Replicators and UT3? Oh Noes!

[share_the_pain]

Here's a little something I've been working on today, it's a WIP model of a replicator from Stargate SG1. I'm hoping to rig it, animate it, and bring it into UT3 and turn it into a monster. :evil:

Only problem is that UT3 only seems to like importing meshes with less than 36,000-somewhat poly's, and this mesh is just short of 38,000 when triangulated, so I have to dumb it down somehow... :(
It seems that the average UT3 character is around 8k-14k poly's...

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4636/renderwx5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6332/render2sv2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7545/render3hu1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Dorkorama]

This may seem a bit silly, but you only need one piece. Theoretically.
Can you use multiple meshes per skeleton? Perhaps emitters could be attached? (One at each end of a bone pointing at each other if visibility for drawing is an issue.)
Still, it would be nice to know if there's a hard polygon / vertex limit per mesh.

[share_the_pain]

This may seem a bit silly, but you only need one piece. Theoretically.
I built it using one piece, that's what a replicator is. :)

The only problem is I somehow managed to give that one piece 214 faces after triangulation (it's the little details..)

And for the emitters/skeleton, do you mean creating the mesh out of several parts, IE the legs, the body, etc, then importing them separately and combining them together to get a full model? I suppose you could do that, but I'd have to figure out how first. Still, I'd like to cut down the poly limit a lot since if I ever do get this into UT3 I would like people with no-so-great computers to be able to play having 20 or so running around at once.

When I tried importing this into UT3, I already mentioned how my poly's were over what the engine would let me import, however it still imported the mesh but managed to 'remove' enough poly's to bring it down to the 36k.

[Dorkorama]

I meant either bring individual sections in as separate meshes or just a solitary block and using emitters to duplicate them.

Taking a look at a close-up of an individual piece it occurred to me that a lot of polygons are wasted on details that are unlikely to be visible during most circumstances. If you can find a tutorial on displacement textures, those could be used to replace a lot of the fine detail, and perhaps even add more with less of a performance hit.

[share_the_pain]

Taking a look at a close-up of an individual piece it occurred to me that a lot of polygons are wasted on details that are unlikely to be visible during most circumstances. If you can find a tutorial on displacement textures, those could be used to replace a lot of the fine detail, and perhaps even add more with less of a performance hit.

T'was planning on removing the fine detail. It seemed like a good idea when I made the initial block, as without them it was pretty bare, however I think I'm going to restart without them, and just use the model I have now as a template for placing them.

I also forgot to UV map the initial block, so mapping this now would be a pain.

P.S. Does anyone have a shot/know where I can get one (even if I have to take a screenshot from one of the episodes) of the underside of a replicator? The one I have now is faking it and I would very much like to see how they are actually supposed to look (I don't care if my model is 100% precise, but I would like to make the bottom better looking).

[XYZ8000]

Looks cool, but it's waaaaaaaaay too high poly. I think that the poly limit of UT3 for static meshes and meshes is around 25000, but you should try to get a bit below that for some optimization.
As said before you should use Normal/Displacement maps for the finer details, it will look good anyway when skinned.

I have never seen Stargate, so I can't help on your last request...

[Aalexanderrr]

Looks really cool :D , but I think you can go bigger than that - SG universe is really big so ... Sam Carter's model please :love: :beer:

[Dorkorama]

For a look at the underbelly of a replicator, try and shot where they are cutting ('eating') though a wall or ceiling.

[Demaun]

I agree with that which was said before in that this is far too high poly and most of the detail can be done with a displacement/normal/bump map. I would suggest keeping the high poly model though, and finishing all the detail on it, then you can bake out a bump map for use in a lower poly version. I think that you should be looking at 5-7K polys for the final model. Ridding it of the detail should do the trick, but if you realllly need it, you can probably reduce the leg segments to a whopping 12 polys apiece.

[XepptizZ]

At CGtalk I once witness a competition where with twelve polies you had to design some sort of cage/chest etc.

One person still striking me the most was someone who managed to make two boxes with 11 polies in total and having one poly to spare. He simply intersected six planes to make up a rough cube (with the polies sticking out if you understand) and than he masked out the parts which didn't make up the box. For most of the parts you could easily mask out a plane and save a heck lot of polies, but I cannot assure the integrety to stay the same even though it's probably minor considering the size of them in-game.

[share_the_pain]

Looks cool, but it's waaaaaaaaay too high poly. I think that the poly limit of UT3 for static meshes and meshes is around 25000, but you should try to get a bit below that for some optimization.
As said before you should use Normal/Displacement maps for the finer details, it will look good anyway when skinned.

I have never seen Stargate, so I can't help on your last request...
Exactly the problem I realized I was running into; if I was smart enough to think of this at the beginning I wouldn't have made the initial block so high poly.

You should really consider watching Stargate though, it's a great series (SG1 and Atlantis) and I think you would enjoy it, unless sci-fi isn't your cup-o'-tea, then ignore what I just said.:rolleyes:

Looks really cool :D , but I think you can go bigger than that - SG universe is really big so ... Sam Carter's model please :love: :beer:

It's always an option. However I've never been good at organic modeling so I try to stick to man made objects for the most part. I too would very much like a Sam Carter model. Now I can't help but to get an image in my head of a UT3 TDM with one team being members of SG1 and the other being Goa'uld. :p

For a look at the underbelly of a replicator, try and shot where they are cutting ('eating') though a wall or ceiling.

Thanks to you, I started watching the whole series again just because I remembered how much I liked it. I'll probably get back to modeling the lower poly version when I reach the section of the series that has the replicators in it. I'm at the beginning of season 2 now.

[share_the_pain]

Low poly version: 7788 Poly's and I still have to remove the ones that are being hidden, so I'm expecting around 7k when I'm done.

Of course I'm an idiot and forgot to UV map the first piece before I built it... so I'll have to restart AGAIN unless someone knows how to map one piece and have it affect every piece.

I still have to redo the underbelly, but I figure it won't be too much different than what I have.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1391/render4lm1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[cooloola]

Of course I'm an idiot and forgot to UV map the first piece before I built it... so I'll have to restart AGAIN unless someone knows how to map one piece and have it affect every piece.
What program are you using?

[share_the_pain]

What program are you using?
Maya '08.

[cooloola]

Sorry, i can't help you then. Anyway it looks cool.

[share_the_pain]

Sorry, i can't help you then. Anyway it looks cool.
What about Max? I could import it into there if it would solve my problem.

[cooloola]

Actually i was hoping you would say blender.

[share_the_pain]

Actually i was hoping you would say blender.
If Blender would solve my problems, and then allow me to re-open the file in Maya with the UV coords saved, then I'd be willing to listen. :)

[cooloola]

If Blender would solve my problems, and then allow me to re-open the file in Maya with the UV coords saved, then I'd be willing to listen. :)
Well if each little thing is an object by itself you can UV map just one of them and then change the other object's mesh one by one. It'll take some time but it beats the hell out of starting over. If you don't get what i mean i can make a few explicative pictures.