I’ve just added a page about exporting static models from Maya to Crysis. The documentation page for animated models has also been updated. The MayaCGF beta keeps on evolving nicely, and now supports all the physics shaders from Crysis. There’s a bunch of new features and bug fixes too.
Well, it’s been a long time in the making, but the new version of MayaCGF (the Maya exporter for Crysis), is finally ready for open beta testing. And as you guessed from the title of this post, it features preliminary support for animated characters. You can find all the technical information here.
Here is a video preview of the workflow to export an animated model. Enjoy!
Over the weekend I worked a bit on my Crysis mod “Ghost of a Tale”. I’ve been mostly creating textures and materials, and I feel I’m barely starting to get the hang of it. This is all very temporary but I’m having fun! Anyway, here’s a screenshot to give you an idea of the progress (with a torch flame hovering in mid-air!)…
Here’s a little tutorial about creating a texture with parallax mapping for the Crysis engine. This is the effect that makes the textures feel like they’re in relief and you could almost touch them! I first saw that effect in “The Elders Scrolls: Oblivion” and was blown away by the level of realism it does add to what are essentially flat polygons. So enjoy!
Here is a screenshot of a Crysis mod I’m working on (when I have time, of course). Again, I have to say that the CryEngine 2 is very impressive indeed. It allows you to fine tune the shaders and the lighting to a degree of precision that is unprecedented in the domain of video-games. And since I’m using MayaCGF, I just have to click one button to send the model from Maya to Sandbox 2 (the Crysis editor). And if I update the model in Maya, I just click the refresh button in the editor and the updated model is instantly reloaded. I’m loving it!!
Taking a little break from the movie. I launched Sandbox2 again and was caught all over by the magnificent cryEngine2. That and I tried the Exodus Pine Trees pack for Crysis (you can see them in the background); they truly did an excellent job! I just tweaked the shaders to get something a little bit more realistic looking, but they’re a pleasure to watch.
And so I thought I’m going to make some trees! The birch is a very peculiar (and recognizable) tree, so I got some source material from the web and went to work. The difficult part is that I had to add support for colored vertices in the Maya exporter; that’s indispensable if you want your leaves to blow in the wind in a convincing way. I think I’ll probably write a tutorial at some point on how to make a tree for Crysis in Maya.
I just released something I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks; it’s called MayaCGF and it’s a Maya tool to import models from the game Crysis into Maya. It also lets you export your models into the game of course! You can find all the instructions here.
While importing some game models for testing purpose, I’ve been shocked by the amount of details put into the human faces. I mean those could almost be used for feature with just a smooth level added. Congrats to the Crytek artists!
Oh and I almost forgot; it looks like “Seith’s Little Island” was published on a German magazine’s DVD called “PC ACTION” during the month of March. I don’t know the details, but still, that’s nice! 
