#22
3rd Mar 2005 at 12:17 AM
Last edited by Jaycephus : 3rd Mar 2005 at
12:39 AM.
Professional modelers who work in the game and animation industry, and are creating models that will be animated in Maya don't necessarily use Maya to do all or any of the modeling. Wings 3D and Silo are quite popular, actually. Silo is only $109, and there is a trial version that actually will save a mesh with less than 100 verts, I believe, so it could be tested.
However, the problem is that only file formats from a select few applications are currently compatible with Mesh Tool. People using 3DStudio Max are having to import and export through Milkshape as an intermediate step, I believe. I don't know if this technique will work with Wings3D. It may or may not work with Silo. I wish I knew which version of
SimPE and Mesh Tool are actually 'fully funcitonal' because I and a lot of other people are having problems getting edited meshes all the way into the game. I've gotten one from XSI Foundation (similar to XSI ModTool) all the way into SimPE, but it crashes Bodyshop. At some point, I will try Silo to see if a mesh could be imported to Mesh Tool by way of Milkshape or XSI. I have successfully edited a mesh in a non-compatible program (ZBrush), imported/exported through XSI, and gotten it into Mesh Tool, but I'm still attempting to get something all the way into the game 'successfully'.
For now, the best tools, due to compatibility, are the cheap/free ones: Milkshape3D and XSI ModTool. For some reason, people complain a lot about ModTool, but it has better poly modeling capabilities than Maya does, and is more user friendly, IMO. I think the problem is that since it is based on XSI, and there are so many options in terms of animating, texturing, rendering, etc., that people don't realize that poly modeling in XSI is pretty good. There is just a small hump to get over to learn how to do it in XSI.
BTW, I assumed that you are asking about programs that can be used to edit Sims 2 meshes. The short answer is 'there isn't a free program with .obj support that works with Mesh Tool.' The best answer is that XSI ModTool will work with .smd files, which the Mesh Tool will import, making .obj support unnecessary. Or Milkshape 3D is so cheap that it is practically free, and it functions well enough. Personally, I liked XSI so much that I bought XSI Foundation ($500 version). But not just for Sims 2 modding.
- Jay