Can You Use Blender to Make Art for Games
Originally shared past Embark Studios on their web log.
At Embark we utilise Blender across the studio equally our become-to tool for 3D and environment art. Just now, we also renewed our gold-level sponsorship of the Blender Evolution Fund another year. In this mail, Daniel Bystedt details why Blender is smashing for game development and lets yous in on a specific use-case.
My own history with Blender dates back to 2015. Blender has evolved tons since, but fifty-fifty back then I was surprised to detect how capable this free software was, with its fantastic modeling toolset and non-subversive modifier organization.
Information technology made me fall back in love with 3D modeling again, and soon upon discovering Blender, I found myself using it for most of my tasks. Over time, I also became an active member of the Blender community. Nowadays, I'm involved in some of Blender's development processes as a commissioner for various projects.
Embark's cover of Blender was in fact how I discovered this studio in the first identify and a big reason why I work here today (in add-on to our work with machine learning and proceduralism). At Embark, we're constantly looking for new and effective tools and solutions to solve issues, and Blender truly speaks to what sort of studio we want to be. Every bit a free and open up-source tool, it too contributes to making game development more attainable and collaborative.
Given that Blender is an unfamiliar tool for many of our new artists, we've been working actively to make sure everyone hither gets the know-how and support they need to quickly get up to speed. Many who were skeptics at offset are now some of our virtually active Blender advocates, which has been fun to watch!
As nosotros gloat our start year equally a Blender sponsor, we wanted to share some of this know-how with all of you in the Blender community too. Then in this post, I'm going to describe to you in a chip more detail some of the specific reasons we think Blender is swell for game development, and describe a specific utilize-case, as we're now working on our start games.
And so let'south go into it.
Blender has a lot of amazing features, but some of the near important ones for us at Embark is theapproachable and not-destructive modeling tools and modifiers. The realtime viewport Eevee is also priceless when it comes to evaluating your model and textures before importing them intoUnreal Engine. We also love Blender's constant updates and development bike and that the Blender Foundation is so transparent nigh its development process.
Blender is likewise very pipeline-friendly and allows united states to effortlessly implement tools and applications into our pipeline. Blenders' data management of file content provides flexibility
Blender allows whatever type of information to be stored on near all types of data types inside the file. Custom properties can be stored on scenes, objects, meshes, collections, etc. Custom backdrop tin can concord basically any type of data such as float, string, list, dictionaries, and more.
For example: switching to the scripting tab and writing this example in the python console in Blender
bpy.context.active_object['my_string_property'] = "<3 Blender"
will requite you a custom cord belongings on the active object, that you lot can expose in object backdrop or by investigating the outliner with display fashion: "Data API".
Blender uses a lot of mesh component information for vertex groups, bevel weights, and creasing weights. By collecting this per-vertex/edge/polygon information and store it into a custom object belongings, we tin consign the objects using the FBX or ALEMBIC file formats (note: ALEMBIC supports custom properties as of Blender 2.91). The files tin then be opened inHoudini and then we can practice operations by using the vertex/border/polygon data.
Creating real-fourth dimension pilus in Blender
Then let'due south discuss a specific Blender use-case for u.s. here at Embark: how nosotros use Blender to create real-time hair.
Blender offers the ability to do modeling, texturing, shading, and also display your work in a high-quality real-time rendering viewport. Therefore, it'due south a bang-up tool for creating pilus, both for the classic pilus-card approach, just also for importing grooms into Unreal when exported equally a curve object with multiple splines to Alembic.
When creating the texture for hair cards, we create a strip of hair on a slanted aeroplane. The preparation tools in Blender is really overnice and are easy to use:
We then layout the pilus strips on a grid. The hair shader that we later employ in Blender and Unreal tin can dynamically change UV mapping to accommodate to the number of rows and columns used in the hair menu texture. This way we can easily change the hair texture on any character in the game engine.
The hair is then rendered out from an orthographic photographic camera and the different shading attributes such as normals, opacity, random strand value and specular can be packed into the RGB channels of one or multiple textures.
The hair particle arrangement is placed on a hair cap on the character. Using a hair cap makes it easier to keep a repository of hairstyles.
The geometry of a basic pilus-strip looks like this (the UV is normalized):
Using a particle case modifier on the pilus card geometry and pointing the modifier'southward object value to the hair-cap and particle system will instance and deform the pilus card to each hair curve in the hair particle system.
Pilus cards tin exist reduced and triangulated in a not-subversive workflow using modifiers:
Viewing the pilus in the real-time rendering viewport Eevee can give you a great idea of how the result will look in the game engine.
Watch Daniel Bystedt showcase this workflow on Blender Today Live #129
Embark Studios is a corporate member of the Blender Development Fund.
What is the Blender Development Fund?
The Blender Development Fund accepts donations to back up activities to provide free and open accessible services for all Blender contributors – including professionals and corporations – on the blender.org websites. Support activities include bug fixing, lawmaking reviews, technical documentation and onboarding.
The fund will also provide grants and subsidies to developers on generic and widely agreed evolution projects.
Acquire more at fund.blender.org
Source: https://www.blender.org/user-stories/using-blender-in-game-development-by-embark/
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