A lot of modelers in Halomaps don't really know anything about retopology which is kinda surprising. No wonder you people keep complaining about receiving errors in tool and about open edges.

Let's discuss about topology first before we begin. Topology is essentially how vertices are arranged. It is vital that you have a good, clean topology as it will make smoother unwraps with little distortions. However, there will always be times where you end up with bad topology.

That's where retopology comes in. Retopology recreates the topology on a mesh without changing it's shape or restarting all over again. Overlapping faces, unused vertices, open edges - it removes them all. With retopology, you can also make amendments to your current model without messing up it's topology(e.g. carving a jackal lantern onto a pumpkin). Not to mention, it could also optimize the model by decreasing the topology.


Unfortunately, it seems that Gmax doesn't have any retopology tools. As for 3Dsmax, they only started integrating the tools in 2010 but they were extremely buggy at first. However, most of these bugs were fixed in 2011. You can watch a demonstration of the tool here

This is kinda a biased opinion but I blender's retopology tools are really the most effective compared to Polydraw(the retopology tool in 3Dsmax) thanks to the new surface sketch addon. If you don't know what Surface Sketch is, you can check the link below -

Blender FTW
-Zekilk
Edited by cyboryxmen on Aug 10, 2011 at 11:08 AM

Hah, pretty sweet tool, good if polys are in weird-ass places :P thanks for sharing!

They are also useful when you are optimizing models too.
-Zekilk

I haven't even figured out how to make new object's in blender... the interface suck's... Blender FTF. It has no purpose with gaming as far as I can tell.

I have yet to see anything done in Blender that impresses me. Also tutorial's are hard to find. AT least... the one's that cover the most basic stuff's like creating the object's and getting them in edit mesh or whatever they call it.
Edited by Skidrow925 on Aug 10, 2011 at 10:22 AM
Edited by Skidrow925 on Aug 10, 2011 at 10:23 AM

lol blender lingo 101

tabbing into edit mode - Basic

...and what do you mean "It has no purpose with gaming". It's a "3D content creation suite" which definitely includes gaming(3D gaming that is).

What version are you even using? 2.49? 2.5 already came out and it has made major revisions to the UI. I even posted a link to a site that dedicates itself to creating blender tutorials in the OP. Also, did you not see that creature head he made in the tutorial...with blender?
-Zekilk

I haven't really done anything new with Blender as I use 3ds MAX primarily. No idea what version it was...

Honestly this isn't a good program, you should learn to not make these mistakes in the first place, not have some program automatically fix them for you, since you won't really learn what was wrong :S

This.

But it all comes down to practice.

Btw, I was looking at the 3ds tut, it looks like he has a high poly and he is making a low poly? I have no audio and I skipped through it, but that's what it seemed. That isn't really useful for the CE community, as the CE community works only with low polies, since "normals" cant be applied with out opensauce, if im not mistaken.

This looks like it's for highpoly stuff, specifically non-bsp models.
And, er, blender? Really? For Halo CE?

^ That.

If you are serious about this auto-retopo or manually retopo-ing models, 3d coat had the best tools for this.

many users on these forums don't seem to grasp the concept that as technology advances, the requirement of learning certain skills dwindles. as digital art came into the picture, the implementation of graphics tablets have taken the place of traditional paint and canvas art for concepts. with tools that automatically retopologize come into the scene, the need to model things manually dwindles.

common practice these days is to start with a hipoly sculpt and bake normals. the only reason anybody would stick to modeling lowpoly is to stick with outda.ted technology.

you think developers are going to waste time dicking around with learning how to do something when there are tools to do it for them and save them hours of work? time is money. goals must be met within certain time frames

its not laziness. its technological advancement.

You took that out of context.
Sel was talking specifically about modeling for halo, and even more so ( i think) about BSP modeling for halo.
He is right too.

Unfortunately you're too open-minded for this forum. Dumb it down for everyone plox.

Was he really? That sounds like an uncertain assumption

Jesse, Don't kiss up, he is replying to Sel. You make it sound like Sel doesn't know what he is talking about...

Also, Gane, as this is a Halo forum, I am pretty sure Sel is referring to the Halo community.
Btw, pertaining to your post:
Read my post. It explains why Sel's point is right.

You are pointing out techniques that the real industry uses for new engines, while this Engine (halo ce's) isn't built on that kind of pipeline.
So again, you are referring to Modeling in general, Sel is referring to Halo.
Edited by Joshflighter on Aug 11, 2011 at 03:00 AM

He was. No joke. L2read.

uh, there's nothing to read. there is no mention of bsps or even anything related to halo before his post

so uh, yeah

Ever heard of the word "implied"? Maybe not...

well then then l2read doesn't really apply here then, correct?

L2read implications?

Exactly.

There have been topology "fixing" tools around forever, if you seriously think that an app will substitute knowing what's right and wrong and how to fix it you're deluding yourself.

It's just another step towards game developers losing their jobs.

and you base that on what facts? last I checked the gaming industry has been gaining more and more employees. compare halo 1's staff to reach's.

Your comparing a old company no one knew anything about to a new top-of-line line game.

regardless, comparing the amount of game industry workers from ten years ago to the game industry workers today, you'll find the game industry has been booming, much to the contrary of what some people would like to believe.



to anybody who wants a job in the industry, they can either:

A. stick with the old way of doing things and likely get left behind
B. embrace the future and learn to use the new technologies out there

I choose option C. "All of the above"

you can do that but you have to ask yourself if the time spent learning old, dying techniques is going to be beneficial toward your career in the long term

Well... Actually KNOWING what is going on is very helpful.

And if your all about "newer modern games" why are you on a Halo "1.5" (Custom edition) forum where the "old, dying technique's" are effectively REQUIRED? I would think you would be on the "newer modern forums" learning "newer modern techniques" am I right?

like what sel said, this wouldn't be essential here in the CE community, but it seems like it could turn out useful for people who are making high poly assets.

and at @HIAHG, your only looking at the real big developers, there are plenty of indie companys out there making perfectly fine games with only 9 - 12 people working.
Edited by Higuy on Aug 11, 2011 at 12:55 PM

how do you expect to know what I do outside of these forums



completely irrelevant to the point I was making that the game industry is hiring more and more people

Mojang AB has like... 8 people... and are making one of the most popular game's.....

And I wasn't taking about what you do outside this forum. I am talking about the fact you are active here.

...


Edited by Higuy on Aug 11, 2011 at 03:10 PM