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Custom Environments

Virtual Desktop allows users to create and share custom environments which can be created from various types of assets: 360 panoramas, cubemaps, stereo cubemaps or even fully rendered models.
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Reapy

26 May, 2016 @ 1:43pm

Workflow to make modeled environments?

So I'm a total newb when it comes to 3d land. I've used some game level editors in the past to place things around but too much more than that. I'm not familiar with the standard 3d formats so was wondering if there was a primer somewhere to get an idea of what is what?

At a high level, how would you make an environment? I mean say I want to sit in a cube with a stone texture and have the screen in front of me, how does one make that?

Do you have to create the entire scene in blender, then export it to some format and then import it into the virtual desktop editor? Or do you have to make each object in the scene separate and assemble it in the editor? Do the 3d formats include the texture/uv map in the file or does that have to sit along side of it?

I guess these are all pretty basic questions but I really want to make an environment and am not sure where to start learning which tools to do what. Ideally I'd want to download some created assets and scale/place them around a room.

Also, if anybody could get me sitting in locations from Life is Strange, that is an idea too ;)

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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments

ggodin [developer] 27 May, 2016 @ 7:21am

I posted a short guide here: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=665208186

Reapy

28 May, 2016 @ 8:48am

Thank you, I saw that, I guess I'm really ignorant and coming from a confused place. I'll try to phrase out my questions better ( I also don't have my pc in front of me for a bit so can't fire up the editor to look).

What would be say the high level flow to make a room with a chair and a screen?

Is position information contained in the 3d formats? Or do you create the object / texture separately in a 3d program, then position it in the virtual desktop editor?

I sort of understand baked in lighting, the light source is rendered and changes the texture based on the type of lighting, baking it in is basically changing the colors on the UV map /texture to reflect that?

So, in order to get accurate lighting, would you have to:
1. Construct scene in blender.
2. Render lighting and bake it in.
3. Export each object in the scene to [common 3d format].
4. Import object into virtual desktop.
5. Recreate scene positions in virtual desktop
6. Done.

Is that correct, or can you also export the positions in space?

elgrayso

29 May, 2016 @ 10:35am

Originally posted by Reapy:

So, in order to get accurate lighting, would you have to:
1. Construct scene in blender.
2. Render lighting and bake it in.
3. Export each object in the scene to [common 3d format].
4. Import object into virtual desktop.
5. Recreate scene positions in virtual desktop
6. Done.

Is that correct, or can you also export the positions in space?

There isn't really a detailed guide on the process so far. I have some background with 3d software and know how to use Blender decently, but it's still been a struggle due to the baking aspect.
However, there is a pretty good tutorial I found which should translate well to VDE. It shows how to create a Blender environment and then export it with a single baked texture image (which VDE requires).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_gtCmgQI0g&feature=youtu.be