Half Life 2 modeling development Studio

[DrPowers]

Just wondering what software everyone uses for modeling and if anyone has been able to format them into the .mdl format that half life uses.

Of those tools which is the best to use. Some one recently told me the free version of xsi is good but I think it only outputs .exp files which can only be opened and edited with the xsi exp version and would be impossible to convert to the .mdl format.

Any input??

 

[crabcakes66]

gmax or the free version of xsi.....or if your a warez cowboy ..the full versions......

Im sure valve will give us everthing we need to change file formats.....if not people will make there own.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Max or as crabcakes said gmax. XSI is an amazing program, I've used it for quite sometime, but the free version is rather limited and warez versions wont get you Softimage support, and since anything more than simple stuff in XSI requires a knowledge of scripting and such its really not one for the beginner. Max, while I hate the program, has more free support out there as its been used since early on for most games. If you've never really done anything in 3D your best bet is likely gmax, unless your a programmer you'll struggle with the more advanced stuff in XSI. Though it is far more geared towards creating shaders than any other program of its type

 

[smilez]

XSI is the best, but most newbies use 3ds max

 

[Stone]

Originally posted by smilez
XSI is the best, but most newbies use 3ds max

In your opinion.....

Most 3d software is just as good as the next, *MOST*


But the 3d software is just as good as the user...

Personnaly I prefer 3dsmax out of all the 3d software that i have used, as it is user friendly but armed with tthe right knowledge you can do anything with it....!

 

[DrPowers]

What is the standard?

Thanks everyone... I have used all of the above but I wonder which program is going to be best to use in support with half life 2??

I am a programer but I've never actually developed anything for a mod (besides maps and models) I'm really looking for what the general population of Half Life modelers use to model weapons and such. (I know half life 2) is extremely heavy in the model department and is less heavy in the prefab dept.

Thanks to all

 

[crabcakes66]

whatever you prefer is my guess.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Speaking of prefabs, has anyone mentioned on here that all those stock objects dotted about the net (like 3dcafe.com) for different programs, often in max, obj or dxf format for compatibility between software, with a bit of fixing up will likely all be usable within HL2 once converted to a prop model. If not then I thought I'd mention it and so long as people don't mind doing a bit of work then you could turn basic pre-render objects into very nice realtime render ones (since the level of quality can be lower and stll allowed when it comes to real time) It's just a thought anyway, and their all made freely available, and it could be a good way to try things out within the game when its available without having to worry immediately about how you were going to model something. It could be useful to some people?

 

[agentorange]

I have used all 3 to me Maya was the one i didn't like. XSI was very powerful i use it at school. Most of its power is in animation all the scripting and such thats what it will do. Rendering is amazing i have a hard time with the render tree. 3dsmax is about the easyest to learn i pick it up in a few days and have made some decent models for ghostrecon. But XSI is what i would like to be useing you can very nice weapons model or anymodel for that mater in it with out any scripting.