Book Image

CryENGINE 3 Cookbook

By : Dan Tracy, Sean P Tracy (USD)
Book Image

CryENGINE 3 Cookbook

By: Dan Tracy, Sean P Tracy (USD)

Overview of this book

With every successive console generation, the cost, time, and complexity of developing games has grown. Meet CryENGINE3, a middleware engine that is the perfect fit for most developers allowing users to exceed current generation quality standards while using less people and time than ever thought possible.The CryENGINE3 CookBook is packed full of recipes for junior and senior developers alike. It covers everything from creating photo realistic architectural visualizations to implementing advanced physics such as ragdoll and tornado effects. Topics covered include the sandbox, level layout, environment creation, AI, character creation, creating vehicles, and game logic. Every recipe is designed to add AAA quality to your games. The CryENGINE3 SDK has many tools immediately available to developers of all disciplines. For designers the book has recipes for building up your own levels and populating your levels with intelligent AI and photo realistic assets. For artists we have recipes for practical workflow tools and techniques used when working with the advanced CryENGINE shaders and materials. For animators we have recipes that will bring your creations to life using skinned characters and advanced animation systems like locomotion groups. Finally for programmers we have recipes that show how to employ the core mechanics behind entities such as vehicles and weapons while also utilizing the strengths of the physics engine to create a unique and exciting game.

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CryENGINE 3 Cookbook
Dan Tracy | Sean P Tracy (USD)
Jun, 2011 | 324 pages
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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
CryENGINE 3 Cookbook
CryENGINE 3 Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
CryENGINE 3: Getting Started
CryENGINE 3: Getting Started
Introduction
Opening a level in the CryENGINE 3 Sandbox
Navigating a level with the Sandbox Camera
Setting up a personalized toolset layout
How to customize toolbars and menus
Using the Rollup Bar
Selecting and browsing level objects
Restoring the CryENGINE 3 default settings
2
Sandbox Basics
Sandbox Basics
Introduction
Creating a new level
Generating a procedural terrain
Terrain sculpting
Setting up the terrain texture
Placing the objects in the world
Refining the object placement
Utilizing the layers for multiple developer collaboration
Switching to game mode
Saving your level
Exporting to an engine
Essential game objects
Running a map from the Launcher
3
Basic Level Layout
Basic Level Layout
Introduction
Making basic shapes with the Solids tool
Editing and merging solids
Grouping the objects
Utilizing the Geom entities instead of brushes
Road construction
Painting vegetation
Breaking up tiling with Decals
Making caves with Voxels
Creating Prefabs to store in external libraries
4
Environment Creation
Environment Creation
Introduction
Creating your first time of day using the basic parameters
Adjusting the terrain lighting
Using the real-time Global Illumination
Editing HDR lighting and the effects for flares
Creating a global volumetric fog
Creating a night scene with time of day parameters
Color grading your level
Creating a photo realistic ocean
Improving your sky with clouds
Making it rain in your level
5
Basic Artificial Intelligence
Basic Artificial Intelligence
Introduction
Placing the enemy AI
Generating the AI navigation
Forbidden boundaries
Forbidden areas
Setting up the interior navigation
Debugging the AI triangulation
Narrowing the AI's FOV to allow attacks from behind
Respawning AI
6
Asset Creation
Asset Creation
Introduction
Installing the CryENGINE 3 plugin for 3D Studio Max
Creating textures using CryTIF
Setting up units to match CryENGINE in 3ds
Basic material setup in 3ds
Creating and exporting static objects
Creating and exporting destroyable objects
Using advanced material editor parameters to create animation
Creating new material effects
Creating image-based lighting
7
Characters and Animation
Characters and Animation
Introduction
Creating skinned characters for the CryENGINE
Ragdoll and physics for characters
Creating animation for your character
Previewing animations and characters for Sandbox
Creating upper body only animations
Creating locomotion animations
Animating rigid body geometry data
8
Creating Vehicles
Creating Vehicles
Introduction
Creating a new car mesh (CGA)
Creating a new car XML
Giving more speed to the car
Increasing the mass to push objects with the car
Defining a sitting location
Setting up multiple cameras for the car
Need for a machine gun
Giving the car a weak spot
9
Game Logic
Game Logic
Introduction
How to beam the player to a tag point from a trigger
Making the AI go to a location when the player enters a proximity trigger
Debugging the Flow Graph
Creating a kill counter
Rewarding the player for reaching a kill goal
Displaying the player's health through a Flow Graph
Changing the player camera through key input
Creating a countdown timer
10
Track View and Cut-Scenes
Track View and Cut-Scenes
Introduction
Creating a new Track View sequence
Animating a camera in the Track View
Triggering a sequence using the Flow Graph
Animating entities in the Track View
Playing animations on entities in the Track View
Using console variables (CVars) in the Track View
Using track events
11
Fun Physics
Fun Physics
Introduction
Low gravity
Hangman on a rope
Tornadoes
Constraints
Wrecking ball
Rock slide
12
Profiling and Improving Performance
Profiling and Improving Performance
Introduction
Profiling performance in the Sandbox
Saving level statics
Enabling the debug draw modes
Optimizing the levels with VisAreas and portals
Using light boxes and light areas
Activating and deactivating the layers
Index
Index

About the Authors

Sean Tracy is Crytek's Senior Field Application Engineer for the award-wining CryENGINE. He is responsible for adapting the engine and its features to individual licensees, as well as developing full technical and vertical slice demos for prospective and existing clients. Describing himself as a generalizing specialist, he also gives support directly to CryENGINE licensees, while designing and maintaining their workflows, pipelines, and development techniques.

Sean was recruited by Crytek in 2008 after working as an electronics technician for the Canadian Military. He was recruited due to his role in founding and leading the development on the award winning total conversion project MechWarrior: Living Legends. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been invited to speak at many game related trade shows and seminars. He is an avid gamer with extensive modding experience on titles including Never Winter Nights, the Battlefield engine Frostbite, Doom, and Quake.

I would like to thank my wife for her understanding and support throughout the process of writing this book and for her ongoing support in allowing me to do what I truly enjoy for a living. I would also like to thank my brother for co-authoring the book with me as it's a pleasure to be able to work with someone with the same love for the technology as I have. Finally, I'd like to thank Crytek and Packt for their support in allowing me to write this book and for making one of the best game engines in the market.

Dan Tracy is Crytek's Technical Level Designer for the award-winning CryENGINE and Crysis 2. He is responsible for the creation and maintenance of numerous technical features and external applications used for telemetry and optimization. Viewed as more than a level designer, Dan prides himself on pushing the envelope when it comes to improving both technical and game related designs across multiple production disciplines.

Dan was recruited by Crytek in 2009 after previously working as a Quality Assurance Technician for BioWare. He was recruited due to his pivotal role in co-founding and leading development on the award winning total conversion project MechWarrior: Living Legends. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been interviewed by multiple media outlets. Dan is a passionate gamer, but an even more passionate modder and game designer, with vast knowledge and experience with multiple engines and titles including Never Winter Nights' Aurora, Battlefield's engine Frostbite, Unreal 3, and CryENGINE. This is Dan's first book.

I would like to thank my friends and family for giving me their support during the crunch time of the Crysis 2 production, which also paralleled the creation of this book. If it wasn't for them, this wouldn't have been possible. I would also like to thank my brother for co-authoring the book with me as well as Crytek for providing me with this amazing opportunity to share my knowledge of CryENGINE with the world. Finally, I'd like to thank Packt for their support and setting this whole project in motion and publishing my first ever book.

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