Modeling, UVing and Texturing Guidelines for Community made Assets

[Z-trooper]

Couldnt you just fix any AO Map Errors in Photoshop? I saw it in a Texturing Video

Yes, but this is both easier and gives a much cleaner result.

[boilerrat]

Rhino;1267021']Very accurate...

For example, here is a quick box I've made in max 2010, which I then messed up by applying some noise to it and then I turbosmoothed it, and applied a smoothing group to the entire box.

What settings did you use? That looks amazing.

[Rhino]

I crated a box, added lots of segments to it, converted it to a editable poly, applied the noise modifier onto it, tweaked the settings to get what I wanted then turbo smoothed it.

[Rhino]

I've just added this to the 1st post in the topic:

UV-mapping/Unwrapping:

• When UVing an object, use as few texture sheets as possible as the more texture sheets are used, the bigger impact the textures have on performance. For example, 4x 1024x1024 sheets (adding upto 2048x2048 pixels) has a much larger overhead on the engine than one single 2048x2048 texture sheet.
  The only time when you will want to consider using other texture sheets is if its such a large object that you can not fit all of the detail onto a single 2048x2048 sheet without it impacting on the look drastically (such as the Chinook) or when a common object is made for the object like a weapon scope like the ACOG which is used on (and can be used on in the future) many other objects that are not using the main textures of the weapon or w/e your UVing, so having the ACOG on its own texture sheet helps when the ACOG is placed onto anouther rifle other than a M16 or M4 and instead say an L85A2, so that when playing on the British Faction with a L85A2 with an ACOG, the player dose not need to load all the M16 and M4 textures that wouldn't be used anywhere in order to have that ACOG on his rifle. Another example would be the M203 UGL which is also used on many other weapons and as such, is best on its own texture sheet.
  But don't start putting every scope or small object onto its own sheet. For example if its a unique scope only for that Sniper rifle, put the UVs for that scope onto the main sniper rifle texture sheet.
  If you are unsure if your object is a common object that should go onto its own texture sheet or not, ask a developer in the forums or over PM.

Recently I have been seeing loads of new hand-held weapons coming in with everything UVed onto different sheets when it shouldn't be, with the worst offender recently having 28 texture sheets for a single hand weapon....

Please everyone take note of the new guideline above.

Cheers.

[PatrickLA_CA]

I have a question:
How big is that 3dsMax9 software and is there any free 3d modeling software whose models can work with bf2

[Amok@ndy]

gmax and maya

[H.sta]

Maya isn't free, it is extrememly expensive

[dogbadger]

I know a point was made not to give tri-limits but i was wondering what the stock tanks in BF used, or if a figure could be given on a tank like PR's chally 2?
obviously these numbers would be a reliable guide to what works fine in game.

If the rough LOD model counts could be suggested too, all the better.

[DankE_SPB]

~10k tris for a tank(.50cal on top not included)

[dogbadger]

~10k tris for a tank(.50cal on top not included)

excellent- that was the kind of number i've been working towards, so nice.

[Arab]

So what's modelling exactly? Is it using shapes and manipulating them in different shapes to create models?

I will try modelling.

[Adriaan]

So what's modelling exactly? Is it using shapes and manipulating them in different shapes to create models?

I will try modelling.

Yeah, you're creating shapes out of faces. A face is the surface in between a set of edges, edges are boundaries of faces that span between vertices. A vertice (vertex) is a coordinate in 3D space. A face consists of three edges (triangle) or more (polygon). You can move vertices, edges or faces around and create new ones, to form the shapes you need.

This thread contains some useful information about modelling (check the Geometry section in particular):
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... heavy.html

Remember to use 3ds Max 9 when modelling for BF2/PR, and feel free to ask if you need any help!

[eurekafag]

I've made a static model for filming purposes, and unwrapped it to have only one 2048* texture
I don't need any normal maps, detailmaps and lightmaps on it, only diffuse texture.
Exported it with max9 and now i can load it but it doesn't have a texture

I had to use png in bf2staticmesh material because max9 doesn't supports dds
but i put texturename_c.dds into /objects/myobject/textures
so it doesn't show any errors while loading texture but still has none
what i'm doing wrong?

[CTRifle]

Download the service packs, they will allow you to use dds. Your error is because you are trying to use png instead..

[eurekafag]

that worked, thanks
is it possible to add a light source with dynamic shadows, just for one static to have shadows like movable assets have?

[Amok@ndy]

you need to export it as bundledMesh then but then you cant have tiles UVWs

[Rhino]

you need to export it as bundledMesh then but then you cant have tiles UVWs

It is possible to force a static to have dynamic shadows in the same way bundledMeshes do, just add:

Code: Select all

ObjectTemplate.castsDynamicShadow 1

To its .tweak file and then then you will have dynamic shadows cast of it, but only when your close up to the static and when you go any distance away from it, it will not have any shadows, or cast any shadows on the terrain etc, hence why we don't use this for our statics, other than a few small destroyable objects since they are too small to be noticed at distance that they are missing their shadows, and we don't want their shadow left on the terrain from them after they are destroyed.

You will also want to add these following lines to your .tweak file:

Code: Select all

GeometryTemplate.doNotGenerateLightmaps 1
GeometryTemplate.lightmapOverride 0

To prevent the static from casting shadows on the terrain, on other statics etc when you cast your lightmaps.