Hello Im a new.....b. looking for info please

[SteveN_25]

Hi, I am new to modding, used to make maps for duke3d, blood and HL1 many moons ago. Well I've learned how to model and animate since then and want to try things out in game engines.

I have some work on my youtube account

YouTube - SteveN2525's Channel

I use maya and was wondering whats the best engine for a newb to start on. I want to import models, textures etc and animation too. Character animation, player, 1st person gun reloading that kinda stuff.

I wanted to try the crysis SB2 editor which is great but there are no good tools that work with maya (as far as I know) you can get models in but I think you have to go through max to get any animations over.

So basically I want to find an engine that has loads of community support and export/import tools that will work with maya.

cheers

ps I've noticed games (mods) seem to use max alot as they tend to have lots of compatable plugins than maya. Is this the case.

[Tiros]

Hmm, I think the UT3 Engine might be worth a shot.

If you search for "media" on Gametrailers.com - The Source For Video Game Media for "UT3 tutorials" you'll find a lot of helpful information to get you started, and after that it's pretty easy to use.

This will require you to have the actual game though.

ps I've noticed games (mods) seem to use max alot as they tend to have lots of compatable plugins than maya. Is this the case.

Not sure about plug-ins.. I know I've used a few for max when modding Oblivion.. but, who knows

Cheers

[benclark]

Maya does tend to be a bit slow off the blocks when it comes to plugins and exporters but there is always a solution. If you are going from Maya to unreal the ActroX plugin is probably the most popular but to be honest its easier to export your modelto max and export to unreal using .ASE straight from max

[SteveN_25]

Why is it that max tends to have more support, I think maya's great and really like the modelling and animation workflow. I was "taught" lightwave at uni but I learnt a whole lot more in maya by myself.
I've been looking at some of the UT3 tutorials and it does seem really good (I think having background knowledge from maya has really helped). I've been thinking about learning Max, a couple of me mates from class use it. Would it be easy to pick up after learning maya.

Its just a bit crazy the amount of software we need to master lol.

Where could I find a good resource for UT3 export/import tools. I'll try googling it.

thanks for your help guys

steve

[Tiros]

I'm not sure really why max has more support for these kinds of things.. Afterall, Maya seems to be more popular in the industry than max.

And not sure if it'd be easy to learn once you know Maya, but I guess it'd atleast help a little bit.. never used Maya myself, so can't really tell.

Nor do I know anything of export tools for Maya, but if you need a tutorial on how to export/import it from max to UT3, then here's a good one

JESSE MOODY | ENVIRONMENT ARTIST

Cheers!

[SlappyBag]

Once you've got your head around 3D its easier to apply it to different programs. Maya and Max especially are extremely similar, just need to find out where the buttons have moved.

Also UT3 is a great engine to start importing things to as it is extremely easy compared to some engines. Its literally just file > import and there you go.

[swag]

Originally Posted by Tiros

I'm not sure really why max has more support for these kinds of things.. Afterall, Maya seems to be more popular in the industry than max.

And not sure if it'd be easy to learn once you know Maya, but I guess it'd atleast help a little bit.. never used Maya myself, so can't really tell.

Nor do I know anything of export tools for Maya, but if you need a tutorial on how to export/import it from max to UT3, then here's a good one

JESSE MOODY | ENVIRONMENT ARTIST

Cheers!

I think that max is more popular in the games industry these days, but they are both owned by autodesk anyway. It's strange because a couple years ago it looked like maya was going under...

[Talon]

Acutally, I'd say that Max is losing popularity within the games industry these days. It's becoming a bit of a hulking and ages behemoth. There are other smaller, cheaper apps out there which leave it looking lost and confused at the starting blocks for quite a lot of stuff.

[SlappyBag]

E.g. the sex god that is Modo.

Though I won't use it because it won't allow me have n-gons easily.