unwrapping and textures for 3d game engines

[isaac_cm]

Hello,

I am learning now unwrapping the textures for models to be placed inside 3D game engines, but in Max this process is sometimes very long and hard for complex models,

 

my question is there any new tools can help me for faster and easier unwrapping and packing textures process ?

 

- Another thing I noticed some software called 3D painters to paint directly on the 3D models, can it be used also for 3D engines or it is only used in animation ?

 

looking for professional advice

 

Thanks

Edited February 16, 2009 by isaac_cm

[SandmanNinja]

You might get better answers from a gaming type website.

 

I suggest http://www.3d-palace.com - they have free tutorials and are currently making a game mod for Unreal Tournament III.

[isaac_cm]

ok but please leave this topic open in case there is some one can answer me

 

thanks

[SandmanNinja]

Autodesk Mudbox (and ZBrush) will allow you to 'paint' on the model itself.

I (think) some or all of Mudbox will be incorporated into 3ds Max 2010, as well as Polyboost (giving you some nice poly editing tools and options).

 

There was a discussion on this forum about using the Crysis engine for realtime walkthrough - do a search on the forums for the posts. It's really expensive to license, tho.

 

And when I do 'fun' models (like 'Mechs and spaceships), unwrapping takes me almost twice as long as modelling. One trick is to unwrap the lower res version of the model (say, before applying Turbo Smooth modifier or if you build from a lower res version to a higher res version, keep a copy of the lower res version and unwrap that and apply the unwrapped mesh to the higher res model.

 

It's a lot quicker than unwrapping all of those chamfered edges.

[isaac_cm]

yes I find mudbox is quit a cool tool thanks