Table Model I've attached a picture of a very simple table that only took five minutes to produce. This table should be easy to covert to The Siims 2 once the game is released. It's polycount should be plenty okay for use in-game. The only thing it needs now is a bump map and a wooden texture. This just shows how easy it is to make creative objects that are simple. So if you wanted a table that no one else has it would not be too hard to create. The goal of what you really want to do is create something new, or at least something that wont look like everything else. With each new object in the game having many different textures, a new object really needs to be unique.
probabably 3d studio max from the looks of it. but last tme i heard maya was supposed to be required for custom objects in ts2.
first of all, maya is very expensive. somewhere in the quadruple digits iirc. a students license may be less expensive but not by much. as far as the trial is concerned, im not sure. id google for maya and check the site. sry. guess i was wrong. there is a personal learning edition of maya at their site which is free: http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/maya/maya_ple/index.shtml. from what i can tell its the full featured version but meant for non-commercial use. im downloading it now to see what kind of limitations, if any, it has.
It was made with my copy of Maya Unlimited. It has a price tag of $8000 dollars. There is a personal learning edition that is free, but the limitations are no rendering, watermarks, and I think not being able to save in some file formats.
Jake I am not sure how this works, could you explain what you mean by bumps? Is this like making the surface look more realistic like the body~stdMatNormalMapTextureName in skin files? The texture I undertand, as I take it that an object like this can be used in the game and we are able to change the texture to anything we want - including fur if it's available
Bump maping gives the surface texture depth. Like say you wanted a metal texture with little groves in it. Instead of just making a texture with the groves on it, you could make a bump map which would than give the appearance of groves actually being raised on the texture. We will have to see if The Sims 2 supports this, I think I read somewhere it did.
This sounds exactly like body~stdMatNormalMapTextureName in skins! Thanks for explaining -- hmm wonder if I could create something? Also quick question, A lot of people have a preference for other progs, is it possible to use something like 3dmax (or other 3d program) and then import it into maya (so you can then use it in ts2)? I am assuming of course that TS2 will only support maya as a 3d program for objects.
There is a free Trial version of Maya. However, it has an animated (moving onto different places by the sound of it) watermark and a completely different file type than regular Maya.
The MayaPLE is the student edition of the game and is free. The program itself, in the form which is compatible with Sims2 (if we get the right parameters) is $2000. There is a more expensive one which as special added textures such as fur (which it doesn't appear that Sims2 needs) which is $7000. If you want to see the pricing in other than US$ see: http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/maya/pricing.shtml
I am sure other 3d applications will be used. My version of Maya Unlimited was about 8000. Standard version 2000, less with studnet discount.
I read somewhere that Maxis were trying to come out with an add-on for making objects... a plugin into the learning edition Maya would be nice. (ugh I tried that program and it hurt my brain. I hate 3d. Kudos to anyone who can figure it out!)
I believe originally Maxis was trying to make a plug-in for MayaPLE the way the SC4 BAT is for Gmax. However, they've been making more sounds as it it is going to be more open to other (simpler) 3D programs as well. There are a lot of hassles for working with MayaPLE. It has a completely different file system than regular Maya, strictly to make it so that you *can't* use it with the commercial product (or "instead of" the commercial product). And it has that animated watermark which may not be worked around easily. For the BAT they evidently negotiated a "treaty" with the Gmax/Studio Max people to do it. Perhaps they haven't been able to work something similar out with Alias/Maya.
if they can make a plugin for 3dsmax id be a very happy person. ever since taking the computer graphics class at school ive been very very fluent with it. i believe there is a thread somewhere in one of the general forums talking about 3d modelling programs. theres a link in there to some of my work.
Here is a bigger view. Beware it is not a high quality render and it has very bright rendering. This will allow you to see the edges. I also did loads of poly-reducing. So now I know it has an acceptable number of polys for use in the sims.
I like your table! What was the final poly count? And how did you estimate about what poly count will work in the Sims 2 game?
Well, pretty good guess. I've seen screenshots of models already in the game and I feel pretty safe in my assumption of an acceptable poly count. If it turns out it is still too high, I'll shrink it even more.
