Modeling Question/ New Engines

CplDavis

<div class="IPBDescription">does More complex = more difficult?</div> As the world continues to spin, newer and better graphics engines/cards are comming out. From a modeling persepctive, the newer models will be better able to support more polys, detail whatever. As the complexity limit further goes up does this mean that making your own models will become harder and more complex if you want to create something that lives up to the quality and power that is now availible to you with these new high tech graphics engines?

Jaeger

With new techniques and new engines, you also get new and better tools. Not to mention things like pixel shaders, bump mapping, all that and more can be done by very simple manipulation of alpha layers. So, I'd say as time goes on and models become more detailed and complex, you'll actually find it easier to create models of the same or surpassing quality.

enf0rcer

i think its more the rendering system that makes them look so good. When you make a model you can only make it so highpoly. So certainly it might even be easier to make good models now because the poly limits are higher and less restrictions are in order. In other words yes the models do look better but that wont make them harder to make.

Maus

Probably easier, if anything. Low-poly modelling is a difficult thing. So much time is taken getting details at the minimum possible cost to the polycount (often the something for nothing technique of skinning the details on, rather than modelling then). A higher polycount makes these details much easier to add, especially when you consider that a <i>good</i> human form can be made with 2000 polys or so. That leaves a lot of room for extras, and with more advanced engines also having more advanced possibilities for skinning (bump maps, & such) to add detail what you basically get is lots of room to be sloppy, to leave in unnecessary polys, to go ahead and use a full sphere primitive instead of having to make up some low-poly thing instead. If my computer could run it (and it used skeletal anims) I'd jump on UT2K3 in a heartbeat.

coil

The tricky part of modeling for, say, HL2 will be the animation and the skins. With so much detail, you will need more believable skins, and the face alone has 40 different points of motion for facial expression animation. Fingers are articulated, and Valve's made a big deal about how model musculature moves realistically. I have a feeling that animating for HL2 is going to be no picnic (especially considering the lack of extensive support for modelers from Valve in the past).