There have been a bunch of "guild" topics popping up, so I figured, since the GoW has a large following, several resources, and a lot of good ideas, we should start one to discuss it.

This thread is basically for the discussion of the technology behind creating ages; H'uru Studio, made by a bunch of dedicated explorers, is a tool to help create ages. We can also discuss Blender, which is the 3D tool that most age creators from Until URU used. I know a lot of people have good ideas, and it is always interesting to speculate about Cyan's role and how they might make age-building available to the common explorer.

I'll keep a running list of websites here, but don't count on me to keep it totally up to date. If you are looking for a particular one, you might just want to go to the end of the topic and check for new websites.


Guild of Writers Websites:

http://blog.hurustudio.org/

Dovahn

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Dovahn KI#: -------- | Supporter of the Guild of Writers

Last edited by Dovahn on Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:36 pm; edited 2 times in total

I've been in the cavern doing QA sessions about the Guild of Writers.

Right now, all of the information is around on http://blog.hurustudio.org/

We're hoping to get an official forum set up in the future and getting existing Age Creation groups involved.

I'm a little disheartened....not about the Guilds, but finding my place in it.

In and IC manner, I would LOVE to be a Writer...because using words is one of my fortes. Unfortunately, doing it OOC will be difficult..I have no experience with any program like that, and my artistic skills are somewhat lacking (being colorblind).

Can anyone think of any way that I can reconcile this? Thanks in advance.


Jairden

If your good with words, then you have a very secure nitch to lend a hand in.


Write the journals, and what not.

Currently the Age creators have story an optional element when pitching a age, but it's going to be needed.

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Waymet

Jairden wrote:

I'm a little disheartened....not about the Guilds, but finding my place in it.

In and IC manner, I would LOVE to be a Writer...because using words is one of my fortes. Unfortunately, doing it OOC will be difficult..I have no experience with any program like that, and my artistic skills are somewhat lacking (being colorblind).

Can anyone think of any way that I can reconcile this? Thanks in advance.


Jairden

Don't worry, i'm in the same boat.
I always wanted to write my own age, and I have several ideas of what to put in it.

You will need a good understanding of Blender3d and of Python.

The site I use as reference to make an age is http://alcugs.almlys.org/wiki/index.php/AgeCreationTutorialsList
www.blender.org
www.python.org

I am leaning all this in the small amount of spare time I have, and the Age I want to make is quite elaborate.
But I am conducting a few tests of various elements first, before I sit down and do the whole thing.

Python is an unfamiliar language to me, so its taking a while to learn.

Edited by Alahmnat because Python's URL was ... less than correct

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Grogyan KI# 00793984 -> www.guildofwriters.com

Last edited by Grogyan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:27 am; edited 2 times in total

No offense, Grogyan, but that's just it. I don't really WANT to worry about programming/software stuff. I have waaaayy too much to do to take the time to learn it enough to do it justice, and it's really not my thing.

Mustard: Thanks, that helps a lot. I mean, it's not the same as actually creating..but hey...not every D'ni was a writer, anyway.

Unfortunately, there is no other way, and Cyan won't let loose thier Max plugin, due to leagal reasons.

The crowd working on H'uru studio, are the best people, working on making a free set of tools.

Put it this way, while I was browsing lately for free products that I would use on a fairly regular basis, I quickly realised that most of the coding and scripting was done with python, which is also free.

Tiran and Paradox and Robert the Rebuilder, and few more are showing how flexible and easy to learn the language can be, I have my doubts, as I prefer C/C++.

So I bought a book, called "Beginning Python" which is like the Sams teach yourself series, and I am working on that.
DO try it, if it doesn't work out for you, you can register yourself at the alcugs forums (link is in the previous post), and ask if someone can do the coding for you, that way you can focus your mind on the areas that you do have experience in, like modelling or texturing or sound editing.

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Grogyan KI# 00793984 -> www.guildofwriters.com

Grogyan wrote:

The site I use as reference to make an age is http://alcugs.almlys.org/wiki/index.php/AgeCreationTutorialsList
www.blender.org
www.python.somethingwrong

Dude, you want to change that Python link to http://www.python.org/ otherwise you're sending people to somewhere they really shouldn't be going in a family game!

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MO:ULa KI: 121044

Last edited by subumbra on Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:41 am; edited 1 time in total

I, too, and interested in being a part of the Writer's Guild, but, as of yet, do not have much knowledge of programming and such (beyond very basic Java programming and using programs like Photoshop and Fireworks). I am taking a intro to programming course at the university I attend this fall, and will be taking more advanced courses in the spring, and am willing to learn what I can in my free time.
If the Guilds are made active before I have had a chance to gain a usable amount of knowledge, I'm not sure what I can do beyond concepts, writing out what story needs to be written, and maybe some concept art.
That being said, I am going to look into the aforementioned sites and see where I can go from there.
An official forum would be greatly helpful for those like me who want to be a part of the Guild and are willing to learn in order to be as productive as possible.

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KI # 03593691 (Samuel Churchill)

Thanks Sumbumbra, I was trying to recall the site from memory, and making the post on my mobile, and thanks Alahmnat.

Anyway, if want to learn Blender there is,
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

I am currently using this one.
http://www.transformers.org.uk/xf06cd/html/blenderTutorial.htm

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Grogyan KI# 00793984 -> www.guildofwriters.com

The tools we (H'Uru) are creating are written in C# and Python. The performance critical parts and the user interface are written in C# and the new Blender glue code will use Python and PythonNet. I've spend the last weeks to fix PythonNet for Python2.5 and Mono. The others are working on porting DirectX specific code to a more general code base to make the code compatible with Mono, too.

We are still searching for some Blender Python coders. I'm H'uru's Python guru but I'm less experienced with 3d and Blender development.

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[KI again #01792364]| Uru images | KI guide

So could someone go over the age-making process for those of us new to it? Specifically I'm wondering where H'uru Studio fits in, and what different file formats we can use. Blender is the commonly used program, but would other 3D programs work as well?

Dovahn

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Dovahn KI#: -------- | Supporter of the Guild of Writers

The tool chain is currently built around using Blender for the modeling and such, but that doesn't stop you from using another program to build in as long as Blender can import it. Blender supports most of the common formats (and can be extended to support more).

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MOULa KI #23298
MOUL KI #35129
D'mala KI #74265
Gehn KI #10113

I'm currently teaching myself Blender in what passes as my spare time (after software QA job and writing). I have quite a few ideas for ages once I'm ready to go, and they WILL be story-based - obviously not using major Cyan characters, but probably with side references to lesser characters.

The Noob-To-Pro tutorial someone referenced up-thread is an excellent way to get a handle on Blender (it's totally unlike any user interface I've encountered before - but very effective once you get it sorted out). I figure if I can work my way through that, then hit the age building tutorial, I'll be in pretty decent shape.

Especially if I manage to figure out Gimp along the way

Katreeny

Ah, the Gimp...I'm still avoiding downloading it...I keep telling myself that I can somehow get together the cash to buy Macromedia Studio...or at least Fireworks by itself...the Gimp just seems so...gimpy, compared to Fireworks...I definitely do not like the multiple window format, and never seemed to be able to get it to be just one window when I used it on other people's computers.
I've started looking through the Blender tutorial...haven't gotten very far, though...been occupied with other things.

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KI # 03593691 (Samuel Churchill)