UDK for 3D industry use. I need info/help from you.

[Nevetz]

Hello, let me introduce myself: I am a young PLC programmer who works for a company that produces softwares and electrical cabinets for plastic industry. Basically my work is to create software ran by PLCs to control heavy machinery and operators' panels. Since I've also been in the web design/development industry for a few years I am also currently supervisioning a complete graphic restyle of our panels and I've been working hard to get a new modern interface for our customers. One of the last tasks I got assigned to is to try to recreate with a 3D engine some of the machinery used and since no actual designer was available to do so I was selected to do it.

I've been working with UDK in my high school days but since then I never had the chance/opportunity to use it again, but now here it comes a work (that to be precise isn't even in my tasks, I now should be on a plane to a far away company in the nowhere of an Iranian desert but I'm actually sitting here to write you) that needs one again UDK.

So what am I asking for? What I need to do is to create static 3D models of machinery with, in case, tubes and wires with realistic physics. Since I do not remember almost anything about UDK, where should I start? I mainly need to create models (most of the rectangles/cilinders) and (the hardest part of the work) wires/tubes.

I'll leave you some pics of what I'm going to realize.

 

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Thank you for your attention.

[fighter5347]

You have to model those stuff in e.g Blender, Maya, 3d Max or Cinema 4d. After that you have to epxort them. Now when there are some moving parts, then you can animate them with matinee. When you need complex movement, then you have to create those animations in the 3d programm

[Nevetz]

Well I won't really need to move a lot of stuff, all I'll need when finished will be to take screenshots of the whole model/part of it and import them into the panels. Can't I just create all the machine with the geometry and then add the cable/wires with physics? After covering the entire model with some basic textures (mostly plain colors) and add some global lights the work will be fine and completed.

[tegleg]

add the cable/wires with physics.

why would you need to do that for a screen shot?
just model the whole thing in 3ds max or whatever

[Nevetz]

why would you need to do that for a screen shot?
just model the whole thing in 3ds max or whatever

I have no experience with 3D design and also we do not have any license for such softwares.

[NekoDemon117]

I have no experience with 3D design and also we do not have any license for such softwares.

UDK is not a modeling program. It is a game engine used for creating 3D environments using models, textures, sounds, etc.. It is also for making animated movies within aforementioned 3D environments.

What I suggest using is Blender. It can do anything you mentioned and more. The trick is learning how to use it.

[ambershee]

To put it straight, your company needs to hire someone who actually has the expertise to do what they want to do (a 3D artist / modeller). I don't think it's reasonable to expect a programmer with some web experience to work on 3d meshwork. The two fields are not even related and hardly any skill between the two is transferable. It takes years of practice for decent 3d artists to get where they are.

UDK is also not the tool you are looking for, you really want to be using a 3d package like Max, Maya, Softimage or Modo. Blender is a free 3d package, but it is not as well developed as the commercial alternatives.

[DGUnreal]

I would agree with ambershee.

I used to do 3D modelling for a couple of commercial and industrial corporations in the early-through-mid-90's (using Autodesk 3D Studio R3), from components and machinery to entire industrial plants, mostly still images.
If arch/vis/industrial 3D modelling is not a serious passion of yours I would not recommend getting into it.

My recommendation is to either get a license for a 3D application such as Max, Maya, etc. and spend the required years learning the software.
If you want the level of detail that the photos depict then expect a significant amount of modelling knowledge and time to get to that level and to accomplish the work.
Or hire the work out to someone who is already a commercial/industrial equipment modeler.

[Nevetz]

Actually, for the use of UDK we have planned, the very first works I made with UDK were reasonable good/met the expectations. Of course I know someone with a specific preparation and working on this thing all the time would be the obvious best choice but hell yeah, we all know in our company that eveyone of us makes the work of 3. Most of the work is simply build a 3D view of the projects of the machinery staying in proportions, and I find myself quite good with my already-known skills so the firsts tests went all fine. Probably I'll try out Blender anyway, I never used it but if the software itself looks like UDK's one (for what concerns drawing in 3D) I shouldn't have much problem.

[darthviper107]

UDK modeling is completely different from any 3D modeling programs. Blender should actually be easier but it will be a completely different experience.

[DGUnreal]

Actually, for the use of UDK we have planned, the very first works I made with UDK were reasonable good/met the expectations. ...
... Most of the work is simply build a 3D view of the projects of the machinery staying in proportions ...

So you created the models using simple CSG blocks then? Or did you import models from another application?

If you want any detail to the models they will have to be created in a 3D modelling application like those mentioned above.

If all that you are creating for finished products is rendered still images or fly-throughs then there is no advantage to learning and using UDK at all, it would be wasted time exporting to and using UDK, as the entire scene would be better off being composed and rendered in the modelling software.

The only feature that UDK could bring is the ability to walk around the scene in real-time, but typically with a slightly non-real-world aspect view so don't expect the scale to look correct in it.

[makh1]

Concidere DGUnreal post.
Your best bet is 3DS max:
- its spline modeling tools are unique in the 3D software realm and that's mainly what's needed to build that type of scene.
- it include all that's needed to create a walkthrough, as it's an Arch Viz soft originally.
- it includes Mass FX that provide all physX goodies you need.
- it provides a real world scale option for the whole scene, primitive objects UVs, materials....
UDK BSP is mainly to prototype; you're supposed to export your prototype to a 3D package and replace in the game engine by a model you build.
Unless you need user interaction, UDK is not suited for your project + require extra work like second UV channel and collision meshes.

[Nevetz]

Just for the record, I could finally complete the work by using just UDK. This is not intended as a defiance but just as a fact.

The 3D model made is a machine built on 3 floors and longer than 40 meters. Its details are in the scale of screws and push buttons. The 3D model counts more than 750.000 vertices. Final touches are still to be done.

[MereMortal]

The spline tool in udk is what you should try for the wires / tubes.
Depending on the industry Inventor and Solidworks are used for engineering and manufacture design.
Your time might have been better spent learning Blender if you needed a free tool and then set your models up in udk if you needed that interactivity but if it works well...UnrealEd does have a lot of good geometry tools to play with.

[DGUnreal]

Impressive.
Although it would have been nice to see it created in proper 3D software where it could have had smoothing groups etc.
Even still, if it is scaled to life-size it must be awesome to walk around.