Robin Walker on the New Payload HUD, Ambidextrous Weapons, and the New Tree Models

Bot190

L1: Registered
Sep 25, 2008
49
4
Aparently its one of the best(productive) UIs there is... Read some tutorials on it and you'll learn it eventually.
 

BrokenTripod

L5: Dapper Member
May 11, 2009
248
65
I keep forgetting about Blender.

It's GUI is amazing, since you can set up the screens however you like. I never did get into the habit of modeling anything that looked realistic, but maybe I could try making some models for TF2 =O!

Also, this is the first tutorial I used: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

That one helps you learn the GUI while making simple objects (I skipped straight to meshes in Unit 2, but it's probably helpful to read the last bolded section in Unit 1)

Texturing in Blender is more of a problem, as you've got to figure out your normals and make sure they're pointed the right way. Can't remember where I learned how to do this, though...It's possible it's part of the wikibook, though.

ALSO FYI: The Wikibook is probably not complete. I just kept working until they ran out of instructions on 5 consecutive pages.

EDIT: There's a smilie in the URL and it still works perfectly. Hehehe.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
It started life as a displacement, then was turned into a model originaly by someone else using XSI, but that has an iffy user agreement so valve opted to remake it themselves to negate hunting down XSI and getting a special agreement with them. This is why hoodoo wasnt with the scout update.

I havn't seen this new version then. I probably didn't even see the original model.

/goes to check out the door.
 

Brandished

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 19, 2008
234
311
It started life as a displacement, then was turned into a model originaly by someone else using XSI, but that has an iffy user agreement so valve opted to remake it themselves to negate hunting down XSI and getting a special agreement with them. This is why hoodoo wasnt with the scout update.

Well IANAL, but to be fair, my guess is it was that the Mod Tool (or a cracked version of the full XSI) was used to create the model that was the problem, not Softimage/XSI itself. Valve used Softimage/XSI themselves to create several models for Half-Life 2. While the Mod Tool is fine for non-commercial use, an author would need a commercially licensed copy of the program (~$3000 for Softimage/XSI) to sell content created with it. This applies to most non-commercial grade product variants, eg: MS Visual Studio Xpress Edition, Google SketchUp, even the Source SDK. There are exceptions when you do business with the product developers themselves, though. :p

I downloaded blender but took one look at the UI and went to go cry in a corner. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Unless you used a 5 or 10 year old copy of Blender the last time, I doubt it would be worth giving Blender another shot if you really couldn't stand the UI. The Blender UI hasn't changed too much in the past few years. I'd suggest waiting until the upcoming version 2.5 is released if that was the case.

Also, this is the first tutorial I used: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

That one helps you learn the GUI while making simple objects (I skipped straight to meshes in Unit 2, but it's probably helpful to read the last bolded section in Unit 1)

ALSO FYI: The Wikibook is probably not complete. I just kept working until they ran out of instructions on 5 consecutive pages.

I personally do not recommend the Noob2Pro wikibook as a primary learning source. It is a collection of mostly incomplete, unrelated tutorials and I do not see that changing anytime soon. The contributors seem more intent on adding new material then on finishing up what is already there. It does have a few very nice tutorials, but you'll end up pulling your hair out if you use it extensively.

I'd recommend either of these two instead:
Blender Basics- 3rd Edition
Essential_Blender

Or, for those that like video tutorials:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Brandished/Video