I don't know of any tutorial that would cover modeling/texturing soldiers in Maya and exporting to the game. But here's a list of what you should know:
Modeling in Maya:
Don't know how familiar u are with the software, but you'll definitely need to cover the basics: navigating the 3d views, selecting and manipulating objects and exploring scene content & hierarchy. In Maya 6 you can go "Help" -> "Tutorials" and read through the "Getting started" and the "Using Maya" -> "General" tuts.
Then u should familiarize yourself with polygonal modeling and texturing (file textures, UV mapping). You can find plenty of tutorials on the web on these subjects.
http://www.planetunreal.com/mentallic/Tutorial/Tute1Page1.htmlhttp://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/benmathis/benmathis_1.asphttp://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/starwars/starwars.3dhttp://www.ice.org/tutorials.php?tutorial=4&sessionID=8088928887635364897583556726624964381405334958http://www.maya3d.dk/Tutorials/HeadModeling/HeadModeling.htmAlso try to read the help sections on these topics.
Structure of an add-on for OFP:
A soldier addon is made up principally of the model itself (.p3d file), a bunch of textures (.pac or .paa files) and a config file (.cpp) - all of these packed into an archive (.pbo).
Maybe you noticed, all the data files in the game are .pbo archives. You need those pbo tools to extract/compress their content. Pbos are just containers.
.p3d files contain the model(s) and they are a bit more complex. They actually contain several models (LODs), with distinct functions. To familiarize yourself with the file format, i suggest u use O2 to open a few up and take a peek. Planck's advice in the other thread is quite good: download and open the sample models from the breathe page:
http://www.flashpoint1985.com/breathe/index.htmlI can't find a web page describing all the LODs and their functions, but search the forum, surely you'll find something.
You'll also need to know about the "named selections" used to animate parts of your model, localize iinjuries, etc..
.p3ds come in 2 flavors MLOD(older) and ODOL. ODOL is not supported by every aplication (including O2). But there are tools that can convert ODOL to MLOD. Use them.
http://ofp.gamezone.cz/index.php?showthis=6817Even if modeling and texturing is done in Maya (for ease), eventually you'll have to export the geometry and bring it to O2 to assemble the final .p3d, since Maya can't read/write .p3ds directly. I use "Deep Exploration" to export to .3ds, which i can import into O2.
Textures are self explanatory. Just download "Texview" to be able to convert them to .pac.
And last but not least, the config, which is a text file describing/defining some of the properties of the addon in game. Making them is another science. It helps if you're a programmer
There's a lot of work involved, and it's hard to jump in head first. You should probably take it one step at a time. Brsseb's tutorials are a good tip. You might also want to try modifying an existing addon rather than building one from scratch. Hope some of this helps..
Cheers
Topic: 3D MODELLING ??? (Read 3798 times)