A Quick N' Dirty Guide to 3D Modelling

Written by Privateer
Editor's Note - The use of polygon based objects in Jedi Knight has got a lot of people worried. Whereas in Dark Forces it really wasn't that difficult to create your own unique enemy by messing around with frames of an existing enemy in a program like Paintbrush or Paintshop Pro.....creating your own polygon enemy isn't as simple as that. With this in mind I now turn to Privateer, who is one of the chief 3D Modellers for the Star Wars Quake project, to give us all an idea of what budding designers can expect when Jedi Knight comes to town next month.
1. Experience:
It helps to have done some PC modeling and or animating before trying to make something from the ground up. If you have none then expect to invest some time in step #2.
2. Experiment:
Novices or diehard poly building pros all need to get used to a new format or tool. In this case, the yet to be released, Jedi Knight. First try scaling or re-scaling objects then placing them in the game so you have some idea of how small or large you may be working. Then try manipulating objects from the game to see how everything works together (as JK uses a skeletal system, unlike Quake).
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Keep an eye on your droids...those jawas will steal anything |
3. Know your tools:
If you are using a deticated program, like qME for Quake, then you may only need to do this once, but sometimes you may need to use several programs to build and animate the geometry. If you are unsure that you can really exploit these tools head back to #2.
4. Pen & Paper:
Taking an idea from your head, or existing source, may require a little brain power before you start twisting triangles. Think of how you could build the object (from triangles or quads depending on the engine, some engines use shapes -Messiah or MDK 2 for example) and draw those on paper to see if everything fits,artist background helpful.
5. Create:
This step will be a learning experience so don't worry if your dog looks like a stick figure or your human looks pathetic. Just start simple and see what happens.
6. Animate:
Once you have something you think is worthy of moving you will need to prep it (adding pivots and perfecting the model). Depending on the program this can be easy or the most difficult thing you will ever do, except finish and find out you screwed up. When animating it is always best to rotate objects before you mess with vertices (JK may not allow pivot manipulation so this is only an issue for people experimenting in Quake).
7. The Almighty god of Frame-Rate:
You don't have to worship it but do not disrespect it. At the present, 1997 anyway, human models are ideally in the 200-400 range. Some people believe 400-500 is okay or as long as its under 1000 that's good, but the truth is less than 300 polygons per model means smooth sailing all the way because with 500+ polys per model (in Quake) you are limited to no more than 4 bad guys at once. Just imagine Doom if you tripped a door and 4 imps came running at your chaingun, so what, but 20 imps and you've got a real problem.
8. Time:
The more time you have spent modeling or the more time you spend on anyone model the better you and the project will get.
9. Be subtle:
Slight changes in a character's movements say a lot about that character and who made it. Add lots of small details in the animation and construction of your models and ALWAYS remember to set the snap grid to the smallest number allowed when animating (no more jerking - Oh happy day!).
Well that about sums it up, so have fun making Darth, Boba, Han, and Chewie, assuming JK is ever released.
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