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View Full Version : Looking for a 3D editor to create 2D sprites



Ñuño Martínez
19-01-2010, 11:08 AM
Hello fellow.

I'm planing a game, something simple. It will be a clone of FamousItalianPlumber Kart using a retro Mode-7 (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/director/articles/tilebased_scrolling/fig04.gif) style. Problem is how can I create the car graphics? I think I can create simple 3D models with a graphic application then render them in 8 directions, but I never used a 3D editor so I don't know which one to use.

So, I need a 3D model creator simple for beginners, that allows to render 2D sprites in different angles and animations (or another application that allows this) and md2 support (this last is because I did wrote a md2 loader some time ago so I can use it if I'll do a 3D game someday ;)). Can you recommend me one?

Thanks.

Traveler
19-01-2010, 11:51 AM
Blender or Milkshape. The first is free the other around $50 or so, I think.

noeska
19-01-2010, 06:25 PM
Personaly i never understood blender ui.

You might also want to look at anim8or: http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html and even into google sketchup http://sketchup.google.com/

chronozphere
19-01-2010, 06:54 PM
Use DeleD! (http://www.delgine.com)

It is easy to learn and has a very simple UI. It is written in pascal and it's even opensource now.
You should give it a go. ;)

jdarling
20-01-2010, 04:34 AM
Two apps that I know can do it:
SpriteWorks ($50 US) - http://www.envygames.com/content/?page_id=65
SpriteForge (Lite is free) - http://www.d-grafix.com/?page=spriteforge

Depending on what you want to do, either may be a quick and simple solution for you.

Ñuño Martínez
20-01-2010, 03:36 PM
I see most of them are Windows only. I hope I can use them with Wine (Anim8or says it works). I'll take a look.

Thank you.

jdarling
20-01-2010, 04:36 PM
Yeah, I'd like to find something cross platform as well. If nothing else, writing something like this can't be that bad (of course, as you can see from my other post I don't know 3D cross platform LOL). Maybe someone will build a similar app in Laz so it is cross platform :)

Ñuño Martínez
20-01-2010, 05:28 PM
If you want to get it right, do it yourself. Again. In the last months I said this to myself a lot of times. Actually I have two projects in mind that "re-invent the wheel": a Pascal interpretor, (because I can't find one that fits my needs) and a "personal versioning manager". Should I add a 3D editor + Sprite maker?

Actually I like the idea. And it's bad. Too bad. :no:

Brainer
20-01-2010, 05:34 PM
I like the idea of your own version management system. :)

czar
20-01-2010, 06:27 PM
Have a look at

http://reinerstileset.4players.de/englisch.html

and specifically

http://reinerstileset.4players.de/vehiclesE.html

noeska
20-01-2010, 06:38 PM
Version Management System: Subversion ( http://subversion.tigris.org/ ) is good.
Pascal Interpretor: Pascal Script (http://www.remobjects.com/free.aspx) even works with freepascal under linux on the beagleboard :-)
And for your 3d editor to 2d sprites editor: http://www.d-grafix.com/?page=spriteforge

chronozphere
20-01-2010, 06:49 PM
Version Management System: Subversion ( http://subversion.tigris.org/ ) is good.


Subversion has problems. A distributed sollution like Git is probably better, once you know how to work with it (I don't, but it's on my Todo-list). For more info on Git, compared to subversion, check this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8

If you are not comfortable with a command-line interface, you should check the GUI front-ends (like TortoiseGit). :)

Brainer
20-01-2010, 07:21 PM
Subversion has problems.

Can you elaborate?

chronozphere
21-01-2010, 07:53 AM
Well.. First of all:
Say you are working on a feature that took 10 hours to implement and test. Others may have committed other code to the repository in the meantime. You're code is based on an outdated revision of the repository. If you try to commit, You will have to merge alot of stuff which is very tedious. The actual conflicts may not even be related to the changes you made.
In Git, merging is very easy and fast and the system keeps track of what you merged and what not. Furthermore, it's decentralized, which means you can make as many "repositories" as you want, which makes sharing unfinished code with other developers easy (without having to commit it).
Subversion is slow. When you are working on a "larger" project and you want to retrieve the log file, It'll probably take about 20-30 seconds before you see it.
Subversion does not check the integrity of a repository, memory and harddrive failure may cause a repository to become corrupted. Git makes a hash of a repository and always checks against this hash before doing anything with it. If it becomes corrupt, It will let you know.

Disclaimer: I did not use Git yet, but I read and heard quite alot about it. I don't know anything about it's usability (But that should be okay when you use a nice frontend, like TortoiseGit). I have installed it though, and I will check it as soon as I have time. :)