HANDS ON GUIDE

07 - Using CG tools in game creation

AI systems, 3D scanners and rendering tools are used in both films and games.

However, Sanjay Mistry states that it isn't always that simple. 'I haven't had that experience yet, but it may have happened on other projects within EA,' said Mistry. To show how the film tie-in process usually works, he provides the example of the 'Harry Potter' series of games created at EA, in which all the assets were created by EA from scratch. However, he added that EA had full access to the film locations and cast to make the games, and the company used motion capture techniques similar to those used in the film industry. 'We're allowed to take photographs, and we then use the actors and actresses from the movie to scan them,' explained Mistry. They come to an external facility that we use to scan in their faces - obviously they're all licensed. They love the fact they're now this 3D character in a game.'

There are compatibility problems with the way in which some film effects work with game engines. 'If you want a building to fall down in a certain way in a film,' says Mistry, 'you could use Maya to create that dynamic simulation.' However, when you then try to use that same simulation in a game, Mistry explains, 'some of those elements within Maya would not come through to the game engine'.

'Too many other factors are involved,' continues Mistry. 'Our 3D objects have to be malleable, and you still have to move this way and that way around them. However, if an object in a movie falls and it doesn't look right, then it's okay, as you can go back and recalculate some of that.'

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