3D Concept to Level Design Thread

So I've been playing around in 3D modeling applications for awhile, for school and hobby(ist) reasons, and I was wondering how well something along the lines of, making buildings in Blender/Maya/etc, would transfer over skill wise, to something like Hammer?

I've played around with the Cube2 Engine, and of course while you can make an impressive amount of detail with it, usually (atleast from what I can do) you can't really replicate what can be done in a Modeling program. So if I say, lay out medium to fairly complex scene, in Blender, will being able to do that help, or hinder my ability to work in a Level Design program, (Hammer, etc as I said)

I know this is a rather odd question, but honestly I can't draw lol, so when I come up with a concept in my head I typically try to beat out the details in a modeling program, because I'm unable to do so on a sketchpad.

Oh no I understood that, I ment simply as far as level design and layout goes, getting practice in with a Modeling Engine, would any of the skills learned there transfer over?

As Faparith mentioned, it is a different style of creating the content you want. Hammer is more simplistic in that you use only basic shapes. Indeed, there are no advanced tools in Hammer (although in future SDKs, it may be possible) such as extrude, chamfer, bridge or anything like that. But you can essentially get the same results if you know how to manipulate brushes properly. It's like switching from a Mac to a PC; with the Mac, you have all these extra buttons you have to push to make things come up, but with the PC you would need to push different buttons to get the same result. Some buttons do different things, and some don't even exsist as they would on a Mac (and vice versa for the PC). I think it's pretty obvious that Hammer and, for example, Maya have their differences in tools and the like. The only "difficult" process is getting used to Hammer (or what ever level editor you will be using) and it's tools (which really isn't very difficult at all, if you have experience with a modeling program)! I'm sure you'll find it easy to start designing levels, and if not; try finding some tutorials out there. I'd recommend visiting Interlopers or FPSBanana as a start.

Good luck

Edited by: Toyoka

keep in mind that different games have different capabilities when it comes to the mapping/3D modeling synergy thing ... so try not to be disappointed if you are ...

Generally 3d roaming type games are entirely meshes and heightmaps ...

delta force land warrior for example was entirely a voxel based heightmap with meshes for buildings ... there was no BSP ...

RF 3 is similar in style ... (but there is no editor, its just an observation i made )

In FPS (that are more "inside" and "linear") there usually is a system of BSP in effect

for UT2k4 you actually could import simple meshes in and use them to define BSP brushes as well as static meshes ... and you also have the capabilty to use alot of BSP tool like lathe, extrude, etc (but its still not close to 3ds max )

In Red Faction there was no importable static meshes, you either used the standard clutter or used the editor's BSP to make your clutter ... (it was possible hack it in by replacing other standard clutter, but that generally pisses people off because it also replaced that specific piece of clutter in other maps and in the game )

In general the difference between a game editor and a 3d modeler is that you are defining an inside area, not detailing the exterior ... so your faces are facing inside ... does that make sense?

Edited by: Assaultman67

You need to install the sdk not the actual game.

See im better in 3d max as I am in Hammer but I use this program abit also it is basically a external program to create your basic levels with brushes I find it easier to navigate then Hammer microbrush 2 Shrinker.beyond-veils.de  should give it ago