Crysis for realtime Arch viz

[taran0]

I'm doing a Masters degree in CAD and Construction and as part of my Realtime CAD assignment i decided to learn and use the Crysis Sandbox editor to create an architectural visualization. The assignment was to create an interactive architectural environment in an engine of your choice.

 

This was my first time using Crysis, as i had previously used the unreal engine, I managed to produced a whole island and also managed to import an architectural model into the engine. I was surprised at how easy and user friendly Crysis sandbox is compared to other architectural alternatives. I manged to to do this pretty quickly and had loads of fun in the process. the whole island and architecture model was done within a 4 days( in between my off days from work) It isn't totally finished but i ran out of time and did the presentation as it was just meant to be a test excercise. They were very impressed with the quality of Crysis, and the other examples created in Vizard and Quest 3D just paled in comparison to what this can do.

 

this was just a quick test and i am working on some more advanced examples.

 

you can see a few examples below, To see more images you can check this flickr set at the following URL

Tarans Crysis Arch Viz SLideshow

 

 

 

Architectural model within 3ds MAX

 

 

 

 

Taran

[taran0]

 

 

[Devin Johnston]

Can we see the VR?

[AJLynn]

Can you animate bad guys carrying change order forms?

[Ricardo Eloy]

Pretty interesting!

BTW, the helicopter and the guy in tecnosuit add an extra mood! ;-)

[SandmanNinja]

That's really cool!

 

I bought Crysis when I got my new PC and think the graphics are incredible.

 

It's really spoiled me for other games (not that I play a lot).

 

Is the Sandbox editor in the game disc somewhere?

[Ky Lane]

Wow! Fascinating.

[Hazdaz]

More info please! That looks cool as hell.

[vizwhiz]

previous Thread

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/29929-fn-crysis.html

 

The sandbox editor is on The install disk, doesnt automatically install

They have some excellent forums for modding and making Crysis work

 

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIK_enUS265US266&q=crysis+forums

 

sandbox links

 

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIK_enUS265US266&q=crysis+forums+sandbox

 

my 14 year old is playing with The Sandbox

i got To get some 3d models Together soon

 

**

 

Taran0, The 3d models above look great

maybe we need a Crysis forum or somekind of online cga project

 

(got To have The game disk To make This happen, but....)

There are forums That share crysis info and are quite useful

[tonyclifton]

Taran, excellent project! It is very inspiring, definetly something I´d like to do myself. Great work!!! Thanks, for sharing here.

[taran0]

thanks

 

yes the install is on the cd, once you have installed the game install the sandbox, its very small and when you go into the crysis/bin folder you see the editor.exe there.

 

3DS MAX

you should also download the crysis sdk 1.2, it has a all the plugins for photoshop and 3dsmax. The crysis team have integrated it really well into max, you get these crytools which allow you to prepare objects and characters etc for crysis and do most of the work in 3dsmax.

 

the crysis editor is a lot like 3dsmax, so you will feel right at home.

 

TERRAIN

The landscaping tools are great, you get somethign similar too vue or bryce where you can either import a heightmap or/and use algorithms to weather or create a surface.

 

additionally you get layer editing tools such as flatten and noise so that you can set height levels and then paint away.

 

TERRAIN TEXTURES

terrain textures have a visible texture and also a detail texture, so when your up close you can see the detailing, you can also change the lightness of the material fro variations

 

VEGETATION

the foliage is absolutely amazing, you can create different sets of trees and grass or even stone objects and then either distribute according to texture applied to the terrain or angle of slope. The better way though is to select your sets and just paint away on the surface. you can also set the wind speed so that the foliage sways.

 

LIGHTING

the "time of day" features are awesome, you can set the path of the sun and then run through the 24 hours of the day, theres loads of other settings that i haven't even looked at yet, but the shadows all move in real time.

 

EXPORTING

haven't got the full hang of exporting yet, but basic objects are pretty simple to export and you can keep your max modifiers on them, they have a built in shader for the max material editor which can physicalize your object for collision, alternatively you can use a proxy mesh.

 

the scripting is also pretty simple, but powerful, it uses a flow chart system and you basically select different functions to add into the flowchart and then link them to the tags of the physical entities.

 

yes the mech suit character really does do something for the mood of it, heheheh

you can create your own characters for crysis, although i haven't tried it yet.

you can also create new models for the car, helicopter, boat and hovercraft.

 

I haven't really played crysis much because I kind of got bored half way through, just wanted to roam around and explore the island but people kept shooting at me.

 

it's GREAT FUN!! and i'm working on another project now

 

Taran.

[gfa2]

What is the licensing like for this? Is there anyway to legally use this in a commercial application? Build a model and use this engine to create a package to allow a building owner to walk through the building.

[taran0]

not at the moment

 

it is only available as a game license, so you can license it to create one of your own games.

 

not too sure on the price but another engine which is similar is unreal 3 which goes at approximately £750,000 dollars, but for big games companies who are selling millions of copies of games it is viable. Crysis is probably a little more then that.

 

there is only one company so far who has the crysis engine for architectural work and that is imagtp you can see some info on the link below

 

http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/2007/02/crytek-realtime-engine-for-architecture.html

 

 

hopefully they will come up with a solution for architectural companies who aren't making games, but will have to wait and see.

 

until then theres just experimentation and fun of the non-profit kind.

 

alternatively you can check out Quest 3D at about a couple of grand its not a bad engine.

 

Taran

[RyanSpaulding]

A major issue with this medium is you have to depend on your client to even be able to run Crysis at high settings. I'm aware most of us here have computers can handle it...but we're definitely the minority.

 

My Quad Core with 3GB ram and 8600 GTS GeForce cant even run it that well.

[SandmanNinja]

My computer (quad core, xp64, 8-gig ram, 8800GT w/1 gig video ram) runs it beautifully at very high quality (1600x1080 or something) - it has spoilt me for other games for video quality.

 

But you're right - and they probably wouldn't.

 

But I wonder if you could just ..er.. not charge for the Crysis work.

No money = no commercial?

 

Bury the costs overhead in other areas (internally).

 

And then use it to demo the model/scene to YOUR client in YOUR in-house shop (i.e. conference room, etc).

 

Think that would skirt the issue?

 

Or should we even be thinking of skirting the issue?

 

And just think of the kick-ass levels you could release to the gaming community!

 

"Terrorists have taken hostages in the famout 7-star hotel in Dubai...

[whitetr]

Likewise, my computer runs it at a level that looks better than any game. I have a Q6600, 2GigRAM and an 8800GTX. My wife's computer actually plays it better. She runs a Q9450, 4Gig Ram and an 8800GT 512. Even on low settings, this engine is awesome:)

 

Visit www.cryengine2.com for more details. They DO license it for vis work...but who know what the price is. They call it their "visual editor" package. ImageTP is a licensee partner ( http://www.imagtp.com/ ). They've done some real neat stuff in the CryEngine2 for visualization.

You can actually create any "mod" for the game and share that mod. You just can't sell it without the proper permission (money)...and you need to purchase the game to open the mod (level). Fun stuff!

 

To clarify one thing in this thread:

Crysis is a game. The engine is called CryEngine2. The editor for the engine is called Sandbox2.

As these names imply, there is a Cryengine1 and Sandbox1 (used to create the game called FarCry)...which still looks great:)

[Dave Buchhofer]

most of the larger engine company's licensing only comes into play when distributing the model, if you're going to be using it internally, you can in most cases distribute the models and parts as 'custom levels' freely, but the end user may have to have a copy of the game itself to be able to run the file.

[blowback]

this all seems very seductive......Nice work!

[SandmanNinja]

most of the larger engine company's licensing only comes into play when distributing the model, if you're going to be using it internally, you can in most cases distribute the models and parts as 'custom levels' freely, but the end user may have to have a copy of the game itself to be able to run the file.

 

 

So... I can make a level, tell my client to buy a $50 game, and then they can roam around in their model...

 

And as long as there is an item on the invoice:

"Architectural Crysis Model: $0"

"Bogus Charge to cover above: $1000"

 

Then we're golden?

 

[vizwhiz]

you might want To play it safe and demonstrate This on your own company (hot sh#t) laptop

 

(good as an excuse To buy a high-end laptop if i ever heard of one)

 

That way you Take it with you when you leave

yes, bill for hours somewhere in The project pile

 

i emailed These people 2 weeks ago

i Think someone said somewhere on The forums

 

That a commercial viz-only (not gaming) license

might go for about $10,000 USD but DONT quote me on That

 

They are considering doing something for The arch viz community

 

**

 

maybe i can borrow my quad-core (back) when my son goes

on his summer vacation(s) This summer, it was 110 F yesterday

 

and many MORE To come in sunny aridzona

[taran0]

hehehehehhee.....

 

I have been thinking along the same lines.

 

not charging for any crysis stuff, but just for my 3dsmax time,

 

OR asking the client if they want to checkout my latest level which has their new building in it and then they can give me a donation for being such a dude!

 

alternatively just hide a grenade launcher in the reception area, and if anyone asks its a defend your office block level.

 

I'll post a video up in the next few days, and im working on another sample.

 

taran

[IC]

I'm sure I read somewhere that they were releasing a much cheaper version of the engine+license for architects to use.

It compared the price to Max saying it would be considerably more but still affordable.

 

I just can't remember where I read it.

Is this the week's most useless post?

[RyanSpaulding]

It compared the price to Max saying it would be considerably more but still affordable.

 

Is this possible even? I think "considerably more" than 3DSMax and "still affordable" do not go hand-in-hand.

[AJLynn]

If you're a large office, you only need one license compared to several Max licenses, you can recoup the cost from selling one interactive model and it doesn't take that long to go from a Max model to this, then paying more than what Max costs for this could be worth it. But I'd still be concerned about hardware, since your average corporate decision maker is more likely to have a Thinkpad with an Intel GMA chip than a gaming rig with an 8800 or a workstation with a Quadro.

[bjornkn]

Is this Sandbox/Crysis for max only?