DeleD Community Edition

[Tristan]

I've been wondering this for quite some time. I've started creating a model using 1-2 default grid size but I wanted to restart because I had issues with it being too small, I know I can resize it but when I do so it can cause problems with being aligned with the grid. And I prefer things that can align with the grid. Now if I make things with 5 default grid size, stuff are freaken huge, I like it. But I wonder if in the long run it will cause me problems? Like for example in 3D View it's way off the little grid... and that's just the wall, and I wana make a whole village in DeleD on the same file.

What problems could I encounter with this. I prefer making the whole village in the same file that way I'm sure everything's the right size.. ect.

What are your thoughts on the subject?
How do you guys go about it? Do you make ur model using a small grid size or as big as you can?

[elementrix]

i use the smallest gridsize because when it's too big you need to move with the camera for an hour to get to an another spot

[Tristan]

Yeah I thought about that too but, check in options there's zoomspeed, just increase it and it's just as if it was at smallest size.

[Daaark]

Simple, don't model on one gridsize. Change the gridsize as needed for whatever object you are making.

What I do is use 12 minor and 120 major. This gives me 1 foot on a ten feet major squares. Then I go down to 6, o r 3 (sometimes even 1) to get things that are 6, 3 1 inch, etc... (this gives 1 unit to an inch, so it's easy to model things based off their real life size by looking them up). I just need to be careful, because after going down to 1, the CTRL-/+ hotkeys will return to the 2,4,8,16 grid instead of my 3,6,12,24 grid and I have to go back and reset it manually.

The grid is a simple guide and alignment tool. It's not something you should be restricted to when building.

Just be careful when you go back to a small object while you're on a big grid.
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[granada]

[Tristan]

but if the city's too big.. and if Im way off the (3D view)grid like below, could that cause any problems later on?

im way off the grid in 3D view but in the other view the grids infinit.


This may seem as a stupid question, but I'm new to 3D overall, so I bound to ask weird questions hehe... I just wana make 3D the right way and not encounter too many obsticles because of the way im doing it if that makes sense.

[Daaark]

The grid sizes don't really mean anything. 3D units are just generic units, and it's up to you to decide what scale you want to work in. Making overly large objects will run you into some trouble after awhile, because the floating point accuracy goes down, so it's best not to over do it.

Just decide what scale you want to work in, and start modelling. Some people don't work in any scale, and go by look, but that can run you into some problems. You may notice this in some games when the door handles are at the same height as your character's forehead, instead of waist high.


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[Tristan]

I tried overly large wall... and then tried to do steps to get on it, and then used lightmapping and ran it into the level previewer plugin.. my FPS are horrible.. Do hugeness affect FPS?

I go mostly by look or grid size.. I wanted to go at it by level previewer, you know like walk inside my own level and see how things look if the space is big enough in corridors for 2 persons... ect. I suck with scales and proportions lol.

I'd need to predefine stuff.. like 1 grid unit woudl equal 10cm in real life.. then check the average human height.. and then check the average door height and width.. and calculate everything like an architect lol.. seems complicated though

[Tristan]

I went around to check
Average Human Height: 180cm approx.
Average Door Height: 210cm approx(mine).

So let's say I use Default Grid 3 as my main modeling grid. I wonder what I should consider 1 Unit as in CM?

16x16 by Yellow/Green Big Gride

1=20cm?

edited
that seems to big when i test it

[Daaark]

There's no 'right' answer to what the right sizes are. Whatever works for you. And you should never lock yourself on one set gridsize.

I like 12/120 because it's easy to model rooms and stuff in feet, and it keeps the grid lines from getting too small or packed. One big 120x120 section is ten feet. So if I want a ten foor room, I just need to simply drag a cube over my big grid.

That might not be very good if you plan to model huge cityscapes or race tracks, because you'd get a huge model, and the floating point numbers will lose accuracy as the numbers get too big. You'd model in some pseudo scale in that case.

You are giving this too much though really. It's not confusing at all. It's all free form, like a pad with a pencil. Just make your shapes, and let the grid help guide you where needed. A lot of people just go by eye. If something is too big or small, make use of the scaling functionality to fix it, until it looks good to your eye.

If scale is important, just use something like my 12/120 system modified for whatever suits your needs.
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[Tristan]

Ok. I've never been thought feets though lol. When I was in school they only thought: cm, m.. ect but no feet weird uh.

making things small but proportionat can be good because once it's loaded into an engine like NF then you can rescale everything but if things arent proportionate things won't look good.. like ur char wont fit and stufff hehe.

[Daaark]

[Tristan]

anyway to resize the grid? I went into option and resized it but as soon as i change grid it switches back.. ect. Which is rather annoying. now i made a cool looking wall with uber part and stuff.. now i wana make small chinese style roof thingy.. but textures dont take form so i need to make round stuff but the grid's too big lol

[jwatte]

I use 1 cm == 1 unit. Because my engine uses 1 m == 1 unit, I enter a 1/100 scaling factor when exporting, using NuXporter.

This works out very nicely with the grid, because eyes are at about 160 or 170 units. I often make doors that are 256 units tall, and ceilings that are 384 units (or at least 320 units), to make the levels feel more spacious, and get more room for the camera. Games will typically do this -- rooms are bigger in games than in real life, to get good game-play.

[Daaark]