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Asset Creation Tools

Asset Creation Tools

Postby Talidan » 10 Oct 2013, 21:56

Considering this pertains to what can be used for our game project, I felt posting it here would be best, but I understand if it belongs elsewhere.

So, I'm assuming that this project is one that we will likely be releasing for public consumption, rather than just using to make showcase videos for the engine, so with that in mind it must be said that there are certain tools that cannot legally be used. If you have fully licensed software, great. If by some miracle, you have a floating license, then consider trying to set it up so use can be shared between members of the team.

I know for a fact that student version Autodesk software cannot be used for released game projects, commercial AND non-commercial, and the same applies to many similar applications. Check with your preferred programs to see if this might be a problem as their own license agreements may only stipulate that the produced work does not generate revenue.

With that said, we should try and compile a list of resources usable software. This can also be a great way help each other out in finding more suitable software for personal use. Free is great, cheap is good, but I'm sure not many of us can go the $3000+ range.

You all likely know most of these already, but just in case, I'm putting them out there:

  • Blender
  • - is probably the most well-known free application for 3D content. It doesn't just stop at being modelling software either and while it's tricky to learn, it's an extremely powerful, versatile and customizable tool that could almost be used as your only tool for asset creation.
    What it can be used for:Just about everything. You would likely use an external program for creating textures, but you can still use texture painting in-program if you want.
    Price: FREE

  • Sculptris
  • - One of the most natural-feeling sculpting programs, at least to me. It allows great freedom with limitless (to the extent of what the program or your system can handle) polygons that can be add as you sculpt. It's simple, but powerful.
    What it can be used for: Really only modeling and painting textures. For object modelling, it's sometimes good to start elsewhere, depending on the object, and import into Sculptris to add detail, but it's great for starting scratch for characters and creatures.
    Price: FREE

  • Cheetah3D
  • - A low cost Mac-only all-in-one tool for 3D assets with a relatively friendly UI that can make some great looking models, has full animation support, as well as texture painting, UV editing/unwrapping and more. It has an impressive feature list, view-able here.
    What it can be used for: Just about everything for asset creation, like Blender, though it lacks a game engine, unlike Blender...but that doesn't matter as much for us, right? :P
    Price: $99

  • TrueSpace
  • - Another all-arounder program, though not to the extent of Blender or Cheetah3D, that was once a professional, premium tool, but is now free to use, but was actually discontinued back in 2009. Some unofficial updates followed shortly after, but is now completely unsupported. That doesn't mean it can't still be used and if you find you like it and can use it better than other programs, why not use it, right? It features widgets for the editing tools, making it easy to understand what you're doing.
    What it can be used for: Modelling, animation, UV editing
    Price: FREE

  • Wings3D
  • - A free subdivision surface modeler, primarily for low and medium-poly models. It supports texturing, but not much else further. It almost entirely for modelling.
    What it can be used for: Low/med-poly modelling and texturing.
    Price: FREE

  • 3D-Coat
  • - I feel like I have to mention this because of how amazing it is. The price is still relatively low-cost, but might still be out of range for most at $379, but you get an insanely powerful tool at that price. Voxel sculpting is something else entirely, it really is...there's also a brilliant auto-retopo tool in it, and texture painting is beautiful. The do have an educational version for $99 for non-commercial use, but I'm not sure how far that extends. If it's any non-commercial use, or if it's still limited like Autodesk software.
    What it can be used for:Modelling, texture painting, retopology, uv mapping
    Price: $379

  • Terragen 3
  • - Terragen is a powerful scenery generation tool. While we can't use the free version IN the game, it could be a helpful tool in visualizing world concepts. As we are not generating a terrain for photo realistic visuals in a movie (as this tool is frequently used for), we should be able to use the free version for our own personal visual aids and sharing of ideas. It's a little complicated and totally not as intuitive as I would hope, but it produces some amazing looking stuff.
    Toying with the settings, I came up with this within five minutes:
    Image

    It's obviously quite empty and I need better camera placement, but it's for a quick preview. It supports importing objects of various formats (including .obj), so you should be able to put in models and use it to get an idea of how a gorgeous alien world might look. Right now, we seem to be discussing a cartoony style, so maybe it's not the best thing, but...it's beautiful. It has been used in films such as: Man of Steel, Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton), SuckerPunch, Tron: Legacy and more.


Does anyone else know of software, with more open licenses than some have, they would like to share to use for our project here?
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Re: Asset Creation Tools

Postby ant0N » 11 Oct 2013, 03:44

Magic Particles - Amazing editor for quick creation of visual effects, based on particle systems.
Non-Commercial - Free
Commercial - 100$
Image
This program is mainly used to simplify the process of creation of special effects, based on particle systems fire, smoke, magic, etc., And that advantageous way reveals the Magic Particles in the best light - instantly display all changes without a frame-based rendering, without the slow process of visualization. Have the ability to animate a few emitters simultaneously in the structure of folders, control parameters using Bezier curves, and more.

The editor allows you to create realistic and fantastic special effects. The program includes a lot of ready special effects. There are opportunities to use special effects on the forms of arbitrary images and text for obtaining such as the burning of objects or of the same text.

A special version of the program for developers of games of Magic Particles (Dev includes an API for playback created special effects of their own programs.
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Re: Asset Creation Tools

Postby epsilonion » 12 Mar 2015, 10:59

I use Hexagon 2.5 http://www.daz3d.com/hexagon-2-5-download-version
Its a cheap but full featured, its a lot like 3D studio max for creating assets, I also use Ulitimate Unwrap 3D, this is a UV unwrapping software that makes unwrapping faces, UV mapping, camera UV mapping, and unwrap UV faces for those difficult to map areas on a model.

These are a low budget way of getting into making your own assets and if like me and don't like the interface or you dont use most of the features of blender this is the way to go for you.

for me I have found this to be the fastest way of producing professional looking assets in the fastest time.
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Re: Asset Creation Tools

Postby StevenP » 26 Mar 2015, 15:48

I have tried going through tutorials on Blender and, although it looks amazing, it is quite involved. I have Hexagon which seems much easier. That's the one I'll be starting with until I get good at modeling (I am as newbie as you can get modeling - I've done the tables, flowers in a vase, etc. but that's about it :lol: )

On the documentation web page for Skyline it shows plans for different asset generators. They sound promising but are probably a very long way off (there's already a lot of work to do for 2 devs :!: and it's been amazing what they've come up with so far.)
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Re: Asset Creation Tools

Postby StarFire » 30 Mar 2015, 14:50

plans for different asset generators. They sound promising but are probably a very long way off (there's already a lot of work to do for 2 devs :!: and it's been amazing what they've come up with so far

Thanks for the support StevenP, you never know with Skylines development, sometimes we fall over a cool feature and it gets implemented in days other times we think the idea will be easy and it take an age to get it working. Just having one of these with our visual module's container connectors! :shock: lol
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