Starting off for modeling

[Masiaf]

So after I beat the game and put in a couple of mods from here, I began to think for what I can do myself to improve the game. I have experience with virtual design on LDD and Roblox studio. I plan to use my skill as this for modeling on LRR.

 

Before I can begin there are things that I may wish to know.

 

• Is it possible to use LDD to model stuff and add them via modding to LRR?
• What other applications are there to allow for modeling?
• What are the limits to what I can do when modeling?

I plan to make some unique designs in the near future. All I need is a little help to start off.

[PWNZOR]

You can use LDD for modeling, but you have to do some things in order to get it exported to a modeling program. You need to follow this tutorial, at least somewhat to get the 3DXML file. At this point, you either need to convert it to LDraw and finish out my tutorial, or if you have another way to convert 3DXML models into another format, do that.

Edit: some bricks exist in LDraw, in which case you don't need to convert to 3DXML. You can export to LDraw directly from LDD and use the LdrDat2obj program. But many bricks do not, thus requiring the 3DXML method.

You need Lightwave or Milkshape 3D to get any models into the game (exporting to Lightwave 5), the former allowing for more advanced surface texturing. Both of these programs allow you to model things from scratch, but they are point/polygon-based, not brick-based like LDD.

Converting the LDD model will result in a huge amount of polygons, most of which you probably won't even see (tubes inside bricks, etc), so you may need to remove them (very time-consuming if you have a lot of bricks).

[Cirevam]

There aren't many limits to modeling for LRR, except for the complexity of your models. In my own experience, the game starts noticeably slowing down when there are about 100000 polygons being rendered. That number will depend on your computer and some other things within the game. If you use textures, the resolution limit is 512x512 pixels in 8-bit BMP format and they have to be applied to models in a certain way. PWNZOR has a tutorial that will show you how to make textures work properly.

 

You may find it easier to model bricks by hand to create most things. Bricks are simply boxes with cylinders on top. Once you make one brick with the correct proportions, it's a matter of copy-pasting that brick to use it again, and you won't need to struggle with optimizing the model after it's done. Some LDD bricks are so ridiculously complex that I prefer to model all of my bricks by hand so I don't spend hours stripping out all of the unseen polygons, but it's up to you.

[Masiaf]

Thanks for the information. I could probally start out converting Low-Poly stuff to High-Poly stuff for good starting. Once I get the hang of it, I could try to create my own vehicles/structers and add them to LRR.