if you use an outside asset that you test the course for frame rate issues after adding the asset to your course.

 

SC 

[Mike Jones]

It's not a problem to have a few assets of up to 20,000 polygons so long as they are placed sparingly. 

[bortimus]

As someone who relies on using imported 3D objects (from the 3D warehouse) rather than building them, a mesh cutting/editing asset is really handy to have.

 

Many of the objects on my current course have been cut from larger meshes and edited to fit my needs and lower the triangle count.  If you see something you really like but the tri-count is high, you might be able to trim off enough to make it usable.  Really convenient to do this all inside Unity.

[DPRoberts]

It's not a problem to have a few assets of up to 20,000 polygons so long as they are placed sparingly.

I would love to be able to do a math count on an individual screen shot. How do the 3 textures add up for each mesh? All the trees and their textures. Grass plantings. Terrain paint. It's probably an unnecessary precaution but I am trying to limit myself to 8 terrain paint swatches. As you know, splatmap is generated in 4 colors. What is the cost for each splatmap? I know we talk of draw calls and tris but it's hard to know which decisions have a greatest fps hit. Are you better off with a single texture on a 1200 tris object or model it to 200 and add a normal map. Which is worse for the cpu/gpu, tris or textures? And where is that crossover? Trial and error if you don't have Unity Pro, I suppose.