How PS put so much detail into the models.

[Shane]

Hey guys. In a post on the Newtek forums Craig A Clark gave me some information on how PS managed to get such detail into the models while keeping such a low poly count.

The thread is located here:

http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread. … dependence

Here’s the relevent part:

“The way the textures were doen on the iwar games was simple. All the models were first built as full hi-def models for use in the intro movies and mission specific cut scenes. Low poly models were then built with matching layers, and UV’s assigned. An in house tool then created render scenes that LW could use to render out ‘grabs’ of the hi-def model in such a way as to aloow the grabs to be put on a texture page to match the UV layout of the real-time model. So all the bump mapping and crevices had rendered shadows acquired from the hi-defs. Some time after of course Micriwave came along which essentially does the same sort of thing.

Cheers!

P.s. Glad you liked the CNV301, I actually built that in the 4 days before my interview at Particle Systems (now Argonaut Sheffield) so as to have some ‘relevant’ portfolio material to show”
-CAClark

I did some research on the MicroWave plugin. It still exists, but cost $500 (US). However, there is a plugin which is supposed to do the same thing for free. It’s located at:

http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/normalmaps.html

I haven’t tried it out yet, but thought I’d post the info.

“Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together. This was no disciplined march; it was a stampede– without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of Civilisation… of the massacre of Mankind.”
–H. G. Wells The War Of The Worlds

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