Dom Pedro II
Modder For Life
Today has brought us yet more screenshots for Civilization 4. One of the reasons I have not been as active here as I was in the past is because I felt like maybe it was time to start looking to the next generation. Civ4 seems like it will greatly expand the options for the modder.
Unfortunately, the price we have had to pay is that the graphics are going to render 4 years of work on Civ3 completely obsolete. I'm going to finish up a few unfinished works and then I am through with Civ3. I think Civ4, for a modder, will be what Civ3 was hoped to be by many of us five years ago.
However, we face something of a crisis in the coming months. Those of us who have been cutting and pasting units and using 3D modeling programs that cannot export figures, will be unable to contribute to the graphics for Civ4. This will probably halve our capabilities for making Civ4 units... even worse, the other graphics... the cities, the terrain, that so many have put so much work into using Photoshop and Paintshop will also be unable to make more cities and terrain graphics.
Even the fantastic wonder splashes will be replaced by movies, though it will probably be possible to insert a still frame and have the game play that.
It's a really unpleasant thought to think that all this work is not going to be able to transfer over (I know that's the way many must have felt when Civ3 came out and Civ2 became a thing of the past). At that time, I only modded with other people's graphics, so I wouldn't know.
But we have a few choices: We can wait and let Civ4 scatter us about as we try to figure out how to make it work piecemeal, we can ignore Civ4 and keep using Civ3 eventhough I can tell you right now that I will not, or we can organize now and be prepared for the coming changes.
One of the nice things about 3D graphics, and I think all who make units will agree, no more rendering! No more palettes! No more storyboards!
Now we can really focus on the "fun" stuff without thinking of the tediousness of compiling our animations into working .FLCs.
Some important questions:
Can we transfer over our saved models to Civ4?
The answer is yes and no. One of the disadvantages to 3D graphics as opposed to 2D graphics is that 3D graphics are not pre-rendered. With 2D graphics that have been pre-rendered, they're smooth and detailed... 3D graphics on the other hand, when viewed up close appear much more coarse by comparison. This is because of what we call polygons. Maybe someday when computers are much faster 3D games will be able to utilize models with a similar polygon count like what we use for rendering graphics in Poser, 3DS Max, etc.
However, right now... Poser users will probably have to reduce their polygon counts by as much as 90%, many of those who make their own models may have to reduce them by 50%, and some may not have to reduce them at all. So that means that many of us are going to have to start reworking some of our existing models, and in all likelihood, we're going to have to make a whole new generation of human models. It also means that we're going to have to focus more on textures than on geometry... In the past, if we were making a Mountain Man, for example, we might have a powder horn model attached to his belt... now, we will probably have to trim it down to just a texture of a powder horn (for example).
What can 2D artists do?
As I just said, we are going to have to rely more on textures... textures for units, terrain, tile improvements, city improvements, cities, resources, etc. etc. We 3D modelers will require textures far more detailed than anything we really bothered with in the past. In fact, the same human model could be given new skins to create completely unique units. So 2D artists will have a new role in which they can modify existing models that come with the game, or help 3D modelers with their projects.
Can't draw? Can't sculpt? What can you do?
We need information. We need people to catalogue existing units (from any site) so we know what needs to be replaced... and so we can figure out what can be used now, what will have to be modified, and what will have to be replaced from scratch. We need to know what artists have what models left (some of us have deleted some of them unfortunately).
We also need information about how the Gamebryo engine works and what we need to do to make a unit work... even better, if we can get somebody who has used the Gamebryo engine before. All of this information needs to be compiled...
Also the game will open up a lot of new unit types with new features that made certain kinds of units pointless in Civ3, so...... *SIGH* you should probably also work on unit and other graphic requests too...
I've created a Yahoo! Group called the Civilization Artists Union that might be a good place to make the hub of the Civ4 conversion process. That way we won't need to clutter up the forums here. Anybody can join, you don't even need me to approve your membership this time. And as soon as you get in, you can start posting too. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! OUR 3D ARTISTS, PLEASE JOIN THE GROUP!
Anyway, teamwork, people. Teamwork is the key!
Unfortunately, the price we have had to pay is that the graphics are going to render 4 years of work on Civ3 completely obsolete. I'm going to finish up a few unfinished works and then I am through with Civ3. I think Civ4, for a modder, will be what Civ3 was hoped to be by many of us five years ago.
However, we face something of a crisis in the coming months. Those of us who have been cutting and pasting units and using 3D modeling programs that cannot export figures, will be unable to contribute to the graphics for Civ4. This will probably halve our capabilities for making Civ4 units... even worse, the other graphics... the cities, the terrain, that so many have put so much work into using Photoshop and Paintshop will also be unable to make more cities and terrain graphics.
Even the fantastic wonder splashes will be replaced by movies, though it will probably be possible to insert a still frame and have the game play that.
It's a really unpleasant thought to think that all this work is not going to be able to transfer over (I know that's the way many must have felt when Civ3 came out and Civ2 became a thing of the past). At that time, I only modded with other people's graphics, so I wouldn't know.
But we have a few choices: We can wait and let Civ4 scatter us about as we try to figure out how to make it work piecemeal, we can ignore Civ4 and keep using Civ3 eventhough I can tell you right now that I will not, or we can organize now and be prepared for the coming changes.
One of the nice things about 3D graphics, and I think all who make units will agree, no more rendering! No more palettes! No more storyboards!
Now we can really focus on the "fun" stuff without thinking of the tediousness of compiling our animations into working .FLCs.
Some important questions:
Can we transfer over our saved models to Civ4?
The answer is yes and no. One of the disadvantages to 3D graphics as opposed to 2D graphics is that 3D graphics are not pre-rendered. With 2D graphics that have been pre-rendered, they're smooth and detailed... 3D graphics on the other hand, when viewed up close appear much more coarse by comparison. This is because of what we call polygons. Maybe someday when computers are much faster 3D games will be able to utilize models with a similar polygon count like what we use for rendering graphics in Poser, 3DS Max, etc.
However, right now... Poser users will probably have to reduce their polygon counts by as much as 90%, many of those who make their own models may have to reduce them by 50%, and some may not have to reduce them at all. So that means that many of us are going to have to start reworking some of our existing models, and in all likelihood, we're going to have to make a whole new generation of human models. It also means that we're going to have to focus more on textures than on geometry... In the past, if we were making a Mountain Man, for example, we might have a powder horn model attached to his belt... now, we will probably have to trim it down to just a texture of a powder horn (for example).
What can 2D artists do?
As I just said, we are going to have to rely more on textures... textures for units, terrain, tile improvements, city improvements, cities, resources, etc. etc. We 3D modelers will require textures far more detailed than anything we really bothered with in the past. In fact, the same human model could be given new skins to create completely unique units. So 2D artists will have a new role in which they can modify existing models that come with the game, or help 3D modelers with their projects.
Can't draw? Can't sculpt? What can you do?
We need information. We need people to catalogue existing units (from any site) so we know what needs to be replaced... and so we can figure out what can be used now, what will have to be modified, and what will have to be replaced from scratch. We need to know what artists have what models left (some of us have deleted some of them unfortunately).
We also need information about how the Gamebryo engine works and what we need to do to make a unit work... even better, if we can get somebody who has used the Gamebryo engine before. All of this information needs to be compiled...
Also the game will open up a lot of new unit types with new features that made certain kinds of units pointless in Civ3, so...... *SIGH* you should probably also work on unit and other graphic requests too...
I've created a Yahoo! Group called the Civilization Artists Union that might be a good place to make the hub of the Civ4 conversion process. That way we won't need to clutter up the forums here. Anybody can join, you don't even need me to approve your membership this time. And as soon as you get in, you can start posting too. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! OUR 3D ARTISTS, PLEASE JOIN THE GROUP!
Anyway, teamwork, people. Teamwork is the key!
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
