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Re: Latest shader / fx screenshots
[Re: broozar]
#154830
09/17/07 19:18
09/17/07 19:18
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 523 Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Paul_L_Ming
User
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User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 523
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
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Quote:
A week ago I bought a new pack that has the capabilities I ever wanted, plus it has a monthly development cycle. I am not married to Conitec, and I do not want to be ages behind my PC.
I'm with you 110% here Broozar. I was rather disappointed with the A7 demo. I couldn't believe that it didn't render better or have better WED lighting, so I DL'ed the Demo. I was quite sad. I made a vow to NOT upgrade until it gets at least a basic shader and light upgrade...for both in-game and WED.
On an aside, what pack (engine?) did you pick up? So far I have A6, Torque, C4 and RealmCrafter. Out of all of them A6 is the "best in terms of bang-for-your-buck" and "ease of use".
With C4...man, very impressive overall since day one (I think I got it about a year or so ago when it was still just a baby). Alas, it's still lacking in the "artist friendly" department...but Eric (the creator) has the art pipeline upgrading in his sites now.
Torque; ..hmmm...I think it's a love/hate thing. Nice outdoors, directly uses QuArK (my fave editor) and has a good renderer. Not a horrible 'art pipeline', but still relies heavily on the programming side if you want to get anything done. Oh, and it *still* doesn't have easily working doors! o_O
RealmCrafter (v1 and v2) is, uh...I really don't know where to start. It has a *frickin' HUGE potential*, but it is completely hosed because of two factors. First, there is pretty much zero documentation. Oh, it says it has documentation, if you can consider things like "Actors Tab: This tab opens the Actors Tab" information about what the program does. Worst about it is you have to be logged on to the net or you get *nothing*. o_O The documentation for RC2 isn't finished yet, which is fine as v2 isn't quite 'fully released' yet (it's still in beta). But overall, documentation is very poor. Second, the interface for the editors was designed by programmers. This means it makes perfect sense if you wrote the program, and virtually no sense if you are an artist. For example, in the terrain editor, to select a house and move it you have to click on a button called "Movement"...then Right-Click on the house...move it with the mouse...and Right-Click again to de-select it. I think Left-Clicking does...nothing? ??? This, of course, assumes you figured out how to even get a house model into the program.
Anyway, sorry for the mini-rant/review there. I just want a game engine that I can easily add my static and animated models to. I've considered buying FPS creator, but I hear it is a nightmare to get any sort of model (let alone animated model) into the engine.
^_^
"We've got a blind date with destiny...and it looks like she's ordered the lobster."
-- The Shoveler
A7 Commercial (on Windows 7, 64-bit)
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Re: Latest shader / fx screenshots
[Re: Paul_L_Ming]
#154831
09/17/07 19:56
09/17/07 19:56
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,875
broozar
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,875
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it is not nice to advertise in these forums for a different product, especially not in the sc2-section, however, you asked for it. http://www.stonetrip.com/best features: no difference between blocks and models. everything is made of collada models, everything can throw and receive precomputed and dynamic light, smooth self-shadowing and lightmaps, shaders include normal mapping, reflection, refraction, real mirrors, physics as much as you want, post-processing like bloom, glow, blur. 4 LOD steps, HUD-, Shader-/Material-, Level-, Script-, Objecteditor in just one application, if you know OGIER from starbreeze (chronicles of riddick and enclave as well as knights of the temple), you have an idea what i'm talking about. scripting is lua-based. after 4 weeks, we just got the next update with adjustable shadow map size and other cool stuff, torque-like terrain is planned for 1.6 (we are at 1.5.1 now). disadvantages: mulitplayer/server costs extra, but a limited version is free for download. don't expect to pull a MMORPG out of it. you need an collada exporter. blender offers one, but it's not exporting anims and skins well. XSI offers native collada export (crosswalk), there are tools for maya and 3ds max 8/9. i use this workaround: export from blender in FBX, get the free autodesk fbx converter and click the fbx<>collada button... done. try it out, there's a free PLE to download.
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