drumwrist0123 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 To buy or not to buy? I want to be able to create absolutely STUNNING landscapes, and be able to explore it in my project. The in game editor aint bad but, have you seen W.M? Is it worth it? Is it possible to export EVERYTHING youve created in W.M and then import it into Leadwerks? Trees, water and everything orrr, what? Before I purchase it I want to make a good decision. lol I dont want to spill the idea of my project but I will say this, its obviously going to be a huge open world. Hopefully the size of Chernarus in DayZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I use L3DT to generate heightmaps. You might try it out. Quote My job is to make tools you love, with the features you want, and performance you can't live without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji385 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hey drumwrist0123, If you need to create a high quality world - world machine is the way to go. I am planning on getting it myself so yeah. Here are some videos for working with world machine and CryEngine. They can apply to any other game engine including leadwerks. This tutorial uses Maya, Mudbox, and World machine However feel free to improvise I use L3DT to generate heightmaps. You might try it out. Totally forgot about L3DT - That is an awesome tool as well forget the price tag though. I know that it has a free version for up to 2048x2048 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knocks Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I first started working with L3DT but moved to WM after a project I worked on was using it. WM is not going to export trees and rivers for you but it will help you make the most realistic terrains possible using heightmaps. Quote My first Adobe purchase was Photoshop 2.0, CS6 was my last! < = > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouGroove Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 WM is not going to export trees and rivers for you but it will help you make the most realistic terrains possible using heightmaps. Never export Trees and rivers, as it would be static meshes, not optimized os incredible waste of memory and performance. In any engine Leadwerks 3, UDK etc ... always import only the terrain heightmaps, and paint your trees, rivers , grass in engine system as painted trees will use an optimized system of the 3D engine. LE3 don't have tree painting or grass for now ... but it will come. Quote Stop toying and make games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 hi, i tried WM myself (Free Edition) for now and i am thinking to geht it too. The Results are Quote cool and i believe its One of the easier and faster ways to generate quite Big Procedural maps. Right now im still struggling of i Should Buy it or not but the more i think about it the closer i get to "yes" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I'm a fan of world machine, I've used it in the past although a very long while ago... It's a great piece of software! Specially for large open areas and such but I feel that I'll be fine with what I have and everything, I'm trying to create some much more contained areas for my first creations in Leadwerks (before attempting sandbox like worlds.) I think you should be able to get your creations into Leadwerks without too much trouble... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 @ Patrick, may i ask how (if at all) you create open areas at the moment? I mean, what tools do you use and how do you import those? Do you model those in a program like blender and import the .fbx file? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 @ Patrick, may i ask how (if at all) you create open areas at the moment? I mean, what tools do you use and how do you import those? Do you model those in a program like blender and import the .fbx file? Currently the only open type of areas I need to create are manageable with Maya and my main sculpting application, I have yet to import any such ladnscape or open area model into the leadwerks engine though but I will likely do so when I get done with the current character and level assets I'm working on. I usually use a combination of three applications when I make my open area models to use for levels, I start in Maya, then go to Zbrush, add detail and a rough layout of my texture (I don't always do this, but sometimes I do) then I bring the texture into my software of choice for creating textures which is sometimes not Photoshop. The result is a pretty nice terrain piece. I often make pieces that I can attach together in a tile like manor and make certain required edits for sections depending on the requirement of the task at hand. World Machine is great to use and real fun but If I remember correctly it has a steep learning curve to start out. Not to mention the cost of the full version at about $249. L3DT is a great solution / alternative too, I haven't used it extensively but from what I have seen and heard, at $100 less (the free version is very usable although not as amazing ), it might be worth looking into, to include in your terrain creation workflow. Personally I always find myself returning to my default applications at most times though. So if you're already capable and comfortable with your modelling application of choice and you can sculpt on a basic level I'd say use that and practice some stuff. I know that Maya and Zbrush are also costy but I already own them and if you don't you can always improvise and go for the free alternative or what you have available to you... Blender has a nice set of modelling tools and a decent set of sculpting tools that are ever growing and improving. You can also use any image editing software to help cleanup the textures and heightmaps but you may find yourself tweaking things and getting comfortable with your workflow... Like Benji385 said... "improvise" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Thanks Patrick, that reply contained more detail than expected, yet very interesting. Thanks for sharing this with me (us!). Btw. the "standard" edition of World Machine is 99 bucks and it seems as if you are allowed to use it comercially too. I honestly do not believe that i have to have worldmaps that need 32 cpu cores to render or such, but well, you'll never know. In the end you can upgrade from standard to prof. i believe. I'm not sure what they mean with "tiled terrains" and "automation / scripting" though. But that means, i do not need those functions right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Thanks Patrick, that reply contained more detail than expected, yet very interesting. Thanks for sharing this with me (us!). Btw. the "standard" edition of World Machine is 99 bucks and it seems as if you are allowed to use it comercially too. I honestly do not believe that i have to have worldmaps that need 32 cpu cores to render or such, but well, you'll never know. In the end you can upgrade from standard to prof. i believe. I'm not sure what they mean with "tiled terrains" and "automation / scripting" though. But that means, i do not need those functions right now The scripting feature you won't need right away but the tiled terrains thing could come in very handy... and no problem, I forgot that they had a $99 version to be honest. In any case L3DT has a cheaper commercial license too. i feel they are both worthy options but if you use Blender, so is that... Or any modelling and sculpting application combo You just have to be able to create decent textures yourself and know what kind of details are in the terrain look you're trying to go for... For this, Google is your best friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 So, it seems as if you know what "tiled terrains" is. Could you explain it's use to me? That'll be interesting. According to it's name i would think that you create a larger terrain and breack it down to several smaller tiles, is that correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 So, it seems as if you know what "tiled terrains" is. Could you explain it's use to me? That'll be interesting. According to it's name i would think that you create a larger terrain and breack it down to several smaller tiles, is that correct? Essentially, yes... It will allow you to make an enormous terrain and have it much more manageable and performance friendly. Its a very useful feature but it shouldn't mater as much unless you plan on working with really large terrains/worlds. Also, the multiple monitor support would help a great deal with efficiency but more a luxury as you don't NEED it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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