The Renderfarm

@gandalf3 Thanks for your help on the resource post. Should we add books (I concerned about linking to amazon) ,OSL shaders or anything else I've collected here: zeef.com/?query=blender

gandalf3

Up to you I guess

OSL shaders can probably go under materials

Lucio

7:53 PM

Hi there!

stacker

Hi

Lucio

Is it normal to do 3D models to use them only on 2D games? Or what would be the use of Blender in 2D games?

stacker

I'm not sure I get you right, which style of game do you mean?

Lucio

Something like flyppybird, a 2D game

I don't know what is the common way to do models for a 2D game

stacker

You could use 3D models to render different views of a character and save them as sprites (not sure whether bitmaps are called so after 20 years ;-) )for use in a 2D game

Lucio

7:58 PM

And is it something normal?

I mean, does it takes longer than doing specific 2D models?

stacker

It depends on your skill if you're happy with a bitmap or vector graphics software do this. If you want smooth animations 3D would be the better way.

Lucio

Oh, I see

I ask because am gonna get started soon and wanted to know what others do

I appreciate your opinion :-)

stacker

I'm not an expert on game-dev you should probably ask these guys what are the pros and cons.

Lucio

Oh

someonewithpc

@Lucio The standard way is to use sprites, but if you need more detail it might be worth taking a look at 3D models

Lucio

8:03 PM

@stacker You should had mention that before! :P

@someonewithpc I didn't get that, aren't sprites used for 3D models?

stacker

@Lucio before what?

Lucio

nevermind, was a joke :-)

gandalf3

@Lucio Sprites normally are 2D images used to represent objects, e.g. a character or an obstacle

someonewithpc

@Lucio Sprite as in google.pt/…

stacker

Lucio

8:06 PM

@gandalf3 oh got it

@stacker nice sprite :)

@someonewithpc do you say that you can use 3D models without using sprites?

someonewithpc

@Lucio Yes

Lucio

in a 2D game?

O.O

someonewithpc

@Lucio Yes, just render from a prespective which only shows to axes

Lucio

Ahh

stacker

When you use a 3D engine you would use 3D-models, when you use 2D engine you would display bitmaps (which could be generated from a 3D model, or drawn)

Lucio

8:10 PM

that would improve the graphics quality

and animation also

someonewithpc

@Lucio That's the whole point

Lucio

and the complexity too :S

gandalf3

You could even use a 3D engine to make a 2D game, with fancy 3D graphics

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 That's pretty much required if you use 3D models...

gandalf3

Not if you were planning to use renders of the 3D models

Lucio

8:13 PM

Is it all possible using Blender+Unity?

gandalf3

Yes

Lucio

cool :D

gandalf3

(I'm not sure exactly what you wanted to know was possible, but the answer is still probably yes :P)

someonewithpc

@Lucio Yes, it's a common thing to do

Lucio

@gandalf3 lol

gandalf3

8:14 PM

Here's an example of a 2D game made in a 3D engine (the BGE): blendernation.com/2014/08/14/blender-game-marleys-adventure

Lucio

Oh, the power of examples

gandalf3

Another one (A bit more 3D): blendernation.com/2014/05/23/game-engine-tankbot-demo

Lucio

@gandalf3 that one is great, I got the idea

gandalf3

:)

Lucio

github.com/AStox/tankbot

:O FS ftw!

gandalf3

8:21 PM

FS?

Lucio

free software

gandalf3

opensource>>free :D

I actually made a custom level for that game when it was first featured

I couldn't stop playing it :P

Lucio

heh, I can imagine

gandalf3

Yay for open source

Lucio

wait a second

that is only blender

I thought it was unity xD

gandalf3

8:24 PM

Nope

But It'd probably be pretty easy to do in unity

(maybe even easier?)

Lucio

yeah i guess

blender runs in linux

and use python

<3 blender

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 Depends on if you know C or JavaScript (Unity) ir Python

gandalf3

Unfortunately unity doesn't run on linux :(

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 Doesn't run on linux?

gandalf3

yes

that

someonewithpc

8:25 PM

@gandalf3 D:

gandalf3

ikr

It's supposed to work in wine

But I never got it working

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 Fortunatly I also have Win8

gandalf3

Yeah.. but rebooting constantly is a pain..

someonewithpc

Which for once beats Linux...

gandalf3

o.O

someonewithpc

8:26 PM

@gandalf3 IN - FUCKING - DEED

gandalf3

lol

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 Especially because I can't get the multibooting to work, so have to use the force boot thing from the BIOS

iKlsR

@stacker I don't think anything commercial should be linked. Let's just try to enforce the foss model a bit. Plus it might be seen as promoting etc.

Lucio

I guess you will see me more around

heh, free and open source software

gandalf3

:P

Someone is going to have a laugh if they read the edit history..

:P

Lucio

8:32 PM

thanks for the examples @gandalf3

gandalf3

np

stacker

@iKlsR Than I had the right feeling that was reason why i'm was asking. (Personally I ordered all missing manuals there and user ratings could help) I'm fine with this.

iKlsR

@stacker @gandalf3 Ok, anyways, great job with the post. Thanks.

stacker

The link to sheepit-renderfarm.com/index.php gandalf3 posted was worth everything. This weekend I will add my xeon machine to the farm and collect credits for the day I have an animation to render.

gandalf3

:D

I'll turn my xeon machine on right now, why not :)

(It's a pretty lame xeon though.. only 4 cores, no HT, 2.5GHz)

stacker

8:45 PM

I assembled a new cheap one E3 (newest i7 performance) without personal data just for rendering. For approx 3K €/$ you can get a socket 2011 dualboard with 2 E5-2660 (2 x 10 core + HT) and lots of GB Ram.

gandalf3

:O

Wow

Have you much experience with dual CPU boards?

The machine I'm on now just happened to have two CPU slots, but I only have one CPU

I feel like I should do something about that ;)

someonewithpc

@gandalf3 An overclock i5 with added hyperthreading is equivalent to an i7

stacker

@gandalf3 No if I could spare 3K € It would be fun to build a high performance system, but now I'm happy that there is sheepit and I can contribute a bit for a long time and earn credits.

@someonewithpc I just added my benchmark times here: blender.stackexchange.com/questions/14757/…

gandalf3

niice

Have you seen blenchmark (yes that's how it's spelled)?

mad-creations.nl/blenchmark/benchmarks-overview

I blenchmarked my GPU right after I first saw it on BN, and I had the slowest time on the board.. :(

someonewithpc

9:01 PM

@stacker It's incorrect, I have an i3 and it has 2 hyperthreaded cores

@stacker Which means it, effectively, has 4 cores; in the same way, the i7 has the equivalet of 8 cores

stacker

No Hyperthreading only adds roughly 10 to 15% performance when rendering.

someonewithpc

@stacker Are you sure?

stacker

Yes

Lucio

I'm agree with stacker

someonewithpc

@stacker ok...

stacker

9:05 PM

@gandalf3 Slower than the celeron (lol)? Which GPU do you use?

gandalf3

GTX 460

It is faster than the celeron :)

But the celeron was added later

At the time, I was the slowest

stacker

I'm sorry to hear that, I got the GTX580 for 120€ on ebay.

someonewithpc

I have a GT610... Should have done some more research... (At the time I bought it, I was using it to play)

Lucio

bye all!

you are cool :)

stacker

A week ago I watched an interview with Thomas Dinges who explained in that modern CPUs often provide higher performance that GPUs (for a given budget). So no need to buy expensive graphic cars.

someonewithpc

9:12 PM

@stacker Really?

Guess that's good to know

gandalf3

Really?

stacker

I guess he was talking about E5-2660 v3 deca (ten) core. When I compare the benchmark results I would go for 2xE5. Although I haven't seen new GPU results...

o/

someonewithpc

o/

gandalf3

o/

David

10:32 PM

you all talk a lot when I'm AFC

gandalf3

AFC?

oh.

duh :P

David

no afc Away From Computer

gandalf3

It just hit me

David

That is how I feel with some of your "words"

gandalf3

My words?

?

David

10:35 PM

yes, the type of texting chat, IMO ect

gandalf3

Oh, those

David

yep, for some of them I actually search to look it up :)

gandalf3

Me too :P

David

then why do we use them?

gandalf3

They are much faster to type once everyone knows them

David

10:37 PM

As far as I know

I got that one :)

gandalf3

:D

David

what did you decide to do about the grease-pencil?

gandalf3

Hm..

I think for know it's too localized

But on the other hand it'll probably be needed one day (like snapping)

David

a quick search gives only 6 questions

gandalf3

So should we just use it anyway, that way we don't have to add it when there are more questions?

David

10:40 PM

if we retag it what would we use?

gandalf3

Sure

@David ?

David

that was odd, I edited my message instead of posting a new one. (dumb up arrow)

anyway, if we kill grease-pencil what would we retag blender.stackexchange.com/questions/15330/… with?

gandalf3

I already killed it

David

so I saw, interface would be a ok choice :)

So stacker brought back the "resources for blender" posts. What do you @gandalf3 @iKlsR think about it?

gandalf3

We discussed on meta

David

10:47 PM

a few times I think

gandalf3

yep :P

@ideasman42 We discussed this on meta. Since every few weeks or so a question pops up about resources, we thought it best to just have one community compiled resource and be done with it. Other sites on se have something like this. It's strictly blender and a wiki so anyone can contribute. We have one on meta but new users aren't familiar with se and might not be aware of it so we are porting it to the main site and adding new sources. — iKlsR ♦ 4 hours ago

David

OK so we will see how it plays out. I hope it is a good idea. I can add some to it.

It is just the "External Tools" category that seam too broad to me.

Transcript for