Thanks guys. I have done both and Nada. I just chalk it up to perhaps my video card. Well be interested tot see if othere people get damage on the ships when I releast the mod. Unfortunately since I can't see damage I have no way of knowing how the ships I make will show it.
I may have some ideas as to why 1 of the ships is showing individual triangles. This is a snip from the model guide pdf in SFC3 model tools-worth a look as SFC3 is real finnicky. Ships look fine in SFC2 can have problems in SFC3.
1.02.02 Seamlessness
A model should be one seamless object – meaning that there are no gaps
in it anywhere, so that it encloses one contiguous empty space on the
inside. There should be no intersecting polygons, either.
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MODELING, MODIFYING, AND ADDING SHIPS
One way to achieve this is to run Max’s Boolean operator (Compound
Objects/Boolean) on two intersecting parts to make a seamless whole out
of them. This will increase your polygon count, since new polys will be
created at the seams. After performing a Boolean operation it is often
necessary to tidy up the joint between the sections by welding vertices,
and sometimes by reassigning the smoothing groups of the model.
Figure 1.02.02a shows an object made of
two intersecting cylinders. Although they
are joined together as a single object, they
are not “seamless”: their polygons intersect
in the middle, and they do not enclose
a single contiguous space.
Figure 1.02.02b shows an object that looks
just the same, but does not have intersecting
polygons, does enclose a single contiguous
space, and therefore is “seamless”.
It was produced by performing a Boolean
operation (Compound Objects/Boolean) on
the two original cylinders.
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MODELING, MODIFYING, AND ADDING SHIPS
The easiest way to check for these conditions is to run
Max’s STL-Check modifier. This modifier was
intended to check objects for seamlessness and other
errors, so it’s pretty much exactly what we’re looking
for. You can have the modifier highlight or change the
Material ID of problem areas.
Figure 1.02.02c: The STL-Check
Modifier in 3D Studio Max
Note that this modifier has
some trouble adapting to
changes you make after it’s
run, so to be safe, make your
corrections, delete the modifier
from the stack, then run the
modifier again.
1.02.03 Eliminate Duplicate
Vertices
A model should contain no
duplicate vertices (that is, no
two points should occupy the
exact same location in the
model).
This is an error that commonly
occurs when two parts are
joined together without
welding their duplicate
vertices.
Figure 1.02.03a shows a ship model with all its vertices selected:
note, in the upper right, that there are 507 selected.
Figure 1.02.03b shows the same ship model after “Weld Selected”
is performed, using a Threshold of .1 units. Note that
now, at the upper right, we have only 457 selected. 50 duplicate
vertices have been eliminated.
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MODELING, MODIFYING, AND ADDING SHIPS
The easiest way to eliminate duplicate vertices is to select all the vertices
in the model and then Weld them with a threshold of .1 – this should
eliminate all vertices that share the exact same location in 3D space. You
might need to redo your smoothing groups after you perform this step.
In other cases, where vertices are very close but not in the exact same spot,
you may need to select and weld them a pair at a time. To do this, select
only those vertices you want to weld, and set the Threshold to a large
number like 1000 to ensure that they do. Max turns them into a single
vertex midway between the two, which is not always what you’d like; so
you might need to move the welded vertex afterwards.
1.02.04 Eliminate Duplicate Polygons
A model should not have any duplicate polygons (polygons that share the
exact same location). This is almost impossible to spot without running
STL-Check, but can sometimes be detected because it creates smoothing
problems on a surface.
To fix duplicate polygons you really need to select and delete one of them,
often flip the other, and finally, redo your smoothing groups.
These steps are most complicated when you’re adapting existing models –
when you’re building a ship from scratch you can keep the basic
principles in mind as you work, and minimize the number of corrections
you need to make to your object geometry.
The benefits of creating “error free” geometry are that your model will
perform well in the game, look good in the game, and not do any harm to
the game’s performance – especially on older machines. Also you get this
warm, fuzzy, karmic glow. Usually around 4 AM, when you’re finally
done.
Even in pre-rendered work these are good modeling practices. They
speed up rendering and prevent some really odd problems in Max’s
viewports.
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Topic: Ship troubles, snags, woes and hair pulling quandries (Read 1217 times)