UDK/UT3 Video Tutorials List and Support Thread

**geodav** · 03-18-2011, 02:39 PM

main thing is watch the polycount for most vehicles you don't really want to be over 12,000 triangles, remember if your vehicle shows the character then it might be a good idea to be lower than 12k, oh and don#t forget to do the LOD's for the vehicles as well

**bchaps** · 03-18-2011, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by geodav

main thing is watch the polycount for most vehicles you don't really want to be over 12,000 triangles, remember if your vehicle shows the character then it might be a good idea to be lower than 12k, oh and don#t forget to do the LOD's for the vehicles as well

How do I see the number of triangles?
Also, any recommendations on the number of triangles for weapons

**geodav** · 03-18-2011, 02:52 PM

in max right click on a window name (eg:- front) select configure then the Statistics tab then tick triangle count and Total+selection and shoe statistics in active viewport, click ok

for weapons it#s the same sort of thing 12k max but if your using firstperson arms then weapon+arms 12k

**bchaps** · 03-18-2011, 02:56 PM

I'm about 3/4 the way done with the skeleton. (before colors and anims)
(I'm making an MP5)
I have about 8k polys and 11k triangles (I'm still working with the mapping on 1 of the parts though)

The pistol grip part I'm working on (very detailed) has:
6,792 polys and triangles right now
5,466 verts right now.

It makes up over half of the polys and triangles in my gun over all so far

**geodav** · 03-18-2011, 04:40 PM

i suggest making the pistolgrip no more than 100 polys, no need for more that that

**WhiteHyena** · 03-19-2011, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by bchaps

I have about 8k polys and 11k triangles (I'm still working with the mapping on 1 of the parts though)

The pistol grip part I'm working on (very detailed) has:
6,792 polys and triangles right now
5,466 verts right now.

I'm certainly no expert on making weapons for UDK but from the sounds of it I'd say you need to seriously lower your poly/tri count. Keep in mind that the majority of fine detail comes from baking normal maps onto a low-poly mesh, so there's no need to have insane amounts of tris as long as the base shape/silhouette are looking good.

If I were you I'd take time checking through UDK to see the sort of poly-count Epic have making their weapons/vehicles/characters, then use that as something of a guideline. At the moment I'd say 11k tris is way too high, that's more than an entire character or vehicle.

**bchaps** · 03-19-2011, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by WhiteHyena

I'm certainly no expert on making weapons for UDK but from the sounds of it I'd say you need to seriously lower your poly/tri count. Keep in mind that the majority of fine detail comes from baking normal maps onto a low-poly mesh, so there's no need to have insane amounts of tris as long as the base shape/silhouette are looking good.

If I were you I'd take time checking through UDK to see the sort of poly-count Epic have making their weapons/vehicles/characters, then use that as something of a guideline. At the moment I'd say 11k tris is way too high, that's more than an entire character or vehicle.

Ya, good point.
I'll check out the stuff in UDK to see what they have.

Thanks

**ehsan_nekooee** · 03-20-2011, 11:13 AM

Hi geodav
thanks for the tuts. I downloaded some of them but had problem with downloading the others. It redirects to another website. Just wondered if your tuts are free or what?

I want to design a simple boat driving game. I think your vehicle tuts could help ...

**geodav** · 03-20-2011, 02:36 PM

all my videos are free, i have heard people get a little confused when downloading from fileplanet but you don't have to register or pay for the download/content. i you get asked to pay for any of my content please pm me the link and i'll have a word with them

**ehsan_nekooee** · 03-20-2011, 04:54 PM

Thanx geodav. It's working now.
I have a question. I want to design a simple boat driving game.
I know a little c++ coding but new to unrealScript. The main issue I'm struggling with is that I want to change the main character to a boat instead of the default shooter. is it hard to approach or what? If it not that simple I follow the regular vehicle approach for my boat.
What do you suggest?

P.S: Haven't watched your vehicle tuts yet, still downloading ....

**geodav** · 03-20-2011, 04:56 PM

itz's been done before, look at the racing games on this forum, once you've watch the video's you'll notice that coding is not my strong point

**Dodge** · 03-22-2011, 04:43 PM

Hey geodav,

First off, thanks so much for the tutorials, they have helped loads!!!

Only problem i've run into is on the custom character ones,
im getting the warning

Code:

Warning/Error Summary
---------------------
C:\UDK\UDK-2010-11\Development\Src\UTGame\Classes\UTCharInfo.uc(81) : Warning, ClassProperty UTGame.UTCharInfo:Families.Families: unresolved reference to 'class'Glitch.UTFamilyInfo_GlitchFamily_Male')'
C:\UDK\UDK-2010-11\Development\Src\UTGame\Classes\UTCharInfo.uc(81) : Warning, Unable to parse parameter value 'class'Glitch.UTFamilyInfo_GlitchFamily_Male')' in defaultproperties array operation:     Families.Add(class'Glitch.UTFamilyInfo_GlitchFamily_Male')

Do you know what exactly this is referencing? I have checked the spelling and it's all correct, I did have it working properly, then suddenly it stopped and i have no idea why,

Any help would be greatly appreciated =]

Thanks

Dodge

**geodav** · 03-22-2011, 05:00 PM

Hi Dodge, your problem is that your family files need to be in the utgame/classes folder, not in the Glitch/classes folder

**Dodge** · 03-22-2011, 05:37 PM

Ah brill!

Thanks man =D

Do you know of a way to get these to be referenced from my Glitch/classes folder so I can keep them all in one place?
Or would that mean making a copy of UTCharInfo etc,?

**geodav** · 03-23-2011, 02:31 PM

trust me if i could do that i would have said how, without re_doing nearly all the UTgame code imposible, that afaik others may know better, i'm just a hobbist no pro

**Dodge** · 03-23-2011, 05:40 PM

Haha, fair enough =]

Well, either way, you've help loads! and helped our group/class in their 2nd year projects at Uni!

**ehsan_nekooee** · 03-24-2011, 05:06 AM

hey
need some advice for my boat. need to simulate the boat floating in water while driving and react to sea waves. I thought It would work like the hovercraft thing + tweaking the boat physical material. I am I On the right track or what?

**WhiteHyena** · 03-24-2011, 09:04 AM

Ok after much fighting with the code (finally zero errors or warnings!) I've got a new problem with my Tiger tank. The factory shows up (along with the model) when placed in the map, all looks fine.. the problem is that when you run the map, the vehicle isn't anywhere to be seen

Not even a warning that 'You're in the way of a vehicle spawning'.

Aside that the other issue I'm a bit worried about is the physics asset- done the box for the base bone and it seems to work fine (was following GeoDav's tutorial again) but the box for the turret dosen't seem to be working right. When you run the preview only the box itself will actually have physics applied, the turret that it should be linked to just remains in place, not really sure what's happened there.

edit: Only warnings I actually get after fully loading the map are;
Map should have KillZ set.
Nav UTVehicleFactory_TigerTank_1 has an invalid GUID. You may need to rebuild paths.

**geodav** · 03-24-2011, 02:47 PM

@ehsan_nekooee, i think so but i've never tried to do a bout so i'm not sure

@WhiteHyena, not sure with the physics asset i wold have to see a video to compare
for the GUID error do a full re-build of your map, save and try again, (thats what google says)

**ApolokiA** · 03-27-2011, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by ehsan_nekooee

Thanx geodav. It's working now.
I have a question. I want to design a simple boat driving game.
I know a little c++ coding but new to unrealScript. The main issue I'm struggling with is that I want to change the main character to a boat instead of the default shooter. is it hard to approach or what? If it not that simple I follow the regular vehicle approach for my boat.
What do you suggest?

P.S: Haven't watched your vehicle tuts yet, still downloading ....

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Chara...icalGuide.html
Start there

**WhiteHyena** · 03-30-2011, 09:10 AM

Slowly making headway with the Tiger. It's in-game now and drivable (badly!). Main issues I've got at the moment are that the turret isn't turning and, once spawned, the whole tank seems to be leaning as though some invisible block is holding up the right side a little which really screws up the handling. I'm assuming it must either be the physics asset playing up or it's something in the code.

**geodav** · 03-30-2011, 01:47 PM

check your COM setting (Center of Mass) thats what normal causes problems like that.
turret check your launch.log for errors normal problem being typo's for the controllers

**Dambob** · 04-07-2011, 04:23 PM

Hey GeoDav, I was wondering if you could help me. I've followed a few of your tutorials on custom weapons.

However, when characters hold my weapon, they hold it by the root bone, and not the one I've set as the hand. I tried swapping the socket names but they're still quite attached. No pun intended.

**geodav** · 04-08-2011, 01:30 PM

the simple sollution is to make the "Hand" bone the root bone, afaik the game/code will take the first bone in the weapon rig as the root and place this in the players hand

**Dambob** · 04-09-2011, 08:17 AM

Thanks. (: That's worked along with some moving in the Anim editor.

**debajyoti** · 04-18-2011, 09:25 AM

I want to do a rig that can use “K_AnimHuman_BaseMale” animationSet in the UDK.
I am trying to do this when I am creating a same kind of joint structure, Orientation & naming structures same as UT3 character. I am using maya and max. But after importing this character when I apply the “K_AnimHuman_BaseMale” animation set it became a scramble thing.
I have some rigging character Like: DennysAnimationRigs_Ver2_5, UT3_GeoBo`dge. I study this character. It has a same kind of joint structure and it behave pretty in any animation set in UDK. I don’t know how they create this rig.
And another thing I don’t want to use any pre-rig character joints inside of my character mesh.
I want to create a fresh rig that can use all this animation.
Is there any good tutorial which can cover this entire thing or anyone who can help me to sort out this problem?

**geodav** · 04-18-2011, 01:40 PM

ok lets make this simple, if you want to use the K_AnimHuman_BaseMale then you need to use the Epic supplied rig, if you want to use a custom rig then you won't be able to use that animset because the bone names will be wrong. I see you have seen SwizzleFish's tutorial which uses CAT, you'll aslo need to find the Custom Animtree tutorials

**azl** · 04-20-2011, 03:48 PM

Dear Geodav, I've got a problem about mastering interface especially minimap. I just want my minimap can capture some objects.
I've tried some tutorials about this problem which is not worked. I was wondering if you could help us..

Best Regards,
Azlan Mufti
INI3D Project Indonesia

**MrArgh** · 04-20-2011, 04:13 PM

Hi!

I got referred to this thread so I'll copy the post from my own thread. Here goes:

I'm working on getting some custom vehicle animations to play (on my custom vehicle). I've copied the cicada best I could, though it still doesn't work.

In my package:
- I've got a custom vehicle ready and working (skeletal mesh, AnimTree, materials etc.)
- I've got a working animation (AnimSet).
- I've assigned the AnimSet in the AnimTree using a UTAnimNodeSequence (I also tried to use a AnimSequence). In the AnimTree I can preview my animation and it looks like it should.

In my script:
In my CustomVehicle_Content I've added my AnimSet:

Code:

Begin Object Name=SVehicleMesh
		SkeletalMesh=SkeletalMesh'VH_LandBuggy.Mesh.SK_VH_LandBuggy'
		AnimTreeTemplate=AnimTree'VH_LandBuggy.Anims.AT_VH_LandBuggy'
		PhysicsAsset=PhysicsAsset'VH_LandBuggy.Mesh.PA_VH_LandBuggy'
		MorphSets[0]=MorphTargetSet'VH_LandBuggy.Mesh.VH_LandBuggy_MorphTargetSet'
		AnimSets.Add(AnimSet'VH_LandBuggy.AnimSets.animSet_Boat')				RBCollideWithChannels=(Default=TRUE,BlockingVolume=TRUE,GameplayPhysics=TRUE,EffectPhysics=TRUE,Vehicle=TRUE,Untitled4=TRUE)
	End Object]

Further down in my CustomVehicleContent:

Code:

VehicleAnims(0)=(AnimTag=Idle,AnimSeqs=(testboat_idle),AnimRate=1.0,bAnimLoopLastSeq=true,AnimPlayerName=BoatPlayer)]

So, how do I play this animation? I tried:

Code:

PlayVehicleAnimation('testboat_idle');

I also tried:

Code:

PlayVehicleAnimation('Idle');]

I'm a bit uncertain if it works like that though. Any help would be much appreciated =)

I've put the PlayVehicleAnimation function in my CustomVehicle and placed a`log command, to see if it runs the function:

Code:

simulated function PlayVehicleAnimation(name EventTag)
{
	local int i;
	local UTAnimNodeSequence Player;

	if ( Mesh != none && mesh.Animations != none && VehicleAnims.Length > 0 )
	{
		for (i=0;i<VehicleAnims.Length;i++)
		{
			if (VehicleAnims[i].AnimTag == EventTag)
			{
				Player = UTAnimNodeSequence(Mesh.Animations.FindAnimNode(VehicleAnims[i].AnimPlayerName));
				if ( Player != none )
				{
					`log("Play it now");					Player.PlayAnimationSet( VehicleAnims[i].AnimSeqs,
												VehicleAnims[i].AnimRate,
												VehicleAnims[i].bAnimLoopLastSeq );
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

The weird thing is that the animation shows up correctly in every preview window; in the animSet, in the animTree, in the PhysAsset, in the SkeletalActor... but it won't play ingame.
I know it finds the event and runs the PlayVehicleAnimation function... but no movement at all.

Help is very much appreciated =)

**geodav** · 04-20-2011, 04:27 PM

@MrArgh, ok what you have to remember is that the vehicle anims are called via code

Code:

VehicleAnims(0)=(AnimTag=Idle,AnimSeqs=(testboat_idle),AnimRate=1.0,bAnimLoopLastSeq=true,AnimPlayerName=BoatPlayer)]

looks like you have this correct

what you might not have correct is the name of the AnimSeqs or the AnimPlayerName, i'll be honest i struggles for days till i realise i had a typo

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showth...t=VehicleAnims

@azl, well i don't know how to add/capture objects into your minimap but i do know how to get the texture of the map into game to use as a background for the minimap if that is any help, if that what you need then let me know and i#ll do you a video

**MrArgh** · 04-21-2011, 02:44 AM

That's what's driving me crazy... since I'm using a somewhat modified version of your landbuggy, you don't think there is anything in there that could cause the trouble?
And I'm supposed to use a UTAnimNode right?
I'm going to try a make a completely new animation and see what happens then.

**geodav** · 04-21-2011, 01:41 PM

ok i'm not sure if i used a UDKAnimNodeSequence or a UTAnimNodeSequence on this vehicle but here's a pic anyway of the basic setup

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

**azl** · 04-21-2011, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by geodav

@azl, well i don't know how to add/capture objects into your minimap but i do know how to get the texture of the map into game to use as a background for the minimap if that is any help, if that what you need then let me know and i#ll do you a video

That's OK.. I don't know how to get the texture of the map into game to use as a background for the minimap.. Can you show me as a video tutorial?

**geodav** · 04-21-2011, 04:36 PM

sure give me a day or to to set things up

**geodav** · 04-24-2011, 02:35 PM

@azl here's the link http://www.gamefront.com/files/20260...p_Tutorial.avi it's on my old filefront set up but will move it to fileplanet when they fix the upload

**MrArgh** · 04-26-2011, 03:13 AM

Thanks for the pic - looks like I've got it set up like that though. I'm wondering if the collision on my vehicle could be the problem? Going to try and change that.

Edit: Alright, I've made a bit of progress. I can start an animation that moves another bone up/down. However when I want to use my regular animation (that rotates the base bone) nothing happens. I've tried reducing both gravity and wheel suspension - with no success.

**geodav** · 04-26-2011, 01:43 PM

ok for anims to work you need a bone between your base bone and the one you want to animate (watch my weapon tutorials) afaik you can't animate the base bone to get that to do anything you'll have to code it direct which is way over my head

**MrArgh** · 04-27-2011, 02:41 AM

Alright, we finally got it working through a lot of trial and error! You are completely correct regarding the base bone - that was the one we animated because we needed everything to move.
We've added another bone betweed the base and all the others and it's working as intended.

Thanks a lot for your time and help geodav!

**geodav** · 04-27-2011, 01:36 PM

video please MrArgh

if your allowed

**MrArgh** · 04-27-2011, 01:41 PM

I'll try and make a video if I've got the time. Gotta lot going on with our project right now =)
I'm not completely sure what we did with the bones to get it working by the way. What I wrote earlier was just my quick assumption of what the guy modeling the boat had done. Could be wrong =)

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