Topic: Lightwave

[Kaenyne]

I have Lightwave but have NEVER used it.

Before I begin learning it, I wondered if it can do the following things:

1) Change lighting colors (say, from blue to red) like the glow of a ship's navigational deflector and

2) Take a piece of another ship (like the bridge module) and put it on another as a replacement.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[Mainwaring]

I use Lightwave as my primary modelling program, but I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. The first point to note is that to my knowledge, there's no import/export plugins to move SFC models into and out of Lightwave. I end up having to use 3DS Max to export to a 3DS, work in Lightwave, and then export bck to 3DS and use Max for the texturing and SFC export.

1) If I'm reading this right, you're asking about the glow colors the game engine adds in. these aren't actually done with Lightwave/3DSMax at all. There's a tool in the Model tools from taldren that defines glow groups for the model, and it ends up in the GF file.

2) This can be done with anything that manipulates geometry(IE: any modelling program), but it's not necessarily easy to pull off well.

[Kaenyne]

Hmmm...wish I had more knowledge about this stuff so I could better explain myself...but I'll give it another shot:

What I mainly want to do is take a model that I use in SFC: OP and alter its colors. I want to darken the hull from a light gray to a darker shade.

I also want to change the colors of the navigational delflector and engines from blue to red. These "glows" as you referred to them? the "glow" effect, is it separate from the color itself? In other words, when choosing colors, do you put in a color and THEN make it a glow?

I really don't want to add or delete glows, just change colors...

Is there really no simple way to do this in Lightwave?

Do I need this 3DS MAX?

Thanks!

[Kaenyne]

Bump

[WickedZombie45]

You can't do either of those things in Lightwave or 3ds Max (for SFC anyway). You need a texturing program to change the darkness and the color of the illuminated areas, both of which are governed by the model's textures, not the model itself. Any number of texturing programs can do this, namely Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop, and even Microsoft Paint for basic editing.

The glows that were mentioned above are only used in SFC 3 and have nothing to do with the other SFC games or their models.

As for editing the models directly (swapping the bridges for example), you'll need to export the model to an editable format with 3ds Max, then import it into Lightwave to modify it. There is no plugin for Lightwave that can import and export .mod files. If you just want to do simple modifications to an existing model, I suggest getting a copy of the M6 editor which is a fairly simple program and totally free.  

[Kaenyne]

Alright, now Iknow a little bit more. Thanks WickedZombie and company.

I'd like to try this "M6 Editor" but I have no idea where to get it.

Is there a site somewhere?