Anyone here play with 3D modeling programs or render engines?

[Darth Avlectus]

Just curious. I myself am getting into Daz3D. I know modders here use gmax and 3DSmax or something like it.

 

What do you do? What have you done?

[Sithspecter]

I work with 3DSMax, mostly just for modding. I primarily design areas with it, but I rarely use it to render anything.

[Darth InSidious]

I've been using gmax for about seven or eight years, mainly for modding, as SithSpecter mentioned.

[Tigersong]

Haven't really worked with 3D models. Can Blender or 3D-Coat make files in KotOR's format?

[Darth Avlectus]

  Tigersong said:

Haven't really worked with 3D models. Can Blender or 3D-Coat make files in KotOR's format?

 

(Other more experienced members who've modded the games, feel free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

As a practical matter, probably not. Now I may not be entirely correct but here's my understanding of 3d modeling and related modding for the KOTOR games:

 

It's possible but you run into 2 main problems importing original models:

1) The game engine's polygon limit. Exceed it and the model just won't work, all other things assumed equal and no problems. Which leads me to...

2) Rigging and vertices. Someone actually tried doing this (it's somewhere buried in the modding section) and he made a really nice ROTS Anakin Skywalker head for TSL. Unfortunately you can only rig the character to a point if it is to function in-game. Models with a lot of articulation will have excessive vertices. Assuming you could make it work by eliminating vertices and resigning lots of parts to no movement (due again to game limitations), you might get away with it but it might not look too good...it might look like a statue/stiff doll as you play because you cannot animate it appropriately enough. That's best case scenario which I presume is importing as an object (OBJ file) and rigging it in MAX. Or you may have to butcher it and remove parts in order to remove rigging/vertices in the case of pre-rigged. What you end up with may not be much better (if at all) than in-game. Or it'll look so bad you might as well start over.