3D Catalogue with UDK

[MishoDar]

So… Hi everyone, I’m newbie at UDK and I want to make a 3D Catalogue for archeological founds, just to select an item from list, look at them, rotate, zoom and pan in space, nothing more. I’ve attached link where you can see rough example, it’s just a 3d pdf viewer without any textures and materials.



Please guide me for which tutorials and materials I have to go through to get knowledge for this kind of project. Is it only udk with its kismet I have to use? Or any other software like Autodesk Scaleform? Please advise me. Thanks
P.S. You can see my very first project of an archeological monuments reconstruction, It’s located in Igoeti, Georgia (Europe) and was made just for test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk9MX...ature=youtu.be

[joshua.fontany]

Hello MishoDar, welcome to the forums.

I really like the idea of archaeological reconstruction in a real-time engine like UDK. Your Igpeti location really sells how a hillside village like that would feel by being able to walk around/inside.

For your object project, you would need to decide on a User Interface concept, either Scaleform or the Canvas one one of the members here developed (see thread in UDK Programming and UnrealScript). Next would be deciding on how to present the meshes and camera controls (having the camera swing around the object might be the easiest to get started quickly). This involves things like deciding on what to use Dynamic vs Static lighting on, etc. I would use Streaming levels, maybe, as you could build lighting for each object separately and then stream them in with calls from Kismet or Unrealscript. Check out the Level Design portion of the UDN, and try to see how those workflows would apply to a scaled down 1-object per room presentation. Things like being able to switch between a few different "paint jobs" for statues, etc would be a really cool visualization.

A note on archaeological 3d models. Most I've seen are completely tessellated (as they were input via laser scanner or similar tool). Not the best for the engine, so most will need to be re-topologized and then UV layout by an experienced modeler (or you might get lighting/material problems in the engine).

Good luck!

[joshua.fontany]

This thread has a pointer to some good advice as well:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...tfolio-renders

[MishoDar]

Thanks joshua.fontany for your attentive reply. Your advices was very very helpful for me. Sorry for my late response, I was in expedition. I'll take into consideration everything you told me and post progress. thank you once more.