3d Coat is a program that combines voxels modeling, texturing, pixel-based, textured by “microvertex” and a tool for retopology. Although the voxel modeling is not up to ZBrush or Mudbox, texturing and retopology are easy to use and have very good performance.

Unlike other packages like BodyPaint 3D or Deep Paint 3d, the interface is most similar to work with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, has a system of layers, masks and is relatively easy to create custom brushes. Additionally it is possible to paint on the color texture, specular map, normal and / or moving with 3D preview.

The tool allows for its part retopology “draw” polygonal models on high resolution models, in order to generate a low poly that can be used for games (using projection texture). This is faster and easier than to redo the manual polygonal model, which conforms to the proportions and high poly surface. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to Wikipedia (which is only good for general information but with little depth) over the years have set up a wiki for many specialized topics, using the MediaWiki platform. In the case of game programming some of the more interesting and more information:

GDwiki: The wiki Gamedev.net, has a long list of commercial tools, open, freeware, some complete books, tutorials, and a lot of articles about graphics and game programming.
FreeGameDev: Specially designed to free resources for game development. Includes textures, tools, engines, audio, book, 3d models, tutorials, etc..
GPwiki: Specially dedicated to programming, contains references to libraries, languages, tutorials, and some designer items.
Wiki Codepixe l: An interesting collection of links and tutorials in Spanish graphics programming.
Ogre Wiki: Despite being an extension of the Ogre 3d project, this wiki has more information about programming, tools, tutorials and resources for game development in general.

Perhaps with the exception of private wiki Wikipedia, but even the specific issues tend to be scarce and little content, among other things,

that eliminates the black-byte

Previously, he mentioned some sites to get free textures for games (and in some cases photos of reference). Additional to this site is CG texture, a large collection of high-resolution photographs that can be used directly as textures (though sometimes necessary to make some seamless retouching). Read the rest of this entry »

One of the needs of a video game artist (if not buy the models) is to have a set of reference images to model and / or to create something new. Perhaps the best artists and have all in the head, but for which no (or for which the 3d is a hobby and are more amateur like me) a good reference helps. Read the rest of this entry »

For those who were awaiting the opportunity to have an engine last (or “almost” last generation, as compared to Cry Engine 3) Epic Games in partnership with other industry has released UDK (Unreal Development Kit), a free version of Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine and tools, aimed at non-commercial use. This includes most of the tools that UE3 has:
Level editor. It has content manager (Unreal Content Browser) and integrates all engine functions in a single environment.
Rendering engine. The Gemini system of 64-bit HDR with support for multithreading is also available in this version. SSAO has, Unreal Light mass, Global Illuminator for static and render specialized types of convenience for customizing the process.
Animation. Detailed control of animation with up to 4 bones per vertex, allows control to detail and blending between animations. Read the rest of this entry »