What is a good modeller for irrlicht?

Weng · Post by **Weng** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:36 am

I'm aiming for the free ones without any restrictions of a trial period. I have looked through the list of modellers in the irrlicht wiki and have narrowed down the search to these:

- Anim8tor
- Blender
- K-3D
- gMax

Which of these are better suited for the irrlicht and for beginners?
For example, compatible model formats and good tutorials

Also, what is the difference between a world editor and a modelling software?

Lastly, what is the use of an exporter?

Perceval · Post by **Perceval** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:14 am

Anim8tor is very simple to begin in 3d modelisation, but its features are very basic.
Blender is very powerfull : it's a bit difficult to start with, but i think it's the best choice for the long time. In addition, there are a lot of tutorials for it and also a HUGE community.

Cardinal4 · Post by **Cardinal4** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:53 pm

Exporters exist, because different 3d modelers save files in their own format, which unfortunately is not what Irrlicht, or any other game engines use. The models you make need to be converted to another file format like .x, .obj, .md2 to load it in Irrlicht. This exporting process can be quite a trouble.

fireside · Post by **fireside** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 3:58 pm

Another one you might want to look at is XSI mod tool. It's very impressive and free. I've been using Blender a long time. I've found I can put multiple textured obj files into irrEdit, so I'll probably do that for static mesh. I had some trouble with the directX exporter included in Blender, but found another one that is working for skeletal models. If you use Blender, try to find something recent for skeletal animation tutorials. I use the automatic IK buttons and don't do all the null bone things. You probably won't need anything all that complicated for 3d, since you need to keep things low poly, so find something that is easy for you and make sure an exported model loads into the Irrlicht mesh viewer.

BlindSide · Post by **BlindSide** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:23 am

I think the B3D exporter is much better than the X exporter for Blender, the bones are exported with correct names and attachments so you can control them from source using SkinnedMesh.

vermeer · Post by **vermeer** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:01 pm

yep, Blender and b3d exporter. Safe bet.

GameDude · Post by **GameDude** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:48 pm

I'd go with Blender, however Wings 3D is a good choice for beginners as well

vermeer · Post by **vermeer** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:31 pm

yup, I prefer it for modelling, but ppl not used to use a tool per area of a project, often get lost in the exports or different uis...

BlindSide · Post by **BlindSide** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:19 am

Hey vermeer I dont see or hear much about tutorials for Wings3D. What do you find in it that makes it better than blender? I used it only once or twice and all I can remember is that it used a weird sort of per face extrusion editting style...

So Im guessing its good for characters etc?

vermeer · Post by **vermeer** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:45 pm

Wings3d is outstanding for human and any organic character. for objects, is good too, quite good. Once learnt its philosophy, is uber fast. But is not for everyone, as there are different kind of minds, some aproach better to point to point modelling, other with splines/nurbs, others box modelling. Wings is
"mirai modelling", similar to box modelling, but way more evolved. It's N-Gon based methods, and loads of flexibility, make it kick ass for characters.

Yet though, I probably wouldnt model architecture with it.Is possible, but there are tools more suited.Yet tho I've done game levels with it.

[btw, I hope you're still with your planet edscription something project.I have more interest in that project than in any seen here...It had good traces... Imo, desinee would do a nice thing if he's looking for some polygon/pixel pushing exercise, you'r project has great aims... even been large (but you'll see the light and start doing have one, use many times concept, so wont need thousand assets

)]

omaremad · Post by **omaremad** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:05 pm

You convinced me to try wings, is it diffrent from blender? In blender i have to extrude everything to make new surfaces which is some times limiting and time consuming foe somethings rather than adding vertices and joining the dots milkshape style.

vermeer · Post by **vermeer** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:42 pm

well...count on am using wings almost since it saw the light...and in my jobs.Which is not same intensity than as a hobby.

You may arrive to wings as many do and don't see the advantage.

you also extrude all, even more constrained than blender. Winged edge structure wont let you work with any isolated vertex or edge like in blender.

In max you can do the joining of verts technique pretty well, and even better, in Lightwave.Which is a wonder for modelling.

But I don't mind the limits of wings as the other advantages compensate in speed... -proved in my experiences-

A great and maybe more versatil may be Silo. yet I don't get a nice feel with it

And i do with Wings, so...

But wings only models, while blender does everything: i export my models to blender , from wings.

Cardinal4 · Post by **Cardinal4** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:26 am

omaremad wrote:In blender i have to extrude everything to make new surfaces which is some times limiting and time consuming foe somethings rather than adding vertices and joining the dots milkshape style.

I'm not too sure what milkshape3D can do, but in Blender you can add vertices and join them up very easily as well.

Just create a mesh (eg. a plane) so that you can get into Edit Mode. Deselect everything.
Ctrl+LMB to create a vertice at that point.
Alt+M to merge selected vertices.

BlindSide · Post by **BlindSide** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:37 am

omaremad wrote:You convinced me to try wings, is it diffrent from blender? In blender i have to extrude everything to make new surfaces which is some times limiting and time consuming foe somethings rather than adding vertices and joining the dots milkshape style.

Yeah what you just described for MilkShape is EXACTLY what I do in Blender. In fact Im always wondering what Blender cant do... (I say this as a joke don't start listing stuff please.)

EDIT: Oh yeah so:

Control Click - Add a vertice.

Select some vertices (3 or 4) and press F, vallah! you have face!

vermeer · Post by **vermeer** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:20 pm

(I say this as a joke don't start listing stuff please.)

That last sentence saved you from a very long post of mine , mwahaha.

edit--- no, it didnt. ---edit

In the matters of modelling, is very strong, but I am convniced that for organic modelling, wings is faster. For building levels, blender, or even maybe sketchup (not usable for comercial) , and use the import plugin of sketchup, so to continue in blender. Or use Silo. Or if you're weird like me, use Wings also for that.

Ie, wings don't have real booleans like Blender or Max. Neither is as featured for building a level like blender or like Silo.(imo more compelte modeler in this post

...but not the best in organic. )

My personal wishes now with blender (all he others which I had, have been coming slowly hrough the years, so I expect the best) are: solid support for plugin coders to export lightmaps in formats (b3d) , better smoothing normals tools (split edge modifier works great, but seems is breaking the mesh, which is actually a trick, sometimes not so convenient) , the allways wishing better viewport navigation...sorry, Wings3d with "blender" camera navigation imo behaves better...

faster rigging tools, I think some very nice/better envelopes are coming...So to have a fast setup and then go refining....better mirroring of bone weights.... much more "fault tolerant" and flexible.Sveral operations in scripts, become more stable and into standard commans, seems when they get there is their' more proved and working...

Sort of more power in uvmapping...take a look at Ultimate Unwrap...

Rendering. Is very nice, but could be better. Internal, I mean. Already in any package there's too much disconnection what u have in scene from what ends rendered, so, I vote for internal improves, also as I wanna render character animations.

hair improves. Particles and cloth improves. Some amazing ones are happening already. Indeed , this is not needed for real time 3d, but I do LOVE making intros for games. In certain job could not convince my boss to use blender just for this for not having hair and what he considered a good GI...Anmyway, couldnt just imagine the eons...maybe using raybaker to bake gi first...but hair is also heavy.

Sculpt improves. here could be my fault o my hardware, but everytime I test it, I dont have a fluid stroke like in my purchased zbrush. or even in original sculpt outside blender. May be the internal blender structure. I havent tested in last builds, so , maybe...

related to irrlicht, it is very clear. you can deal and do anything wished already with blender (may need some external tool for normal/parallax maps, md5 format ports that info, but the feature(is only for flat things) is not even there in blender, let alone the exporting, and in that format) , but for now is very needed coding support for format plugin authors to export lightmaps, baked info.If is there in some build, sorry...

edit-- yeah, you can do that in blender, of the vertices..remember to do you ctrl+n at the end, tho