Adaptation: Source mapping -> UE3 mapping

Hey folks!


I've been out of contact with the rest of the team (and with this blog) for a while as I've been without internet access, but in the meantime I have been doing stuff.

Unlike on Source, most mapping in Unreal Engine 3 is done with placement of static meshes, even for stuff like walls. That gets you a lot more detail but to someone who's used to an engine like Source it can be a bit off-putting - suddenly you have to be familiar with a modelling application like Maya or Max or XSI just to make stuff that's pretty, whereas Source's BSP stuff is robust enough to make some very pretty stuff without resorting to meshes. Just different ways of doing things, basically - both systems turn out to be pretty great, but the emphasis is on different skills. Anyway, I've been doing some adapting. Matt Pierson, epic modeller, has been making some sweet Maya tutorial videos and I've been working that out. So now, the walls are more detailed.

I always thought it would be a pain in the arse to work this way, but once you have some models it turns out to be much faster to lay maps out this way. So we go from what you see in previous posts (flat walls) to slightly more detailed stuff like this (I'm no crazy-amazing modeller, mind you).






It's all very fascinating and I hope to improve at it significantly in the near future. I hope this post has been in some way informative!


-Joe