   Beginner Needs Advice On Simple Concept !!
  Hey Guys,As you know from the title i'm a beginner.. However I am quite computer literate, built my own design/gaming desktop so I'm not completely useless with technology.Not wanting to get into complete games design, just as much as i'll need to use/manipulate the technology to my own specific needs.I'm and Exhibition design student and create a lot of my stuff in 3Ds Max Design 2009. If you're not quite sure what i design, a good example would be a stand for the E3 Expo. What i'm wanting to learn is; How to take my exhibition stand/environment(s) that i have designed in 3Ds Max Design 2009 into a high quality game engine so that i can (for example) actually let people virtually walk around my final design using a PC and a wireless xbox 360 controller for PC.I obviously need a large amount of pointing in the right direction but don't want to attempt to learn far too much info than I need to!What high quality engine is available to a anyone/student?What language(s) do I need to learn if any?Need to be able to walk around possibly up and down stairs!How would i import my design into the engine? conversion needed?I undestand i'd have to think about polycount never had to do this!I imagine i would want to put video into the engine, for example on a wall, or on a Plasma screen, how would i go about doing this?Can anyone suggest any books or online resource ares?Thanks for taking the time to read this, it means a lot to me, please feel free to respond with ideas/solutions/URLs/book suggestions/general suggestions etc...Cheers3x   
  Do you want a first or third person camera?At the moment, I am thinking of using Blender and their engine (which includes physics) to do this. They use Python for their scripting language so the learning curve is relatively low.The only problem is that offhand, I don't know if it supports an external pad or video on a poly.Alternatively, use an existing FPS engine such as Unreal, Halflife, etc and import or recreate the design into the associated level editor.   ;  I think i want first person, if you can imagine Mirrors Edge, that kind of view for people just to walk around the stand/exhibit.I had thought about Half Life 2's Hammer, but Unreal's engine is probably a lot superior, taking into account the kind of top notch graphics you can get in Unreal Tournament 3.. but i have no idea if i can personally acheive anything like that!!Although i would prefer it to be stand alone, i wouldn't want to have to run Unreal Tournament for viewers to have to walk around. But i don't know how that'd work!?And what lauguage if any would i need for Unreal? Or would the level editor cut a lot of that out?Cheers for your input yaustar :)   ;  It has been a very long time since I did any map creation or modding but if you did use an existing game, you will inevitably have to run it to walk round your level unless you did a full conversion (which I don't know how hard it would be) and even then, is still might not be possible to have a standalone application.The Unreal level editor uses Unreal Script for level scripting.Another alternative would be to use 3D Game Studio which will allow you have your own executable to run but will involve a little more programming. I am not 100% sure how much it does for you under the hood.I don't think neither Unreal or Game Studio will allow you play a video on a poly in the game.   ;  Just what kind of interactivity are you looking for?   ;  Cheers for your reply yaustar, i'll have a look into 3D Game Studio!Also if i don't need to use polys i'd rather not, but i was under the impression that you need to use them to make a game engine run smoothly!?Zahlman, interactivity wise id love to be able to do as much as possible but i realise that that would take a hell of a lot of studying up.So realistically i would just like to be able to walk around and have the ability to walk upstairs, incase i need to include some.. I would like video in the environment if possible, and water (just in case) and if i could have basic interactivity such as someone walking upto a plasma and hitting a button to make it play, or have some animation occur if someone walked into a certain area that'd be great...But again if thats gonna be too hard for a newbie like me, id just be happy letting the user be able to explore the exhibit/stand!(In reality i do have a couple of months to explore this)   ;Quote:Original post by 3xAlso if i don't need to use polys i'd rather not, but i was under the impression that you need to use them to make a game engine run smoothly!?*blinks* You do realise the model you have in 3D Studio Max IS made out of polys (Polygons) right?   