Comment Re:Not quite sure on this one... (Score 1) 42
I am mired in the mush of a project that is in dire need of a technical artist. Why? Because even with a clean 'pipeline' setup, perfect test files - we have had two separate *groups* of artists, and with every single file they send us, they create two additional ways to do the technical parts incorrectly.
Each file creates exactly what we ask for - the animation does exactly what we asked for. But the ways that actually translates to in-game, they do differently every time.
What's worse is that there is no way to actually 'fix' these bad files. We keep having to send them back and have them completely reanimated. All because there is no technical animator in their group who can see the problems early and get them resolved.
Which leaves me, as a programmer who knows enough about Maya to be dangerous, stuck with the job of trying to shoehorn all this junk into what is supposed to be "standard" Collada documents. I am the Lead Programmer, and as such, was able to choose Collada to make it easier for the Artists. And yet - they still can't keep within the simple 'rules' I set.
For background: I've been doing 3d game development since 1995.
Each file creates exactly what we ask for - the animation does exactly what we asked for. But the ways that actually translates to in-game, they do differently every time.
What's worse is that there is no way to actually 'fix' these bad files. We keep having to send them back and have them completely reanimated. All because there is no technical animator in their group who can see the problems early and get them resolved.
Which leaves me, as a programmer who knows enough about Maya to be dangerous, stuck with the job of trying to shoehorn all this junk into what is supposed to be "standard" Collada documents. I am the Lead Programmer, and as such, was able to choose Collada to make it easier for the Artists. And yet - they still can't keep within the simple 'rules' I set.
For background: I've been doing 3d game development since 1995.
