Difference between revisions of "Art for Total War - Terminology"
From TWC Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchProfessor420 (talk | contribs) (incremental save) |
m (moved Art for Total War Primer to Art for Total War - Terminology: because that's all that's there) |
||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
==Terminology== | ==Terminology== | ||
| − | If you're not familiar with computer/game art, some terms may seem alien. | + | If you're not familiar with computer/game art, some terms may seem alien. Here follows a basic overview of common terms in alphabetical order. If you are new to 3D, then it would be useful to familiarise yourself with these terms. |
| + | ===Modelling=== | ||
;Binding | ;Binding | ||
:The process of assigning vertices to bones. The vertices take on a child relationship according to their weight (between 0 and 1) to the bone, which acts as the parent. Also called weighting, painting weights, or incorrectly called rigging. | :The process of assigning vertices to bones. The vertices take on a child relationship according to their weight (between 0 and 1) to the bone, which acts as the parent. Also called weighting, painting weights, or incorrectly called rigging. | ||
| Line 12: | Line 9: | ||
:Object that vertices of the model are attached to. | :Object that vertices of the model are attached to. | ||
;Child | ;Child | ||
| − | :An object that inherits its transformations from its parent object, and can move independently as well. | + | :An object that inherits its transformations from its parent object, and can move independently as well. (3ds Max) |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
;Hierarchy | ;Hierarchy | ||
| − | :Series of parent-child relationships. | + | :Series of parent-child relationships. (3ds Max) |
| − | |||
| − | |||
;Parent | ;Parent | ||
| − | :Controls the transformation of its children. When you move, rotate, or scale a parent, the child objects behave accordingly, using the parent's pivot point as their own. | + | :Controls the transformation of its children. When you move, rotate, or scale a parent, the child objects behave accordingly, using the parent's pivot point as their own. (3ds Max) |
;Polycount | ;Polycount | ||
:Correctly refers to the number of triangles in a model. | :Correctly refers to the number of triangles in a model. | ||
| Line 32: | Line 23: | ||
:The system by which animators manipulate bones that animate the character. It also incorrectly refers to the binding or weighting of a character. | :The system by which animators manipulate bones that animate the character. It also incorrectly refers to the binding or weighting of a character. | ||
;Skeleton | ;Skeleton | ||
| − | :A hierarchy of bones that create the armature for animation of a character. See | + | :A hierarchy of bones that create the armature for animation of a character. |
| + | ;Tri, Triangle | ||
| + | :3D surface connecting 3 vertices. All 3D surfaces are broken down into triangles. | ||
| + | ;Vertex | ||
| + | :Node point in 3d space. | ||
| + | ;Weighting | ||
| + | :See binding. Also called painting weights. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Textures=== | ||
| + | ;.dds, Direct Draw Surface | ||
| + | :A compressed texture file, the format Total War games use for unit textures and more. | ||
| + | ;Gloss map | ||
| + | ::see Specular map. | ||
| + | ;Normal map | ||
| + | :Displays the "bumps" on a surface. They have an overall blue color (128, 128, 256 RGB to be exact). | ||
| + | ;Resolution | ||
| + | :Concerning art, usually refers to the size of a texture, in pixels. All texture sizes must be in a power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096). | ||
;Specular map | ;Specular map | ||
:This controls the highlights, or shine, on a surface. | :This controls the highlights, or shine, on a surface. | ||
| + | ;.texture | ||
| + | :CA's proprietary texture format (.dds file with header added) | ||
;.tga, Targa | ;.tga, Targa | ||
| − | :An uncompressed texture file, which means the image does not lose any detail when it is saved (in comparison to something like a jpeg which can have all sorts of artifacts. Its file size is also very large, and thus not often used for display of real-time content. | + | :An uncompressed texture file, which means the image does not lose any detail when it is saved (in comparison to something like a jpeg) which can have all sorts of artifacts. Its file size is also very large, and thus not often used for display of real-time content. |
| − | + | ||
| − | + | ||
| − | + | ||
| − | : | + | [[Category:Modding]] |
Latest revision as of 09:49, 18 April 2017
Terminology
If you're not familiar with computer/game art, some terms may seem alien. Here follows a basic overview of common terms in alphabetical order. If you are new to 3D, then it would be useful to familiarise yourself with these terms.
Modelling
- Binding
- The process of assigning vertices to bones. The vertices take on a child relationship according to their weight (between 0 and 1) to the bone, which acts as the parent. Also called weighting, painting weights, or incorrectly called rigging.
- Bone
- Object that vertices of the model are attached to.
- Child
- An object that inherits its transformations from its parent object, and can move independently as well. (3ds Max)
- Hierarchy
- Series of parent-child relationships. (3ds Max)
- Parent
- Controls the transformation of its children. When you move, rotate, or scale a parent, the child objects behave accordingly, using the parent's pivot point as their own. (3ds Max)
- Polycount
- Correctly refers to the number of triangles in a model.
- Polygon
- A polygon is a 3D surface connecting 3 or more vertices.
- Quad, Quadrilateral
- A 3D surface connecting 4 vertices. A quad is composed of two triangles.
- Rig
- The system by which animators manipulate bones that animate the character. It also incorrectly refers to the binding or weighting of a character.
- Skeleton
- A hierarchy of bones that create the armature for animation of a character.
- Tri, Triangle
- 3D surface connecting 3 vertices. All 3D surfaces are broken down into triangles.
- Vertex
- Node point in 3d space.
- Weighting
- See binding. Also called painting weights.
Textures
- .dds, Direct Draw Surface
- A compressed texture file, the format Total War games use for unit textures and more.
- Gloss map
-
- see Specular map.
- Normal map
- Displays the "bumps" on a surface. They have an overall blue color (128, 128, 256 RGB to be exact).
- Resolution
- Concerning art, usually refers to the size of a texture, in pixels. All texture sizes must be in a power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096).
- Specular map
- This controls the highlights, or shine, on a surface.
- .texture
- CA's proprietary texture format (.dds file with header added)
- .tga, Targa
- An uncompressed texture file, which means the image does not lose any detail when it is saved (in comparison to something like a jpeg) which can have all sorts of artifacts. Its file size is also very large, and thus not often used for display of real-time content.
