List of supported UT3 Moding utilities?

[thugnme]

Whats a good place to start modding for UT3? What programs are supported? (3ds max, maya, etc..) and what versions? also what programming language will you need to know? I basically want to know what programs and versions will be essential to create a great UT3 mod?

[WickedPenguin]

Maya 6 and the ActorX plug-in definitely work with the Roboblitz Unreal Engine 3 editor.

[KewlAzMe]

For Mapping:
- UED for UT3 (formerly known as UED4)
- A 3D Program (Maya, 3DSMax, blender?)

For Modelling:
- UED for UT3 (formerly known as UED4)
- A 3D Program (Maya, 3DSMax, blender?)
- ActorX Plugin
- A Normal Mapping program (mudbox, zbrush)
- Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro X

For Texturing:
- Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro X

For Coding:
- Good Code editor (UltraEdit, Notepad++,ConText, ScITe, etc)
- WotGreal/Unreal IDE (when available)
- WotGreal Exporter
- Learn the UCC features
- Learn Uscript and OO Coding

[thugnme]

what version of Maya and 3DSMax are suportted?

[WickedPenguin]

Anything from Maya 4.0 on up. The key element is the ActorX plug-in, which allows you to export static and skeletal meshes in UT-compatible formats.

It's available for both Maya and Max here:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/ActorX.html#MAYA%20exporter%20plugins

[thugnme]

what program is easier to model for? 3dmax or maya?

[WickedPenguin]

That's like asking which is easier: guitar or piano? Both take time to master, each has its strengths, and each does similar things in very different ways.

I found Maya was better for the UT workflow. UT2004 was very Maya-centric. UT2004 included Maya PLE (the free educational version) with it, along with a specialized plug-in that interfaced directly with UnrealEd 3.0. In addition, many (if not most?) of the 3DBuzz tutorials that came with UT2004 were also based on Maya.

[thugnme]

thx. maya it is then =-). so what paint program are you useing then? (sorry im just trying to get me a good set up going)

[[GU]Elmur_fud]

Lightwave (.lwo) ports straight into UT2K4. No word on Lightwave support yet for UT3 that I have found though.

[Taboen]

Whats the best way to learn Uscript? And whats OO Coding?

[KewlAzMe]

learn by:

reading http://wiki.beyondunreal.com
checking out the code of other simple mutators and make little tweaks to them for your own educational use.
Try to make ur own mutator. Ask for coding help at http://forums.beyondunreal.com
Trial and error. Make little changes and see what happens


OO programming is "Object Orientated" Programming.... C++, Java, Uscript, all use Object Orientated programming methods. While the syntax may change between these languages, the same structures and fundamentals will be used. So if you have C++ or Java or even Visual Basic or PHP experience, that will help a lot.

[thugnme]

For Texturing:
- Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro X

Which one is better suited for maya or has more tutorials for maya? I plan on getting "maya 2008" and I might as well pick up a texture program while im at it. =0)

[thugnme]

Can someone help me with the ActorXTool plug-in for maya? I curentally have maya 2008 and I get a error : The specified procedure could not be found. when i try and load the plug-in. The plug-in is located at "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin\plug-ins". and the msvcr71.dll is located at "C:\WINDOWS\system32".

of course the plug-in is version "ActorXTool_Maya85_244.zip Maya 8.5" but its the latest version of the plug-in... could this be the problem? if so will they release a version for 2008?

[N0VA]

dont forget wordpad :P

[eckz]

thx. maya it is then =-). so what paint program are you useing then? (sorry im just trying to get me a good set up going)

epic use 3ds max ;) +its easier. maya imo is surplus to the needs of making meshes for games at the mo (though equally as viable if thats what your used to), since its specialised in nurbs etc

photoshop is awesome for texturing etc, i dont have any experience with other paint programs so they might be equally as good!

[Arson]

Buying maya or 3dsmax for just unreal isn't something many people can do.
I have both and the outlay is around $10K. But I also make my living off them so I can justify the cost.

A really good low poly modeler that is free and easy to learn is wings3d.
http://www.wings3d.com/

Paint programs, almost anything will work.
http://www.gimp.org/
Gimp is free and works well, especially the new release.

If you have the cash I would go for bodypaint from Maxon.
It makes texturing and uv mapping fun again.
http://www.maxon.net/pages/products/bodypaint3d/bodypaint3d_e.html
Its not cheap though, average price around 800.00

I havent tried the plugin with maya2008, still got issues getting maya to run correctly with unbuntu. It may require an updated plugin version to work with 2008.

[thugnme]

Buying maya or 3dsmax for just unreal isn't something many people can do.
I have both and the outlay is around $10K. But I also make my living off them so I can justify the cost.

true. but im not buying it just for UT3, im trying to learn it for the future. many games support modding, and many more will in the future. so i figure since I want to learn a advanced 3d modeling program I should go for the best out. it might not be the easiest to learn but once I do, I can help other people with there questions, and maybe even make a living with it in the future.

and thx for everyones answers!!!

[Sentientv2]

If you're a student, JourneyEd has good deals on 3d packages for those with sufficient proof of enrollment.

Towards the beginning of the year, I was able to purchase with about $700 (All academic versions):

Maya 8.5 (Complete I believe)
Max 9
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 (includes all but Premier, AfterEffects)
MS Office Professional 2007
Corel Painter IX
Norton (though I don't recommend using it //resource piglet)

It was bundled as CreativeCast. I think I found that going through a link provided by my school (Art Institute of Atlanta) provided me a better deal than the normal package prices (this may have changed, or I could be wrong).

Last year I purchased an academic version of Maya 8.0 for about $270 by itself. I upgraded to 8.5 primarily because of Python scripting support.

The Maya Complete package unfortunately does not have nCloth support in it, which is a shame because I've seen some great demonstrations using it and it seems it could simplify the cloth animation process significantly.

Hope this helps. I know I purchased Photoshop 4.0 back in high school through JourneyEd (man that was all the money I had to my name at the time). I got my teacher who taught me printmaking or something to assist in the verification process.

And lastly, a student version of Zbrush is $349 on the JourneyEd.com store (for students of my school). I just checked the normal url, www.journeyed.com, and the prices seemed to be a bit off (perhaps not displaying correctly). The difference was three grand!

Hope that helps someone get this stuff legally for a good price.

As for the ActorX plugin, I am not sure what they'll be doing for Maya 2008. My plug-in is in the directory, C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya8.5/bin/plug-ins/ActorXTool.mll . I know you're using 2008, but just make sure that your dll is in the appropriate 2008 plug-in directory.

[frvge]

Object-Oriented.

Uscript? I'd start with learning the basics of C++ and OO programming. Then look at the examples. I