Developer's Tools

[Anaxagoras]

This is the thread where everyone posts the different tools used for game developing. Whether it's programming, modelling, 2d art, or tutorials and tips, it's welcome here! The tools are all grouped accordingly by use. If it's not freeware, it will be marked as such.

3D Modelling
Blender - Freeware, Open-Source - Blender is a 3D modelling program and is part of the 'open-source movement.' It's free and you can make modifications to it if you're a programmer.

Anim8or - Freeware - Anim8or's a popular modeller/animation package. I don't use it, so I can't really vouch for it. Oo;

Wings3D - Freeware - Wings has been noted as being one of the best subdivision modellers, I believe. The tutorials aren't that great, IMO, but a lot of people will tell you Wings is great.

G-Max - Freeware - G-Max is a free modelling program based on Discreet's 3ds Max. Both are by Discreet and many people will tell you how they love G-Max. - The .ACT exporter is required to use the actors in Reality Factory.

Truespace 3.2 - Freeware - Another free modelling program, this time an earlier version of TrueSpace. Suggested by Quest of Dreams. I don't use it, but the results I've seen are pretty nice!

Milkshape 3d - Shareware, $25 dollars to register - Again, never used it, but this is one of the programs people SWEAR by. It's fully functional for 30 days then you've gotta pay one payment of $25, but it's cheap for such a good program.

2D Art
The GIMP - Freeware, Open-Source - The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the open-source response to the Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. The interface is a bit cluttered (there are plenty of plug ins to change that) but a very decent art program.

Deep Paint 2 - Freeware - Another freeware alternative to PS and PSP.

[MakerOfGames]

Caligari gameSpace Lite- Free 3D modeler with some limitations(no charactors over 650 polygons, no scenes over 2000 polygons.)
http://www.caligari.com/gamespace/gsl/gsL.asp

trueGene(needed for all gameSpace programs to convert .cob files to .act)
http://zerbe.homeunix.net/

[QuestOfDreams]

why use gamespace lite when truespace 3.2 is completly free and has no limitations? http://www.caligari.com/Products/trueSp ... fault.html

Gmax the 3d modelling program based on Autodesk 3ds Max is also free
http://www4.discreet.com/gmax/
You'll need the .act exporters from
http://www.genesis3d.com/~wog/tools.htm

The shareware modelling program Milkshape3D can take apart and output Genesis3D actors and is cheap to register ($25).
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/

Wings 3d is another free modelling program
http://www.wings3d.com/

Another free paint program is Deep Paint 2.
http://www.download.com/Deep-Paint/3000 ... 98243.html

[Spyrewolf]

Hey Quest can we sticky this thread? cos im sure that other newer members are gonna need these...

[Dru]

Anim8or
http://www.anim8or.com
free modelling program

[Edit QuestOfDreams: corrected link]

[Dreben]

The slashes are the wrong way...

Anyway, I prefer using Metasequoia and then attaching bones with Milkshape.

Although Metasequoia can't export unless registered, you could use 3D Object Converter or another such proggie to convert .mqo's.

[Edit QuestOfDreams: no warez allowed on the forum]

[Pete]

no offense dreben but most of us don't like promoting cracks on these boards

[Dru]

i am trying to write a free texture maker at this moment in time,
i will hopefully finish it soon.

PS Visual Basic 6 rules

[scott]

i have never used vb6 but i lernt a bit in VB.net (part of the visual studio pakage) and that seems easy to use, i have had a lecturer at my college say its better but it costs more i would belive.

[Muzzer]

I did VB at college and forgot most of it straight away.

http://www.maxon.net - Cinema 4D | Powerful modelling, animating, rendering etc. Cheaper than other higher level modellers. Hard to export stuff though.

[gekido]

Maya Personal Learning Edition (free)

Motion Builder Personal Learning Edition (free) - character animation program, saves as 'FBX' format, which Milkshape 3d now imports

Nem's Game Tools - Nem's Terrain Generator, very useful .map terrain generator application

IrFanView - very useful Image conversion & viewing utility - make sure you get the 'all plugins' installer as well.

Audacity - Audio editing program, basically an open-source 'Soundforge' replacement - exports mp3 & ogg vorbis

Melody - Free utility to convert / create LOD models & generate normal maps.

Stoik Video Converter - very useful video converter to pack those AVI trailers & in-game videos into a more reasonable filesize (ie for distribution on the web or for playing in-game).

I'm sure there are more, will post as I can

[Sloppy_taco]

Hi...

For Noobies, Zbrush 2 realy rocks... can paint and normal map models in 3d...
from 300-600$ depending on where you buy it... if you are a student ask for a student rate...

Tattoo really is neat also, lets you paint your models in True 3d... it works hand in hand with your GIMP,paintshop,corel,photoshop,MS paint whatever....FREE

all you have to do is save your texture from tatoo, load it in your favorite editing program, tweak your image, save, and then press control-ins in tattoo for it to auto re-fresh...
http://www.terabit.nildram.co.uk/tattoo/

this is not really related to 3d games , except if you want to make cartoons for the cutscenes...
Ktton is verry powerful, vector based animation tool, made by a few professional studios.... K-Toon can poop out Shockwave animations for your game website also!! Sorry LINUX ONLY!!
http://ktoon.toonka.com/
FREE

another editor for Vector software:
inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org/
FREE

If you have friends that want to make games, but dont want to learn codeing, and the ins and outs of BSP, here is 2 cool cross platform engines...
It is also interesting for people who want to learn about a non-bsp, true octree game engine... check this out, it is open source:

Cube 3d:
http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
FREE

and the newer version with raytraced shadow system Sarubratten:
http://strlen.com/sauerbraten/
FREE

I am helping develop a mod for saurbratten... i also use it for "Concept maps"... some of my reality factory maps where first made in Saurbratten... Verry cool you can instantly jump into the game engine to test game play!!! the only thing you have to build is the lightmap, everything else can be tweaked in real time!!!

Well, back on topic...

GTK radinat:
The gran daddy of most BSP editor systems...
http://www.qeradiant.com/
you can use radient to build maps for a few popular comercial game engines, as well as any other game engine that uses BSP.... OGRE and crystalspace have a direct importer for GTKradiant maps !!
FREE

Texturemaker...
For all your textureing needs... even Cubemaps for skyboxes!!!
A MUST FOR ANY MAPPER!!! I got it back when it was 30$ think it is 80$ now.... I use it every day!!

GIMP:
http://www.gimp.org/
FREE

Gimp is great! iuse it in windows and linux! verry useful program

for those of you who like Photoshop, but dont want to pay for it... and dont want to steal it:
Gimpshop:
http://plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241
FREE

==============================================

OK here is the Ultimate Blender link section! ALL FREE!! :

Blender totaly rocks now, full undo system, and exporters for many game engines....

Get Blender Here:
http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Home.2.0.html

Get the Video Tutorials Here:
http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html

Get the Blender Cubemap plugin here:
http://www.alienhelpdesk.com/index.php?id=16
The Cube map renderer is totaly AWESOME!!! just build your freaky scene in blender, and run this script to make some great scenery for your maps!

Get the Terregen to blender plugin here:
http://projects.blender.org/projects/ter2blend/
Us the teregen plugins to render terragen scenes in blender! use with the above cubemap script for photo realistic cubemaps...
the nice thing about this is that you can add buildings and trees and stuff in blender!

Do you suck at modeling Humans? try the make human script to pop out fully modeled/ rigged for animation/ UV mapped for textureing!!!
Make human totaly rocks, you can have a totaly "done" human in just a few minuets... Be sure to look around on the site for Make hair, and the sub surface scatterin scripts!! it is currently in a production mode, so you need to get the old version to export from blender:
http://www.dedalo-3d.com/

3dNP:
http://www.thoro.de/portfolio/verschiedenes/3DNP.html
3D No Plugin is really cool!!! anyone with a java enabled webbrowser can view 3d content, without downloading a plugin... it is image based so it supports any scene blender can render!!
this is cool for showing off your reality factory charictors on your game webpage

end of blender section
=================================================
ppmodeler:
http://www.ppmodeler.com/
an excellernt modeling / painting system....
make your models in pp modeler and paint them too
the programmer is working now on makeing ppmodeler integrated withthe make human script.

Misfit modeler...
Opens and saves OBJ, Milkshape MS3d, and quake 2 MD2 models (for saurbraten, cube!!)
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/i ... ler3d.html


Zmodeler:
http://www.zmodeler2.com/
Zmodeler is a great set of tools for creating low poly cars for video games!!
it has native exporters for popular raceing games, plus an OBJ and 3ds exporter for porting to other games... it has some advanced radiocity tools for game engines that support vertex lighting... you can bake shadows to the vertex colors and have the game engine multiply it to the textures for a fake shadow look... (looks crappy, but is great on FPS)

Reptile:
Utility for makeing various types of seamless noise:
http://www.sausage.com/reptile.html

Artrage:
http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Are you talented in watercolors or chalk, pencile, or oilpaint? here is a neat program ... isue it sometimes for texture creation... the oils have a light you can tweak in real time, for fast embossing...

7ZIP:
http://www.7-zip.org/
Make verry small files, for web distrabution, can make self extracting .EXE files for easy installing... it opens up most popular formats, includeing RAR, ZIP, LZH, and even Gzipped Linux Tarballs!! you can set the windows MIME types to 7ZIP so double clicking will open any forign compression formats...

For your script writing try this awesome Notepad replacement!!!
Notepad++:
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Syntax for every major programming/scripting/markup languages ( C, C++ , Java , C#, XML, HTML, PHP, Javascript , RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP , VB/VBS source files, SQL , Objective-C, CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python and Lua.)

loads faster then MS notepad, is Tabbed, and sets a cool Open with notepad++ to the rightclick context menu in explorer!!



and finaly go here for your open source software shopping:
http://sourceforge.net/
sourceforge has LOTS and lots of free software, check out the games section for game engines and game editors (and just games to play too!)



Well that is just a few i know about... have fun with your new applications
Hope this helps someone!

[Voltare]

Tattoo really is neat also, lets you paint your models in True 3d... it works hand in hand with your GIMP,paintshop,corel,photoshop,MS paint whatever....FREE

all you have to do is save your texture from tatoo, load it in your favorite editing program, tweak your image, save, and then press control-ins in tattoo for it to auto re-fresh...
http://www.terabit.nildram.co.uk/tattoo/




yes....but how do you get it to quit painting paralell bursh strokes on everything?( as in, you attempt to paint the front of a leg....it also may paint the face as well)

[Sloppy_taco]

Tattoo does this, just like the 150-400$ application Deep Pant 3d...

the best way around this is to reduce your brush size, and also pay attension to the texture guied (you must open this seperate from tool menu)...

Before painting, I group things together that are going to be the same color when I am uv mapping...

For the most part I use Zbrush, I just use tatoo when I am doing archetecture models, and when I need a quick touch up on a Zbrush model...

I agree with you, it is Irritateing when it happens... I ruined a few skins, before I learned not to save over my original, and to save incrementaly...

Thanks for the Feedback it is a good warning to new Tatoo users...

BTW adjust the brush size with the mousewheel....

I will be back later with some more nice applications...

I have my own Linux Live cd called Konux... you can review it here:
http://www.s91842597.onlinehome.us/konux//konux.html

I will make a download link as soon as I get my firewall fixed and bittorrent running again....

[AndyCR]

MAN does Konux look good... what window manager does it use? we (game developers) needed this a long time ago...

sorry to go offtopic...