Level Design.

[AngryMindtricks]

Hey guys.

Sorry if this sounds like... really nooblet, but i've got a question that's played my head in for ages now and i've found it to be my main issue of hesitation on going neck deep into my portfolio...

Here are my questions

1. What pipeline do people use in order to begin building their levels?
(I understand that you block out the general design and then build on top of it but do people use the UDK geometry tools to build the walls, floor etc or do they just do it in their 3d programs of choice then import them into UDK?)

2. When building a level how are the maps divided up?
(I've always worked on small pieces and not a level, but i'm building a small scifi room concept atm and it's still KINDA small but enough to put into UDK or Marmoset... how should i divide the maps? should each object have it's own? with tiling textures of 512x512 etc or should i divide the assets into 2-3 maps and cram everything between them?)

3. As people build their levels, do they build everything in their 3d programs of choice as a complete set piece THEN import it into UDK? or Do people more often just start everything in UDK and begin modelling pieces individually to build the level bit by bit?

4. What are the acceptable polygon/tri counts for the following situations?

House (Hardly Seen) - ?
House (Main focus) - ?
Tree(General Foliage) - ?
An asset (e.g. shelves with books) - Small/Medium/Large (in the high poly challenge scale) - ?
http://www.game-artist.net/forums/ga...tml#post140654

A vehicle (hardly seen) - ?
A Vehicle (main focus) - ?
(An overall standalone environment piece) - ?

And any further environment related model polycounts people know of that may be of good help =)

5. What would define the divide between a regular game and a next-gen game? like poly count stability, how many maps can be loaded instead, etc

Hope i can get some decent answers, sorry if it sounds noobish but I spent more time on production models than games models and it's left me in this situation where i've had a lot of questions unanswered.

[kanga]

Really you have enough questions to fill a book. Doing the udk tutorials that are available should give you an idea of how best to build (not design) a level.

I think the reason you have got no answers is your question. The question is a 'how do I do everything' one. eek

CGTalk - showmethatagain : new tutes for UDK terrain texturing
Here Simon shows you how to take satellite photos and turn them into a terrain and create a shader that has LOD, or changes to a low resolution texture at a certain distance.

UDN - Three - VideoTutorials
scroll down 3dbuzz has 27 videos on level creation.

Mostly Brushes are used to make a base there are modeling tools in udk but for speed and complexity nearly all props and certainly all characters are made in external applications. Max and Maya have a direct line into udk. That means the programs have plugins especially for exporting out and importing into udk.

The udk wiki has a modeling section where the artist uses a dumptster as an example and there is excellent do's and dont's on modelling for engines, including how to make LOD (level of detail) alternatives. Foliage in udk has LOD settings/models already.

Hope this helps

[AngryMindtricks]

Thanks a bunch, yeah i guess it was a bit of a big question xD
I guess i made the question seem too light haha xD
Thanks for the links btw they're really helpful =)

I'll get through them asap =D